hi everyone I hope you doing well if youdon't already know who it is the one and only the true Alex Jay please make sureto hit that subscribe button if you haven't already and make sure to leave athumbs up on this video because I know you're going to love it in this videoI'm gonna be giving the top 10 tips to writing a business plan in 2018 tipnumber one don't underestimate your competitors make sure that you analyzeyour competitors even if you think oh you know my ideas brand new there's noone else doing it there's gonna be someone similar you need to have a lookaround so for example let's say that you decided that you were going to create acompany that was going to sell top well you need to look at other stockcompanies in your local area or if you're going to be selling it online youneed to be looking at other online retailers that are selling stocks have alook at what they're doing what are their strategies and how can you usethat to improve your business and what can you use to stop them from destroyingyour business obviously you don't want the competition crushing your businesstip number two remember that your business is unique why what is yourunique selling point that's your USP what is it this unique about yourbusiness why do people want to buy from you what is it that's going to bringthem to you what is it that you offer them in exchange now most businessesthey solve a problem so you need to think what is the problem that I'msolving how is this unique why do people need to come to me rather than go to mycompetitor tip number three create a vision you need to think this thoughtall the way through to the end well you know what is your idea of your businesswhere do you want it to go in the future because it's all good and well startingit nice and small and thinking you know I'll make a million dollars or a billiondollars that's fantastic but you need to think through the process how are yougoing to get all the way from a all the way to B how are you going to do eachand every step so what I prefer to do is I write my end goal where I'd like to bein one year then I break it to six months then I break it down to threemonths in one month and then by day so I know what to do every single day what'sneeded to be done so that I know where I'm gonna be in one year's time tipnumber four don't skip the plan I've seen so many people where they juststart a business and they don't even bother planning they just run ahead andthen they start hitting obstacles later on thatdidn't foresee but it could have been avoided if all they had to do was alittle bit of planning my personal opinion would just be sitting right downyou know these are potential problems these are things that could come uplater on down the road this is going to be the oval the way that I'm going toovercome these problems but you really do need to make sure that you write downa plan don't just start running in a direction tip number five make sure thatyou prepare for the unexpected and this is kind of what I was saying beforethink about all the problems that could arise now don't go too far down therabbit hole because you know you could go really crazy with it there is a thingcalled a SWOT analysis that I would recommend using in your business planand a SWOT analysis is SW o T and that stands for external origin and those areproblems that are external and that's to do with the environment things that aregoing on around you that you have no control over then there is internalorigin which is things that are happening inside of your businessproblems that you could control and there's helpful which are things they'regoing to help you achieve your goal and there are things that are harmful andthose are the opposite of help all those are things that are going to be workingagainst you and you want to fill out this graph and I put a picture on thescreen right there so you can see what's what analysis looks like and then justfill those in because it's going to help you plan and it's going to help you moveforward in the future to avoid problems and it'll also help with theproblem-solving as well tip number six your budget isn't the same thing as aplan you can have a great plan but maybe you're thinking I don't have enoughmoney to do all of this don't worry about that yet you can think about howam I going to get the money later on but first create the plan and think okaywrite down the planning and say right I'm going to need to do X Y Z I'm gonnaneed X amount of money now how do I get that money and that's all part of theplan and that's really important don't just write a plan based on your budgetright now because it could be really small and you could end up hinderingyourself and stopping yourself from expanding and achieving success becauseyou are so worried about your budget tip number seven get other people's opinionsand advice now I'd say don't go too far with this because it could go either waysometimes you'll have family members that say you know it's a really rubbishidea even that's a great idea or worse they'll say is a great idea when it is aterrible idea so speak to a few people I prefer to speak to people that I don'tknow that have no connection with me and that's great because they'll just behonest with you you have to think is this something that you would actuallypersonally purchase it is something a service that you wouldactually use could you foresee people actually using this or is it a littlebit too far out there it is something that people are going to be able toadapt to immediately or is this something that you're gonna have to do alot of marketing to convince people that it's a good idea that can stop somehorrendous accidents happening later on and you don't want to run out of moneyyou don't wanna get yourself into debt so it is really important that you seekother people's advice as well because what could end up happening is they canend up giving you another idea on top of it and it just improves the idea thatyou had originally number eight and this is again very important remember thatyou need to take some risks it's all good and while trying to play it safebut in the real world it doesn't really work like that and I know in college anduniversity when they're teaching you about business they always let you knowtry and be safe and don't do this and do that sometimes you just got to take arisk sometimes you really have to just say you know what I'm just gonna give ita shot and see what happens so my personal recommendation to you would beprepared to take some risks even if they're just small risks sometimesstepping out of your comfort zone really could improve your business number ninesometimes people are so focused on profits that they really forget aboutthe customer you can't forget about the customer without your customers youdon't have a business so you need to be thinking what is it that my customerswant how can I service them how can I help them how can I keep them happy howcan I make them come back and purchase from me again how can I get them to getreferrals and bring their friends and their family to me so you need to bethinking from the customers perspective so don't forget your customers whenwriting your business plan number 10 be clear about your rewards don't lie toyourself sometimes people will say you know well if I do this this this andthen I'm gonna be really super rich but you need to be really honest withyourself all those numbers realistic do you really think that you could achievethose goals now I understand about you know thinkingpositive and don't hinder yourself and so on so forth but at the same time youhave to be realistic you know if you've got a one handy glove and you say wellthere's a trillion people in the world and if 1% of them bought my one handyglove you know I'll be a billionaire but the problem is no one wants a one handedglove people want two gloves so again you really need to think about yourbusiness your customers but then start thinking about the real rewards wherecould this business go is it more likely to be successful is it more likely to bea failure and if it's a fait that's fine at least you didn't wastetime pursuing it you just knew immediately was a failure and then youmove on to a different idea don't rush into an idea just because you reallywant to start a business don't force it you want to sit down and think aboutwhat you're about to do because this business could last for the rest of yourlife so you want to make sure that it is the right business it's something you'reactually interested in it has high profitability so I hope this has beenhelpful again please make sure to hit that subscribe button if you haven'talready please also make sure to leave a thumbs up on this video I really reallywould appreciate it I'd love to see if I can get at least ten likes on this videothat would be absolutely amazing if you want I do have other videos on mychannel where I give entrepreneur news tips and advice so I really would loveto see their eye speed you guys again soon but in the meantime peace.
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