Congratulations Pink Tie!

Stopped by the Pink Tie Events store this week, what a super fun place to visit!
Congrats ladies!!

2011 CEC WINNERS

(advance to 6:50 for CEC coverage)

pssst.... we have Finalists!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO:
Earthstone Concrete Countertops and Creations
Pink Tie Events
Platinum Garages

These three individuals/groups will be presenting in front of a panel of Judges on June 9!!

Way to go to all our Competitors! We received record number of submissions this year and each showed genuine promise as sustainable businesses!
Screeners offered excellent and thorough feedback. Competitors can request their feedback/scoresheets and are invited to participate again in 2012!!

Mark Monday on your calendar!

I know many of you are expecting a big announcement!!
Because of the overwhelming response and the quality of the plans (Great Job, Everyone!), reserve screeners were called in!
Screeners are saying the plans were strong, engaging and they enjoyed being able to participate at this stage.
Evaluations are coming in and I expect we’ll be able to announce the Finalists (3) on Monday!
CHECK BACK!

CEC 2011 now closed

Congratulations to all our competitors!
Screeners will be reviewing plans through May and we'll be announcing our finalists by the end of the month.
Final presentations and awards ceremony will be June 9 at Lethbridge Lodge.

Thank you to all of my readers and good luck competitors!!

:)

It’s the Final Countdown!!

Weeks have turned in to days and the submission deadline TOMORROW!!!!

2:00pm SHARP

Lots of participants have been asking if they can get help with the finishing touches of their plan, they want expertise to add that final polish. By all means, bounce your idea and plan off people who will give you quality information, especially those who will take you to task on difficult points.

Call now to see if your local Community Futures office has a Business Analyst who can help you hammer out any of the final business details.

Questions about your competition submission? Contact the project coordinator at 403-320-6044 or info@chinookchallenge.com

GOOD LUCK TO ALL COMPETITORS!!!

The Pre-Screen

May I be honest on here?

So far, we’ve received business plans early this year. GREAT JOB TO THOSE WHO SUBMITTED ALREADY!!

This is the first time I’ve seen competition submissions before the training wrapped, so kudos! But let these early birds sing a cautionary tale, for not one would have passed the pre-screen!

Good thing they were in touch with the office early and I could get back to them about what was missing.

In most cases, it’s as simple as the submission date on the info page or not having the business/concept name in the header or footer. I can tell you that a common snag is missing an entire section of the plan. Technically, we’ll still accept your submission if it’s missing a section, however, you will score ‘0’, ultimately points you WILL need in order to become a Finalist.

Chinook Entrepreneur Challenge is a dynamic program, but the underlying structure is that this is a competition and we need to adhere to strict rules to ensure fairness to all participants ...that’s why we’ve gotta be so strict!!

Make it easy for organizers and screeners by titling your section headers to coincide with business plan elements found on page 17 -18 of the Participant’s Handbook.

DON’T FORGET THE IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE!!

Here’s a copy/paste of the checklist we’ll be using to pre-screen:

o Participant Agreement (signed original received by 2:00p.m. April 29)

o Non-Disclosure Agreement (signed original received by 2:00p.m. April 29)

o Plan Submission Checklist (signed original received by 2:00p.m. April 29)

o Info Page: business name, first & last name of team member(s), address, phone, email, list of employees, submission date

o Table of Contents

o Business Plan: Executive Summary, Product/Service, Market Analysis, Marketing and Sales, Management Team, Manufacturing/Operations Plan, Implementation Schedule, Opportunities & Risks, Financials, The Offering

o Formatting: Arial font, 11pt, letter-sized paper, 1” margin, less than 20 pages, contact info

You can set up a time to come in to your Community Futures office and chat with us about your business plan or competition submission any time!

Session 8 Part 2

Part 2 of Gillian Nish's informative lecture on business plan elements.

Session 8 Part 1

Session 8 featured business plan tips from Gillian Nish, President of Execuserv Plus.

Fitting in those financials

Oh boy! How are we going to fit all that financial information in to just 4-5 pages of your submission?? There is a way!

First of all, I'll tell you that the formatting requirements loosen up in this area. You don't need to follow the "Arial, 11pt, 1" margins, etc" guidelines.

Next, I've taken winning submissions from the past couple of years and pulled out some tips I can give you from their plans:
- On the first page of your financials, introduce what the reader is about to see. Write a summary about the type of statements that will follow, the timelines, the balances and justifications.
- Outline numbering will help you keep the readers thoughts focused. For example, 9.1 Cash Flow, 9.2 Income Statement, etc...
- Use footnotes or denote remarks with justifications where possible. For example, “*B: Salaries-$$$” or “*H: Calculated @ 5% of receivables”
- Be honest with yourself and plan for contingencies.
- Common terms for titling your statements:
o Pro Forma Monthly Cash Flow Analysis for year ending: [Date]
o Pro Forma Monthly Cash Flow Analysis for year ending: [Date, next year]
o Pro Forma Income Statement for years ending: [Date, 3 years]
o Pro Forma Balance Sheet for years ending: [Date, 3 years]
o Break Even Analysis
- Graphs, charts and tables are great tools.
- Use appendices. There’s no guarantee that a screener will review them, but if they see that you’ve included back-up to anything that might pique their interest, they’ll dig deeper. There is a 10-page maximum on appendices.

If you have any tips you’ve used that you think will help out, don’t be afraid to post them here! We love comments from the readers!!

Bad Plans

I've posted some examples of plans that would not meet pre-screen criteria.
Check them out at http://chinookchallenge.com/seminar.php (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Sample Plan A
There are so many things wrong with this submission. Basically, before the screener reads your plan, they'll see your plan. Even though the competition structure is somewhat rigid, you can still present a polished, great-first-impression business plan.
This plan does not make a great first impression.
Here are a couple of things this participant missed:
- no Non-Disclosure Agreement or Plan Submission Checklist
- Participant Registration is not original signed copy
- no info page or table of contents
- section headings not aligned/formatting doesn't match
- section numbering mismatched
- font is not inconsistent and not all Arial
- font is not all 11pt
- more than one plan section on each page
- NO CONTACT INFO! <-- this is a personal pet peeve. Please make sure you have contact info on your business plan somewhere. Date everything too, please!

Sample Plan B
- Non-Disclosure Agreement only signed by one team member
- no table of contents
- At first it appears that the plan is more than 20 pages. Upon closer examination, the overage are actually appendices. Please help the pre-screeners out and make sure you have your table of contents in your submission and don't miss crucial information.

Break-Even Point

One thing we haven't touched on too much throughout the training is the Break-Even Point. There isn't too much use to re-inventing the wheel where so many outstanding resources exist online, but I'll list of few notes then some links below.
- point that you break even
- using fixed AND variable costs
- BEP moves
- watch your fixed costs
- watch slope of revenue vs variable

BEP = total fixed costs [divided by] contribution

or

BEP = total fixed costs [divided by] (selling price - variable costs)
(sorry readers, can't quite figure out how to get blogger to underline or insert mathematical symbols like divided by)

http://www.accountingcoach.com/online-accounting-course/01Xpg01.html

http://www.12manage.com/methods_break-even_point.html

If you are struggling with your calculations, contact your local Community Futures office and ask for an appointment with the business analyst. These people have exceptional skills at assisting entrepreneurs explore their business idea and develop sound plans.

Session 7 Part 4

This clip features great advice from local entrepreneur Frank Tucek of Fuzo Woodworks & Design.

Session 7 Part 3

Part 3 features info from Bruce Hall, district manager of Canadian Federation of Independent Business(CFIB).

Session 7 Part 2

Part 2 of Brent Lloyd's lecture on operations management.

Session 7 Part 1

A recap of Wednesday's lecture on operations management from Brent Lloyd

Session 6 Part 2

Part 2 of Using Financial Statements.

Session 6 Part 1

A few words from Alaina Wells of Lethbridge Vehicle Licensing and Registry on what options are out there for registering your business name.

Session 5 Part 4

This is the final part of Mark's lecture on bookkeeping.

Session 5 Part 3

For part 3 Mark continues with his bookkeeping lesson. He takes us into the books of fictional entrepreneur "Martha".

Session 5 Part 2

Part 2 has Mark Barber of Community Futures teaching us the finer points of bookkeeping.

Session 5 Part 1

For your review, here's a recap of session 5. The March 9th lecture was titled "Finance 101". In part 1 we'll here from Tyson Dyck of Bridge insurance.

Session 4

Normally I like to post a edited version of the lecture for you guys to review...Sorry to report that due to technical difficulties we are unable to post one at this point. We'll keep working at it. We hope to have it posted soon.

AWESOME RESOURCE LINK HERE!!

Check out this awesome resource centre.
There's a fabulous Business Plan Template you can use to work on your competition submission:
http://cflethbridge.com/tr_documents.php

Ok, I can never resist referring to Dragon's Den. Here's a great clip of DD judge and successful entrepreneur Jim Treliving giving tips on making your pitch:

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/videos.html?ID=1827813527

Submission Requirements

By now, participants should have the first parts of their business plan together.
The business plan is the crucial element of your submission but, to keep things fair, there are some elements you must include to pass the pre-screen.
You can find all of this info on pages 16-18 of the Participants Handbook.
I'll tell you exactly what will be perused during the submission requirement pre-screen:

1. INFO PAGE
-Business name and contact people name(s)
-Address
-Phone & Email
-List of employees (if applicable)
-Submission date

2. FORMS
-Participant Registration & Agreement
-Non-Disclosure Agreement
-Submission Checklist

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS - keep it easy for the screeners to navigate through your plan.

4. BUSINESS PLAN - the screeners use a scoresheet based on the elements of a business plan. For optimum scoring, use the following categories in the respective order when putting your submission together for the CEC:
-Executive Summary (1-2 pgs)
-Product/Service (1-2 pgs)
-Market Analysis (1-2 pgs)
-Marketing and Sales (1-2 pgs)
-Management Team (1-2 pgs)
-Manufacturing/Operations Plan (1-2 pgs)
-Implementation Schedule (1-2 pgs)
-Opportunities and Risks (1 pg)
-Financials (4-5 pgs)
-The Offering (1 pg)

5, FORMATTING - because CEC is a competition there are certain constraints on how your plan is presented. We want to keep it fair and, to do so, we need every submission to conform to the same application style set here:
-Font: Arial, 11pt
-letter-sized, white paper; 1" margins
-no more than 20 pages from Executive Summary to The Offering
-page numbers and business/concept name in the header or footer on every page
-NO COVERS OR BINDINGS (we are striving to keep this as 'green' as we can, so while those presentation materials are definitely more professional looking, scrapping them helps us with storage and reduces waste, as we remove these items and discard them)
-CONTACT INFO!

About Appendices
You may find the 20-page limit...limiting. You are not the first to say that you don't have enough room to get everything you need in only 20 pages.
Appendices are a tough thing for me to talk about. On one hand, submissions should stick to the under-20 rule, but on the other hand I know how important data and information is.
What I tell participants every year is to submit your business plan according to the rules, then attach the appendices (make sure you include info in table of contents).
There is no guarantee that screeners will read the appendices and keep it under 10 pages.

Also, submissions won't be returned. However, all competitors will receive their screeners scoresheets (provided they passed the pre-screen) for the feedback.

We require 15 plans to proceed with the competition. Usually, we receive between 15-20...not bad odds, eh?

Hard copy or electronic copy?? Well, the handbook says "and/or", emphasis on AND!
The business plans are going to screeners electronically and it's best for convenience, timely and totally green. However, we've all heard horror stories about emails getting lost (and probably been through one ourselves), so take the extra step and drop a hard copy off at your local partner Community Futures office just to be safe.

Deadline is Friday, April 29, 2011 at 2:00p.m. MT.

I have set aside large blocks of time throughout April to go over competition submissions with participants prior to deadline, so please feel free to contact me (after the training sessions are complete). I strongly, strongly recommend you contact our office before the deadline.

SIGNED, ORIGINAL copies of the three forms are required!

Session 3 Part 5

The fifth and final part of this weeks session comes from Mark Barber of Community Futures.

Session 3 Part 4

More from Daniel Fieguth of Scotiabank

Session 3 Part 3

This lecture is from Daniel Fieguth of Scotiabank.
Note: He's also a former coordinator for the Chinook Entrepreneur Challenge!

Session 3 Part 2

Part 2 features Grant Kvemshagen from the Business Development Bank.

Session 3 Part 1

Hi challengers here's another installment of session highlights. Part 1 features a lecture from Christi Millar, Alberta Director for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.
cfbf.ca

Contact Info

FIRST OF ALL!! A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR FANTASTIC SPEAKERS!!

Contact info
Canadian Youth Business Foundation - Christi Millar, Alberta Director
(403) 265-2923
cmillar@cybf.ca
Twitter: @CYBFCanada @CYBFWest
Facebook: CYBF FCJE

Business Development Bank of Canada - Grant Kvemshagen
(403) 382-3002
Clarence Gruber: (403) 382-3005
Ron Corbiere: (403)382-3004

ScotiaBank - Daniel Fieguth
(403) 382-3328 ext 3004

Community Futures - Mark Barber
(403) 320-6044


Materials link
http://chinookchallenge.com/seminar.php


Handbook
http://chinookchallenge.com/2009/Participants%20Handbook.pdf

Session 2 Part 2

Part 2

Session 2 Part 1

We had a great session on Wednesday night. It was awesome to see all the participants there. The lecture was titled, "Ideas to Action". I have here a condenced version for anyone that needs a recap.

*BONUS POINTS!*

One item that came up last night that is important to point out to participants is the training participation "Perks".
We've just finished hammering out the details, but one of the videoconference attendants asked an excellent question: can I be at home right now for this?
The short answer: YES!
All eight sessions are available online, streaming. (The link is available in a previous post.)
However, there is a down side.
Please refer to the bottom of page 22 in the Participant Handbook. http://chinookchallenge.com/2009/Participants%20Handbook.pdf
There are FOUR points available for "Attended Training" and FOUR points for "Community Involvement".
The ultimate designation of those points falls to the pre-screeners and organizing committee.
Participants who attend minimum 80% of the sessions from their registration date in person (Lethbridge) or via videoconference (RISE member libraries), will be granted all four points automatically. (I mean, we want to see and meet you every week, so we had to add in some incentive to get you to come out!)
As the online streaming option is a pilot delivery mode for 2011, we are not offering this opportunity. (hint: we're exploring models for getting those points to online participants.)
Another major pitfall is the limited interactivity. As of right now, the chat function isn't working on the moderator's end, so we aren't able to participate in any discussion, therefore, if you're at home, asking questions or participating is difficult.
Apologies for the inconvenience and not making this clearer sooner. If you are concerned about this element, I'm glad to discuss it.
In the next session, we'll discuss the evaluation further and glad to answer any questions.

Session 1 Part 2

Here's part 2 Of the first sessions lecture.

Session 1 Part 1

This is a condensed version of Wednesday nights lecture. All you future entrepreneurs should find it useful for review purposes. In case anything was missed, all on the notes from the power point are included. I hope everyone enjoyed their first night, and good luck!

COMMENT HERE!!

Registration comes with perks, the first 5 registered participants to comment on this post will receive a free ticket to the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce's Mix & Mingle Trade Show on Feb. 15!

Tell us why you joined CEC and your name!

Also, did you know we're on Facebook? http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Chinook-Entrepreneur-Challenge/125548044171964

Session 1 - Introduction

Session 1: Introduction

First, I want to apologize to our online participants for the delay in getting the session streaming. You didn’t miss anything that you can’t find in the Participant’s Handbook.

What a wonderful way to kick off the 7^th cycle of the Chinook Entrepreneur Challenge! We had great turnout and heard from an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, passionate speaker.

Entrepreneur Bruce Thurston of Management Resource Services took the podium and energized the crew with stories about other entrepreneurs in the region and his own experiences, while relating everything into a context that participants can benefit from.

CASH IS KING!

That was the first thing we learned. He explained that entrepreneurs work lots of hours and must always know where the money is coming from.

Bruce shared some examples of evaluating an opportunity. For example, a 50-year old man wants to start a drywalling company. He has bad knees and bad hearing – perhaps this isn’t the opportunity for him.

However, he reminded us of two local women who saw an episode of Oprah about lingerie as a business. They saw that the model worked in other markets and soon they were on their way.

He recommended you do the homework. Isn’t it remarkable that a new business will spend thousands on equipment and getting their business started, but won’t buy a $22 book that gives in-depth information about a particular industry.

There are lots of reasons to become an entrepreneur, but among the more popular is because people don’t want to work for their employer. If you have a bad employer and choose to leave, 98% of the time, you’re better off....but be careful 70-80% of businesses fail within the first five years.

To put things in perspective of the local market, think of Lethbridge/Medicine Hat as a big Bow Island or Hanna, not a little Calgary. It’s all about the way you look at a community.

Ideas are all over, you can take a model that works somewhere else and use it – why not use something that’s already working and improve it!! Think of grain bins. Someone saw cone-bottomed bins as a real opportunity. An idea brought from Europe to Manitoba.

“STEAL FROM THE BEST, they’re what is known as pioneers, sometimes pioneers die young,” he said.

Again, Bruce mentioned that cash is king and you need to always be watching cash flow. A lot of suppliers may not give you credit. He warned about using a charge card to by supplies – do you really want to be charged 26% interest!! That’s the kind of hole that is VERY difficult to get out of and rarely calculated into expenses. For example, roofing suppliers get burned so often, they don’t provide credit.

Be cautious also of regulations and contracts. Another entrepreneur he consulted signed a no-contest agreement outlining that she couldn’t work in the same field. She took the local self-employement course and found another idea that was untouched. Will this work in southern Alberta? Bruce asked her how much money she wanted to make and what her expenses were. After all the math was done, she’d need to sell 9000 units. Is the market large enough for what she was offering? It would be a struggle but she was very optimistic and worked hard. This individual was the type of person with natural sales ability and she grew her business based on a few services.

Bruce pointed out that you need a strong management team. That doesn’t have to mean a bunch of people, it can be just yourself even but what are you going to do?

Look at Spitz for example. They started when bank loans were 22% interest. Tom, the owner, knew he good keep farming or he could go bigger. He operated the farm and business, while his wife managed the books. Their skills complimented eachother which has attributed to their success.

You need to understand what the customer wants. If you’re a marketing company hired to promote a company, invest in that company. Understand what their day-to-day is all about, their struggles, their triumphs. Find them, google them, observe, visually go out and see the facilities.

You can’t just say “we’re going to be better that the competition”. Better is in the eye of the customer. What is it the customer wants??

Alberta has the good fortune to possess the three F’s of opportunity: fuel, food and fertilizer.

Many international business people will tell you that if Canada didn’t have the resources they wouldn’t be doing business.

Thinking of a restaurant? Did you know that restaurants only have a 4-6% profit before tax?? There are gains in the industry but they come after 30 years of hard work! Can’t be sleeping in, gotta have self-discipline!

We have freedom in Canada, opportunity – look at the recent turmoil in Egypt!

You just need to find out if people really want it. Then, how much are they willing to pay?

Bruce also advised that you must know the governments restrictions – check bylaws, because they change!

Use honey in your relationships, don’t use vinegars. You have rights, but it’s all about your approach.
Use honey, slows down the wheels.

Take Round Street Cafe for example. The owner was a teacher, helps disadvantaged and disabled.Now, all the schools use her.

At first, she would spend hours prepping muffins then sell them for $.50, fresh at 7am. Why not charge$1.50, Tim Horton’s down the road does!

Her business is succesfull today because she’s stuck to core values, bought local products, makes money on baking and coffee, knows where your cash is.

What are you going to make money on? Show that in your business plan!

Can you make a course correction? As an employer, you have all the risk.

What are the risks? Don’t use that word, there are only opportunities!

Reflect in the mirror, don’t point fingers, when you point one, three pointing back
Key to success is being able to sell your service/product in 30 seconds, our world is too fast, deliver your business in a soundbite, listener needs to understand what you’re selling.

Other things he pointed out were:

- watch barriers for entry. To be a roofer, you don’t need a lot of capital, especially a big shiny truck. All of that is for show!

- Also, monitor saturation, does your town need another pizza shop?

- Do you have enough insurance?

- Don’t forget to get paid, do not be afraid to ask for cash.

- Understand cashflow if you’re not getting paid for 90 days

- Profits are for three things: pay down debt, buy equipment, pay shareholder(s)

- Be brutally honest, use someone who’s always questioned you, test the process, ask potential customers what they will PAY.

- What is market value? Don’t undercut, recognize the product and what you get paid for

- Get excited about the idea.

Then we started talking about research.

Research Primary “looking into things”, don’t get hung up on research – talk to people, do some interviews, do some observations.

Secondary is more formal
Contact your local Community Futures about the Small Business Solver, it’s only $20 and an excellent, customized resource!!
Find out who drives decisions? Spending decisions? (Bruce said that in his house, it’s his daughters! lol)

A lot of people come from calgary and try something that worked there, will it work there?

Use demographics to determine lifestayles factors and customers needs. What can you do to solve their problem?

HERE IS A VERY USEFUL LINK!!

www.ic.gc.ca

Estimate operating costs and understand them. Appeal to those who can’t provide their own service.

Look at chocolate. Sales skyrocketted when economy went down, people will spend on small pleasure. Plus a local chocolatier offers samples – makes all the difference!

Starbucks knows their demographics – mothers between certain hours. They monitor their sales and make their profit is in the expansion of milk!

What are you going to make your money on?

What’ the margin? Sales minus costs?

What can you sell it for, but is it enough?

Consider your implementation plan – if you’re in retail, don’t miss Christmas!

You can borrow from your family but they only love you so much. An area entrepreneur had fast growth but sank owing half million to family. Tore the family apart!

You’re the last one to get paid in the process, cash goes to expenses.

A business plan is like a roadmap!

Get that executive summary just right, otherwise you become part of a pile in a corner.

Then we had a few questions:

Demographics – what would you look for? Sources?
Participants have eight weeks of training to build and another month after, the more information you can collect and include the better and stronger your plan. Don’t use just one article that tells you what you want to hear.

Check out other landscapers, go to shows, what are you going to do when its’ winter? What’s your network? Residential or commercial? There are estimate sheets out there.

Who will buy? People, lifestyle patterns.
There are differences between landscaping and cutting lawns, how do you fit in the market?

Does service or product determine business plan style?

Product is tangible that someone buys and take away, services are something you provide.

Being an entrepreneur, you learn about other business

VERY IMPORTANT!! Don’t bad mouth other businesses - NEVER!!!

Try “they provide this, what I do is this...”