Epicurus.com - Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning

List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $19.95
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Manufacturer: Palo Alto Software, Inc

Average Customer Rating:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780971218529
ISBN: 0971218528
Label: Palo Alto Software, Inc
Manufacturer: Palo Alto Software, Inc
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2006-07-01
Publisher: Palo Alto Software, Inc
Studio: Palo Alto Software, Inc

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Editorial Reviews:

Clear the Planning Hurdle

The Hurdle book is Tim Berry's latest, a practical step-by-step guide to a business plan you can take to the bank and implement in your company. The Hurdle book includes a 53 page workbook to capture your information as you progress through your business plan. Do it Yourself

Learn how to develop a complete business plan, with text, tables, and charts, in simple understandable steps. Learn how to understand business numbers. Everything you need, from profit and loss to cash flow to balance sheet and ratios, all laid out in simple terms and practical examples. Learn to Manage and Implement Your Plan

Includes concrete, detailed advice on how to actually manage and implement your plan. Also includes two sample plans, plan comparisons, as well as sections on starting your business, financing a business, and running your business.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Why couldn't this business plan book have talked at least a little about how to research and write a marketing plan?
Comment:
This book was pretty good. It is currently in its 5th edition, and acts as a marketing tool for the author's software called Business Plans Pro. In fact, this book comes free with the software if you purchase it. Personally, I am not a fan of business plan software because I think it allows the user to think of a business plan as artwork rather than a research paper assignment. But that's just me.

As business plan books go, this is a good one. It is well outlined, well written, and informative. It includes the following six parts:

1. Fundamentals
2. Tell Your Story
3. Gathering Information
4. Forecasting
5. Financial Analysis
6. Strategy and Tactics

It also includes two sample business plans, a workbook for helping to prepare a business plan, and a glossary of business plan terms. I especially liked the price since I found it as a free download off the Internet last week. 3.2 MB in size, but the price was right.

Anyway, I had a few problems with the book. Business plans are supposed to be handbooks that tell entrepreneurs how to turn their business models on paper into business models functioning in the real world. And a business model is a profit model that is a system that allows the business owner to extract cash from her customers while creating a profit that she can live on. Anybody in business knows that if they don't have customers, then they don't have a business. And anybody who stays in business knows that they have to have a sound marketing plan that finds prospects for their business that can be converted into customers. This book is lacking because it does not cover how to research a marketing plan or to write one. For me, this was a BIG problem.

Funny thing is that at Figure 12-1 in the book there is a sample Marketing Expense Budget. Why did the author include this exhibit without explaining somewhere in the book how to write a marketing plan. Since the author included this exhibit it seems clear to me the author knows a marketing plan is necessary and required. At Chapter 17 there is about a page devoted to "promotion strategies." But this was just too little and too late to keep me happy.

The author also asserts at various places in the book that a business plan is not the most important requirement for starting a business. He says customers are. I strongly disagree. What comes first: the business plan or the customer? I assert the plan does! Without the plan there never will be a customer. But overall, I liked the book, and it's better than just OK. 4 stars!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A step-by-step guide to create a thorough, concrete plan
Comment: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

Texts, tables and charts that make my CPA's and Attorney's wonder who did my business plan!

Tim Berry has purchased three of my business plans for publishing in his Business Plan Pro software system and this book comes with that plan.

If you buy the software at Staples or Best Buy, you'll find this excellent book inside. It is amazing at helping you develop a concise plan!

Customer Rating:

Summary: One of the better ones
Comment: I needed to write a business plan for a service organization. Since it was back in 1988 when I wrote my last one, I bought six books on the subject. One was absolutely useless, two were written by people who had obviously never operated a company, which suggests to be careful when buying books on the subject. One was ok, one reasonably good, and Berry's was the best of all of them, though not perfect. At least it caused me to think like an investor who reads the plan before giving his money to people who he doesn't know from Adam.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Best Book on BP I have ever read
Comment: This was a very easy and clear read. The best book on business planning that I have ever read. It's refreshing to know that you don't need a MBA to read and write a clear business plan. Great examples and figures throughout.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A practical, easy-to-put-into-action business plan resource
Comment: This is the most pragmatic, easy to understand, and easy to follow book for creating a business plan I have found yet. "Hurdle" is designed for those that want to benefit from what a business plan can offer their business. The chapter "About Business Numbers" is the best I have read to understand the numbers behind a business and how they relate to the business plan. A quick read, a great resource, and a sound business investment. After reading "Hurdle", I wouldn't plan without it.

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