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Everyone that owns a small business needs proficiency in writing business letters, whether the owner of the company writes the letters or an employee writes the letters. It does not require a course at a business school to learn to write effective business letters. It does however require a basic knowledge of correct grammar and punctuation. When sending a letter promoting your business, you want to make sure that you print it on company letterhead. You can do this yourself with the help of Microsoft Word or you can have letterhead printed for you by a printing company. I even use a copy of my letter head when writing business emails. Initially, you need to draft a test run of what you want to say to prospective customers. Once your thoughts and words are completed, get it in print! You want to start your letter with terms such as "Dear Customer" or "Greetings" or "To whom It May Concern". Your first paragraph should introduce yourself and your compan...

Just as important as getting the "right" people to sit on the board of directors is the importance of getting the "right" people to staff the organization. Like board members, staff are often recruited because they are passionate about the cause. They may have served as a volunteer in the organization or been a beneficiary of the programs or services provided by the NPO. While admirable, that's hardly enough and certainly not the most important criteria in recruiting and hiring staff. So if you want to improve your staff recruiting process so that you get it "right" more often, what are some of the things you need to keep in mind? Core Values and Core Purpose While it's important for board members to embody the core values and core purpose of the organization, it's a non-negotiable for staff, particularly the Executive Director. If your Executive Director doesn't model this and set the example, the staff can hardly be held accountable to...

Strategic Planning is really two different things: Strategic Thinking and Execution Planning. Strategic Thinking should be happening all year long. Execution Planning happens annually and quarterly. Strategic Thinking is working through several key areas that define who you are as a business and result in a strategy, hopefully a very simple one-phrase strategy. For example, the Southwest Airlines strategy is Wheels Up. Planes in the air make money and planes on the ground don't. If you examine everything they do and you'll see it all aligns with this one phrase. To turn their airplanes around quicker than anyone else they don't use assigned seating, so their customers are pushing each other down the aisle to get the plane loaded. They also manage their labor relations such that their pilots are willing to help the baggage handlers and their flight attendants are willing to help those that clean the planes, all to get those plans in the air. They also only use one airplane...

The words "strategic planning" send chills down the spine of most reasonable people. That's due in part to less than positive experiences in a process that was called "strategic planning." Given the option of watching paint dry or engaging a strategic planning process, most would choose the former. Consultants like me share a significant degree of the blame for this reality. Many of us have made an abomination out of a process that reasonably should invigorate, energize, and inspire leadership teams of nonprofit organizations and businesses alike. The Problem The problem, at least in part is that strategic planning has been marketed as an event. You have an offsite kumbaya gathering of the executive leadership to do strategic planning. You meet for a day or perhaps two and at the end of it you emerge with an extensive work of art called a "strategic plan." Most often it promptly gets forgotten and there is little if any follow through on the conversa...

What is a business plan used for? Writing a business plan is not just a necessary tool for business start up. A solid plan will lead your business on the path you wish it to follow. Good business planning will serve as a roadmap to the future of your business by allowing you to properly allocate resources, focus on key business points, and prepare for any opportunities or problems that may arise as you look ahead. How to Write a Business Plan While there are no strict rules for writing a business plan there are some guidelines that you can follow that will ensure your business possesses a professional and effective plan. The amount of information and level of detail included will depend on the intended audience. For external audiences such as investors, lenders and government agencies your plan will be much more detailed and in-depth. For internal audiences such as upper management or board of directors the information can be less detail oriented and more goal focused. In either cas...

When we speak of strategic planning, we pertain to the discipline where we think about what will happen in the next few years or so. We then establish steps or solutions that we are willing to undergo or perform in order for us to cross the barriers that we might encounter. Typically, strategic planning is used in business organizations but it can also be utilized by the government, the non profit organizations and even personally. Simply put, this activity is to help us determine what and how we are going to navigate over the next year or so. In other words, we think about what we are going to do in the future and how we are going to accomplish the tasks that we have set. In general, the strategic planning concept is applied in the entire organization but it can also be focused on a particular yet major business function including departments, divisions and others. Strategic thinking is actually easier when you give your focus on the entire organization. Although this is much more co...