Business Plan Network

Halloween Makes Good Business!

2008-10-08T15:12:00.003-04:00

Halloween is now the United States second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes are also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike.

Halloween candy sales average about 2 BILLION dollars annually in the United States.

Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apple (also known as toffee, taffy, or caramel apples) are a common holiday treat cashing in at 1 million pounds of apples sold annually during this holiday season!

There is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween in the United States or elsewhere, before 1900. Mass produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1930's, and trick-or-treating did not become a fixture of the holiday until the 1950's. Today the art of "scare" has grown to a 42 billion dollar industry with costumes, decorations, candy sales, and everything else that goes spook in the night annually across the United States!

It seems to make good business sense to tap into this growing market place. The industry has seen incredible growth over the past 10 years and is predicted to grow an whopping 24% more over the next 5! Not a lot of industries can claim that much growth in such a short period of time!

Find Your N.A.I.C.S. Code For FREE!

2008-10-08T10:39:00.001-04:00

The government doesn't recognize you as John's Pizza Shop, rather when it comes down to government funding they place "your business" into a category and igve it an allocated number. So when Uncle Sam say's we have funding for businesses in groups 121212, 111111, 123456, etc if your business is within that industry profile, you may apply for certian government grants, loans, and subsidies. It's extremely easy and fast to figure out your NAICS (North American Industry Calssification System) code.... Simply go to this site and search yours for free...

WWW.NAICS.COM

Demographic's 101

2008-10-08T06:58:00.002-04:00

The Marketing section of your business plan isn't complete without REAL up to date demographics of the population in your marketing area. So how does one find up to date and current populous info? Check out these TWO free websites and download your demographical information now!

WWW.MELISSADATA.COM & WWW.CENSUS.GOV

Both sites are free to use and offer a ton of demographical information!

Top 10 Business Plan "No No's"

2008-10-08T06:28:00.002-04:00

Top Ten Don'ts
1. Be optimistic (on the high side) in estimating future sales.
2. Be optimistic (on the low side) in estimating future costs.
3. Disregard or discount weaknesses in your plan. Spell them out.
4. Stress long-term projections. Better to focus on projections for your first year.
5. Depend entirely on the uniqueness of your business or the success of an invention.
6. Project yourself as someone you're not. Be brutally realistic.
7. Be everything to everybody. Highly focused specialists usually do best.
8. Proceed without adequate financial and accounting know-how.
9. Base your business plan on a wonderful concept. Test it first.
10. Skip the step of preparing a business plan before starting.

So you wanna start your own business?

2008-10-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

The economy is horrible, everywhere you look it's lay off after lay off and doesn't seem to be any good work anywhere around that pays more then minimum wage... Sound famaliar? It's the same scenario in every city and every state. So what can someone do to pay the bills and keep a few extra bucks in their pocket each month? The answer....

Open your own business! Yes, you read that correctly. Opening your own business can be the perfect key to doing what you want to do and making the kind of money your looking for. Why make money for someone else? Even in times of financial crisis, welcome to the United States present day...opening a business of your own can be extremely rewarding if done properly. The key phrase being "done properly" here. A wise man once said if you "fail to plan...then you plan to fail" so before you jump in and order business cards, fancy t-shirts, and tons of inventory step back a few paces and do it right from the begining, start with a plan!

Keys to a successful business launch is in the planning! Start with a practical written business plan and follow the government approved outline for submitting a business plan. Meaning, make sure it follows the 7 sections of a successful business plan.

-Executive Summary
-Products & Services
-Market Analysis
-Facility & Operations
-Sales Strategy
-Management Profile
-Financial Analysis

You can download sample business plans and edit in your own personal information to save time & money, we HIGHLY reccommend using the sample plans on WWW.BPLANSNOW.COM to assist you with your own specific industry specified plan.

Once you have a business plan started, work on a time line, set a date for everything! Take your time, explore your customer's and those that may become customer's. Check & re-check expenses, you can never be too careful, the idea here is to not just have a 45 page document to get funding, but to have a successful, working document that grows WITH your business and continues way after the doors are open!