Business Plan Question about employees?

[disneyteddies]

I would like to know from business planners, is it better to not have employee's or do banks/grants look more for businesses that are going to hire in the future?

In our business, (my wife and I) are the only ones doing it and that's all we need, will this go against us because we're not needing to hire future individuals? Are they looking for businesses that will create more employment or can we do this ourselves without being punished for that?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Yuliya Mironova]

It may vary a little bit from country to country, but I think that overall, government and quasi-governmental grant-awarding bodies legitimately take "providing employment" into account, because social policy is generally relevant to their objectives, whereas banks mostly don't at all, because their main criteria for lending money revolve around security, viability, business plans, people's financial track-records and so on (social policy factors not really relevant).

[Aine]

I agree with the above comment. It is the bottom line that counts ... the profit margain.

If they can see that you have a viable business, that is their main interest.

But they will need to know that you have the experience to carry out the business and understand business planning. They will want to have confidence in you. You can give them this via your CV's and details of the people you can call upon for the different areas, such as someone with marketing experience, if that is something you have not got yourselves.

You will also need to supply them with details of your accountant, insurance policies you may have to take out for your business and your legal representation.


AnneMarie

[AlisonMSmith]

Originally Posted by disneyteddies

I would like to know from business planners, is it better to not have employee's or do banks/grants look more for businesses that are going to hire in the future.

There's no way to answer this question because you haven't provided a critical detail. What exactly do you WANT from banks or government with regard to your business?

[disneyteddies]

Hi there.

I'm looking for money to fund our small business idea. We don't have much savings or collateral so we have to look at grants, forgivable loans and or executive loans to start. I am working on a VERY comprehensive business plan and have been for a long time now.

We have a great business idea (a vintage online comic book store). I am an expert in this field and have been for over 36 years and am very passionate about comic books.

This isn't something we just started, it's been going on for years growing more and more everyday. It isn't just a hobby it's going to be my full time career so we've been working on it every day for years now.

We just about had it going in the last few months but our financing fell through 70% and it was not enough to start responsibly so now I am working on finishing our business proposal (a tough job when you have to do it yourself and you've never done one before).

Grants are handed out all the time from my research and I've actually had one for $8000.00 when I was in a band to record one of our albums but this is a different scenerio alltogether.

Still, I'm confident with our elaborate business plan, our passion, our experience and our confidence, we will eventually win over the right person who will be able to fund us and we can get on with the rest of our lives.

Thanx for the advice so far, I'll probably have more questions over time but I welcome any more advice as well as the ones already given.

Hank.

P.S. We have considered the cheapo templates for an e-commerce site and nothing even comes close to what we need and we aren't going to start off just like 80% of the other smaller stores because we need to break into the 20% of the ones who are doing this for a living in order to survive and thrive!

I didn't mean that in a snobby way, I just mean we want to be the bigger fish in the pond rather than the guppies....

This site is similar to what we want to do and be.

http:Worldwide Comics Start Page

[AlisonMSmith]

Originally Posted by disneyteddies

We don't have much savings or collateral so we have to look at grants, forgivable loans and or executive loans to start.

We've done a lot of government work, but never applied for grants. I'm a firm believer in bootstrapping, but others might have this info.

We have a great business idea (a vintage online comic book store). I am an expert in this field and have been for over 36 years and am very passionate about comic books.

What is your competition? When I googled vintage comic books, I got nearly 4 million sites. That's not peanuts. Is there a narrower niche you're going to target?

We just about had it going in the last few months but our financing fell through 70% and it was not enough to start responsiby

I'm trying to figure out how much you believe you need to get this project underway. Maybe even more to the point is the considerable outlay it seems you are considering with unproven viability. (That's going to be your biggest task in getting a grant, I think, showing that this is really a viable project without having anything yet underway.)

How much do you need? What do you need to purchase? Our web site division sets up an entire site (domain, hosting, cms, theme, etc.) for $100. A shopping cart system is $25 more. If you're looking for serious customization, I'm thinking $200-$300 for a ton of stuff. You'd probably need a digital camera, a light box or other such stuff. What else do you anticipate?

This site is similar to what we want to do and be... Worldwide Comics Start Page

What is it about this site that you believe will require a huge capital outlay? I've looked it over and from what I could see on a cursory review was that is was not only very basic, but rather dated as well. What is it that you believe is extraordinary about this site?

[disneyteddies]

Hi,

I know you're trying to help but what does any of this have to do with my original question?

I don't mean to sound rude or get defensive but I just needed help with a business proposal question I'm facing right now.

I didn't want to get into everything to try and explain the why's and how's of every detail because most people don't understand all that's involved with this dream and the curse on our private lives that keeps teasing us with getting close and then throwing a huge financial crisis in our way...FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS!

We don't have the privilege of coming from money or even to catch a lucky break once in a while. We have two jobs each and work our a$$e$ off ALL the time and we want to be self employed more than anything.

Without going into details too much, we need a minimum of 15 thousand to start. 20 to start better and 30 thousand is the goal to be able to run our business for at least two years with no further capital needed until that time.

You seem to think these two sites are basic and should cost only 100-300 dollars to set up and run to do what I want...I have gone through thousands of websites (basic ones) and none can do the extra unique things we will have and not even the basic stuff we need. I would love to pay only 1-3 hundred dollars for our site but then everyone would have an excellent website instead of all the poor ones out there.

After interviewing dozens of website companies locally we have found the average cost of a comprehensive site to be in the area of 8 to 14 thousand dollars.

Sound like a lot? Yes it does but after researching thousands of poorly designed websites and hundreds of online comic book stores, we've only been able to find a handful of sites we would want to emulate and incorporate our own fantastic ideas into.

The company we have chosen to go with has a proven track record and constantly wins awards for best website design each year. I guess I should mention, we don't know computer lingo or programing and therefore cannot build our own site ourselves..(I even took classes and courses which from a mistake of being put into the wrong class almost cost us 14 thousand dollars, it turns out the course to learn how to build websites does not exist in Winnipeg). In short they would do EVERYTHING technical for us and would be there for us long after the site is built leaving us to concentrate on the areas we excel in.

Needles to say we need professionals to build it for us while our expertise lies in the products, experience, marketing skills, customer service, being self employed most of our lives in other smaller projects, bookkeeping and the handling and shipping of products. I have never had to do an extensive bp before and it is taking all my skills and attention to get through it.

I have many things I could say about our business that would make it so much more than a usual small online store but I'm not about to give away all our hard earned secrets and the many, many things that make us unique and competitive to the stores we will be in competition with.

We already have most of the supplies for the store as well as an impressive inventory but without the proper funding for our killer marketing strategy and a powerful website we can't move forward properly.

Sure, we would love to bootstrap but not everyone has more than enough to pay their regular bills and have savings either...when you grow up with bad breaks and cancer you don't learn properly about rrsp's and mutual funds and have to jump right into the work force to help support your family. We even tried to get on track last year by buying our first ever mutual fund and promptly lost 800 out of 1500 dollars in our first year so we cashed out and cut our losses. Next time I'll invest in golden age comic books, they only go up in value (not down).

Anyways, this did turn into a rant after all but we've been through a lot lately and I wasn't looking to explain myself all over again....yes I know EVERYONE has it rough but some have it a lot harder than others.

We're not bad with money, we're just very unlucky in life but once you see the site in a year or so (hopefully) people will understand better. We just need our one break to make this a lifechanging moment.

Here's a list of over 400 people from Manitoba that got small business grants and what they received to show it is possible.

Canadian Government Grants & Loans Recipients - Case Studies and Success Stories in MB

Again, I know you meant well and I'm really not trying to be mean but I'm trying soooooo hard to get this going because I know it will be a goldmine and it is what I'm meant to do.

I love this forum and try to contribute to it, so I never want to offend or insult anyone because that isn't professional or even nice and we just aren't like that....we're just very tired right now.

Thanx for all the advice.

Hank.

__________________

[AlisonMSmith]

I responded in detail, but the system logged me out and it was all lost. Again. I'll try with brevity to recreate my response.

Originally Posted by disneyteddies

I know you're trying to help but what does any of this have to do with my original question?

Maybe nothing, but this is an open forum and all are allowed to give input. That was mine.

most people don't understand all that's involved with this dream and the curse on our private lives that keeps teasing us with getting close and then throwing a huge financial crisis in our way...FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS!

No, I'm sure we don't understand the specifics. But there are lots of folks here with centuries of combined experience. Maybe we can save you some further pain and frustration.

We don't have the privilege of coming from money or even to catch a lucky break once in a while.

Who does? But isn't the plan you're pursuing NOW just looking for that elusive "lucky break" again? Why pin your dreams to that star.

I have owned a business since 1987. We've made our entire income, since 2001, from our three companies (a C-corp, an LLC, and a sole proprietorship). We had no "privilege," no spare cash for start-up, no investors. We just took the Dave Ramsey route, only bought what we could afford, bootstrapped, worked hard and expanded only as we made sales to support it.

You seem to think these two sites are basic and should cost only 100-300 dollars to set up and run to do what I want.

Yea, I do. Unless there is some unknown there, the site you linked to is very basic, not to mention outdated.

Here's the thing, Hank. You said you "don't know computer lingo or programming." Might that not mean that you are vulnerable to being taken advantage of by those who do? And while you'd like to layout the huge bucks, it doesn't seem in line with your budget. So you're putting your entire dream on hold waiting for something you can't do on your own.

That's fine! I just want you to realize it's not your only choice.

I have gone through thousands of websites (basic ones) and none can do the extra unique things we will have and not even the basic stuff we need.

Cool, what is the "extra unique" functionality you need?

I would love to pay only 1-3 hundred dollars for our site but then everyone would have an excellent website instead of all the poor ones out there.

Logical fallacy. But it does confirm what I heard over and over in a professional web master forum. "You need to charge triple or quadruple that or people won't value your services." Funny psychology that.

After interviewing dozens of website companies locally we have found the average cost of a comprehensive site to be in the area of 8 to 14 thousand dollars.

As I said, maybe I'm missing some serious underlying technology there. (I'd love to know what it is.) But if you're paying 8,000-14,000 for a site like the one you linked to, you're getting shafted.

We just need our one break to make this a lifechanging moment.

Maybe you already got it, but don't recognize it when you see it.

Good luck with your dream, Hank. My best to you.

[disneyteddies]

Okay thanx for your imput. I don't have time to convince you any further that we know what we're doing. You obviously think we're hicks and don't research anything at all before we do it.

I don't need someone looking down at me right now and insulting us.

And yes, you ARE very insulting to our intelligence.

Good luck to you.

[AlisonMSmith]

Sorry you're insulted, Hank, sincerely. No offense was meant. Just giving a different way to look at the problem.

I certainly don't expect you to convince me of anything. I'd still be interested in hearing what functionality you're talking about that you think you can only get from a really expensive outlay. It would be educational, at least.

And, btw, before I knew you thought I was insulting you, I was thinking about your quandry during my workout. My husband received millions in grants when he was a professor (building autonomous underwater vehicles for military purposes) and I can attest to the fact that having a working model -- something to show to those who approve funding -- is far more likely to move your forward than a plan on paper. So, I came up with a proposal. I'm still willing to do it if you want to try an experiment. Here's what I had in mind:

(1) I set up a site for you, complete with domain, hosting, cms, theme, etc. (My typical $100 setup.)

(2) I set up an about page (with your info) and a contact form (that forwards to your email).

(3) I add a shopping cart on the home page, the back page, whatever page you want.

(4) I do a couple of hours of customization that YOU choose. Maybe some colors or layout changes, some basic functionality, something like that. (More is negotiable.)

(5) I blog the entire process out here for you, so everyone can see what's going on and how it's progressing.

I'll do this for free.

Then I'll give you the login info and directions on how to load the cart, add updates, etc. You can try it for 30 days. See if it gives you what you want OR if it will give you a head start WHILE you are waiting for an investor or for a grant to come along. As I said, something to SHOW them: here is my current site, here is what we offer, I want to make it better by doing X and Y with money from your loan/grant.

If you decide to keep it, you pay me $250 for the site for the first year. (Annual renewal as per the terms on my site, which includes domain renewal and hosting.) If you decide not to keep it, you pay me $10 for the domain (which you keep) and the experiment is over.

You risk $10, I risk hosting package and theme costs, plus all my time.

This is one of those things that just gets me. So many people have hopes and dreams for their own business, but can't move toward it because of so many barriers. I truly believe that most barriers aren't as insurmountable as they seem. Often there are ready solutions if you know where to look. I'd really like to be the catalyst to get you STARTED at what you hope to achieve.

Let me know if you're interested.