Business seminars are they good or bad for writers? I attended an interesting business seminar today. It wasn’t specifically geared to authors but to Native American small business entrepreneurs. The speakers were interesting, the handouts were awesome and the food delicious. We have another day left of the two-day workshop and I’ve been asked to read a portion of Inzared, Queen of the Elephant Riders during the next session. The focus tomorrow is on what your business is (whether already up and running or just an idea). There are about twenty of us in the class and I’ve been treated like royalty, a two-day celebrity, if you will. I handed out business cards to everyone, assisted others as they wrote mission statements for their ventures and helped discuss their business plans.
For some reason some people are awed by the thought that they’ve met a real author. One lady monopolized my time (I loved it!) asking questions about my work, publishing and how I got started. It turns out she has been “closet writing” for many years and didn’t know what to do with all of it. I assured her I would give her some tips and websites if she’d like to check them out and she was ecstatic.
I love to share knowledge with others and help encourage. Today’s workshops were mainly on writing a good business plan. Since I already have mine in place I helped those in my group. But I gained some valuable insight by listening and hearing the remarks of others. My takeaway for the day was this – a good mission statement and business plan are a must for every small business. And there are some things you must always keep in mind while writing them.
The mission statement is the purpose of your business (keep it short and sweet)
The business plan is how you will make your enterprise successful, based on the steps needed to achieve your goals
Leave marketing out of your mission statement but include it in your business plan
Keep your wording in the present tense and avoid using passive verbs
Plan five years out (you can always make adjustments as you need to)
Keep focused throughout the year by keeping the most important part of this year’s business plan on a white board so that you can look at it often and know what stage you’re in. This also allows you to make changes as you go along.
Set a realistic budget
Do your research and take as much training as you can (a lot of it can be found for free)
Keep your plan realistic and your goals obtainable
Target your audience
We are a diverse group of aspiring small business owners. The class registered everyone from a female electrician, a construction worker, a social worker, an author, three arts and crafts vendors, a restaurateur, a couple of coffee shop owners and a few other trades. We each brought our own focus and education to the table and it made for very interesting discussions.
I would highly suggest that you take any and all events like this if they become available in your area. We happen to live close to the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin and many of their classes and workshops are offered free of charge to both Native Americans and non-Natives. They bring in the best in speakers and materials. All that’s required of the attendees is their time and attention – pretty good trade-off don’t you think?
A Social Media expert, a Banker and a Marketing professional lectured us today. Tomorrow the line-up will be different and just as interesting, according to the schedule. At the end of the session this afternoon the participants all went home with the bare bones of a Mission Statement and Business Plan written for their respective businesses. Tomorrow we’ll discuss small business loans, as well as marketing.
