Taking Inventory of Your Team’s Readiness to Run Your Business

Look at the skills required to run a successful business – expertise in finance, marketing and sales, operations, specific product knowledge, and people leadership. Now compare that to your bio. In which areas are you strong and in which do have little or no experience or expertise? Be honest with yourself. You don’t have to point this out in the business plan, but any sophisticated reader will see it immediately. The reader is doing his or her own inventory in this section, thinking, “Based on my experience of what it takes to successfully start and grow a business, do I think this person will be able to do that, given this combination of skills, experience, and maturity that I can see from the creation of this plan?”

Given the importance of people in the business equation, if you don’t have these essential skills and experiences yourself, you will need to develop them or find them through others – either partners, key employees, or professional advisors. This is your team, put it together carefully. Make sure personalities mesh, and that between all of you, you have all the skills necessary.

Most business owners hire other people to take on some of the roles that are essential to success. Almost every entrepreneur hires a bookkeeper to do the accounting work. Many hire salespeople with a network of contacts to count as the initial customers. Others hire a general manager to make sure there is enough inventory, for the purchasing of raw materials, and to make sure packages are sent on time.

A restaurant owner will often hire a well-known chef and advertise this. A dentist might hire other dental professionals with a range of specialties to round out the practice.

These are examples of hiring key employees who may bring skills to the business you lack, and are essential to making your business work.

Key employees may be important to show you understand that you have to have what it takes to satisfy customers and are willing to collaborate with others to be successful. Write bios for each just as you did your own.

Also talk about your professional resources such as consultants, your accountant, lawyer, banker, insurance agent, etc. List them and give a brief history of their business background and whatever will add to your credibility: their education, experience, and history with other clients in your field. The best way to find reliable professionals if you don’t already have them is to ask a successful small business owner who they use, and like. You will be looking for professionals who like working with smaller businesses and preferably individuals who have expertise specific to your area.