 |
| Cynthia Kocialski |
Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
I’ve worked with start-ups for more than 15 years. I have also founded 3 companies myself. Some of the businesses have been successful and some not. Although not all were investor-backed companies, those that were returned billions to investors. After being involved in so many new businesses, I saw patterns emerge. I saw the differences between the failures and the successes. I can honestly say that with a rare few exceptions, almost all entrepreneurs can create a thriving business. The reason they don’t is they are starting on the wrong foot.
Right now, in the US, there are more than 600,000 new business starts every year. Over the past 20 years, a new business has opened every 39 seconds. Sadly, a business has failed and closed every 42 seconds. Yet, new and small businesses have a huge impact on our economy. We don’t need more business starts, we need to get the ones that start to thrive instead of die.
I live in Silicon Valley and there are plenty of start-ups here. Many people admire the famous ones from Silicon Valley. The truth is the same techniques that launched those successful tech start-ups can be applied to every new business, even the ones on Main Street.
Where do you get your ideas?
I get my ideas from my experiences and from talking with other entrepreneurs. Mostly, it’s what these entrepreneurs say are their current problems and issues.
Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you overcome it?
Since I write about entrepreneurs, start-ups, and their stories, it’s easy to overcome writer’s block. I just go find a meeting or place where the entrepreneurs gather and talk with them. In Silicon Valley, this isn’t a problem. There are several of these meeting or networking events every day.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers on the writing and publishing process?
Authorship and writing is just a micro-startup. The same rules apply. It’s easy to create the product, in this case, the book. The first big hurdle is the marketing and marketing is a much bigger effort than the writing.
How do you market your work? Have you found some avenues to be more successful than others?
I have tried everything I can think of. I’ve engaged public relations firms, gotten many millions of views, and few sales. I’ve hired book promoters, used social media, tried joint venture partnerships, did online advertising, spoken at conferences, created a blog, developed workshops, and the list goes on. Since I have a non-fiction book on business, the most successful approach to date is forum marketing and social media channels.
If your book was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each part?
My book would be a documentary. And just like in television, far more people know who Steven Spielberg is than Ken Burns. I think I rather be known as a proponent of the experimental start-up
phase, a specialist of start-up businesses, and a SME growth expert.
*******************
Synopsis
Every 50 seconds a new business is started with high hopes, and every 60 seconds a business closes with disappointment. It’s a scary fact when starting a new business.
There’s the old route of writing up yet another business plan, but guess what? Look at the results - half of all businesses fail within the first 5 years. It’s not necessary for a business to succeed!
Business Plans That Work is not the boring step-by-step approach to writing a typical business plan, but something quite the opposite … learn how to replace the standard business plan with something that is easier to create and more appropriate for a new business.
The typical business plan of the past was a mere fairy tale, full of guesses, estimates and assumptions of what might be. No real facts only made up numbers. And that is not a plan for success.
So what is this new approach then? Entrepreneurs should start with a concept plan first.
Unlike a business plan, a concept plan takes all the guesses and estimates and carefully organizes them and prioritizes them upon how much of an impact they will have on a new business. Then at that point, it devises a plan to prove it’s a viable business idea and/or concept that one can move forward with.
Business Plans That Work provides useful statistics, case studies and a simple six-step Concept Plan formula to help budding entrepreneurs create a starting point for setting a new business on the right path from day one. And if they already have a business plan, that’s ok too. The book shows how to convert it over to a Concept Plan.
********************
About the Author
Never satisfied with the status quo, Kocialski took action when the entrepeneurial bug bit and never once looked back. She founded three companies, served on advisory boards and helped various start-ups take flight.
Following the traditional advice to “write what you know,” Kocialski authored Startup from the Ground Up, Out of the Classroom Lessons in Success, A Simple Sales Guide for Start-ups, and Your Company as a Business Experiment.
Kocialski holds degrees from the University of Rochester and the University of Virginia, and presently edits and blogs on the Start-up Entrepreneurs’ Blog.
********************
FOR MORE INFO
Website: www.cynthiakocialski.com
Blog site: www.cynthiakocialski.com/blog
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ckocialski
Facebook: www.facebook.com/startupfromthegroundup
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/cynthia-kocialski/8/18a/702
BUY THE BOOK
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Business-Plans-That-Work-ebook/dp/B00CMXK8C8/