Sample Business Plan Outline Author's Note: Although there are numerous ways to assemble a quality business plan, this particular outline can be easily adapted for a real estate investing business and is thus an excellent recommended choice for you to consider. The Executive Summary The first page of your business plan should be a persuasive summary that will entice a reader to take the plan seriously and read on. The Executive Summary should follow the cover page, and not exceed two pages in length. The summary should include:

• A brief description of the company's history
• The company's objectives
• A brief description of the company's products or services
• The market the business will compete in
• A persuasive statement as to why and how the business will succeed, discussing the business's competitive advantage
• Projected growth for the company and the market
• A brief description of the key management team (if any)
• A description of funding requirements, including a time-line and how the funds will be used

The Product or Service It is important for the reader to thoroughly understand your product or the services you currently provide or plan on providing. However, it is important to explain this section in layman's terms to avoid confusion. Do not overwhelm the reader with technical explanations or industry jargon that he or she will not be familiar with. It is important to discuss the competitive advantage your product or service has over the competition. Discuss any barriers that you face in bringing the product to market, such as government regulations, or the effects by any competitors. Areas that should be covered in this section include:

• Is your product or service already on the market or is it still in the development stage?
• If you are still in the development stage, what is the roll out strategy or timeline to bring the product to market?
• What makes your product or service unique? What competitive advantage does the product or service have over its competition?

The Market Investors look for companies with a thorough knowledge of their target market. If you are launching a new product, include your marketing research data. If you have existing customers, provide an analysis of who your customers are, their purchasing habits, their buying cycle. This section of the plan is extremely important, because if there is no need or desire for your product or service there won't be any customers. If a business has no customers, there is no business. This section of the plan should include:

• A general description of your market
• The niche you plan on capitalizing on and why
• The size of the niche market, including supporting documentation
• A statement and supporting documentation as to why you believe there is a need for your product or offering by this market
• What percentage of the market do you project you can capture?
• What is the growth potential of the market? Include supporting documentation.
• Will your share of the market increase or decrease as the market grows?
• How will you satisfy the growth of the market?

The Marketing Strategy Once you have identified who your market is, you'll need to explain your strategy for reaching the market and distributing your product or service. Potential investors will look at this section carefully to make sure there is a viable method to reach the target market identified at a price point that makes sense. Analyze your competitors' marketing strategies to learn how they reach the market. If their strategy is working, consider adopting a similar plan. If there is room for improvement (and there usually is), work on creating an innovative plan that will position your product or service in the minds of your potential customers. The most effective marketing strategies typically integrate multiple mediums or promotional strategies to reach the market. Such as TV, radio, print, web, direct mail, trade shows, telephone, public relations and promotional materials. Next week I'll continue the business plan outline starting with knowing your competition.

Section 4: How You Calculate Returns

Many readers of your credibility kit may be playing the role of lender, in some fashion or another. As such, you want to be able to briefly show how a lender’s return would be determined in your kit. It is not to suggest that a lender prospect would be unable to do so themselves, as they most certainly will be able to do this. What you want to show is that a lender’s return is important to you and that you have put some thought into this, and that you would be ready and willing to walk them through it if it was a deal in which they were involved.

Even if a reader of your credibility kit is not in a position where they might be a money lender, this section shows some examples of basic numbers that will generally resonate well with someone who is deciding whether or not they think well of you as a business owner.

Example of How You Calculate Returns

Initial Investment: $100,000

Agreed Interest Rate: 8% fixed for up to 12 months, 2% per quarter thereafter

Term of the Loan: 18 months

Total Return (%) 8%+2% for each of two quarters after the first 12 months= 12%

Total Return after 18 Months: 12%*$100,000+$100,000= $112,000

Section 5: The Pro Forma

The pro forma is a document summary of a deal you would present to a funding source, be they a traditional lender or one that is private. While this is listed in the main section of the credibility kit, some of you may choose alternatively to list this in the Appendix, especially if many of your readers are not sources of funding.

You can be as brief or as detailed as you want to be, but the point is to give the reader confidence in your ability to analyze real estate deals. You not only demonstrate the ability to do your homework when evaluating a deal, but also show that you can communicate the value in a deal when you do a good job preparing a pro forma. Readers love to see that you have your act together and a demonstration of what they would experience when working with you is a great way to show this.

As a way to hit some middle ground when building your own credibility kit, you might consider listing this as a section in the main body of your kit, and simply listing what the pro forma would contain if it were “live”. For those kits that are intended for funding sources, the full pro forma could then be included in the Appendix for their reference.

If you would like to see an example of a detailed pro forma to give you a good idea of what types of information you’d want to include in one of your own, please make a request at www.BrianEvansSupport.com or in the comment section below.

Section 6: Examples of Advertising

Does your business walk the walk or does it just talk the talk? Readers of your credibility kit may be wondering about this as they are evaluating whether or not they wish to work with you and there’s nothing quite like real examples of marketing or advertising to show them that you are indeed for real. You don’t necessarily need to divulge your overall marketing strategy here but at least show some examples of the different tools and messages that you are sending out there so the reader can see that you are serious about your business and that your message is prone to capture the interest of quality clients and deals. Clients who have come so far as to be reading your credibility kit likely do want to do business with you and they want to feel reassured that you will have some deals to back up what you’ve told them to date.

I am happy to provide examples of advertising. These strategies are essential in getting your phone to ring so you actually have the opportunity to do business with someone and share your credibility kit with others. Please let me know you would like more information on advertising by leaving a comment in the section below.

I am also providing material for only the cost of shipping and handling by going to the following: www.freemakemoneygift.com/Invitation.html This is the best real estate investing tool on the planet! You do not want to miss the opportunity to start this New Year off right, with invaluable information to make REAL money in this fun and exciting, life-changing world of real estate investing! Go now!

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Section 1: Company and Program Overview

This section of the kit is where you provide a quick summary of who you are, what you do, and why you are worth doing business with. There’s no exact format for how to do this but I suggest some or all of the following components in this section:

A credibility kit empowers the real estate investor to take that next step, beyond the basics of locating properties, marketing, contacting and working with sellers, and working those critical first few deals that get the machine running.

This next level of real estate investing means being able to effectively and concisely explain and back up your business interests to those who might judge you for it. These types of people are not going to be your everyday clientele, as in sellers or buyers of property. What I’m talking about here are the bankers, city officials, other investors, and would be private lenders who can collectively represent your pathway to a highly lucrative tomorrow. These people aren’t going to be swayed by the basic sales presentation that works with many of your day to day clients because they are both more experienced and, from the perspective they are coming from, need to see that your business resembles a business to be impressed with you.

It is for the benefit of these types of clients that the need for a solid credibility kit becomes important. Are you going to be ready to rise to the occasion and be prepared for the higher expectations that these ‘next level’ clients will carry or are you going to be like most investors, who scramble around at the last minute throwing something together? I’d like to think you’d opt for Door Number 1, the door that offers the more prepared approach to professional investing, and it is for this choice that this guide has been created. Let’s start this discussion with a brief review of the essentials for any credibility kit.

Essential #1: The Importance of Being Thorough

One of the more common pitfalls in presenting oneself credibly as a real estate investor concerns the content of one’s credibility kit. One could argue (and argue effectively) that an investor’s credibility starts with real simple things, say a handshake or even a business card. True as these things may be, if you’re going to swim in the proverbial ‘deep end of the pool’, as many of you hopefully wish to do, you’re going to need more than that and that is where this guide will help you considerably.

That said, what constitutes too little for a credibility kit and conversely, what constitutes too much? There may be varying opinions out there on this but I’ll offer my take on this issue and hopefully this will resonate with you as you work to develop your own business. I like to work from the standpoint of the protective mother analogy. You’ll soon see what I mean here. When we were children, the tendency when it was cold was to bundle up and sometimes more so than we felt necessary. Can you imagine a mother telling her child to put on that extra scarf or layer of clothing, just in case? Of course you can and maybe you have your own personal memories to back this up.

Mothers have, for years, reasoned that It’s easier to have more layers of clothing on and take them off as needed than to not have them in the first place and be cold. Despite what a child may think at the time, mothers have a lot of wisdom and this same reasoning applies to your credibility kit. The long and short of it is that it is far easier to have more information prepared for your kit and not use it all than to not have enough and be left scrambling around trying to prepare something at the last minute. See what I’m getting at here?

When you prepare a credibility kit in sections and follow the guidelines that I’ll be suggesting, you can pick and choose which elements you want to use, based on the needs of the intended recipient. The kit can be real basic, just hitting the highlights, or it can be extremely detailed for a reader who wants to see more. Either way, it all starts with having the core complement of information assembled and ready to go; after that, you simply package the kit to match the situation at hand. Sounds pretty logical, doesn’t it?

I bring this up because I’ve seen many investors who work hard to assemble a customized kit for a particular recipient and end up creating a lot more work for themselves than is necessary. Simply preparing the different sections and then picking which to use for a particular client can dramatically reduce the time and effort that goes into kit preparation and, despite what you might think, the recipient will still appreciate the presentation for what it is.

Essential #2: The Importance of Professionalism

Without a doubt, the biggest benefit of a credibility kit is the importance of professionalism and integrity. Sure, we’ve all started with business cards, marketing pieces, or even brochures to describe our services. These things, as effective as they may be, represent the so-called “shallow end of the pool” when it comes to real estate investing and the credibility kit is the next step.

Think about it for a moment. Have you ever been asked if you have a business plan and not yet had one? Have you ever had a private lending prospect ask you for a business summary, leaving you scrambling to put something together that looks better than what you already have? Many of us have and I’m no different. A formal credibility kit is a balance of brevity and unmatched professionalism, not so much because it could compete in the world of corporate America where such proposals exchange hands on a daily basis, but more so because it speaks volumes about you as a small business owner.

You will be elevating your status to what would be expected of a larger company when you have a credibility kit to present to your clients. This is both impressive and also will most certainly set you apart from many of your investor peers, the great majority of whom have no such kits to back up and summarize what they do.

Some features of your kit that will help with its professional impact include:

Over the Labor Day Holiday weekend, my wife and I got together with some relatives on my side of the family that we haven’t seen in years. During the visit I got to talking with my Grandfather (my Dad’s father). His name is Milton and he is 77 years old, and literally he is a certified genius. Anyway, we got to talking about politics and real estate and the economy and small businesses and entrepreneurship, etc and it was a very enjoyable conversation. It is almost refreshing in a way to listen to someone speak their mind when they have such knowledge about life and history and everyday facts.

During this conversation Milton mentioned a word and then described it to me. The word was “Savvy” and he then described it as, “to have a clear understanding of something, and a knowledge and a confident level of common sense.” He was clearly very intent on getting his point across to me about the importance of having savvy in life and business. After concluding the conversation with my Grandfather, shortly thereafter I continued to think about the true power and relevance of the word “savvy” and I knew that it was going to be my topic of conversation for this Business Tip Article.

If you look up the word Savvy in the dictionary it pretty much gives you the exact definition that my grandfather gives – to have an understanding and a mental grasp, as well as common sense of what it is that you do. So as I relate this article to real estate investing I want to ask you, do you consider yourself a savvy real estate investor/entrepreneur? If someone asked me that I would confidently be able to say, YES. I wouldn’t have always been able to say this but, as my experiences in real estate and business grew and continues to grow my “savvy” has grown with it.

So what’s the point of all this “savvy” talk? The point is, “savvy” is a vital and essential ingredient in your recipe to achieve success as a real estate investor. Without “savvy” you will always be just mediocre at best. The good news, is that “savvy” can be acquired and built upon. The more you know, the more experiences you have, the more you get out and do things that others aren’t willing to do, the more savvy you will become as a real estate investor. Anyone in the world, past or present, who has made a name for themselves in business, exemplified a high level of “savvy.” They have a strong understanding of their business and a mental grasp about what needs to be done to achieve success.

So I ask you again, do you consider yourself savvy?

Success if Yours,

Brian Evans

There are many factors that go into becoming a massively successful real estate investor, and there is one profession in particular that I believe offers an appropriate comparison to the overall skills you need to have in this business, albeit on a slightly different playing field. This comparable profession is a Fighter Pilot. Think about it, Fighter Pilots are the absolute best at what they do. They must go through rigorous tests and training before they “get their wings” so to speak. Not everyone who sets out to become a Fighter Pilot reaches their goal, and that’s because it takes a certain individual to overcome the challenges, and develop the skills required before the government hands over the keys to a multi-million dollar aircraft.

Here is a brief list of some of the skills I think can be shared between a Fighter Pilot and a Real Estate Investor:

• Desire to be the best at what they do
• Willingness to work hard under all circumstances
• Ability to handle pressure very well
• Ability to think and make decisions very quickly
• A love for speed and results
• Having a very strong understanding of the business/aircraft that they are operating.
• Commitment to their business/country
• Always striving to make their skills better
• Have trust in their mentor/wingman
• Display a very high level of confidence in themselves

Obviously this is not all of the comparisons that could be made between a Fighter Pilot and a Real Estate Investor. In fact there are probably hundreds of comparisons that could be made. It is fun though, isn’t it? If you can think of any more then be sure to post your comments in this blog.

Here is one more thing to consider when you compare yourself as a real estate investor to that of a Fighter Pilot. Your workspace (your desk/office/etc) should be very structured and organized, similar to that of the Fighter Pilot’s cockpit that they fly in. What I mean by that is this: When you are working at your desk, in order to be most efficient, and effective without loss of momentum and concentration you need to have everything near you so that you can work quickly. You should know where everything is that helps you work effectively and it should all be within short reach of your chair. When you are in your cockpit you should become focused on accomplishing your goals and tasks for the day. Prioritize your mission for each day and work down the list from most important to least important. You should always be focusing the most effort on the deal that is closest to cash and getting you paid. Always keep this and other deals similar to this on your radar screen.

I hope that you enjoyed the imagination with this article, if so, please be sure to post your comments below and let me know.

To Your Incredible Real Estate Investing Success!

Brian Evans

I thought this might be a good follow up to last Wednesday’s Biz Management Blog post which was called, “Fart on it.” You might be interested to know that a few of my “Insider” subscribers didn’t really care for last week’s topic, and as a result felt the need to complain about it. Did I lose sleep over it? No, in fact it is actually good and bad. It is good because, I don’t want complainers on my list and as a result, these people have been removed from my subscriber database. It is bad because no longer will these subscribers be able to learn from someone who is kicking ass as a real estate investor. If you don’t know by now, I give a lot more than I ask for.

Ok, so what does this have to do with today’s lesson called, “Don’t be afraid to annoy people?” As a real estate investor, you will undoubtedly annoy people on occasion as a result of your marketing. When you mail letters and postcards, and put up signs, etc not everyone is going to like your message and be happy that you contacted them. Some will asked to be removed from your list, some will not like your street signs, etc. The key is, not to let the negative haters and easily annoyed keep you from doing what you do. The fact is, some will, some won’t, so what, someone’s waiting (SW, SW, SW, SW)!

Every week in my real estate investing business I get a call from someone that has requested not to be contacted again (after the first letter). One time, I even had someone take their complaint to the Attorney General’s office. Can you believe that! All because I sent them a handwritten letter in the mail saying that I wanted to buy their house. It’s called marketing buddy! If you are not interested in selling then here’s an idea, “don’t call.” The AG’s office really seemed to care less about this complaint. There is no law about mailing letters to generate business. The unfortunate thing is, the “complainer” apparently has such a pathetic life that he let one little letter in the mail upset him so much that rather than throwing it away he felt the need to retaliate. Again, my reaction to this is, oh well, sucks for him. I didn’t do anything wrong, on with running my business.

To be successful in this business you need to very quickly wack the suspects and only work with the prospects. Only do business with people that want to do business with you. You must not be afraid to annoy people with your marketing. Don’t let the people that get annoyed by your marketing efforts scare you away from this business. Your marketing is the heart that pumps blood into your business. If you turn that off then everything else will die.

Do you have any stories about when your marketing annoyed someone? If so, please share them in the post below.

To your real estate investing success,

Brian Evans

When was the last time someone told you to FART on something in your business? Probably never, until now. I was shocked to learn about this technique when I first heard it as well, but once explained to me it makes perfect sense!

The good news is, this FART doesn’t smell!

In your business you are dealt with lots and lots of information on a daily basis. The trick is being able to manage all of the information in a way that allows you to quickly get through it, understand it and then get on with doing what you do best – buy houses! Fart is an acronym for: File, Act, Reroute, Trash.

When I am dealt new information in my business, whether it be mail, or email, or office documents, or notes, or whatever…the way that I get through it is I Fart on it. I either File it away, or Act on it, or Reroute it (I’ll delegate it), or I Trash it…I FART on it.

The stack of papers and files and emails that you have to go through everyday can seem very overwhelming and it can continue to pile up very quickly unless you do something about it. Well, now your solution is simple, humorous, and easy to remember! The quicker that you can FART on all of the information that comes your way, the better off you’ll be as a real estate investor and business owner.

I hope you enjoyed this short article. If so, please let me know!

To your real estate investing success,

Brian Evans

When was the last time that you invested in yourself? I mean seriously invested in yourself in a way that would help you grow your business and learn new things and make more money as a result? If your answer to these questions is never, then I’m sorry to say this but, I feel bad for you? I know, I know but you have good reason for not investing in yourself and your business education such as: you don’t have the money, or you don’t have enough time, or perhaps you think you already know it all and that any new investment in yourself would be a waste of money. The fact is my friends those are all poor excuses.

So lets dissect this, “Investing in yourself” concept. What exactly does it mean? It means taking educated risks and perhaps spending money or time or energy on something with the end result being, it makes you better! Here are some example of investing in yourself, all of which I have done and/or continue to do on a regular basis:

1. Investing in your real estate education by going to training bootcamps held by qualified individuals.
2. Investing in real estate training materials, AND IMPLEMENTING THEM!
3. Investing in a real estate coach or mentor, to help you through difficult deals and situations. (THIS CAN BE LIFE CHANGING)
4. Investing in an assistant to help you with the every day details and minutia that you encounter as a real estate investor.
5. Consider investing in the expansion of your business and moving to an office location.
6. Investing in your marketing (this is a big one that most people consider an expense vs. an investment).
7. Investing in new books, newsletters, self help, motivational material.
8. Perhaps investing in something that helps you relieve stress such as a vacation or a motorcycle! (the latter is my personal favorite. There is nothing like cruising the back country roads on a day with blue sky’s).

I’ll never forget the first really big investment that I made in myself. I spent a little over $30k in a real estate investing program, and looking back, although it seemed crazy to spend that kind of money on education, it also seemed so right to me inside. Does that make sense? Well, the truth of the matter is this, I couldn’t afford not to make the investment in my self because it is knowledge and education that I could act on for the rest of my life. The good news is that I made my money back multiple times over and looking back, I know that had I not made that decision to invest in my real estate investing education that I would be where I am today, and writing this article sharing my experiences with you.

I’d like to leave you with two great quotes:

(1) “I don’t ask how much it costs, I ask how much it will make me.” – Donald Trump
(2) “The price of education is cheap compared to the cost of ignorance.” – Ron LeGrand

I hope you enjoyed this short article. If so, please let me know!

To your real estate investing success,

Brian Evans

A mentor of mine once told me that 1 hour of movement is better then 1 week of meditation. Think about that for a moment because there is some real truth to this saying. The problem that most people have is that they analyze and analyze something to death until they analyze themselves right out of the equation. Does this sound familiar to you? Well, this used to sound way too familiar to me. The truth is, this is a bad habit that develops with time, but the good news is, this bad habit can be broken.

The first thing that I had to do to break this bad habit was to recognize and admit to myself that I was procrastinating. The second thing that I had to do was to decide and make a commitment to myself that I was going to make a change and start making things happen in my business rather than waiting for things to happen in my business.

Ok Brian… easier said than done…. surely you have a better tip on how to help me take action in my business, don’t you?

Yes I do and here it is my friend: Where most people think and analyze their feelings before they take action, I want you to simply take action and then deal with your feelings from your actions. In simpler terms…ACT AND THEN FEEL! Believe me when I tell you, that I Act And Then Feel in my business every single day because I know that in the game of real estate investing if I hesitate then I could lose out on a huge deal.

Now don’t take this advice the wong way, I don’t fly by the seat of my pants like some gun slinging cowboy, nor am I telling you to run your business this way. However if you want to become truly successful as a real estate investor then you have to be able to make a decision and take action quickly even when you only have 50% of the facts. Yes, you’ll make some mistakes but that comes with the business, and if you are afraid to make mistakes then that is a whole other lesson all by itself.

So the next time you encounter a situation where you need to make a decision on a real estate deal or marketing technique, investment of some kind simply gather the facts and Act and Then Feel! Stand by your decisions, accept the consequences of your actions, learn from your mistakes, and celebrate your accomplishments.

I hope you enjoyed this short article. If so, please let me know!

To your real estate investing success,

Brian Evans