eLearning Process (or Activities)

Course Title: PROFITS MATTER® 1-Year Growth Action Plan (1GAP)

Why take this course:

• The majority of entrepreneurs struggle to reach a desirable growth outcome.
• Many are overwhelmed from juggling working in and managing their businesses at the same time.
• Most are confused about why they still don’t have much cash in their business bank accounts.

To achieve top business performance, you must have a system and foundation to help you grow – not just in revenue – but also in ROI back to you as the owner. Not just a business plan – a business plan of action!

Course Description:

There are 8 chapters in this eLearning module; here is the description of each chapter and what it covers:

Chapter 1 – Introduction.

Did you create a business plan when you first started your business? Perhaps you’ve attended Small Business Administration (SBA), SCORE, Entrepreneur MBA courses, etc and learned what makes up a business plan. For the most part, it’s a document that most owners don’t want to go to the effort to put together. Why? It’s not designed to help you grow your business – it’s designed to present your business idea to investors or to the bank for funding. However, most businesses struggle to grow their business in a consistent basis. In my many years of consulting with small businesses, I’ve found that having a one-year growth action plan is much more achievable than a business plan. Most importantly, it works like a charm.

•    What business risks have you taken? What has been your reward for taking those risks?
•    Know the Ten Variables of making your business a success.

Chapter 2 – Business Model.

“What does your company do?” When asked, most business owners have a one-minute answer. However, if I were to ask you, “what is your business model?” it might take you a while to answer. The business model is not a part of the standard business plan, yet it is the engine of your business. The business model is not set in stone. As a business owner, you may want to revisit your business model on an annual basis. The economic cycle changes and consumer behavior changes, so keep your business model flexible so your business can grow proactively along the way.

•    Business Model Components – What are the three components of a business model?
•    How six professional service firms changed their business model and grew their business in both revenue and net profit.

Chapter 3 – Lowest Cost Denominator.

Are you actually making a profit in your business? Most CPA firms will tell you not many businesses make a profit, because they’ve never learned how to make a profit. Until you understand the lowest cost denominator for your business, how can you build sales projections, not to mention profits?

•    What is the lowest cost denominator for professional services?
•    How can you package profitable services?
•    How to build your sales projection based on your packages.

Chapter 4 – Marketing.

This section is not about tactical marketing tools such as logo development and design, branding, social media, press releases, general advertising, etc. This chapter shows you how to strategically deploy pull marketing, keeping you from being forced to chase down your next client time after time.

•    Are you playing in the convenience market space or quality? Pick your battles.
•    Who are your market makers? Know them to strategically pull all resources to you.
•    Make your clients seek you out – not the other way around.

Chapter 5 – Operational Management.

Your sales projection alone does not address whether or not your business has the right capacity to accomplish the projection. If you are over capacity, your delivery may not be what your clients expect. If you are under capacity, you’ll have to deal with high overhead eating up your profits.

•    Team Structure – Identify each member’s capacity.
•    Owner Work Week Time Management

Chapter 6 – Cash Flow Projection.

Understand your monthly cash flow projection to protect your net profit.

•    What are fixed and variable expenses?
•    Build a cash flow projection.

Chapter 7 – Monthly Monitoring.

Having a plan is great, but how can you tell you’re on track to meet your projections? Having a set of meaningful numbers will not only hold you accountable, but also serve as a means to communicate with your team. Your team can understand a small meaningful number more easily than a huge dollar amount. Most people can’t relate to what $1M in annual revenue means. Help them connect the dots to drive revenue and profits for you.

•    What are you Critical Success Factors (CSF) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI)?
•    What is your sales conversion ratio?

Chapter 8 – Re-conceptualize Your Business.

So, what’s next? Now you know all the building blocks for a one-year action plan, which can be used in your formal business plan. But are you really making the most of your business?

•    What are the potential Revenue Sources for your business?
•    What does your Economic Engine flow look like?
•    Are you a Triple Bottom Line company?