"I don't have to know everything about business, I just employ the people who do."
—Henry Ford
What you will need to include
- The names, residential addresses and contact telephone numbers of all the key people involved in the business.
- A list of the roles and responsibilities assigned to each key person involved in the business.
- A comprehensive resume for all the key people involved in the business. This should be placed in the appendices section of the business plan.
- Identify the likely sources of stress to you and your business, and list all the people and/or organisations that will help you to manage the stress.
Tips for business operators
Some of the things you should consider when starting or running your business:
- Be proactive in your business, not reactive. And be consistently the best at whatever you do.
- Unless you are a historical researcher, use the most current information available in all your business decisions. And give yourself just enough time to make an informed decision on any important matter.
- The most successful entrepreneurs rarely, if ever, think about money as the central issue when starting a small business. They usually think about what they can do for the community. The financial aspects resulting from your efforts to help people will take care of themselves in the end. Just try to focus on people, their needs, and the service and/or the product, and the money part will almost certainly make its grand entrance into your life if this is what you need.
- Keep abreast of new developments, especially those that would affect your business.
- Take personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems you encounter in your business.
Should I hire the services of an accountant for my business?
This depends on how good your accounting system is within your business.
Certainly a number of electronic accounting systems are now so good and literally fully automatic that you could do without an accountant. But remember that most of these accounting systems require you to be trained by professionals to use them properly. Secondly, if your business requires to show accountability to shareholders, you will have to pay for the services of an independent accountant.
As a general rule of thumb, most people would recommend that you get an accountant to help you with your business finances because of time constraints. You will simply be too busy selling products and talking to customers to worry about the accounting side of your business. (1)