James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
FastTrac Growth Venture: Week Two
This week’s class was informative and fun, to say the least. We spent the majority of the six hour period doing research on our competitors and studying the demographics of our present and future customers.
Our two primary resources were:
Business Decision http://www.businessdecision.info/ It’s a database for demographics that can be used in several unique ways. Just type in a zip code, and how large a radius around that zip code you wish to study. It can pull up information about lifestyles (urbanites, yuppies, rural dwellers, etc…) / interests, income, median home prices and general demographic profiles of the residents. It also is capable of breaking down how the general population spends their annual incomes, plus a whole bunch of other cool stuff. It also shows satellite maps of where the various income levels live, shop and play. It also comes complete with mailing addresses for each demographic segment for those who use direct marketing.
Reference USA http://www.referenceusa.com/ was another resource, and that was primarily used to take a closer look at our competitors and the markets we both serve…and compete for. All we had to do is type in a business name and it brought up just about everything except an Experian credit rating number. Just for kicks, I looked up a few businesses from here on the forum and it looks like big brother is watching us all.
It allowed us to see a general credit rating (letter grade) based on the company’s maturity, years in business, number of employees, general indications of loans they’ve acquired over the years (no specific numbers, though), and quite a few other hard-to-get tidbits of information that the courthouse won’t (or can’t) give out. And, it also gives a complete hyperlinked list of THEIR competitors…way too cool. More sensitive information such as a full credit report is available for an additional fee.
I used it (Reference USA) to check up on one troublesome customer and got a better understanding of what’s going now…and what I should be expecting in the future.
Access to these databases is too pricey for the average small business, but some libraries offer them free to their patrons. Our library allows us to remotely access the databases from home while logged in through their home page.
Free reports from each database, complete with graphs, pie charts and other visuals can be downloaded in .pdf or MS Excel formats.
So, the take-home lesson this week is: Get to your local library and see what they have to offer your business…you might be pleasantly surprised.
JB
PS: I’ll leave older posts about FastTrac Growth Venture attached to each new post so you don’t have to go back through the older threads.
FastTrac Growth Venture: Week One
A few weeks ago, I had mentioned the Kaufmann Foundation's FastTrac Growth Venture classes that were being offered in our community. Basically, Growth Venture is designed for current business owners who desire a better understanding of their business in preparation for future growth.
Since Michigan's ecomony is practically at the bottom of the dumper, each participant was given a $720 scholarship (from grant money) for the class, leaving us with just $100 to pick up on our own.
Several of us in the class come from non-business backgrounds, but I was surprised by how many seasoned business owners were coming "back to school" to take a long hard look at re-defining their businesses in a declining economy...fraught with new upstarts and ever increasing competition. The "battle stories" they gave were quite an eye opener.
Last Thursday was the first day of class. The course runs six weeks, and we meet one day a week for six hours of instruction and group discussion. I'm finding that the homework takes me about four to six hours to complete each module.
A majority of the material can be studied independently, but the interaction between participants during class has proven very beneficial, and has challenged my thinking in several ways. I'm looking forward to breaking away from a lot of the preconceived notions I have.
For those who might be interested in what they teach, I'll try to keep a weekly outline of the material we cover.
Here's what was on the schedule for last week:
Module 1: Sizing Up Your Business-
Conducted a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats)
Defined a three-year vision of our business
Identified goals for the business and our goals for the FastTrac program
Module 2: Exploring Growth Opportunities
Assessed Industry potential
Developed my customer profile
Analyzed my direct, indirect and future competition
Evaluated our business growth opportunities
Module 3: Making Strategic Decisions
Defined my business strategy
Defined my executive summary (for business plan)
This week’s class was informative and fun, to say the least. We spent the majority of the six hour period doing research on our competitors and studying the demographics of our present and future customers.
Our two primary resources were:
Business Decision http://www.businessdecision.info/ It’s a database for demographics that can be used in several unique ways. Just type in a zip code, and how large a radius around that zip code you wish to study. It can pull up information about lifestyles (urbanites, yuppies, rural dwellers, etc…) / interests, income, median home prices and general demographic profiles of the residents. It also is capable of breaking down how the general population spends their annual incomes, plus a whole bunch of other cool stuff. It also shows satellite maps of where the various income levels live, shop and play. It also comes complete with mailing addresses for each demographic segment for those who use direct marketing.
Reference USA http://www.referenceusa.com/ was another resource, and that was primarily used to take a closer look at our competitors and the markets we both serve…and compete for. All we had to do is type in a business name and it brought up just about everything except an Experian credit rating number. Just for kicks, I looked up a few businesses from here on the forum and it looks like big brother is watching us all.
It allowed us to see a general credit rating (letter grade) based on the company’s maturity, years in business, number of employees, general indications of loans they’ve acquired over the years (no specific numbers, though), and quite a few other hard-to-get tidbits of information that the courthouse won’t (or can’t) give out. And, it also gives a complete hyperlinked list of THEIR competitors…way too cool. More sensitive information such as a full credit report is available for an additional fee.
I used it (Reference USA) to check up on one troublesome customer and got a better understanding of what’s going now…and what I should be expecting in the future.
Access to these databases is too pricey for the average small business, but some libraries offer them free to their patrons. Our library allows us to remotely access the databases from home while logged in through their home page.
Free reports from each database, complete with graphs, pie charts and other visuals can be downloaded in .pdf or MS Excel formats.
So, the take-home lesson this week is: Get to your local library and see what they have to offer your business…you might be pleasantly surprised.
JB
PS: I’ll leave older posts about FastTrac Growth Venture attached to each new post so you don’t have to go back through the older threads.
FastTrac Growth Venture: Week One
A few weeks ago, I had mentioned the Kaufmann Foundation's FastTrac Growth Venture classes that were being offered in our community. Basically, Growth Venture is designed for current business owners who desire a better understanding of their business in preparation for future growth.
Since Michigan's ecomony is practically at the bottom of the dumper, each participant was given a $720 scholarship (from grant money) for the class, leaving us with just $100 to pick up on our own.
Several of us in the class come from non-business backgrounds, but I was surprised by how many seasoned business owners were coming "back to school" to take a long hard look at re-defining their businesses in a declining economy...fraught with new upstarts and ever increasing competition. The "battle stories" they gave were quite an eye opener.
Last Thursday was the first day of class. The course runs six weeks, and we meet one day a week for six hours of instruction and group discussion. I'm finding that the homework takes me about four to six hours to complete each module.
A majority of the material can be studied independently, but the interaction between participants during class has proven very beneficial, and has challenged my thinking in several ways. I'm looking forward to breaking away from a lot of the preconceived notions I have.
For those who might be interested in what they teach, I'll try to keep a weekly outline of the material we cover.
Here's what was on the schedule for last week:
Module 1: Sizing Up Your Business-
Conducted a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats)
Defined a three-year vision of our business
Identified goals for the business and our goals for the FastTrac program
Module 2: Exploring Growth Opportunities
Assessed Industry potential
Developed my customer profile
Analyzed my direct, indirect and future competition
Evaluated our business growth opportunities
Module 3: Making Strategic Decisions
Defined my business strategy
Defined my executive summary (for business plan)
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