What is a business plan? A business plan is a formal written document that defines your business. It provides specific and organized information about your company, your products and services, who you are and how you operate. Why do you need a business plan?

The first in a series of three courses, Understanding Financial Statements is designed for business owners, managers, accountants, bankers and consultants who need to know how to turn financial statements into useful management tools.

You will learn to read, interpret, and analyze your Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and calculate critical ratios for running your business. It's easier than you may think to use your financial statements to make sound business decisions. [More]

The second course in our series, How to Control Cash Flow will show you how to turn financial statements into useful management tools. We'll take a close look at where cash comes from in a small business, where it's used in day-to-day operations and how to identify and correct cash flow problems. At the end of the session, you'll be able to identify key information on cash flow statements and be able to follow the path of cash as it travels through your company. This class will utilize an actual case study to help identify cash flow strategies that you can use in your own business. [More]

The third in our series of financial management workshops, Predicting Future Cash Needs is designed for business owners, managers, accountants, bankers and consultants who need to know how to use a Cash Budget to prepare future performance of a business. During this course, participants will learn to estimate future sources and uses of cash. They will also learn how to analyze those predictions to make more informed decisions. Participants will leave this session feeling more comfortable about decisions related to preparing for growth, realistic loan and financing requests, how much cash they can safely take out of the business, and making affordable purchases for the business. [More]

A good company must understand its market and customers. We'll show you how to do basic primary and secondary market research to learn more about your target customers, customer segments and the market in which you are operating. You will use this knowledge to evaluate the viability of your existing market or new markets you may want to enter. [More]

We'll challenge you to compare your company to your competition so you can develop strategies that build on your strengths. We'll teach you how to systematically analyze the threats and opportunities in your market by collecting information on the competition. [More]

In this module, we'll cover keeping customers and improving the referral rate from satisfied customers. After identifying customer contact points, we'll help you clarify expectations of customer contact personnel in your business. We'll help you develop strategies to manage customer complaints and how to learn from them. We'll also give you some pointers on how to follow up with customers after the transaction to strengthen their loyalty and satisfaction. [More]

Products and services must be priced properly to keep the company profitable as well as support your position in the market. You'll learn the various costs that must be recovered as well as the effect pricing have in supporting your company's position in your market. [More]

You can have the best product or service offered at the best price, but if people don't know about it, you won't sell anything. If your message is off the mark or does not appeal to the needs of your customers, you will be throwing good money out the window. We'll help you develop strategies for advertising and public relations that will project your company's image to your audience. [More]