Business Plan?
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Elaborate. I feel a business plan is a call to action or a methodology you are choosing to pursue and how you plan on getting there. What are you looking for? Your typically multifamily arent you? Are you choosing to hone in on something more than something else? Im not trying to be obtuse, just curious what you are asking.
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http://www.businessplanpro.com/index.php
I've used it for a couple of different businesses over the years. Used to go back from time to time and use it for a current business just to realign back to a more focused trajectory
I've used it for a couple of different businesses over the years. Used to go back from time to time and use it for a current business just to realign back to a more focused trajectory
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Well the long and short of it is if you go to the bank and ask em for a million bucks, they say, "What's your plan?" A business plan will answer that question.
An official business plan will have a lot of detail/thought into it. No stone unturned. Its the who/what/why/when/where/how long/what for etc etc. Makes you really think critically about where you want to take your business and why.
Think about it this way. How did you get where you are today? Are you exactly where you envisioned you would be 5-10 years ago? Are you there by accident? How much money are you making? Is it what you expected? Do you know EXACTLY where you want to be in another 5 years? What is going to make YOU happy?
I believe in taking charge of my own destiny. If I was to venture a guess, most of the painters here are just doing it because of "circumstances". Heck I practically wound up here by accident when my dad got brain cancer 9 years ago. I was already running my own company in a totally different industry and had ZERO intentions of being a PC'er. Now that I'm here, I need to get going on my second billion asap.
I often see all these residential guys pondering a lot of stuff. Indirectly, its all leaning toward the question of "How to make more money?" They talk about what brush to use, what paint to use, what caulk dries the fastest, how to get employees to work harder, how to find better customers (within residential industry), what kind website to have and on and on and on. But I never really see anyone ask the questions of the bigger picture. That would be: "Is there even any really SIGNIFICANT money in the resi world?" IMHO, the answer would be NO. In reality you're (resi painters) competing for the same money that TV's,golf clubs, trucks, dirtbike, quads, boats, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Verizon, Apple etc etc are competing for. It's the "extra money" that your all going for, and FTMP it doesn't even exist.
A lot of them will justify there actions by insisting that "They don't want to get rich" but then follow that up a day or two later with a post "How am I ever going to retire?" I honestly feel sorry for most of them. NEWSFLASH: Homeowners in the US have less disposable income than they have ever had since the Civil War. The money just doesn't exist, period end of story. Your trying to squeeze blood out of a rock. Yes, some of you will make a living. Keep your family fed, watered, sheltered. But the reality is, the money is lying elsewhere. It's in Corporate and Gov't bank accounts. And they are dying for someone who will show up when they say, and do a decent job. It boggles my mind everyday seeing some of the stuff my competition gets away with. You'd almost think they don't have any competition, and oftentimes they don't.
I guess I took the long way around, but basically I think it's imperative that a person have a good business plan. Spend a little more time investigating other routes or plans of attack. Talk to your city Public Works Department or any nearby manufacturing/commercial areas. These are people who are spending "before tax money" and have NO interest in trying to do the job themselves or find the "cheapest outfit".
Basically I just want everyone to be successful. I really do! And 99% of the problems can be solved by just going where the money is to begin with. My goal has been and still is to have the highest paid "painters" in the state. Yes I'm talking over Union Scale in a state that's HIGH for the trades to begin with. With that being my heartfelt goal, it really helps me narrow our focus.
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Good stuff^!
I am certainly convinced, after reading Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, that we are all capable of creating our own destiny. At any age.
A Business Plan seems as critical as any central nervous would be to an organism, or in this case, an organization.
And if a "Business Plan" is too hard for someone to wrap their heads around, maybe looking at it as a "Life Plan" would make it seem more attainable, provided you make an honest assessment of one's strengths and weaknesses.
I am certainly convinced, after reading Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, that we are all capable of creating our own destiny. At any age.
A Business Plan seems as critical as any central nervous would be to an organism, or in this case, an organization.
And if a "Business Plan" is too hard for someone to wrap their heads around, maybe looking at it as a "Life Plan" would make it seem more attainable, provided you make an honest assessment of one's strengths and weaknesses.
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Thanks for posting this bryceraisanen. I found it very informative, unsettling (but in a good way), and an eye opener.
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Bryan,
I hear you. I guess i didnt ask as directly as i meant to in my post. Whats the road you are contemplating?
Fwiw, i wholeheartedly agree with your positioning. Hence why our focalpoint is commercial and government work. We are commercial drywallers and paint. We try and linch up as much division 9 as we can without bordering on being turnkey GC. I am probably behind your curve a bit but getting full accounting systems that identify profitability and job costing is what we have been dialing in for last year and we are letting the numbers prove our sweet spots.
I hear you. I guess i didnt ask as directly as i meant to in my post. Whats the road you are contemplating?
Fwiw, i wholeheartedly agree with your positioning. Hence why our focalpoint is commercial and government work. We are commercial drywallers and paint. We try and linch up as much division 9 as we can without bordering on being turnkey GC. I am probably behind your curve a bit but getting full accounting systems that identify profitability and job costing is what we have been dialing in for last year and we are letting the numbers prove our sweet spots.
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Loved that book. I listen to audiobooks while painting everyday .....
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That's the point of the thread. See if anybody had a recommendation b4 wasting dozens of hours demoing them. I already had a week of effort in b4 realizing they all suck.
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LivePlan.com provides a painting company business plan. It also syncs with your Quickbooks Online file to pull in your financials. I recommend it, especially if you're trying to get financing.
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