Actual for You - Business

How To Prepare Contingency Plans For Your Business
When you draw up business plans, apart from forecasting bottom lines and sources of investment, you also need to work on contingency plans for your business. All businesses go through a rough patch occasionally, so it is best to be prepared for any contingency. This way, you will not be taken unawares by any unforeseen event. This article gives tips on how to make the best contingency plans and to be ready for all events.Contingency Plans: Simple Practices Can Prevent Acciden

what would you call it?,” she asked in desperation.

The responses were flying, “How about a non-candle lighting device” or a “Man-made bumble bee, or a ...”

The little 4-year-old girl said it looked like her dad’s bald head. He had started shaving his entire head for some unknown reason, and it gave off lots of light. Why not call it a bald light or a light bald?

People stared nodding. They said the name was different and it would create a lot of buzz. They could see people walking into a store and asking for a box of light balds People stared nodding. They said the name was different and it would create a lot of buzz. They could see people walking into a store and asking for a box of light balds.

So the obvious question is:

Project Management - How to Plan and Schedule More Complex Projects
Gantt charts are useful tools for analysing, planning and controlling complex multi stage projects.Gantt Charts can; Assist in identifying the tasks and sub tasks to be undertaken Help you lay out the tasks that need to be completed Assist in scheduling when these tasks will be carried out and in what order Assist in planning resources and needed to complete the project, Assist in working out the critical path for a project where it needs to be compl

It is well known that Thomas Edison was an inventor, a genius, and he never slept. Did you know that Mrs. Edison was a genius and never slept too? She was the marketing guru behind his engineering success. True, Tom had discovered what is today known as the light bulb. When he showed it to the Mrs. Mina Edison, his second wife, she asked “what are you going to call it?”

Tom said. “I call it an affordable electrical home-lighting device.”

“Great,” she responded, “with a name like that it will sit on the shelf at the patent office. We will just add it to the other money-losing patents you have conceived.”

“How will people know what it does? She asked sarcastically, “From its name? You need a short catchy description that customers (yes, even in the 1880s they were already called customers) will immediately identify with.”

This time Tom listened. The English inventor, Sir Joseph Swan, his arch rival, was ready to introduce a similar device and he did not want to lose out this time.

Mrs. Edison started grilling her husband. “Why will people want to buy your affordable electrical home-lighting device?” “Well, it has the incandescence of 81 candles or 2.3 gas-burning lamps.” he proudly answered.

“Tom, I keep on telling you that those are features. Customers don’t buy features; they buy benefits,” she said. “How will this device benefit people?”

“They will be able to stay up later and read more books,” he offered.

She glared at him. “Are you telling me that people will invest tens of dollars to bring wires into their houses to connect to your affordable electrical home-lighting device just to be able to read the latest Mark Twain novel?, she said. “I don’t think so. My research shows that only 18 percent of adults can read on an eighth-grade level.”

She decided to bring in some of her neighbors and ask them their opinions of the device (history records this as the first documented focus group). Their comments were invaluable:

“I will be able to put make-up on before school,” said the high school debutante.

A little 4-year old girl shyly whispered that she would be able sleep at night and not be afraid of the dark with an affordable electrical home-lighting device glowing in the hallway.

As always it was the female head of the households who saw the benefits most evidently. “No more soot from the oil lamps means cleaner floors and therefore less of a need to wash and wax daily. Why with the extra time, I would be able to go to school and get a degree and work independently and therefore have the money I need to leave my husband,” one said.

Mrs. Edison was excited. This affordable electrical home-lighting device could finally make her husband an entrepreneurial success. However the focus group balked at the name. No way could they see themselves walking into one of those new Woolworth five-and-dime stores and asking for a dozen affordable electrical home-lighting devices.

Mrs. Edison would not let them leave. “So what would you call it?,” she asked in desperation.

The responses were flying, “How about a non-candle lighting device” or a “Man-made bumble bee, or a ...”

So the obvious question is:

Feedback is a Powerful Tool
A good-looking logo will help people feel better about your company, but what is a snazzy, professional logo to you may be an eyesore to everyone else, including potential customers. It's important to find out what other people think of the logo before you invest in signage, stationary, a website and whatever else you will use your logo on. Of course, everyone will not agree on definitions of what is and what is not good-looking, but getting feedback from others about your

es, even in the 1880s they were already called customers) will immediately identify with.”