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Companies sometimes spend a lot of money to hire trainers or professional development coaches to teach their employees and C-suite executives how to master and use objective business communication for their day-to-day corporate responsibilities. This is a very expensive exercise that most small-and-medium-sized businesses cannot afford, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t make serious efforts to encourage their employees and managers to learn improved strategies for effective business communication. 4 Types of Business Communication Strategies What kinds of business communication strategies can you implement in your business? These are some of the business communication strategies you could discover through learning: Core message strategy: Your organization must have a definite core message it is trying to pass across to people inside and outside the organization. This core message will be directly linked to your organization’s vision/mission and can be seen as the reflection of your brand reputation. For instance, McDonald’s slogan “I’m Lovin’ It” is a core message for the popular fast-food restaurant which depicts the comfort and satisfaction that their customers express when eating there. The core message that would be conveyed in your communication with all stakeholders should be remarkable and memorable so that customers, suppliers, and investors can always relate to the message when presenting your organization’s image to others. Delivery strategy: How would you like to deliver your company’s core message? You could utilize reports, proposals, newsletters, emails, letters, and even presentations to deliver your business communication to those it is meant for, such as your employees, customers, suppliers, partners, etc. The delivery method must be customized and meet the preferences of the recipients. It is sensible to say that an investor would be happy to receive a report from an organization, meanwhile what customers need are just emails and newsletters — they possibly don’t have time to sit down and read 45-70-page reports about an organization’s products/services. Some companies have good and solid messages they want to send to their stakeholders, however, their delivery methods are the reasons why the recipients of those messages aren’t reading them. So, the delivery methods are as important as the business messages they carry. Social media strategy: It is fast becoming the modus operandi among organizations to predominantly use social media to send business messages to the stakeholders. In addition to being a fast and effective process, social media offers organizations the opportunity to reach many recipients at the same time. To use this medium properly, it is important to know the different types of social media platforms that are currently being utilized by businesses and learn to deploy them for the benefit of advancing a company’s business communication procedures. Feedback strategy: This is basically about hearing back from your stakeholders. In addition to using emails, memos, letters, and other means of communication, an organization can also obtain feedback/responses from their customers, partners, and employees via social media. Business communication is a two-way approach, meaning the organization and its stakeholders talk to each other through some or all of the above-mentioned media. So, getting the feedback strategy right can help a company maintain regular interaction with its customers, obtaining useful feedback that could be incorporated into other messages, including customer service, sales, and promotional messages. 3 ways to learn about these business communication strategies You can use any of the three ways highlighted below to learn more about the business communication strategies described above: Hiring a professional development coach: Most big organizations can afford to hire high-performance coaches to teach their employees about the best-in-town business communication strategies, even though it is sometimes an expensive venture. Sometimes, those organizations spend anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 annually to bring coaches to their offices and properly train their employees. Unfortunately, this may be out of reach for most small and medium-sized businesses. Attending a business school or studying business-related courses:  If you have the time and are still willing to go to school, you may learn about the latest business communication strategies at colleges or business schools pursuing a course such as business management, business studies, etc. This will require an investment of time and money. If you are a very busy manager or CEO, you may not have the time to attend lectures. Read a book that comprehensively deals with the subject matter: This third option seems to be the most time-efficient and cost-effective approach you can take to learn more about the best approaches for carrying out your organization’s business communication processes. Grab a well-written and factual book over a weekend and teach yourself about the nitty gritty of business communication. Book cover of Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers. Business Communication Essentials is the go-to manual to learn the nuances of effective business communication. Our book, Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know (Business Communication Essentials), is prepared in a way that you can easily digest its content, quickly learning the latest business communication strategies that you can adopt in transforming your organization. The most interesting part is that it is designed as a self-learning resource that completely touches all areas of business communication. Not only that, but it also exposes some best secrets about how some successful companies in our world have transformed their business operations by mainly improving their business communication procedures. You will soon discover that doing business communication well is not as difficult as you may have been thinking; all you need to do is discover all the necessary nuggets of wisdom and knowledge packed in the Business Communication Essentials’ pages. Also Read: Business Strategy Essentials 101The Role of Digital Marketing in Today's Business EnvironmentWhat is Entrepreneurship and How Do You Set Up a Successful Business?

Every organization has both internal and external stakeholders it must constantly keep in touch with in order to remain operational. The internal stakeholders may include the organization’s employees, contractors, managers, executives, etc. Its external stakeholders may include its suppliers, customers, investors, partners, governmental agencies, etc. It is understandable that each stakeholder requires different levels or kinds of communication. As a matter of fact, each message sent out to any of the stakeholders must be precise and customized to satisfy the recipient’s requirements. This requires a lot of learning and practice before you can master it. If learned and implemented correctly, business communication can propel any organization toward success.  4 main reasons why business communication is important for a business’s growth For an organization to successfully meet its goals and vision/mission, it must proactively engage all the stakeholders connected to it. Highlighted below are five strategic reasons why every company must take its business communication seriously and do it properly to spark growth and achieve long-term success: 1. It connects all the dotsIt is practically impossible for an organization to smoothly carry out its statutory business operations without putting in place an effective communication strategy. There must be a clear and understandable guideline for those in executive or management positions in the organization to properly communicate with their junior colleagues or subordinates. More so, the employees would be required to exchange, with one another, ideas and information necessary to complete their assigned projects or duties. All these essential interactions that connect the dots are what is referred to as business communication. Organizations can utilize intranet, emails, letters, memos, etc. to keep all their internal and external stakeholders in the loop about all their business operations or activities. This action will surely remove misunderstandings and misinformation among stakeholders. 2. It will increase productivityWhen a company’s employees share the right amount of information with one another, as promptly as they need it, the company’s level of productivity will improve. This is because vital ideas required to successfully complete their assigned projects/duties respectively would be made available to them when they most needed them. For instance, when workers are not provided with the right information while on the job they may be unable to deliver quality as expected. This is because they do not have the data, information, or even documents to work with. Any organization that has this kind of poorly designed information-sharing model is bound to be slow and technically unproductive. Assume you are an employee in a manufacturing plant; if you don’t have access to the appropriate raw materials, you may be rendered redundant—this entails that you may not be able to perfectly carry out your duties at the plant. It is safe to say that effective business communication is the most important engine that powers every organization’s drive to maintain or increase its productivity level, otherwise redundancy will set in and that will drastically lower such organization’s production quantity. Business communication also allows managers, team leaders, and employees within an organization to smoothly and regularly organize meetings that will help them keep track of all the necessary work, and provide much-needed motivation for all the employees involved.  3. It conveys products’/services’ qualityA company’s customers may not exactly know the actual quality of its products/services unless the company first conveys it to them; as such, it is the duty of the company to communicate this to them in a clear and most understandable manner. And this is why business communication is regarded as a viable tool in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Through periodical product information releases, newsletters, emails, catalogs, and even quarterly or yearly reports, an organization can constantly update its customers about the improvement in its products’/services’ quality. For example, software products need periodic updates to remain efficient, and IT companies undoubtedly rely on business communication to inform their customers about these important updates, or else it may be difficult for their customers to enjoy using the software products. The only instances whereby customers misused some products came from the fact the manufacturers of those products didn’t adequately communicate the proper uses of their products. This kind of problem mostly arises from small-and-medium-sized businesses or startups that are just developing a product and releasing it to the market for the first time. Due to the lack of adequate information customers of those businesses with poor business communication often ended up relying on their discretions to use the product. This approach isn’t the best to run a business, and customers may soon desert such a business with inadequate business communication procedures. 4. It helps organizations to build better relationships with stakeholders One of the famous quotes by Rollo May states that “communication leads to community; that is, to understanding, intimacy, and mutual valuing.” An organization needs to demonstrate that it values its contributions and/or the efforts of its stakeholders. In addition to bringing all stakeholders intimately together, communication can also create a feeling of community where every member does his/her best to make the organization function optimally. Without a unifying central message or pieces of important communication that bind all stakeholders to the organization, there will always be some level of misunderstanding. Therefore, business managers/directors, business management/studies students, founders, or entrepreneurs-to-be must learn the best and the latest business communication approaches. Business Communication Essentials helps organizations build a strong business communication strategy Vibrant Publishers’ book Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know provides a comprehensive outlook on the theme of “Business Communication”, highlighting the different aspects of business communication and procedures necessary for perfectly engaging in successful communication with all the stakeholders in a business. It is designed to be an easy-to-understand, self-study book that touches on every area of business communication. Reading it will empower you to systematically transform the way you or your organization does business communication. Also Read: Business Strategy Essentials 101The Role of Digital Marketing in Today's Business EnvironmentWhat is Entrepreneurship and How Do You Set Up a Successful Business?  

Some start-ups become money-generating empires while others just remain small businesses. Some ventures sustain while others brutally collapse. At one point their names would be on everyone’s lips, and then they turn into ghost towns. All these successful and failed ventures are divided by a thin line that is drawn by a business strategy. Having a good business strategy will ensure you’re in the safe zone. Whereas a bad one, or no strategy at all will leave you threatened to fall. If you have a business of your own or are thinking of starting one, you must know the importance of a business strategy. But there is a huge difference between knowing what a strategy is and creating a good one. Based on the book Business Strategy Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by author Callie Daum, this blog will clarify your basics about a business strategy and give you tips to formulate a good one.   What is business strategy? A business strategy is a blueprint of the course of action an organization must take to achieve its mission, vision, and goals. Business strategy and strategic management are one and the same. Therefore, it involves not only creating a strategy but also successfully implementing it using appropriate management tools. A business strategy is designed to create value for the company or business. But that value need not only be in terms of sales or profits. A good business strategy also involves ensuring great leadership, communication, and effective management to improve the overall performance of the company’s workforce. A well-thought-out business strategy can be a great tool to push any organization toward success.   How to make a good business strategy? The 3 key steps involved in creating a business strategy In Business Strategy Essentials, author Callie Daum pours out her 20 years of experience in project management and strategic development to comprehensively explain what goes into creating a good business strategy. These are the steps that she discusses in her book: 1. Environmental Scanning Understanding your environment is the first and most crucial step that needs to be checked off before making your business strategy. Callie explains that environmental scanning needs to be done for both external and internal factors. External factors involve knowing the industry cycle, market trends, and your competitors. On the other hand, internal factors involve assessing the environment within your organization, such as employee communication, and management activities.  A SWOT analysis is an excellent tool that can be used to conduct environmental analysis. You can use this template to perform a SWOT analysis for your business Callie’s book has detailed chapters dedicated to explaining internal and external analysis as well as a guide on exactly how to perform a SWOT analysis for your business. 2. Formulating a business strategy Now that you understand your business environment, it is time to make a strategy that will help your business thrive in that competitive environment. A good start would be writing a business statement or a strategic statement. A business statement involves the following components: strategic intent, mission, vision, and objectives. Though this may seem fairly simple, clearly defining your business's intent and mission is crucial to creating a strategy that will help you achieve your goals. To create a fool-proof business strategy, you need a thorough understanding of various core concepts like strategy levels, competitor rivalry, behavior, and competitor dynamics which have been explained exhaustively in Business Strategy Essentials. 3. Implementing and evaluating After creating a foolproof strategy, it is also important to create a foolproof plan to implement that strategy and keep evaluating it from time to time. For smooth execution of business strategy, it is also important to have a fixed structure of organization in your company. This will ensure that there are adequate people in place to make important decisions and execute your business strategy. Business strategy essentials provide thoroughly researched flowcharts of organization structures that are known to work in the real world.   So why do businesses fail? Answering the question that we first started with is now easier as we know what goes into creating a business strategy. Simply put, drawbacks or poor execution in any of the steps given above will lead to a poor business strategy and a poor outcome. For example, if you miss an important market trend while carrying out environmental scanning, you will miss out on a huge opportunity to make profits. Or if the structure of hierarchy in your organization is haphazard, no action will come to fruition even if you have your goals and strategies in place. Business Strategy Essentials comes in as a great resource for individuals to understand the core concepts involved in creating a business strategy. It comes in useful for business starters and also those who are looking to expand their business and re-evaluate their strategy. Moreover, it also includes case studies of both successful and failed businesses to really help you understand where businesses go wrong or right and what you need to do with your business. You can also refer to our Business Strategy Essentials 101 to learn about the skills and careers related to business strategy. To buy Business Strategy Essentials, click here or visit Amazon.    

  In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, the dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur is more prevalent than ever. However, the path to entrepreneurship is paved with challenges and uncertainties. To navigate this complex journey, "Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know" serves as a comprehensive and practical guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. Written in a concise and accessible manner, this book is part of the Self-Learning Management series, aimed at providing essential knowledge and skills to individuals eager to delve into the realm of entrepreneurship. Dr. AnnaMaria Bliven, an experienced entrepreneur herself, brings a wealth of practical insights and real-world examples to enrich the content. One of the strengths of this book is its structure. It covers a wide range of topics, from the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship to more advanced strategies for sustainable growth. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect, providing a well-rounded understanding of the entrepreneurial journey. Moreover, the content is organized in a logical progression, allowing readers to easily follow and apply the concepts discussed. The book begins by exploring the mindset and qualities of successful entrepreneurs. It highlights the importance of self-awareness, resilience, and adaptability, emphasizing that entrepreneurship is not merely about starting a business but also about personal growth and continuous learning. This introspective approach sets the foundation for the subsequent chapters, which delve into market research, opportunity identification, and business planning. What sets this book apart from others is its emphasis on practicality. Throughout the pages, readers are presented with practical exercises, checklists, and case studies to reinforce the concepts discussed. These interactive elements encourage active learning and enable readers to apply the knowledge gained directly to their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Another commendable aspect is the inclusion of ethical considerations and social responsibility in entrepreneurship. The book emphasizes the importance of conducting business with integrity, considering environmental impact, and fostering inclusivity. This aspect adds a refreshing dimension to the entrepreneurial discourse and reminds readers that business success should not come at the expense of ethical principles. Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know serves as an excellent starting point for beginners, who can further explore specific areas of interest in subsequent readings. In summary, "Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know" is a valuable resource for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking practical guidance on their journey. The author's experience shines through, making the content relatable and engaging. By blending theory with interactive exercises, the book encourages active learning and fosters a mindset geared towards entrepreneurial success. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned business professional looking to expand your knowledge, this book is a worthwhile investment in your entrepreneurial journey. This is a review by Kenyatta Johnson on Vibrant’s Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know Related Blogs -  5 Reasons to Adopt Intrapreneurship in Your Company Financial Management for Small Business Owners Follow These Tips to Get Started (And Succeed) As An Online Entrepreneur  

There are some fanciful assumptions about entrepreneurs: they are rich, famous, and influential in their respective communities. However, the best way to describe an entrepreneur is seen in this Naveen Jain’s quote: “A person who sees a problem is a human being; a person who finds a solution is visionary; and the person who goes out and does something about it is an entrepreneur.” This summarizes what entrepreneurs stand for, in the sense that they are goal-getters; they bring ideas into reality. Highlighted below are five unique characteristics you can find in every entrepreneur:  They take calculated risk: It takes risks to establish and successfully manage a company. You will be required to invest your time and resources in the new company. As they say, no risk no gain. While starting out, most entrepreneurs have no idea whether the companies they arestarting would succeed or fail. But instead of letting fear hold them back, they choose to continue pursuing their entrepreneurial goals. They are passionate about what they do: Becoming an entrepreneur is a very tasking thing. On most occasions, your attention will be on your business. You probably won’t have time for your family, friends, and other acquaintances. Managing a business is time-consuming; there are many things to attend to and there are several problems that will be begging for your attention. Sometimes entrepreneurs don’t have time to socialize with business associates, because they are always ready to deal with any emergency that may occur while running their businesses. They work very hard: It is obvious that entrepreneurship is not for the weak-hearted. This is because it requires a lot of hard work. There are many things to do within the twenty-four hours in a day. It is true that entrepreneurs must avoid being burnt out by delegating responsibilities to others on their team, but there are certain duties that must be carried out by the entrepreneurs themselves, such as signing big contracts, meeting suppliers, and looking for avenues to expand their business networks. To some business owners, it is a 24-hour-a-day job. You must be ready and willing to show up when your attention is needed by your employees, business partners, and others.    They are resilient: It is not every time that what entrepreneurs plan materializes the way they want it to. As an entrepreneur, it is important that you are flexible and resilient. You should be able to function in all conditions, whether things are working according to your plans or not. You can never let emotions take the best part of your mind and get confused when things turn out chaotic and disturbing. You should be able to endure all circumstances and put yourself together no matter what. Great entrepreneurs don’t allow one or two mistakes to throw them into a bad mood; they refuse to let a misstep bring them down and cause them to throw tantrums against their employees or family members. They exude strong self confidence: A business owner must exude strong self-confidence. You should be seen as someone who is able to withstand any situation and handle all problems professionally. As an entrepreneur who has employees under you, you must act bravely in every condition and reject any temptation to buck under pressure. You should demonstrate to everyone around you that you are strong and capable to deal with circumstances. Through this action, people will be able to trust you in all situations because they believe that you will always find solutions to any problems that may crop up while working for you. More importantly, your customers will show more interest in you and your products.  Now that you have read about what sterling attributes entrepreneurs have, are you now ready to become one of them?  Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know is your valuable guide for discovering everything about entrepreneurship. If you know little or nothing about the process of registering a company, making your first products/services, and creating a business model that will power your business’s day-to-day operations, you will find this book to be very useful. If you don’t have a degree or education in business management or a mentor that you can learn all these business management skills from, your best bet is to sit down, and get a good book that exhaustively treats the topic. Entrepreneurship Essentials contains all the necessary information you will ever need to know about the science of successfully managing a flourishing business. Also read -  What is Entrepreneurship and how do you set up a successful business? Follow These Tips to Get Started (And Succeed) As An Online Entrepreneur 5 Reasons to Adopt Intrapreneurship in Your Company    

Entrepreneurship is a different kind of art. Just like any other art form where you need to practice, build up your skills, and be diligent and consistent, entrepreneurship requires all that and much more.   Entrepreneurship is about taking calculated financial risks at the prospect of making money. But it is not only about financial gain. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers. They identify a problem and come up with solutions for that problem.   If you identify with the definition of an entrepreneur and want to know the process of setting up a fulfilling business, keep reading!   Setting up your company: There are different types of companies that you can establish, from Sole Proprietorships to Corporations. Each business type comes with its own unique benefits or advantages. For instance, if you intend to own a company alone, you can set up a Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or one-person Corporation. If you are planning to do business with your friends, partners, or other people, Partnerships, Corporations, and Cooperatives will be better options. You also need to be aware of the different taxes and accountability required for each business type.   Deciding on which product/service to offer: The majority of entrepreneurs already know what kind of product/service they will be offering to their prospective customers before registering a company. However, in certain circumstances, it may take many years before their first product is made, especially in the case of companies that undertake long-term product research and development (like pharmaceutical companies). Whatever product you have decided to sell to consumers, it is advisable that it should be affordable, of the highest quality, and durable.   Promoting your product/services to consumers: In addition to producing high-quality products, you need to market them to those who will buy them. One area in which some entrepreneurs make mistakes is during their product proposition—which is the process of explaining the usefulness of your product to prospective buyers/users. They sometimes fail to provide the detailed information that consumers need in making buying decisions. Aspiring entrepreneurs should learn about the best approach for promoting their products/services to prospective customers without sounding too salesy.   Great customer service: It is important that entrepreneurs put themselves in the shoes of their customers. Customers like to be pampered and catered to. Companies with great customer service become leaders in their respective industries. Anyone who aspires to set up a business must, first, understand how to carry customers along. Happy customers will remain loyal and become active promoters of your products. One of the most effective methods of advertising is “word-of-mouth”; when your customers are happy with your products/services, they will be willing to tell their friends and relatives about them. This cheap but effective marketing tactic can make a company quadruple its sales within a short period of time.   Team building: It is true that entrepreneurs are visionaries, but that doesn’t mean that they can run a big company alone and by themselves. They need people who are equally motivated to assist them in their entrepreneurial journey. So, entrepreneurs need to understand how to build great teams that will perform well. Though, it is not always easy to find great employees and train them to work productively. However, by learning how to spot hardworking and team-spirited employees, business owners can shorten their learning curve and save time and resources that could have been wasted on hiring bad, uncooperative workers. Recruiting a bad employee can cause an employer to experience disruption in his/her business operations.   Running a sustainable business: An entrepreneur, along with managing his/her own company, is also expected to focus on the sustainability of the business. This means that they should pay serious attention to the techniques they have adopted so that they won’t affect the environment, people, and communities in which they operate. Any company with a great sustainability plan is considered people-centric and environmentally friendly in its operations.   The Best Approach for Busy Entrepreneurs to Learn New Things   You won’t always have time to attend business schools or pursue MBA courses. However, you can learn a lot by reading books written specially to address the subject matter or topic you interested in learning about.   Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know provides all the detailed information about the entrepreneurial processes highlighted above. The book is designed in a way that simplifies the procedures for successfully managing a business by taking into consideration all the necessary steps that an entrepreneur must be aware of. Reading this book will equip aspiring or experienced entrepreneurs with the management and operational skills that they need to turn their business ventures into outstanding success.   Divided into different sections that deal precisely with the issues that would-be entrepreneurs would like to have some practical knowledge about, Entrepreneurship Essentials You Always Wanted To Know remains a formidable reservoir of business management knowledge. Reading it is like going to a business school to learn the nitty-gritty of starting a business, directing its affairs, and driving to both operational and monetary success.   The Advance Review Copy of this book is now available for review on NetGalley.  

In the world of entrepreneurship, different kinds of businesses exist. Therefore, they would need different business plans based on the complexity of their operations and the expected quality of services or products they want to offer to their customers.

If you have been wondering how to write an effective business plan that you can use to smoothly run your business, win investors’ confidence and investment, and maintain entrepreneurial success, then you have come to the right place!   Irrespective of the purposes you want to utilize your business plan for, you will need to focus on the following steps in order to design and produce the most useful and powerful business plan:     Recognize the importance of a business plan - It is important that you identify why you need a business plan in the first instance. This is because there are different kinds of businesses serving different business purposes. You may need to design a mini business plan, a presentation plan, a pitch deck, an operational business plan, or a recovery plan.   Understand the financials of your proposed or existing business - You need to familiarize yourself with your business’s financials. This entails that you should have a deep understanding of how much it will initially cost you to run the business, and what are your projected sales, revenue, and profitability levels. All these pieces must go into your business plan to make it effective.   Write your marketing and operational plan -  Your business plan won’t be practically useful if it doesn’t contain your marketing and operational plans. Your marketing plan is the blueprint for setting up efficient marketing campaigns, and your operational plan is the guide you will need to successfully manage your entire day-to-day business activities.   Do your market analysis - You cannot dabble in a market you know nothing about. It is through your market analysis that you will be able to discover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in the market for or against your business.   Write your business plan - After you have acquainted yourself with the financials of your business, prepared your marketing and operational plans, and conducted your market analysis, you will still be required to put all these essential parts of your business plan together in writing. You have to make sure you are designing a business plan that is error-free, easy to digest, fundamentally informative, and detail-oriented. You want your prospective business partner or investor to quickly obtain any vital information they want from the business plan without sweating over it.   Customize your business plan -  You should understand that different kinds of businesses require different types of business plans. In other words, even though all businesses contain the same important elements, they come with different approaches. So, if you are running a nonprofit, a manufacturing service, or a project management business, it is imperative that you tweak your business plan to highlight the significant aspects of your business. Therefore, you will expect to see different areas of emphasis in each type of business plan based on your field or industry.       Eight Elements of Every Useful Business Plan Look out for these eight essential elements of a powerful business plan: Executive summary: This is the summary of all the content in your business plan. It should be between one or one-and-a-half pages.   Company Overview: Here, you provide an overview of your business to the readers.   Business description: It is expedient that you fully describe your business and its products or services in the plan.   Market analysis: This is where you will provide detailed information about the market your business will be serving by revealing how well-positioned your business is in the market.     Operation plan: You are required to provide the detailed, actionable steps or processes you will adopt in running your business’s day-to-day operations. An operational plan is part of a strategic plan. A strategic plan is a process of creating goals, plans, and actions that guide a company toward its destination. Read more about Business Strategy in our blog Business Strategy Essentials 101.   Marketing and Sales Plan: Tell the world how you plan to market your products/services. Are you going to use the traditional methods of marketing or will you be experimenting with digital marketing? The goal is to be able to get your products/services in front of those who most need them and increase your sales.   Financial plan: Provide a snapshot of information about your business’s finances. Where will you get the money to start and run the business? How much profit do you project to make in the first three years?   Appendix: This contains all additional or supporting documents or information about your business.     Business Plan Essentials explains in detail all the essential steps highlighted above, with real-world examples, sample business plans, and an easy-to-understand language. You will also discover how best to write a business plan and consequently overcome your fear of sitting down to actually write one! Read the Advance Review Copy of Business Plan Essentials here!

Introduction Business strategy refers to the process of creating goals, plans, and actions that can guide a company toward its ideal destination. Having a good business strategy helps companies compete in their target markets. Common types of business strategies include growth strategies, stability strategies, and retrenchment strategies. Growth strategies outline how a business can become more competitive in its market. Stability strategies, on the other hand, outline how a business can maintain its current market position. Lastly, retrenchment strategies outline how a business should respond to problems and failures. Key Components of Business Strategy Business Vision: To formulate a business strategy, you need to first determine the company’s direction. Create a vision/mission statement that reflects how you see your company evolving through the years. Goal-setting: Once you’ve determined your company’s direction, set smaller objectives that can help the business get to where it wants to be. Create measurable goals that can help you see your progress more clearly. Resource Allocation: After setting your objectives, determine how you can use your human and capital resources to forward each goal. Proper planning, managing, and delegation can help you maximize returns on your investments. Management: Any business is only as good as its workers. Ensure that the people working within your organization can support its objectives. Prioritization: Most business decisions involve trade-offs. Know what to prioritize and make choices that best benefit your company’s goals.  Best Skills For Business Strategy Creativity: Business strategy is all about blending information with imagination. Creative people can use business data to form ambitious business objectives and conceptualize ideas that can help the company meet said objectives. Leadership: Strategies are nothing without action. Good leaders should motivate their people to act toward the business’ objectives. Flexibility: No matter how thorough your strategy is, there will always be unforeseen circumstances that prevent you from following your plan exactly. Good leaders need to be shrewd enough to find new solutions when the unexpected arises. Careers In Business Strategy Project Manager: Project managers ensure that businesses meet their short-term objectives by overseeing different business projects. They’re responsible for planning projects, including the project scope, timeframe, budget, resources, communication, and risk management. They then delegate tasks among people and monitor progress. Training And Development Managers: Employees are the most valuable part of any company. As human resource professionals, training and development managers ensure that a business’ employees have the skills and knowledge they need to help their company complete its goals. Training and development managers assess their company’s training needs, then design effective training programs based on this information. Finance Managers: If training and development managers focus on optimizing human resources, finance managers focus on optimizing financial performance. Finance managers use accounting to assess the financial health of their companies. They then use their assessment of the company’s financial capabilities to set financial goals and develop plans that outline how a business should go about achieving said goals. Business Development Analyst: Business development analysts help businesses determine how to better compete with other organizations operating in their target market. Using thorough research on customer demographics, emerging industry trends, and competing organizations, business development analysts come up with improvements to existing business practices and strategies.  How To Gain Business Strategy Skills Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in business administration can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in business strategy. There are also a number of online courses that can help you build a basic foundation of business strategy knowledge. Because business strategy is a very broad topic, many courses focus on applying the concept to specific contexts, such as digital business strategy, sustainable business strategies, and Agile. Vibrant Publishers’ Business Strategy Essentials You Always Wanted To Know can also teach you the building blocks of business strategy. This book features topics like SWOT analysis, strategy analysis, and environmental scanning. Businesses can best succeed when leaders outline a clear direction for the future and create concrete steps for achieving their goals. Through business strategy, businesses can gain a clearer picture of how they can succeed in their target markets. Read about all these concepts, and more, in Business Strategy Essentials You Always Wanted To Know.

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re living your life on someone else’s terms, not your own? This feeling is pretty common, and it’s why many people decide to ditch their day job and start a business instead. But starting a traditional small business can be scary, especially if you have limited funds or experience with entrepreneurship. If you feel stuck in this situation, the answer may be to find a comfortable middle ground – running an online business from home. Here are some tips to help you on the journey.   Choose the Right Business Model Running a business from home has become the new normal for thousands of people who are done with the 9 to 5, but that doesn’t mean all online businesses are created equal. One business model that’s in high demand today is e-commerce, especially since the coronavirus pandemic has led people to do even more of their shopping online. Not only is online shopping at an all-time high, but it’s also easier than ever to build and launch an online business. As with anything else, researching your options here is the key to success. For example, you’ll want to choose an ecommerce platform that fits the niche you’re in, as well as how you want to operate. With the different platforms you can choose from, you may want one that’s tailored to highlighting a single product, or if you don’t want to keep stock, you may want one that works with dropshipping. Once you’ve decided to start your business, it’s time to decide exactly which type of business entity you want to establish. Our recommendation is to form a limited liability company because it will protect your personal assets should any legal problems arise in the future. Having an LLC also makes you eligible for opening a business bank account, which makes keeping track of your business finances much easier. If you want to learn more about business models, pick up a copy of Business Strategy Essentials You Always Wanted To Know. This book explores business concepts and strategies and discusses the practical approach for application by businesses and working professionals.   Hire the Right Support Staff Even when you use the best online tools, most entrepreneurs reach a point where relying on their own skills holds them back. Our suggestion is to hire freelancers for those roles that are outside your skillset (or that you simply don’t have time for). Qualified freelancers are easy to find by searching an online job board, and you can find the right person for any task you need, from web design to hiring your own virtual assistant. Besides the flexibility they offer, Small Biz Resources explains how hiring freelancers is also an affordable way to get the help you need without committing to full-time staff. If you hire freelancers or other staff that work remotely, one thing to keep in mind is the importance of communication when managing a remote team. Maintaining effective team communication is easy with an app like Slack, but good communication also comes from how you use these platforms. For example, apps like Slack allow you to create different channels, so you can have one channel that’s team-wide and a different one for project-specific communication. Then you can use the newsfeed as a way to keep everyone up to date on crucial information that the whole team needs access to. If you are worried about managing the staff performance and conflicts, refer to a book like Human Resource Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know which provides detailed insights into managing employees. The book discusses many strategies and tactics needed to effectively manage human resources thereby leading companies to profitability and success.   Set Yourself Apart The world is full of online entrepreneurs, and even though there’s room for competition, you’ll be most successful if you set your business apart from the others. Start by choosing a niche product or service, and make sure it’s one that fulfills a need. Then focus your marketing efforts on reaching customers who are in your niche. Knowing your target market, as well as reaching it, is part of what it takes to differentiate yourself, but the other part of the equation is to go above and beyond with customer service. To do this as an online business owner, The Balance Small Business recommends exceeding expectations and focusing on customer service over selling. For additional reading on this subject, delve into Digital Marketing Essentials You Always Wanted to Know. The book explores an array of different topics in a way that’s both deeply informative and easy to understand. The book could be the resource you need to help you achieve your marketing goals Don’t overlook this tip just because you don’t see your customers in person! If anything, providing excellent service and connection with your clients is even more essential when you aren’t face to face. Running a successful online business IS hard work, but the tradeoff that comes from ditching your day job is 100 percent worth it. Photo credit: Unsplash  

Intrapreneurship is a business system in which employees in an organization are encouraged to take risks and develop ideas and techniques to benefit the companies they work for. In other words, employees in an intrapreneurship are encouraged to act like entrepreneurs. They are given a lot of freedom and allowed to experiment to solve a given problem. Intrapreneurs are instrumental to a company’s growth; they circumvent the bureaucracy as they are given the freedom to experiment with many ideas. Unlike entrepreneurship, in which the business risk is borne by the entrepreneur, in intrapreneurship, the business risk is borne by the company. Intrapreneurship adopts a ‘startup’ style of business management. There is lot of flexibility and risk taking, and lots of ideas are being developed. In this article, the major advantages of intrapreneurship will be fully examined. The following are the main advantages of intrapreneurship.   1) Innovation: In an intrapreneurship, more room is given for innovation. Since employees are encouraged to act like entrepreneurs, they are given the chance to develop their ideas in their own way instead of following the normal business process. Employees can use the company’s resources to experiment and develop new ideas that will benefit the organization. Through this business system, companies are able to set the right context for development. The right people are given a chance in the right environment, an environment which supports out of the box ideas.Entrepreneurs may be limited in the business world by a lot of factors, like capital; this results in a lot of brilliant ideas going to waste. However, in intrapreneurship, employees are placed in the perfect environment suitable for developing new projects. Though intrapreneurship is more common with startups, large companies like Google and Intel have been known to adopt this business model. Though adopting full intrapreneurship isn’t feasible for large companies, many adopt a system where they allow employees to spend a certain percentage of their time on personal ideas and projects. Google AdSense, Google Maps, and Post-it-notes are all examples of ideas developed through intrapreneurship. Full intrapreneurship is however more feasible for small organizations.   2) Growth: Intrapreneurship is one of the fastest business systems which supports growth. It helps to create and maintain a set structure that supports revenue growth and is particularly useful for small business owners who are looking for ways to grow the company or widen their profit margins. It makes it easier for companies to recognize and capitalize on new opportunities before their competitors take advantage of them. It is usually the business structure behind new services and products many companies develop. Many big companies adopt this system in order to maintain momentum. It also helps safeguard the future of an established organization. Intrapreneurship gives mutual benefits to both the organization and the employee. The organization enjoys steady growth brought about by improved employee performance and fresh ideas, while employees develop leadership skills and also gain the experience needed in the corporate world.   3) Engagement and retention: Disengaged employees cost companies a lot as disengagement translates to low productivity. In some organizations, employees complain about being underutilized; some eventually leave to look for companies where their skills are appreciated. Intrapreneurship provides an environment where employees are encouraged to apply their own ideas. Employees will then become more eager to experiment and successfully develop new ideas. They are highly engaged and thus more productive under this business system. Employees do not have to face the bureaucracy and rigid internal processes of the normal business model thus leading to employee satisfaction. Intrapreneurship brings about a higher employee retention rate due to the high level of employee engagement. Also, potential employees are drawn to an organization which supports intrapreneurship.   4) Builds Leadership Skills: Intrapreneurship is a business model which greatly builds leadership skills. In large organizations, the CEO or founder may not necessarily be the one behind many of their successful innovations, rather, some successful team projects are developed and completed by employees with leadership skills. Employees with an intrapreneural mind-set are often the best candidates to lead new projects. Intrapreneurship also allows employees to channel their entrepreneurship skills within an organizational setting. It properly develops employees with leadership traits. Such employees eventually grow to become key executives of the company.     5) Efficiency and Speed of Action: Another main advantage of intrapreneurship is speed. Projects involving new products and services are easily completed under this business system. Since the ideas are supplied and developed by the employees and the bureaucratic barrier has been removed, projects are completed sooner. Employees have the freedom to express their ideas freely without shouldering the risk. They are highly motivated to work since the idea was developed by them, thus increasing productivity. Also, companies do not have to waste time searching for new ideas.In conclusion, intrapreneurship is a business model which offers ample benefits in the corporate world. It is a system that helps companies properly harness the creative power of their employees thereby fuelling growth. Companies can encourage intrapreneurship by creating a system that supports it in their organization. Employees should be encouraged to take risks and experiment new ideas without fear of backlash.To identify your company’s current business strategy and to learn to execute possible appropriate strategies, read Business Strategy Essentials You Always Wanted To Know.