New Year, New Plan

Here is the second vlog! It took me a little longer to get posted than I wanted but it's here. This episode is all about business planning - well the highlights of it. There is a rough transcription at the below the video just incase you miss anything. Enjoy! 

Business Plan in Under 4...I mean 5 minutes

Your mission: 1-2 sentences that really capture the essence of what your business. Think of what you'd like your business to represent. As much as it pains me to say it: Starbucks has an amazingly well crafted one.

Your company: more than 2 sentences. This is the description of what your company will do. Markets it will serve, products or services provided, and how it will be structured. Possible funding needs and start up costs should be mentioned as well too.

What you do and who do you serve: Market analysis is important because it gives you and prospective readers an idea about the marker you are entering. As a business owner you should have a pretty good idea of what your competition is before you enter the market. Focus on strategy and implementation.

Your Team:Are you solopreneuring it or will you have a team to help you. What is the structure of that team? What are everyone's credential or relevant experience. What are the roles and the largest responsibilities of each of the roles.

Financials:
This is a big one. You need to have as accurate as information as possible here knowing that you might not actually have spent or earned anything. don't worry on projecting vaguely 5 or ten years out. Just focus on making the first 2 years as realistic as possible. this is where having a solid understanding of your market, pricing and buying patterns will come in very handy. Outlay all of your expense, possible cash revenues and costs to start up. Don't forget to budget for the unexpected. In your financials you want to budget for at least a few months of expenses there's no guarantee that you will be raking it in out of the gate.

Somethings to keep in mind -
- Benchmarks need to write with goals in mind and estimated times to completion
- Focus is huge. This is not the place for flowery or creative language. VIP's reading this will not have time to try to decipher complex metaphors.
- How cash will flow. More then just listing expenses you need to outline where cash comes in and where it will go. Every penny needs to be accounted for.

Why have a coach in your corner?

Why have a coach in your corner? Whether you are a small business or someone looking to get their financial plan back on track - the same question comes up: why?! This is not a post that is geared to swoon you into having you suddenly realize you need someone like me and to hire me right away. It’s quite the opposite actually. I want to objectively list some of the benefits that go with coaching so that you have a clearer idea about what business/finance/money coaches actually do. First off coaches are like cookies - you can make 10 batches from the same recipe and have them all come out differently. So no angry emails about pigeon-holing.

The Need:

Your stuck. Well, maybe not totally stuck but you have questions. The kind of questions that take more then just a Google search to figure out - if you even had the time or the inclination to sit and really look through the 100’s of possible links that might have what your looking for in the first few search pages. Not stuck - then how about frustrated. Frustrated that your business or personal finances aren’t where they should be. Frustrated that you had a plan, thought you stuck to it (relatively) but the results aren't what the plan dictated they should be. Lastly overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by your systems or processes that were supposed to stream line your business. Overwhelmed with your Quickbooks or employees - might need some help just managing all the resources you have.

Those are some of the most common needs I run into. They aren't all of them by far but you get the idea.

How Coaches Serve:

Coaches don't have all the answers or a magical fix-all program to follow. Good consultants and coaches are, at their core, great listeners. Actively listening and asking the right questions is how we get to the heart of the problems. After those initial conversations what we do is work through our notes, experience, and tool bags to put together the start of a plan for your. That plan will work to maybe put out some immediate fires, maybe be exercises for you, or even more questions. The ultimate goals are always to try to provide a long term and sustainable solutions to your needs. With that a coach might be technically proficient but they should also be compassionate and a bit of an armchair-psychologist/sociologist because modifying behavior is often the core of a coaches work.

Coaches mentor and focus on creating experiences that will benefit the clients. Some coaches might have the resources to put you in contact with different parts of your newly adjusted supply chain. A coach might be a mentor to you - someone who will help you emulate their successes. Coaches should ultimately provide you with something that will hold you accountable. What actions are you taking, what are your goals, where were you trying to get to before you solicited the help of the professional coach. There should be just as much emphasis on the work you will do as there is on the work that the coach does for you. If we do a good job when we leave you (as a client) should have some solid infrastructure and lessons to keep relying on that will push you forward.

That should be enough for a first lesson in what coaches and consultants actually do. There are a ton of us out there so if you are in the market for one make sure you ask lots of questions. DO NOT GET SOLD ON QUICK FIX PROMISES! Sorry about the caps but if you are skimming this page I wanted to make sure that you stopped to read that. At the very least shoot me an email because I would be happy to do my best to answer any questions you have.

Hope you have a great New Years Eve!

Obligatory Resolutions Post: Kick It!

Let's kick 2012 in the face right from the start. Here's how:

 

It’s about that time again. First of all is anyone still full from over eating last weekend. Man I’m still full. But I digress. It’s about that time again to start making resolutions. New Year, New Goals, New Financial Situations, New You. I’ve already started to see my gym get a little busier than usual. What I want to talk about really can be applied to all goals but in my heart I hope that you apply them to your financial ones.

Right out of the gate I want you to throw away any thoughts on setting New Years Resolutions. I want you to just throw them away. This year we aren’t setting resolutions - we are changing our behavior. Still with me?! Sticking to financial goals I want you to think about the things you have in mind for yourself this year. All the hopeful savings and frugality that will happen, maybe it’s the hopes of earning more as well. The visualization is a very important first step but it will take some real action and change to bring those visualizations to fruition. All the typical goal stuff still very much applies like writing it down in multiple places, telling people about your goals, setting up visual benchmarks and review times. We are just kicking it up a notch.

For these re-invented financial goals I want you to think about all the things that prevented you from reaching your goals this year. Some stuff you won’t have control over like: layoff, medical, family emergency etc. Think about and even review using your banks online log in where your spending went and what might have stopped you from getting where you wanted to be. Here is where the change starts. We all know that I am a huge fan of automation and it is also a very important part of the planning process. So after you get the vessels all set up for your savings let’s look at your life...your behavior.

There are some really easy behavioral things you can start to change. Starting with keeping cash only in your pockets during the work week - an actual physical representation of your budget. There are lots of things like this that will help curb spending. Let’s go even farther though. Take a look at your most commonly traversed routes. Are you making any unwanted stops more frequently then not?! Change it! Stop driving by some of the places that are dripping with temptation. Start writing more, sleeping more, eating better, and moving more. All those matter because it will help manage stress and when your cortisol levels aren’t spiking then you will probably make fewer irrational decisions leading you to smarter money decisions. Fitness is as much physical as it is financial.

Read way more! Knowing more about what is going on in the world around you will most certainly have an impact on your finance. We won’t even touch managing investment portfolios but just by spending time observing the world around you can help make you a savvier consumer. I recently watched one of those shows about extreme couponers and while that may be excessive (no one needs a garage full of disposable men's shaving razors) they are effective. Just spending a few minutes a day hunting deals not only might save you pennies that will add up but might turn you on to economic substitutes for products or services that are less expensive in the long run.

My last bit of rant come to planning. Planning is really an amazing tool. It’s not amazing when you craft a plan, save it to a desktop or in a notebook, and never see it again. Fitness plans, financial plans and even construction plans should be treated as living documents. They need to grow and change with you to be function. It’s the only way they will help keep you and your goals honest. So, I really encourage you all to budget, plan and heed the goal setting tips of all the great productivity and financial guru’s out there. I just want to make sure that you are doing something active and actually WORKING towards them. I’ve seen way to many great goals get dumped for the easy (and more expensive) way.

First FDtv Vlog!

Hopefully you don't hate it too much. I know the titles are a little cheesy but I couldn't help myself..there were so many choices in the editor. The editor by the way that I have to watch Youtube videos to learn how to use. Here's the first vlog and a bit of a transcription below it. It might not be exact but it's close enugh. Let me know what your thoughts are or what topics you would like to see in the comments here or on the video. OOooooohhh maybe even a special giveaway to someone who leaves a video response :) 

"Hi Everyone and Welcome to FDtv

FDtv stands for Financially Digital TV. I’ll be your host, Nunzio Bruno, as we move through all the scary, murky, and exciting parts of entrepreneurship plus all of the great small business stuff that falls under the entrepreneur’s umbrella.

Hopefully this becomes a place where we come together talk shop and then part ways with a smile..even if that means you are laughing at me and not with me.

As far as the show goes the plan is that this will be a vlog with most of the episodes following some type of structure. You can expect conversations like this, interviews, skits, and most importantly not going over 4 minutes.

My goal is to answer your questions! I’ve been in the business of consulting some time now and I have a huge soft spot for budding entrepreneurs. I’m the Brand Monetization Columnsit for Personal Branding Magazine, have a book in the works with a brilliant guy by the name of Thom Fox, and am a business professor at a local 4 year college.

Instead of rambling down a list of credentials you can visit my website Financially Digital and follow me on Twitter @nunzio_bruno links down below.

One thing I ask is that you give me a little leeway on the film production. I’m working on kicking up the production levels every day..editing for me is the kind of friend that you like to have around but in small doses at the moment. I used to do some personal vlogging a while back and those were terri-bad...what?! Exactly.

So if you have an questions you want to see answered and illustrated on my new fancy green screen..or have tips to help me actually use the green screen either leave a comment, shoot me a tweet or email at findigitaltv (at) gmail.com

The Next Chapter: Big News!

Big news! So for Christmas this year not only did I ask for some help on acquiring some very specific things, my own year long goals came to fruition. I emptied an automated savings account and made a few purchases at Best Buy. Shortly after at the Financially Digital headquarters furniture was on the move. It's moving around because I had to find enough wall space to set up a green screen, tripod, and new camera (nom nom nom) - capturing full 1080 HD and H.264. All that plus the new editing software means I will be pretty busy these next few weeks bringing you all the next iteration of Financially Digital - FDtv!

I know what your thinking.."where does he find the time?!" Well here's where: I have been working really hard on a new schedule for myself that will allow me to successfully juggle (I hope) all of the current obligations I have. It will be tight but I know it will be worth it. I will also continue to co-host the web show I'm currently on at The Businews Channel. The idea is that they won't over lap. So don't worry Alfonso :)

I am using time blocking to manage my time. What I am doing is taking all of my current obligations and putting them on a big calendar. All of the pre-committed times are crossed off with big X's. I block out times that I have to write, be at the bakery and then doing all the non-on-site work for Financially Digital. This gives me a very clear and scary idea of the kind of time I have left. What I have done is committed to a few times a week to shooting and editing and we will see how that goes. I've even color coded my wall calendar so that I can know what's going on at a glance.

As for my goals I have a few that I have posted but I'm not quite ready to share them yet. I can't reveal all my cards in one blog post.

To give you a sneak peak of what you might see on the show. It will be a medley of stuff from tech/app reviews, productivity, entrepreneurship, over coming small business growing pains in a style similar to Revision 3's Film Riot. I'm a huge fan of Triune Films and everything those silly Connolly's do. So in my brain it looks and sounds fun but sneakily teaches you something along the way. The target is to have 1 to 2 shows a week running about 4 minutes. The party will hopefully start right around the turn of the New Year.

As I'm writing this there is a huge smile on my face because I am jumping into something that I just started to learn about - video/film production. It's going to be sloppy in the beginning so I'm apologizing now for the first few shows. I'm more excited though because even if this doesn't work out I've still won - I would have effectively managed my schedule, hopefully learned a little about production along the way, and I'll still have a green screen to play with... I mean who doesn't like the idea of watching me run away as dinosaurs chase me.

What?! Exactly.