Engineering the Deal
 Burke Franklin, Founder & CEO of JIAN, Best-Selling Developer: BizPlanBuilder Software, Best-Selling Author: Business Black Belt
I was visiting a friend in Colorado who really wanted to buy a new BMW. She was ready to trade in her old car, she had the money, good credit—everything. So I suggested that we go look at the cars. The BMW dealer had the perfect car—red, convertible, and loaded. The salesman was very nice, gave us the keys, and told us to enjoy ourselves. After driving around for a while, she obviously didn’t need to be convinced that this was the right car for her. The salesman ran the numbers, checked her credit, and then, over the next two hours, tried to come up with the paperwork to put this deal together.
What went wrong? That car dealer could not engineer a transaction and generate one document that incorporated all the terms we agreed upon! A spreadsheet showed the lease vs. purchase comparison and included the desired down payment along with the number of months to get the desired monthly payment. There was a problem with the leasing document. My friend knew she wanted the car, she didn’t need an extra sales pitch for lease. All she needed was a single document to incorporate her personal information, the car’s identification, places to fill in the price, some options, taxes, financing calculations, subtract the allowance for the car she was trading in and calculate her drive-off payment (if any). And it all should have squirted out of a laser printer in one good-looking document with the particulars in bold print. The sale should have gone like this:
Ma’am, here’s the purchase agreement complete with all the numbers we agreed to. We’re giving you $x for your trade-in. All we need is a check for the down payment, your signature here, and the keys to your old car... Here are the keys to your new BMW — you’re ready to go! Thank you very much!
Even if she had a few doubts and was slightly fearful of completing the deal, while her emotions were hot and with a little coaxing, she could easily write her name a couple of times and drive off in the gorgeous, brand new car of her dreams! It didn’t happen that way. They couldn’t get the paperwork in order while we were hot. We left without buying the car.
An airplane as an impulse buy?
Here’s a different story. Click here to finish reading...
http://www.jian.com/support/answers.html?category=Business+Black+Belt+Chapters#faq1161895246
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive,
and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
-
Harold Thurman Whitman
Acquiring Venture Capital: A Realist’s Survival Guide
 Christopher S. Hintz
Chief Executive Officer
VC Intermediary LLC
(VCI typically represents companies that are seeking $1mm or more in their first or second round of institutional venture financing.)
So you’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time to raise venture capital for your business. My strongest suggestion, then, is that you take an extremely realistic look at what lies ahead and how you can best prepare yourself and your team for success.
I have prepared the following comments in the hope that you will find them to be exceptional guideposts along your journey – for a journey it is. While every funding pursuit has its own unique twists and turns, there are certain rules and philosophies that should be adhered to in every company’s quest for venture capital.
By way of qualification my company, VC Intermediary LLC (VCI), reviews some 2,500 executive summaries and business plans on an annual basis; of those, less than two percent pass muster. We turn away many good businesses because they do not possess the attributes sought by venture capitalists. The first question to address is a relatively simple one: Is my business “venture fundable?”
Let’s start with a description of the term “venture fundable.” What are VC’s looking for? The answer to that question comes in several flavors, depending upon what type of VC is right for your business. Those VC’s who like to roll up their sleeves and dive headlong into a business side by side with the founders may have different requirements as regards the strength of the current management team, for example. They may actually be encouraged that you need to fill several holes in your management team, for this is one of their primary functions. In contrast, later stage VC’s generally want to see a fully staffed management team with individuals aboard who’ve been there and done that. The key is to know your strengths and weaknesses intimately and use both to your eventual advantage.
Another important gauge of your probability of acceptance by the venture markets is the potential return on investment (ROI). Venture capital is the most expensive money in the world, so you’d better be prepared to face some pretty stiff dilution when acquiring a VC partner. VC’s aren’t looking for a return of two or three times their investment; they seek a return of five to ten times the invested amount, and more. Understanding that venture capital investing, in truth, is simply well-calculated gambling will give you a good glimpse into the mind of the venture capitalist. They know that not all investments will pan out – but they are willing to take the calculated risk that a few of their portfolio companies will be home runs which will offset the losses suffered from the others. Take a good, hard look at your company’s growth prospects over a four or five year period of time. If a venture capital company invests $5,000,000 into your firm in exchange for 50% of your company’s equity, will that VC reap $25,000,000 or more via a sale or IPO of the company down the road? If you can honestly answer “yes,” you may have a venture fundable company. If you have any doubts, you need to address this seriously and question whether or not venture capital investment is really the proper capitalization route for your firm. There are plenty of great, organically grown companies that are not well suited for the venture markets. Considering all of the above, don’t fool yourself by putting growth projections into play that can’t be substantiated; you’ll be wasting your time and the truth will surface rather quickly.
Now let’s address four areas of primary importance to the VC: Market Risk, Execution Risk, Technology Risk and Exit Strategy.
Click here to finish reading...
http://www.jian.com/resources/business-finance/answers.html#faq1163035101
"No man is rich enough to buy back his past."
- Oscar Wilde
Attention BizPlanBuilder 10 users...
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If you have storage online, you can share files securely over a network, server or the web. When you want it, you can sign up with our online storage partner for anytime/anywhere access to your documents. ($10 / month for 1GB)
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Powerful document assembly system lets you add your own documents and easily incorporate them into your business plan.
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The user interface is slick and improved. The biggest improvements that I can see are the new content and the sharing mode.
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"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man,
but he is braver five minutes longer."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Looking for a good color chart to help you with your web designs?
“Deep breathing alone has made many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.”
These words come from the immortal teachings of Martin 'Farmer' Burns in his 1914 by-mail course, "Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture" (available at http://www.mattfurey.com/farmerburns.html), but they could have just as easily come from the ancient Samurai of Japan -- or the old-time Jiu-Jitsu masters.
For example, in a 1911 book on Japanese exercise methods that I read many years ago, I recorded the following: “The ancient samurai was accustomed to going out into the open air as soon as he rose in the morning. There he devoted at least 10 or 15 minutes to continued deep breathing, standing with his hands on his hips in order that he might feel the play of his muscles.”
Breathing in the open air was also recommended by Farmer Burns as well early American fitness pioneers such as Charles Atlas, Bernarr MacFadden and Paul Bragg. These men truly knew what they were talking about. Today, in most fitness programs taught around the world, deep breathing is practically ignored. This is a major mistake as, to quote one of my former teachers, 'Your breath is your power.'
You can tell a lot about a person simply by observing how he or she breathes. In fact, I believe you can map out the structure of how the person lives life. Shallow breathers tend to be shallow people. Deep breathers tend to be interested in far more than the superficial. The sound a person makes when breathing, especially while exercising, is also revealing. Does he or she have a problem with being seen or heard? You'll know by whether or not you can hear the person breathing. Does this person breathe in a way that says, 'life is a struggle' -- or in a way that shows how they simply 'flow?'
Maybe you've never paid much attention to the subject of deep breathing before. For the first 25 years of my life I didn't either. Yet, I assure you, life is much better when you're in tune with how you breathe. Pay attention to your breathing. Make sure it is deep and full. Spend 10-15 minutes per day working on it and you'll readily understand why your breath is your power.
- Matt Furey, World Kung Fu champion and author of “Combat Conditioning,” http://www.mattfurey.com
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 $1000 SBA loan for a Spa!
In 1995 my wife and a business partner had the opportunity to open and own a franchise of a local very successful Day-Spa operation. Both my wife and her partner were employed as managers in the Day-Spa operation at that time. I became the background financial guy. I knew we needed a business plan and I didn’t have a clue how to begin so I purchased your BizPlan Builder off the shelf at a local computer outlet. I did not even own a computer at that time. Had one at the office, but couldn’t use it because of restrictions. I took the software over to my best friend’s house (he had a computer and knew how to use it) and we installed the software. It took a while; some trial and error, lots of re-writes, but we finally finished. When we took the business plan to the bank and applied for SBA financing, it was a snap. The financials were in order. They complimented us on the organization of the plan. They liked our vision. The plan had everything they required to get the loan process moving. In the end we were successful. The SBA loaned us $100,000 based on the experience of the partners and the business plan. We now have two Day-Spas operating in the New Orleans French Quarter. Come see us!
- Lewis Cocke, Spa Aria at the Hotel Montelone and Shine Spa and Specialty in the French Quarter)
The Top 10 Signs of Giftedness in Adulthood
The vast majority of adults who were labeled ‘gifted’ in childhood are unaware that their advanced development would continue to have an impact throughout their lives. Contrary to popular belief, giftedness is not characterized by high intelligence alone. Rather, gifted individuals experience early and exceptional psychological, spiritual and intellectual development. As a result, gifted adults exhibit common personality traits and face similar challenges on the road to self-actualization. Gifted adults demonstrate:
1. Qualitative differences in information processing
Characterized by: unique perception and awareness; a sense of humor and creativity outside the norm; questioning, searching for truth, intuitiveness; insightfulness; comfort with both divergent thinking (breaking things into components) and synergistic thinking (putting things together to form something new and different); relentless curiosity and heightened creative drive; being more process-oriented than product-oriented; holding divergent values compared to mainstream culture.
2. High sensitivity
Characterized by: sensitivity to others often combined with a sense of personal alienation and loneliness; acute awareness of complexities and consequences; heightened responsivity to expectations of others.
3. Intensity
Characterized by: high excitability; high energy level; emotional reactivity; high arousal of central nervous system (Kazimierz Dabrowski Theory of Positive Disintegration).
4. Multi-potentiality
Characterized by: having capabilities in many areas and domains of talent; can move fluidly from one pursuit or interest to the next; the ability to juggle many things at once.
5. Idealism
Characterized by: striving for moral integrity; interest in social reform and service; extraordinarily high standards; low tolerance for mediocrity and frustration.
6. Perfectionism
Characterized by: self-criticism; labeling oneself as “scattered”; having a lowered sense of entitlement to make mistakes; identifying easily with failure; thinking they are more likely to blame than others; difficulty taking credit for achievement and abilities (“impostor” phenomena).
7. Need for autonomy.
Characterized by feelings of: being out of step and on a separate path; being “Other”; not fitting in; striving for inner authenticity; may experience deep conflicts between needs for self-actualization and maintaining traditional relationships.
8. Strong entelechy (from Greek for ‘having a goal’).
Characterized by: the need for self-determination; for self-actualization; leadership qualities; achievement-orientation; interest in nontraditional careers and professions.
9. Intense moral commitment
Characterized by: seeing injustice and doing something about it; willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs; outrage at moral breaches that the rest of the world seems to take for granted.
10. Global view
Characterized by respect for all human beings; a greater capacity for empathy; concern for others—especially children; sensitivity and warmth.
About the Submitter:
Submitted by Elyse Killoran, Personal Coach and Life Strategist who specializes in work with Gifted Women, who can be reached at Elyse@WomensU.com, or visited on the web at http://www. WomensU.com The original source is: The work of Douglas Eby, Mary Rocamora, Kathleen Noble and studies conducted by Linda Kreger Silverman of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development.
Do you have an article or some useful advice that you you'd like to share?
Please email
the editor with your news to appear in Business Black
Belt as well as on our website.
"xxx
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"xxx
Tax Tricks -- A bonus refund with your 2006 tax filing?
 Did you know that you may qualify for an extra refund when you file your 2006 taxes? And if you qualify, you can claim the refund by filling out just one extra line on your 2006 tax return.
If you subscribed for long-distance telephone service between March 2003 and July 2006, you almost certainly paid a federal tax on your telephone bill. But recent court decisions ruled that the tax should not apply. So the IRS has come up with a simple method to refund the taxes. They’ve developed standard refund amounts based on the number of exemptions you claim.
The standard refund will be $30 for one exemption, $40 for two, $50 for three, and $60 for four or more. Normally, you claim an exemption for yourself, one for your spouse, and one for each dependent. So a married couple with one dependent would be eligible for a $50 refund.
These amounts are based on a survey of average telephone taxes paid by families of different sizes. If you don’t want to take the standard refund, you can always go through 41 months of telephone bills and figure the actual amount you paid. Then you’ll need to fill out a special form to make your claim.
You’ll receive your refund when you file your 2006 taxes next year. The IRS is preparing Form 1040 EZ-T for those who paid the excise tax but are not obligated to file an income tax return.
As of now, businesses and nonprofits will have to detail the actual taxes they paid to receive their refunds. However, the IRS is trying to develop simplified methods for them too, so don’t start going through your bills just yet.
- Edward Mitchell,
Manager, Management Resources Consulting Group Inc., www.mr-cg.com
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Congratulations to all the kids who were born in the1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !
- First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
- They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
- Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
- We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
- As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
- Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
- We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
- We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
- We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar
in it, but we weren't overweight because...
- WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
- We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on.
- No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
- We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
- We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...
- WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
- We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
- We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
- We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
- Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
- The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And, while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954.
“We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.
And so good night, and good luck.”
- Edward R. Murrow
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