A Plug for Action Partners

Remember back when we had to do homework in school? It would go something like this: We'd attend a class where the teacher would lecture on a specific topic, (ah, how I miss Biology and Accounting - not!) then there would be several chapters of new material to read followed by an exercise related to it. By the end of the semester - whether we liked it or not - we would have gained knowledge on a whole new subject matter.

That's kind of what I'm experiencing with my action partner, Nicole Rose (that's her below, photo credit: David Garvey, www.dgimagesltd.com). What's an action partner, you might ask. Well, before I go into that, let me give you a little background.

I met Nicole about 4 1/2 years ago when we both attended a course for entrepreneurs. She was just launching ODM, her graphic design and web development company, and I was in the initial stages of exploring the possibility of working for myself. It would take me a few more attempts before I took the plunge, but Nicole has had her business up and running since then. We've bumped into each other through the years at various networking events, but when I saw her in January I was going through a bad case of "generalized business plan preparation anxiety", so I asked her for a little guidance. She pointed out that she was actually in the process of revising her own plan, so why not work on them together?

We immediately agreed to meet the following week. After our first session, however, doubts started popping up. Was I ready to divulge every little detail of my master plan to someone else? Were our businesses too similar? Wouldn't we be going after the same clients? Wouldn't that be a conflict? Trust has always been an issue for me - it took me years and a few painful market downturns to finally admit I needed to hire someone to assist me with my investments. I do my own manicures and pedicures because "no one can do them better them me" (yeah right). And I could have avoided one or two painful heartbreaks had I listened to my friends' dating advice. But I am getting better at it. I brought up my concerns to my new action partner, and Nicole, so much the wiser, confidently allayed my fears. She didn't see conflicts, and, realizing I had much more to gain than to lose, I jumped on the bandwagon.

Little did I know how effective our arrangement would be. We've had about 7 meetings so far, each time tackling a different section of our business plans, sharing our "homework" and giving each other feedback. If we feel stuck on something we ask for help and usually find a solution between the two of us. Then we plan our assignments for next time. Having that task in mind helps to spark ideas during the week, and even more stuff pops up when I'm doing the research and writing it down, so it's like my brain is on steroids. This week I came up with a novel approach for art galleries to promote their openings, which will help me target them as clients, and I've added a few more elements to a proposal I have for a magazine I'd like to prospect. Sometimes these new ideas seem too big for me, like a beautiful gown that doesn't quite fit. But I'm not judging them. My task is to put them down on paper and then let the Universe conspire to help me "grow into" my fancy dress.

Nicole and I have also decided to swap some services, like she'll help me with the design of my logo and signature, and I'll help her with her e-newsletter and online social networking strategy. We're doing this as if we were each other's clients, so we get to test out our services and give ourselves feedback on the process. Nicole, for example, has amazing customer service - from her follow-up communications to her proposals - even the recording on her voice mail makes her look and sound professional.

On my own, working on my business plan felt like lifting an 800 pound gorilla. But together with Nicole and our weekly meetings I'm making major progress. In fact, it's been such a positive experience that I've taken on another action partner (yes, I admit it, when it comes to business, I've become a polygamist!). Constance Gustke is a writer and journalist who, like me, got her start in Wall Street but has since moved on to cover design, technology and the luxury lifestyle market. We both have separate web business concepts that we'd like to develop, so for the past three sessions we've brainstormed and plotted and mapped out ways to make things happen for us. Constance calls us the "Laverne and Shirley of the 21st century."

So if you want to get things done, my advice is don't do it alone! Find someone you have something in common with and then, buckle up for the ride! Do you have structures in place to help you with your projects? Please share them!

Digital Resources for Entrepreneurs

Need a little hand-holding to narrow down your target market? Are you finding it difficult to get information on your competition? You can now book a half-hour one-on-one session with a librarian at the Science Industry and Business library (remember "SIBL"? see related post), for free of course, and they'll help you with the above plus: business leads, industry research, marketing strategies, potential client lists, vendor lists, etc., etc., etc. I've already set my appointment for next week!

Also new at the library (or at least new to me!): business eBooks and audiobooks which you can download from their website and read from your computer or iPod. Here's some I found interesting:

Basic Black, The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and In Life!) (audiotape), by Cathie Black, who, as current president of Hearst Magazines, persuaded Oprah to launch a magazine.

Avon, Building the World's Premier Company for Women (eBook), about how this direct sales company, which you never seem to see anywhere, just keeps growing and growing.

The Big Book of Small Business, You Don't Have to Run Your Business By The Seat of Your Pants

Blog Marketing (eBook), by Jeremy Wright

And I only got through the "B's"!

Moving on to video, Cornell University has compiled an extensive list of video clips with entrepreneurs which is available to the public on a wide variety of topics. There's 1310 clips just on startup business planning! What's also great is they have it listed by business name and category, so you can actually choose a company in your industry and hear how they got their start, or what resources they used to get off the ground.

I read the print version of these two fascinating articles by NY Sun writer Liz Peek about women entrepreneurs but they are also happily available digitally:

Natori Celebrates 30 years at Breakneck Speed profiles Josie Natori, who started trading stocks at 22 and went on to build a fashion empire that generates $150 million in retail sales a year (one day that could be us!!)

Lulu Wang Throttles Back is a about a self made millionairess who went from rags to riches and is now cutting back on her corporate duties to follow her passion for vintage race driving.

That's it for this digital tour. 'Til soon!

Would $50,000 be enough to get you started?

How does $50,000 sound to get you off the ground? That's what Mirassou Winery is offering women entrepreneurs if their business plan wins the "Make Your Dreams Come True" contest they're sponsoring. That could buy all the things on my wish list: laptop, printer, virtual assistant, personal masseuse (just kidding, unfortunately)...plus much more. The trick is you have to submit a rockin' business plan by December 15th, so that was incentive enough to get me (and a handful of the Mogulettes!) to sign up to Baruch College's 4-week Bootcamp on how to write them.

Elissa Grossman (that's her in the blue jacket next to yours truly) teaches courses on business management for college students that typically span a whole semester but she's doing an abbreviated version for entrepreneurs, starting with the elements of a business plan, which she covered in the first session, along with great examples of what an executive smmary should and shouldn't look like.

The second class was focused on the marketing plan, which is all about information gathering - where to get data about your target market, what the benefits and limitations are to different types of research, how to conduct surveys (one place to try out is surveymonkey.com, where you get the first 10 questions in a survey free), how to scope out your competition. Then she moved on to narrowing down your target market and selecting a marketing mix to reach them.

The third class centered around money - how much you need vs how much you want. This part was cool - Elissa recommends shutting your eyes and imagining the process that's involved in making a sale. Then make an outline of that in order to come up with a list of costs, like how much will the virtual assistant cost, plus the web developer, plus the computer, the desk and the chair, the masseuse (no...just kidding again) and so on, for each task. How much will be variable, or fixed? All this will help in coming up with a price for your goods and services. But that's not all that determines price - there's the perceived value (you can charge a premium for goods that are new in the market, or are complex, or where price comparisons are difficult). Competition also plays a role, as does strategy, like special pricing promotions that you might do.

The second half of the class was about sales forecasting and breakeven analysis, which I won't even attempt to summarize. But she made it interesting by giving lots of real life examples of how companies used these numbers to make adjustments and run their operations more efficiently.

BTW, Elissa's available if you'd like feedback on your business plan, as are other counselors on staff at Baruch's Field Center. These services are offered for free.

So, sharpen up your pencils and put your fabulous ideas on paper...you could win 50,000 big ones! Like they say: you gotta be in it to win it...

Next week I'll be away on a short vacation to Paris, yes, the "city of lights"! My friend invited me to stay with her and I'm using my miles to get there, so it's a great deal. Stay tuned for my report on how the French do business - I expect to be doing heavy duty research into their chocolate industry. Au revoir!

Mogulette to launch bookstore in East Harlem

I just love hearing success stories from fellow Mogulettes-in-the-making!

When I first met Aurora Anaya-Cerda at a Latina writer's group at the beginning of this year, I was instantly captivated by her business idea: to launch a bookstore in East Harlem, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Manhattan which currently doesn't have one but is sorely in need of one. Back then she was still very much in the planning stages of her concept, but aided by a boundless amount of enthusiasm and motivation.

Fast forward a few months to last week, when I caught up with her at an internet marketing class. With a big smile on her face she shared her exciting news: "La Casa Azul", the name she's given the store (it's named after Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's home in Mexico City and it means "blue house") will be launching in the Fall!

Aurora grew up in a place similar to East Harlem (also known as "El Barrio"), an immigrant neighborhood lacking businesses, programs and services that benefit the community, and instead where countless liquor stores, dilapidated buildings, drugs and gangs abound. Her belief is that El Barrio needs a store like La Casa Azul Bookstore - a place of knowledge and culture, where the community can come together to enjoy activities such as author signings, art receptions, educational workshops, not to mention the best organic coffee and Mexican hot chocolate in the neighborhood!

This enterprising "chica" first got the idea of owning a bookstore during her junior year in college. After working at an independent bookstore in California she knew that I one day she'd have to open one of her own. But it wasn't until many years later when she arrived to New York that she was able to reawaken that dream that had been dormant for years! In the Spring of 2006 she came across the East Harlem Business Capital Corporation, a neighborhood organization that helps entrepreneurs, and took the first of many courses on business. These classes served as the catalyst for more opportunities, including access to more resources, advice on financing, leads to support groups (like the Mogulettes!) and the push she needed to move into the world of bookselling.

Two years ago Aurora didn't know the first thing about a business plan but now she has a firm grasp of the whole start-up process. She has an investor who believes in her vision, and is awaiting funding for the remainder of the start up costs. Below is her mission statement and goals:

La Casa Azul will be an independent bookstore/café, offering new and used books in English and Spanish. The store will offer a wide range of books and music from the United States, México, Latin America and the Caribbean. La Casa Azul will also carry Mexican jewelry, art and clothing. Our mission is to provide the community with contemporary bilingual literature, featuring works by Latino authors.

Our goals are:

• To provide culturally relevant books and events.
• To heighten community awareness and political consciousness regarding issues that affect East Harlem residents.

For more information about the store's grand opening, email: lacasaazulbookstore@gmail.com.

About Aurora:
Aurora Anaya-Cerda acquired experience in the daily operations of a bookstore during her employment at two independent bookstores. A graduate of UCLA, Aurora has a double Bachelor’s degree in History and Chicana/o Studies and a minor in Education. She taught middle school for 2 years and had been in the education field for the last 6 years. Since her arrival to New York in July 2005, she has been an active member of the East Harlem community as a participant and supporter of cultural and educational events.

Aurora is definitely on her way to becoming a full-fledged Mogulette, and I'm looking forward to attending her launch party!

If your business has experienced success or reached a highly anticipated milestone, let me know! Your stories inspire all of us, so please share them!!

Where to find market research, on and offline

Mogulisious hellos!

The Mogulettes and I recently visited the Science, Industry and Business Library, aka SIBL - ground zero for everything related to free enterprise. Unlike most public libraries I've seen, this one has a very modern and sleek design. Jackie Gold, one of their librarians (she's the one at the far left in the picture above), gave us a private tour. She started us off on the first floor, with its high ceilings and huge picture windows, where they have all the books that are allowed to be taken out, or for circulation, as they call it. It's also where you can get a library card, which is pretty important because with it you'll get remote access to a huge array of electronic resources. By entering the password in the back of the card into your computer at home, you'll be able to search the database of the NY Times, national and international magazines, the World Book Online, Women's American History plus many others. Nothing like letting your fingers do the walking!

SIBL has mostly science and business books but also technology and financial texts as well. They also have videos on everything from Doing Business in China to Franchising to Producing Your Own Special Interest Videos. One the right side of the main room there's a section with the most recent business periodicals and next to that you'll find dozens of computers which are hooked up to the internet, available at no charge - unfortunately the limit is 45 min. to an hour and you're only allowed on them once a day. Downstairs however, there's docking stations for your laptops with free web access and no time restrictions.

From there we climbed down the beautiful spiral staircase to the lower level, where they have the reference section, for books that cannot leave the library. Here you'll find all the nitty gritty details of the business topic of your choice. They have sample business plans, annual reports, SEC filings, government statistics, industry surveys - I get tired just looking at the list of resources! Thank God there's an information desk in the center of the room with librarians who will direct you to the best places to find whatever you're looking for...

Here's a few interesting links:
videos and podcasts
free classes & workshops
events for entrepreneurs
smallbiz.nypl.org - small business resources
CATNP - to search in the reference section
LEO - to search the catalog for all branch libraries

Both SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives) and the NYC Business Solutions Center have offices here, with counselors available for appointments to help out entrepreneurs. Time flew by and soon it was 8pm and time for them to close down the shop. Now that I have a sense of how to navigate the labyrinths inside this information supercenter, I'll be able to gather topnotch market research for my business plan.

Knowledge is power people!

How to Research your Business Idea

If you've been putting off doing the market research portion of your business plan (like yours truly), I just came across a helpful article from Entrepreneur.com that spells out the hows and whys in a very straightforward manner. It also touches on related topics like not giving up if you find your idea has holes in it - you just might need to do some re-tooling - and making sure you're selling where your target market is likely to buy - in other words don't try selling oranges in a hardware store.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose...

This week the Mogulettes and I attended a seminar on Trademarks and Copyrights sponsored by the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project and the Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch College. I was surprised to find out that you don't neccessarily have to register a trademark for the name of your company -simply by using it you own it - unless of course, someone else came up with the name before you did, in which case, they own it.

It's really important to do a thorough search to see if the name you want to give your business is already taken. It could end up costing you mucho dinero if you have to change your logo and reprint all your you marketing materials because someone else owns the name! A trendy Manhattan restaurant now called Serafina had to change it's name from Sophia at the height of its popularity for that same reason. They not only had to alter the logo on the outdoor signage, the menus, the business cards, etc. - then there was also the question of whether their clients would accept the new name and if they would recoginize the brand.

Here's a few places to check:

Register.com or GoDaddy.com for domain names

US Trademark Office database for business names

Your local County Clerk's office to see if there is already a business registered under your name

Here's a few good tips from "A Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business": check with a lawyer or accountant and have them run a city, state and national search to make sure that no one else has claimed it. Then once you know the name you want is available, run it by a professional or personal circle to get feedback. Make sure it's broad enough to encompass any future areas your company may expand into.

Check out this set of articles from Entrepreneur.com on domain names:
Find the Perfect Domain Name
Protecting Your Business Name Online
Keeping Your Domain Current

Business therapy and financial blueprints

Looking for a little guidance, I paid a visit to SCORE last week to see what they had to offer. Mel Howard is one of the 50 retired executives in the New York Metro area that give free advice to entrepreneurs wanting to start or launch their businesses. He listened attentively to my idea and suggested a few simple steps to get me started. It was like getting free therapy for my business! Unfortunately he says that 90% of the people that visit them never come back... They have counselors that specialize in real estate, personal consulting, finance, banking, international trade, retail, manufacturing, apparel, accounting, pharmaceuticals, marketing, advertising, public relations, computer business systems, taxes, engineering and construction, transportation, electronics - and you can request to speak with whoever the expert is in the field you're interested in. These guys have actually owned these types of businesses, and I'll probably be needing help in a lot of those areas, so I'll definitely be back. And they can also act as mentors (see Why you need a Mentor).

Me and a couple of the Mogulettes also attended T. Harv Eker's seminar last week. I was a little disappointed that Eker never showed up and sent one of his lead facilitators in his place. But still I got a lot of out it, like (and I'm paraphrasing) the difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people feel the same fear and self-doubt that poor people do but they take actions anyway... and we all have problems and we will continue to have problems - the key is to grow bigger than our problems, so they'll seem small. It's all about changing my financial blueprint, which right now is set to thinking small. Here's to aiming high!!

Building my very own field of dreams

Great news! As a way to expand our business plan circle, I've created a Mogulette Meetup page so that more fabulous business "fempreneurs" can join us. After having had a couple of failed attempts in getting my business ideas off the ground, the one thing I have clear is that I can't do it alone. I need the energy and strength of like-minded souls so that I don't lose my mojo. And the more the merrier, as they say!

To stay on track with my vision and my business plan I've come to realize I need to create structures in my life. Our weekly meetings achieve that - I know that I have to get certain things done before I meet again with the Mogulettes. I'm not sure if it's laziness or fear but if I don't have that incentive, I won't do it (the No Limits Ladies blog has another good idea: join the "Rich Woman" book study). Which brings me to my Business Philosophy: more than anything else I would like my company to reflect a welcoming and supportive atmosphere. Just as I need help in reaching my goals, others need it too, and I'd like to provide that.

In the words of Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams: "If you build it they will come." I truly believe that if I build my "field of dreams" people will come, but the planning process is taking a bit longer than I expected. When I shared these thoughts with a friend recently he reminded me that what's important is to keep going. He claims that it takes 50 actions to make an extra $25,000. Well I don't know if those numbers are exactly right but it made me realize that "Rome wasn't built in a day", and I just need to keep taking actions and let go of the results...

I was very inspired by a NY Times article about how Ina Garten , the Barefoot Contessa, started out (check it out: The Barefoot Impresario). She had no idea she'd be this successful in the beginning but she kept on going, and look at her now!

Next week we'll be taking a field trip to listen to T. Harv Eker, author of "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind". He's giving afree seminar in New York.

Until then, live fearlessly!!

Preparing for take-off

We thank you for flying Mogulette Airlines. Please fasten your seat belts as it may be a bumpy ride. Our final destination will be...you fill in the blank!

Our next stop after Mission Statements is Goals and Objectives. This is the stuff that's going to move us towards our vision. I love what Jill Koenig, the "Goal Guru" says on her blog: "Small Goals invite small effort. Big Goals inspire a much higher level of performance. Big Goals inspire miracles" (see full text here).

I followed Jan King's advice in her book, "Business Plans to Game Plans", and came up with 3 big picture goals for the first three years of operations. She says objectives should be big, bold and highly motivational. I really like the sound of that! Here's my list:

Year 1: Build the infrastructure for my business
Year 2: Expand locally and branch out into additional products & services
Year 3: Expand out of state and into the Hispanic market; provide free services to underprivileged clients

For each goal she suggests setting up 5 objectives, and making sure they're realistic. Some questions to ask yourself:

• Do your objectives further the intent of your vision and mission?
• If you completed all of the objectives, would you feel you have accomplished something that is key for the company's overall success?
• Are the objectives realistic within the time frame allotted?
• Are the objectives realistic given the circumstances of the current market?
• Are the objectives realistic given your resources in terms of staff, time and money?

According to King, "the owner or CEO should decide corporate objectives based on what trends have led to this point, what resources are available to the organization this year and what opportunities are open in the market". So it helps to have done the soul searching we did in our past meetings (see "Existential Angst", below) in order to come up with ideas for goals.

When I shared my goals and objectives with Martha, my fellow Mogulette, it felt like part fantasy, part wishful thinking, but I was totally jazzed thinking of all the possibilities! The engines on Mogulette Airlines are definitely revving up...

I also found some useful tips on goal setting at morebusiness.com

Next up:
Business Philosophy: What is important to you in business? What do you want your company to stand for? For example, for Federal Express it’s speed, for Apple it’s quality, design and innovation, for Wal-mart it’s wide product selection...

Core values: why Earthlink is a big fat liar

For over two months I have been utterly frustrated and infuriated by Earthlink. Back in December I finally gave in and signed up for their Internet phone service after repeatedly being hounded by telemarketers to open an account. But as soon as I tried to get help hooking up the device they sent me, that's when the trouble started. Getting through to technical support was like Mission: Impossible. I tried various times and ended up waiting on hold forever only to be disconnected at the end. Wow, if this was how it was going to be, I thought to myself, I better not switch. So I called them and was able to reach a live person who had no problem canceling my service. Phew! I felt relieved that I had averted that problem so easily.

A couple of days later, I tried making a call. Dead silence at the other end. I check the handset, the the wires, I try again. Nothing. No phone service. Aargh!! When I call Earthlink they inform me that my old carrier disconnected me because I failed to notify them that I wasn't going to switch. What?? No one told me that I had to contact my old carrier!! Then they said I'd get my service back quicker if I rejoined with Earthlink, so I agreed to go back. Whatever it takes to get my phone working! It actually ended up taking 10 days to get hooked up again...Double aarrgh!!!

A month goes by. I bump into a friend who said she'd been trying to call me that morning but got a recording saying that my number had been disconnected. Oh-oh... When I got home I quickly tested my phone. Nothing. I won't bore you with the unpleasant details but what followed was pure hell. I called customer support and tried to get help for three days, until I realized that with Earthlink, YOU need to be the technician. You can't just report the problem and have someone come fix it, like the old days. No, you need to wait forever on hold and then get transferred to a zillion places and then follow instructions from a person with a very thick accent that will make you fix the problem. It took almost three weeks to get my phone to work. Needless to say, I am in the process of switching to yet another carrier.

Why do companies push you into buying their products and services, then fail to deliver? Since I've been working on my own mission statement, I was curious to see what Earthlink's was. It says in their website: "We deliver a reliable and personalized experience our customers trust." Uh-huh. Right. Under "Core Values" they say: "We make commitments with care, and then live up to them. In all things, we do what we say we are going to do. " Liars! Big fat liars!

When I was putting together a list of core values for my business plan last week, I came up with these: integrity, honesty, quality, achievement, perseverance, flexibility, tolerance, respect, trust. These are the things I want my company to stand for, and having had this recent experience made me realize how important it is to keep those values alive always, and to not allow greed or fear of failure to cause me to use deceptive practices with current or prospective clients. No way, no how. So Earthlink taught me a great business lesson: what not to do. Here's another reason companies stray from the mission: Tony Bennett POV.

Existential angst

Who would have thought that defining our dreams would be so gut wrenching? My throat tightened as I recited my proposed mission statement at our second meeting. The words “what I want to do is…” brought up so much fear and dread in the pit of my stomach! It’s that voice inside my head that says, “Who do you think you are? You can’t do that!” Luckily my fellow Mogulettes set me straight with fabulous encouragement and support.

We were still not 100% clear about what our missions were by the end of the session, so I suggested that we each come up with 10 ways we can bring in income, without judging or striking out anything that seems too wacky or far fetched. I later found another suggestion from “The Girl’s Guide to Starting your Own Business”, which recommends making a list of values for your company, narrowing them down to a few core values and then formulating your mission from that.

Here’s a sampling of mission statements I gathered from various websites:
Starbucks:
Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.
The Gap:
Gap Inc. is a brand-builder. We create emotional connections with customers around the world through inspiring product design, unique store experiences and compelling marketing.
Yahoo!:
To connect people to their passions, their communities and the world’s knowledge.

More mission statements from Man on a Mission .

The whole process of thinking about my business brings up many more questions than the Mogulettes can answer, so another assignment we’re going to work on for next time is to find a mentor -a man or a woman that's successful in our particular field of interest and who might be willing to guide us. Related articles at StartupNation.com: How to find Business Mentor and Businessweek: Why You Need a Mentor.

Homework:
-List 10 things you can do to bring in income
-Look for a mentor
-Polish up your mission statement

Here are some more questions from the SBA website that we need to ask ourselves regarding our particular niche: (see full text here)

-Is my idea practical and will it fill a need?
-What is my competition?
-What is my business advantage over existing firms?
-Can I deliver a better quality service?
-Can I create a demand for my business?

The final step before developing our plan is the pre-business checklist:

-What business am I interested in starting?
-What services or products will I sell? Where will I be located?
-What skills and experience do I bring to the business?
-What will be my legal structure?
-What will I name my business?
-What equipment or supplies will I need?
-What insurance coverage will be needed?
-What financing will I need?
-What are my resources?
-How will I compensate myself?

"If you’re not following your heart, you’re living someone else’s dream."
Lyn Christian

Mission statements

Since we'll be focusing on mission statements at our next Mogulettes meeting, I did a little research and found this definition on the SBA site (see full text here) to be very helpful:

DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC PLAN

Mission Statement

The first step in the strategic planning process is an assessment of the
market. Businesses depend on consumers for their existence. If you are facing a rapidly growing consumer base, you probably will plan differently than if your clientele is stable or shrinking. If you are lucky enough to be in a business where brand loyalty still prevails, you may take risks that others cannot afford to take. Before you begin to assess the market, it is important that you complete a careful assessment of your own business and its goals.

The outcome of this self-assessment process is known as the mission statement. According to Glueck and Jauch (1984, p. 51), the mission can be seen as a link between performing some social function and the more specific targets or objectives of the organization. Another definition states that the mission statement is a term that refers to identifying an organization's current and future business. It is viewed as the primary objective of the organization (Rue and Byars 1983, p. 99). Because these authors are writing for an audience of managers or would-be managers of larger businesses, their definitions may sound a bit lofty. If, however, you go back to the earlier example of a successful small business, you can see it started with a aclear direction - what was to be achieved and, in a broad sense, how best to achieve it. While your own goal may be to survive, make a profit, be your own boss or even be rich, your business must first perform a social function, i.e., it must serve someone. Given this you must determine (1) the ultimate purpose and (2) the specific targets or objectives of your business.

Defining Your Business

A primary concern in defining a mission statement is addressing the question: What business are you in? Answering this may seem fairly easy: however, it can be a complex task. Determining the nature of your business should not be strictly tied to the specific product or service you currently produce. Rather, it must be tied to the result of your output -- your social function -- and the competencies you have developed in producing that output.

Management theorist Peter Drucker suggests that if the railroad companies of the early 1900s or the wagonmakers of the 1800s had defined their business purpose as that of developing a firm position in the transportation business, rather than limiting themselves strictly to the rail or wagon business, they might still enjoy the market positions they once did (Rue and Byars 1983, p. 101). The obvious concern here is to ensure that you do not define your business too narrowly, leaving yourself open to economic changes or competitive challenges that make you vulnerable. For example, an entrepreneur developed a device to provide greater security for homes and vehicles. But, by focusing on the product rather than the service it was meant to provide, he failed to consider other services that already provided essentially the same level of protection at lower costs.