No one likes to think about failing. We start our businesses with optimism, enthusiasm, and perhaps a level of confidence that comes from the fact that we don't really understand just what we’re getting ourselves into. Well, we all know how we learn by making mistakes, but it’s far better to learn from other people’s mistakes. So I searched the Internet for the reasons why small businesses fail. Here’s what I found. Guidant Financial Guidant Financial lists five reasons why small businesses ... [continue reading]

If you're an entrepreneur, you will probably at some point be forced to write the dreaded Business Plan. You'll need to raise money, either debt or equity, and the person giving you the money will want to see what your plans are. Why did I call the business plan "dreaded?" Just Google "I hate business plans" and you'll see what I mean. You'll see topics like, "10 Reasons Not to Write a Business Plan," and "Business Plans and Why I Hate Them," and "Why Business Plans are Worthless." Really makes you wa... [continue reading]

I recently read this article at The BluePrint. I like it because it nicely explains how a financial projection is done, and because it correctly points out that the most popular small business accounting packages like QuickBooks simply can’t help you do a financial projection. They’re just not made for that. This is the need that ProjectionSmart meets so nicely. The article explains that large companies have big finance staffs and expensive ERP programs that have everything they need to produce great ... [continue reading]

Over the last eight years I have presented over 550 times a free seminar at Workforce Centers called “How to Start a Successful Small Business.” In these seminars I always ask what the participants think the failure rate is for businesses in their first 12 months of operation. Usually the answers range from a high of 90% to a low of 20%.  So what is the real answer? First off, if you Google “failure rates of new businesses” there are over 67 million responses. When looking at the first ten pages you f... [continue reading]

Whenever I speak at a workforce center on starting a small business, I always ask the question, “How many of you have written a business plan before?” I always get one or two people who have attempted the process, and they always say the same things. They usually point out that the process is extremely complicated, they may not understand the words being used, they do not like having to write so much, and they absolutely do not know how to do the financials spreadsheets required for most business plans. ... [continue reading]


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Five stars

"ProjectionSmart is very easy to use for the small business owner who wants to assess his finances and know where his cash is going. It is extremely helpful to me in making more informed business decisions. It gives me peace of mind."
~ Justin, CEO of professional services firm

Five stars

"This is a very helpful program for budding entrepreneurs!"
~ Parker, Entrepreneur

Five stars

"As someone with little business experience, ProjectionSmart took the fear out of creating a business plan. It helped make the numbers easy to understand and surprisingly fun!"
~ Elizabeth, entrepreneur

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