Tag: Business Model

4 business models where customers fund your business

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Finding ways to fund your business can be a challenge so hear are some business models where your customers provide the funding.

Subscribers

This can apply to many situations ranging from Networking and Memberships to Sky TV or Microsoft Office 365, get your clients hooked on paying a monthly or periodic payments and  it should work wonders for your cash flow.

High Demand

Any product in short supply creates a situation where clients are prepared to pay now in order not to miss out, here is an example:

Microsoft unveils its new Xbox One console Friday, one week after the release of the rival PlayStation 4.

Microsoft says the supply of the new $499 consoles is its biggest ever. But with record pre-orders — more than double those of the Xbox 360 back in November 2005 — the consoles may be hard to find.

November 2013

Pay In Advance

Often used in the home improvement market for example conservatories, kitchens, bathrooms, getting customers to pay a deposit or in some cases all the money upfront (or on finance) puts you in the best possible position especially if you can set up accounts to pay your suppliers on 30 or 60 days.

Market Place

Getting paid to bring people together is a great business model think of ebay, dating sites, or any on line market place where the owner gets paid when a deal is done.

How do you fund your business?

steve@bicknells.net

 

Business Plans – Do you really need one?

business plan tree

A business plan is a written document that describes your business. It covers objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and financial forecasts.

A business plan helps you to:

  • clarify your business idea
  • spot potential problems
  • set out your goals
  • measure your progress

But its no good unless you have business model that works as Doug Richards explains

Research by the national enterprise campaign showed that last year 484,224 businesses were started, compared to 440,600 in 2011.

According to the FSB at the start of 2012:
  • There were an estimated 4.8 million businesses in the UK which employed 23.9 million people, and had a combined turnover of £3,100 billion
  • SMEs accounted for 99.9 per cent of of all private sector businesses in the UK, 59.1 per cent of private sector employment and 48.8 per cent of private sector turnover
  • SMEs employed 14.1 million people and had a combined turnover of £1,500 billion
  • Small businesses alone accounted for 47 per cent of private sector employment and 34.4 per cent of turnover
  • Of all businesses, 62.7 per cent (three million) were sole proprietorships, 28 per cent (1.3 million) were companies and 9.3 per cent (448,000) partnerships
  • There were 907,000 businesses operating in the construction sector – nearly a fifth of all businesses

micro: 0-9 employees, small: 10-49 employees, medium: 50-249 employees (updated October 2012)

The best bit of advice I have heard is this piece from Doug Richards ‘Take the Order’

Once you have a business model that works, then create a business plan, here is a link to some free plans to get you started http://www.bplans.co.uk/sample_business_plans.cfm

steve@bicknells.net