Trading costs §Interest charges §Leasing §Packaging materials §Travelling expenses & networking

Break even point

Knowing costs are important to calculate sales needed to reach break even point. This is where gross profit is same as your operating costs. If your business doesn’t make enough money to reach break even point, plus profit for all your efforts, this business idea may not be feasible.

Borrowing funds

You may have sufficient cash to start and operate business. Typically you could approach family, banks and financial societies to help you kick start your idea.

When you borrow money make sure you know: §How much you need §What you will do with it §When and how you will repay it §What collateral you can offer

Target market

You must know group of people you want to sell your product or service to:

§Who they are §Their location §When & how often they buy §How much are they willing to pay §Their age

The competition

Most times there are already others doing what you are going to do. Think about what way you can compete with them:

§Price §Quality §Knowledge §Service

This way you and your customers will be clear on your competitive advantage.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a tool to help you determine whether your business will work. SWOT stands for:

§Strength §Weaknesses §Opportunities §Threats

Strength and weaknesses are factors inside your business which business has a control over. These are what your business is good and bad at.

Opportunities and threats are factors outside your business which business has no control over. You will find that your opportunities will emerge from your strengths, while your weakness would become threats to your business.

Suppliers

When you have determined what products you need, find a supplier. Research various suppliers and explore what they can offer you. Negotiate best possible price and trading terms you can. Working closely together with suppliers will form a strong backbone for your business.

Cash flow forecast

This management tool is essential and gives you a summary of your monthly earnings and costs over 12 months. The basic format of a cash flow forecast is:

§Starting balance §Add projected cash inflow §Deduct projected cash outflow §Result is budgeted cash balance

Usually when you first start a home based business it may be easier to do a three month cash flow projection. List actual monthly results and this will let you know how accurate your projections are and gives you and idea of a trend so you will be project next 3 months.

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Then you must carefully select which of above aberrations becomes your corrective public relations goal – clarify misconception, spike that rumor, correct false assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.

Selecting wrong strategy to show you how to reach your goal is like eating corned beef and cabbage without horseradish mustard and potatoes. Fact is, you can achieve your PR goal by picking right strategy from three choices available to you, change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. But be sure your new strategy dovetails nicely with that new public relations goal.

But what will you say when you finally get opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience that will help persuade them to your way of thinking?

Select your best writer to prepare message because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to behaviors you have in mind.

Happily, next step is easy. You select communications tactics to carry your message to attention of your target audience. Making certain that tactics you select have a record of reaching folks like your audience members, you can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others.

Experience shows that HOW one communicates often affects credibility of message. So, you may wish to deliver it in small getogethers like meetings and presentations rather than through a higher-profile media announcement.

Time to look for signs of progress. And that means a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Employing many of same questions used in first benchmark session, you will now be watching carefully for signs that offending perception is being altered in your direction.

Aren’t we fortunate that these matters usually can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

This workable public relations blueprint will help you persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to success of your department, division or subsidiary.

The people you deal with behave like everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move those key external audiences to action.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com