Start Your Own Business With Success
For Beginners
8 Modules, 48 Topics, 8 weeks
This course was developed by SME Hub Mentors (Pty) Ltd in South Africa and has not yet been accredited. It is internationally unique in its practicality and bottom-up profit approach. It was attempted to address all possible pitfalls with possible solutions thereto.
Modules: 8
- Module 1: Why a Business of your own
- Module 2: Success in Business
- Module 3: Planning for Profitability
- Module 4: What is it going to cost
- Module 5: Gross profit
- Module 6: Cost of sales
- Module 7: Sales requirements
- Module 8: What is a plan of action
- Certificate of completion
Course Outcome:
After taking this course, you will be able to:
- Determine the reasons for establishing your own business.
- What makes a business successful?
- The unique problems and failures of a small business.
- A business vision and expectations.
- Challenges in business
- The meaning and understanding of the business environment.
- Characteristics of successful businesses.
- How is success measured?
- How to plan for profitability?
- The cost to start a new business.
- Sales requirements, gross profit and cost of sales.
- A practical, effective plan of action.
INDEX OF TOPICS
Module 1 – WHY A BUSINESS OF YOUR OWN?
1.1 The answer to your Establishment Questions
1.2 Why in Business?
1.2.1 “To make money”
1.2.2 Forced Situations
1.2.3 Need for Independence
1.2.4 New Innovations
1.3 What Makes a Business Successful?
1.4 My Business Vision
1.4.1 What do I expect from my business?
1.4.2 What sort of Business?
1.4.3 Will it work?
1.4.4 What skills do I require in my business?
1.4.5 Get the Critics In
1.5 Economic Review
1.6 Challenges in Business
1.6.1 Support Structures
1.6.2 Changing Circumstances
1.6.3 Wrong Choices
1.6.4 “Growing Too Fast Too Soon”
WORKSHEET 1.1: My initial business idea
WORKSHEET 1.2: What do I want from my business?
WORKSHEET 1.3: What Business success means to me.
WORKSHEET 1.4: My business values
WORKSHEET 1.5: Challenges to my business idea
WORKSHEET 1.6: Me and my Business Skills
MODULE 1: CASE STUDIES
Module 2 – SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
2.1 Characteristics of Successful Businesses
2.1.1 The Essence of a Successful Business
2.1.2 Some primary qualities and characteristics of successful businesses
2.2 Broad Strategies for Start-up Businesses
2.3 Examples of some Internal and External Factors Influencing Success
2.4 Compliance Issues
2.5 Protect Yourself
2.5.1 Legal Formats
2.5.2 Insurance
2.5.3 Licenses, Certificates and other Conditions
2.5.4 Contracts
2.5.5 Intellectual Property
2.5.6 Trade Marks (also refer to Addendum 2.3)
2.5.7 Patents (also refer to Addendum 2.3)
2.5.8 Employees’ Tax
2.5.9 Data and PC Communication
2.6 Taxes and Levies
2.7 How is Success Measured?
2.7.1 Nett Profit
2.7.2 Owner satisfaction
2.7.3 A growing customer base and client retention
2.7.4 Competitive Stance
2.7.5 Customer satisfaction
2.7.6 Advertising Success
2.7.7 Efforts to Innovate
2.7.8 Employee satisfaction
2.8 The Business Formula
2.8.1 Retail Businesses
2.8.2 Manufacturing Concerns
2.8.3 Service Providers
2.9 The Success Formula
MODULE 2: CASE STUDIES
ADDENDUM 2.1: COMPLIANCE ISSUES
ADDENDUM 2.2: BUSINESS LEGAL FORMATS
ADDENDUM 2.3: TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS
ADDENDUM 2.4: TAXES AND LEVIES
Module 3 – PLANNING FOR PROFITABILITY
3.1 How much Nett Profit?
3.1.1 Monthly Personal Expenses
3.1.2 Annual Personal Expenses
3.1.3 Personal Dreams and Aspirations
3.1.4 Total Personal Income Required
3.1.5 Reasonable Salary
3.1.6 Owners’ remuneration for Risk taken
3.1.7 Provision for Growth and ‘Rainy Days’
3.1.8 Business Nett Profit Required
3.2 The Nett Profit Budget
3.2.1 The Owner’s Salary
3.2.2 How to compile the Nett Profit Budget
3.3 Distinction: As Owner and as Employee
3.4 Identification of Expectations
3.4.1 Misconceived Expectations
3.4.2 Identify Your Expectations
3.5 Quantifying your Expectations
WORKSHEET 3.1: My personal monthly expenses budget
WORKSHEET 3.2: My personal expectations for my business
MODULE 3: CASE STUDIES
Module 4 – WHAT IS IT GOING TO COST?
4.1 Fixed Expenses and Variable Costs
4.2 Identifying Operating Expenses
4.3 Examples of Operating Expenses
4.4 Depreciation
4.5 Unforeseen Expenses
4.6 Capital Budget Needed to Start Successfully
4.7 How will your business be financed?
WORKSHEET 4.1: ASSETS REQUIRED
MODULE 4: CASE STUDIES
Module 5 – GROSS PROFIT
5.1 What is Gross Profit?
5.2 Calculating the “Gross Profit Required”
5.3 What is a “Gross Profit Percentage” (GP%)?
5.4 Determining the Gross Profit % for YOUR Business
5.5 The Importance of Gross Profit
5.6 How much Gross Profit?
5.6.1 To cover Operational Expenses
5.6.2 To achieve your required Nett Profit
5.7 Industry Norms
5.7.1 Gross Profit % = Gross Profit/Operating Income ÷ Sales x 100
5.7.2 Operating Cost % = Operating Cost ÷ Gross Profit x 100
5.7.4 Profit Margin % = Net Profit ÷ Sales x 100
5.7.5 Personnel Remuneration to Gross Profit
MODULE 5: CASE STUDIES
Module 6 – COST OF SALES
6.1 What is Cost of Sales?
6.2 Calculation – Retail Businesses?
6.2.1 How is it Calculated?
6.2.2 Required Stock and Stock Turnover Rate (STOR)
6.3 Calculation – Manufacturing Concerns?
6.3.1 How Calculated
6.3.2 Direct Costs (Variable Costs)
6.4 Calculation – Services
6.4.1 How Calculated
6.4.2 Direct Costs
MODULE 6: CASE STUDIES
Module 7 – SALES REQUIREMENTS
7.1 What is the Sales required for your Business?
7.1.1 To Break-Even
7.1.2 to achieve your Required Nett Profit
7.2 Marketing Research
7.2.1 Planning your Market Research
7.2.2 Getting Useful Data
7.2.3 Performing your Own Research
7.2.4 Analyse and Understand your Results
7.3 How much Sales can my market accommodate?
7.3.1 Is the market share adequate to achieve the required nett profit?
7.3.2 What if the market share is more than required?
7.4 Is the Sales projected objective and achievable?
7.5 The Marketing Plan
7.6 Influencing Results
7.6.1 Sales
7.6.2 Cost of Sales/Cost of Raw Material
7.6.3 Gross Profit
7.6.4 Operating Expenses
7.7 Desk Study – Initial Viability
MODULE 7: CASE STUDIES
ADDENDUM 7.1: MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE
ADDENDUM 7.2: MARKETING QUESTIONNAIRE
Module 8 – WHAT IS A PLAN OF ACTION?
8.1 Why a Plan of Action?
8.2 Broad Plan of Action Framework
8.3 The Outline of a Plan of Action
8.3.1 Vision Statement
8.3.2 Product / Service Description
8.3.3 Industry Analysis
8.3.4 Competition
8.3.5 Marketing Plan
8.3.6 Sales and Related Marketing Strategy
8.3.7 Research and Development
8.3.8 Operations Plan
8.3.9 Management Team
8.3.10 Personnel
8.3.11 Financial Plan
WORKSHEET 8.1: ACTION PLAN TASK LIST
ADDENDUM 8.1: SEVEN CRITICAL FINANCIAL RATIOS
ADDENDUM 8.2: CASH FLOW BUDGET
ADDENDUM 8.3: INCOME STATEMENT
ADDENDUM 8.4: BALANCE SHEET
MODULE 8: CASE STUDIES
Important notes to this course:
• It must be noted that this course is primarily aimed at assisting prospective new business owners with the successful establishment of their business concerns. This course does thus not cover the full spectrum and detail of assisting existing small businesses with the practical application of all management principles to ensure sustainability and growth.
• Other courses available specialises in assisting currently operational business enterprises with the application of practical small business management principles to ensure effective management and sustainable business growth.
• As the word “sales” is applicable to retail, wholesale, manufacturing and agricultural concerns and not services, the word “revenue” is used in many instances which will thus represent sales and revenue income.
• Although service businesses’ income is generated as Revenue or Income, not Sales as with retail and manufacturing businesses, we predominantly use the term Sales or Turnover for all of these, only for the purposes of this course material.