Sunday, June 26, 2011

Green Grasses Green Shirt Green Thumb





It's been a while since I posted anything here, and these photos are from a while back. Playing golf that day I was using my camerphone and another camera ... and forgot about the photos on the other memory card! I was dropping them into my computer and thought hey, easy quick blog. Don't want my account closed for NO ACTION

FORE !!!!!
and yes, a "couple of dandy lions" that day

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Golfing with Barry Boner and Biden




Obama: That was fun, lets do it again sometime, Boner!

Boehner: Golf is a good way to lower tensions, Big O

Biden: This is *^%#$@! huge !!!!

Obama & Boener: Shuddup you crazy drunk ....



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Obama, Boehner hope golf game improves Bidenbirdies

Monday, June 13, 2011

Air Net Planning Why Should You Write a Business Plan?

A business plan is the most important and often overlooked part of running or starting a business, expanding an existing business or obtaining finance for a business. If a plan is developed effectively, the success rate for the purpose of the plan rises exponentially, whether it is to start, expand or run a business, and/or obtain finance for the business.
A well developed Business Plan leaves less room for errors and failure. While you cannot predict everything that happens in a company's future, a good Business Plan helps you to avoid certain pitfalls, overcome obstacles and anticipate and create business opportunities. When you do encounter obstacles and problems, having a Plan in place, integrated into the business, provides you with a system and mechanism to effectively deal with challenges, often turning these challenges into manageable situations or even future opportunities.
Let's start with the fundamental questions: Why have a Business Plan? What can a Plan do for my company?
First, a Business Plan helps you run a Business and is the roadmap to business success. This is the primary reason for a Plan, and the plan should be initially written from this standpoint. However, there are many other beneficial reasons for developing and implementing a plan. A Business Plan forces the various departments in your company to work together to implement a synergistic Strategic Plan. A well developed plan helps your Sales Team close more deals and provides them effective tools to use in the field with your customers. A Plan helps your customers understand the direction your Company is taking, encouraging them to become "partners" in your business' success. Your Plan can help you solidify relationships with necessary suppliers, helping them to more effectively understand how to contribute to your Company's growth. A Plan can also effectively assist in obtaining the necessary finance to start or grow your Company.
Business Plan Uses
There are different Business Plan formats and purposes for various circumstances and situations. It is recommended to first develop a Comprehensive Plan to effectively and successfully run your Business, Venture or Projects. Once the Comprehensive Plan is completed, you can take certain parts of the Plan to form other Business Plans for various purposes and situations, such as a Funding Business Plan for a Bank or Venture Capital Firm. A good Business Plan Workbook will take you step by step in developing a Comprehensive Plan, which you will be able to "adjust" for various purposes and uses beyond the effective management of your company.
Internal Uses of a Business Plan
1) Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a company's operation and potential problem areas.
2) Improved company performance results from developing and implementing Strategies which simultaneously builds on a Company's strengths and correcting its weaknesses.
3) Communicate effectively to Management and Employees clear expectations of a Company's performance and priorities to ensure a coordinated execution of a Company's Strategic Plan.
4) An Effective, Comprehensive Plan coordinates and assures consistency between a Company's various divisions and departments to bring about the successful operation of the Company's various units.
5) A Plan provides a mechanism to measure a firm's and individual's performance. It establishes a clear standard for determining whether actual performance is good, bad or neutral.
6) A Plan establishes a system for making key decisions in the Management process of a Company. As new developments, opportunities and difficulties arise, the Business Plan provides a solid structure to evaluate the impact of developments and opportunities on the operations and performance of the Company as a whole and in its individual departments and units.
7) A Plan's development process will educate and motivate a Company's employees. Management, Executives and Key People learn more about a Company's Operation and the direct relationship of their areas of responsibility toward the achievement of a Company's goals. This is achieved through analyzing variables like past performance or the impact of trends and developments, while developing Action Plans for the future success of the Company. The process solidifies your people's commitment and motivation toward achieving the Company's Strategic Plan.
External Uses of a Business Plan
1) A Plan can update and educate outside parties (i.e. investors, shareholders, suppliers, customers, regulators, legislators, etc.) regarding the structure, organization, objectives, goals and performance of your Company.
2) A Plan can secure finance and investment to fund your Company.
3) A well executed Plan can preempt your competition, making barriers to entry apparent.
4) Solidify your customer relationships making them true partners in your Company's products and service offerings, innovation, research and development, and most importantly, your growth.
5) A Plan provides your important suppliers insight into your Company so they can help you manage costs and promote growth. A slight change in a supplier's offering or terms can have a dramatic effect on your Company's profitability.
6) A Plan is a sales tool, assisting your Sales Team to promote understanding throughout your customer base of your Company's direction, competitiveness and uniqueness. An integrated Business Plan enables your Marketing Team and Sales Team to open new markets and opportunities and close more deals.
7) The Plan demonstrates to third parties your Company's core accountability, beliefs and integrity.

Air Net Planning What Constitutes an Effective Business Plan?

There is a preponderance of Business Plans doomed for failure in the market place. Why is this? And what makes an Effective Plan? Here are some key areas to pay attention to when developing your business plan...
The Right Business Plan Process
There are a lot of business planning books in the market place which attempt to explain and quantify the Business Planning Process. Some even claim to be the most "Comprehensive", "Final", "End-All and Be-All" Business Planning book. Some are workbooks or software trying to take you step by step through the Business Planning Process. Many of these books have lots of great experience behind them and contain very useful information; yet, they lack in the actual execution of a good Business Plan or are way too in depth or technical for the entrepreneur to clearly understand.
Being someone who has been developing business plans for over twenty years, I only know one way to write an Effective Business Plan: from a Comprehensive, step by step process in a workbook, building block fashion. A good planning workbook is understandable, simple and addresses all business types and aspects in a step by step, progressive, building block process. Once this Process is complete, there is a simple outline or template to use to package your Business Plan per your particular uses. But a good business plan workbook doesn't stop there, it also addresses the Plan's Implementation, as no Plan is effective until it is implemented and part of your Company operations. Only then can success be consistently attained.
Strong Commitment and Involvement
The Business Planning Process, its use and implementation, must have the strong commitment and involvement of your Company's Executives and Management. Effective business planning is a top-down, bottom-up process, yet needs the total commitment from the upper levels to ensure it encompasses the commitment of the entire company. Upper Management and Divisional Management must also be willing to use the Plan to manage operations. A Plan is not effective unless implemented and used through out a company. We suggest building your Company around the Business Plan Process so that it becomes interwoven into the fabric of your operations. It is a tool, use it. Key Management and Employees who are responsible for implementing the Plan should be actively involved in its development. It is important that the Business Plan Development involves all levels of a Company; otherwise, commitment to it will be perfunctory.
Realistic Short and Long Term Outlook
The Planning Process and its resulting Goals, Objectives, Tactics, Programs and Strategies should address the significant factors which affect a Company's short and long term performance. Outlook is just that, a projection. Key influences to Company Performance are identified and developed into an Action Based Strategic Plan, which will in turn increase Growth, Revenues and Performance. One of the underlying Key concepts in a good planning is promoting a Process from the Product Level to the Marketing Level to the Strategic / Performance Level. The Strategic Tactics and Programs the Business Planning Process develops and produces is what will enhance Performance- not blind projections or just "thinking" you can exploit a market.
Forward Thinking
The Planning Process looks backwards for things you have learned along the way which can be applied and leveraged into future success. However, more importantly, the Planning Process must be Forward Looking, identifying trends, developments and opportunities in your marketplace and operating environment. Having a developed Process instilled into your Company's operations will produce forward thinking results, ensuring you consistently have a Competitive Edge and the opportunity to be a market maker and, perhaps, a leader. A business going nowhere is one stuck in the past (i.e. past accomplishments) and the status quo, lacking a mechanism within the Company to produce solid forward thinking and predictable Growth.
Company-wide Performance Objectives
Your company's Goals, Strategies and Performance Objectives should be consistent throughout your entire operation. The Plan should provide a clear picture of your Company's direction to all your employees, as well as, customers, suppliers and strategic partners, regarding future Performance Goals. You can't reach that goal without your people being behind the Process and Plan Implementation. Your Company needs to demonstrate strong Leadership and Accountability to your Markets, Customers, Partners and Suppliers by "owning" your future Performance Goals and Milestones. An Effective Business Plan, when implemented correctly, applies consistent Business Models to an ever changing market so that you can realistically achieve your Future Performance Objectives.
A Process that Constantly Assesses a Plan's Assumptions
If Key assumptions underlying your Business Plan prove to be invalid, an Effective Plan provides specific contingency planning systems and processes to indicate clear courses of action. An Effective Planning Process helps you to address significant deficiencies upfront and puts contingent, systematic plans in place to minimize a company's learning curve severity, while effectively exploiting a changing marketplace. Uncertainty and unexpected change are a guarantee in business. An effective plan has well developed systems and processes in place to adeptly manage those surprise events, turning a potentially costly experience into a profitable opportunity. Through a solid business plan process, you will design and install a Company Structure which can develop an effective and competitive Product or Service. This Product or Service will be exploited via a well developed Marketing Plan and successfully implemented into a winning Strategic Plan, producing expected, realistic, attainable Financial Goals.
Comprehensive and Specific Purpose Business Plans
An effectively developed Comprehensive and Internal Business Plan lays the solid foundation toward successful attainment of needed Financial Resources through an adapted, External Funding Business Plan. Effectiveness starts with the Comprehensive (Internal) Plan, culminating in the viability of various External Business Plans - i.e. Plans for Funding, Customers, Suppliers, Markets, Regulatory purposes, etc. A good business plan workbook provides a step by step Process which will produce the Global Plan to successfully run your business. Other External, Ancillary Plans become a snap to "package" from the Global Plan. It is hard to develop an Effective External Plan without having the foundation of the Comprehensive Internal Plan built.

Air Net Planning The Importance of Business Plan Organization

Overview
The organization of a Business Plan is very important. I use an eight section plan format that is in a specific order as each section builds from the previous section (note: you may have to jump back and forth on a limited basis between the Products and Services Section and the Marketing Section, as well as, the Strategic Section, depending on the extent of your market and product development to date). There is fluid thought and connected reasoning employed to achieve a Plan that reaches its intended purpose (i.e. to run a business, to buy a business, to enter a Joint Venture, to finance a business, to complete a particular project, etc). Although the Executive Summary is the first section of a Plan, it should be written last. All the other Sections should be developed in a build block order provided in a Business Plan Workbook Process.
A Business Plan is a business document; you are not writing prose. It should contain a precise and concise format and be organized into numbered Sections and Sub-Sections, which contain specific information in short, paragraph form. Plans should be produced in paper form, computer format and online format. Computer Format means the Plan is integrated into the Company's Computer Network. It also means the Table of Content's Sections are hyperlinked so you can easily navigate and access information on the Plan just by clicking on the links.
You should have your Business Plan uploaded securely, online (via login and password access) on your website so that Key Managers, Employees, Sales People, etc can access the information remotely no matter their location. You can have different versions available online for particular purposes, segregated by different logins and passwords. For Example, you can have your Sales Plan accessible remotely so your Salespeople can use it as a sales tool or update it with up to the minute feedback for the Sales Manager and the Marketing Department. Another example would be having your Funding Business Plan accessible online with versions for different audiences: bankers, venture capitalists, angel investors, etc.
Business Plan Sections
1) Table of Contents
The Table of Contents is one of the most important parts of the Plan. The TOC should be very detailed and well organized so that the reader and user can find and access the information easily and quickly. You can write a great Plan with all the necessary information in it, but if the reader can't easily find or access the information, then the Plan ceases to be a useful tool.
The TOC should be organized by each Section and Sub-Sections of the Plan with the corresponding page numbers. It is strongly recommended that your Plan be developed as an outline document, with all the Sections and Sub-Sections in the Table of Contents hyperlinked to the page where the information resides. This way the reader and user can access the information quickly and easily.
2) Section One: Executive Summary
The Executive Summary should be written last. Why? Because it organizes and summarizes the entire Business Plan. You cannot achieve this effectively until all the other sections (2 thru 8) of the Plan are completed. We suggest developing two renditions of the Executive Summary - a short version of 2 - 3 pages in length and a longer version of 5 - 7 pages. The short version should be written after the long version is completed, keying on the most significant information from the long version.
The Executive Summary gives the reader a quick overview of the important facts contained in your Business Plan. The long version of the Executive Summary can act as a standalone document to be used to succinctly explain your Business and generate interest in your opportunity, or products and services. For instance, the long version of the Summary can be sent to a Venture Capital Firm to generate and gauge initial interest, to be accompanied by your one-sheeters: Fact Sheet / Venture Overview / Investment Overview. If interest is indicated, you can send the VC Firm a custom tailored Funding Business Plan (customized to their particular investment requirements) which will contain the short version Executive Summary.
Brevity, yet completeness and inclusiveness, is key when writing your Executive Summary. It should be concise yet have adequate detail about your Business Plan. It may take several attempts to achieve this balance.
3) Section Two: Company Overview
This section encapsulates who you are as a Company: the History, Structure, Ownership, Locations, Products and Services Summary, Strengths and Weaknesses, Performance, Customers, Trends, Company Assets and so forth. This section comes first in the Business Plan (following the Executive Summary) since it serves as an introduction to the necessary details and background of your company.
4) Section Three: Management and Operations
This section builds on the Company Section explaining in more detail who will run the company and how it will be run. You can have the greatest business idea but lack the right people to execute your Plan. Therefore, the Management and Operations Section is one of the most important elements of the Plan.
5) Section Four: Products and Services
Now that you have developed the Company and Management / Operations Sections, it is time to describe your Company's Products and Services in detail. This section identifies why your Product and Service is unique and where weaknesses reside. Customer and Market identification, analysis and segmentation starts in this section to be later developed in the Marketing Plan and implemented through the Strategic Plan.
6) Section Five: Marketing Analysis and Plan
The Marketing Section explains in great detail how your Product and Service will be positioned and distributed in the market, supported by detailed, believable market research. This section deals with your Industry, Market Segments, Target Markets, Market Trends and Growth, General Competitive Environment, Customer Choices and Competitive Analysis / Positioning / Edge, to culminate in your Marketing Strategy and Programs.
7) Section Six: Strategic & Sales Plan
The Strategic Plan puts the Marketing Plan into action, showing how to implement the Marketing Plan into a cohesive and executable Sales Plan. The Strategic Plan develops a system to effectively deal with Potential Problems and Risks and culminates in producing Company Strategies, Tactics and Strategic Programs. These programs are implemented through the developed Sales Programs and Sales Plan. Operating Budgets, Control Mechanisms, Milestones and Sales Forecasts are also integral parts of the Strategic Plan.
The Strategic Plan provides a process for Strategic Management, Auditing and Reassessment. It measures performance, has control functions and corrective actions, reassessing when and where necessary. Strategic Planning is top-down and bottom-up, completely integral to your Company's Operations, from the Vision and Leadership of the CEO, to Management's Implementation Oversight, to the Sales and Operations Units. It provides company-wide Strategic Vision, Focus, Structure and Discipline, while providing an atmosphere of learning and awareness, with a process for identifying deficiencies and, in turn, fixing those challenges.
8 ) Section Seven: Financials
If you develop an effective Strategic Plan through our a well prescribed process, completing the Financial Section will not be as difficult as often anticipated. The principal reason why business owners have such a hard time constructing the Financial Section is most often due to a cursory job on their Strategic Planning Process. Financial Projections are not believable or realistic when the Strategic Plan doesn't do an adequate job of harnessing the Market Plan into an achievable well thought out Company Strategy. Good Financial Forecasting starts with a well developed Product or Service Plan (Section 4), a well researched Market Analysis and resulting Marketing Plan (Section 5) and culminating into a solid Strategic Planning Process (Section 6). This ensures your "best guesses" as to future performance are well researched and developed. This is why it is so critical that you work through a good Business Planning Workbook in a building block order; otherwise, your Financials will be lacking accurate forecasting. The culmination of a good Strategic Planning Process makes for solid Financial Projections.
Probably the most important of all the Financials is the Cash Flow Statement. The Cash Flow will assist you on a daily basis in running your business effectively. Simply put, the Cash Flow shows the influx of cash and the outflow of cash in your Business. Cash Management is absolutely critical in successfully running your business, project or venture. The Cash Flow Statement is also very important when you are seeking funding for your operation and analyzed closely by lenders, investors and venture capitalists alike. Your Cash Flow is also critically important to your relationship with your Suppliers. Having a Supplier Business Plan containing a history and projection of Cash Flow can really help your Suppliers become good partners in managing your cash flow, thereby, enhancing your profitability significantly.
The Cash Flow Statement should be your guiding force in Financial Modeling and Cash Management. Effectively managing your Cash creates leverage, which will lead toward increased profitability. The leverage is created within a Cash Flow Management System as it shows how much cash is necessary to grow and finance your Company. Many businesses focus on the Profit and Loss Statement, which is very important; however, they often over look the Cash Flow Statement. Good financial analysis focuses on the Cash Flow Statement, then relates it to the Profit & Loss components (i.e. minimizing costs), which in turn increases Profitability and results in a stronger asset and equity base on the Balance Sheet. Financials and good Financial Management stem from the inter-connectivity of a Company's Financials. Don't forget how important Cash Flow Management is to your Company's future profitability and net worth.
Another very important Financial, which works hand in hand with the Cash Flow Statement and Cash Management, is your Company's Target and Actual Budget. Budgets are used principally for two purposes: Planning and Control. A Budget matches short term targets with long term Strategic Planning, while providing an indicator of future problems ahead. A good Budgeting System will indicate when Costs and Expenses are heading over Budget (Actual vs. Target), providing the business owner time and opportunity to correct the problem before it significantly affects Cash Flow. Your Budget is an extension of (and a result of) your Cash Flow Statement, helping you to effectively control and plan your operational cash, costs and expenses.
We recommend Rolling Budgets which look forward 12 months on a monthly basis, budgeting an additional three months at the end of each quarter. This way you always have a 12 month continuous outlook for Planning Purposes, yet provides you real time Cost Basis for Control purposes. A Budget should be flexible so that you can separate the effects of variations between Actual and Estimated results. Moreover, a Budget is a tool to evaluate your Business Units (Departments) and Management's Performance. Needless to say, assembling a good Budget requires the input of your entire organization, which in turn, is a very good thing. Just as your Business Plan should be an integral part of your Company's every day operations, so too should your Cash Flow, Cash Management and Budgeting Process be intertwined fully into company operations.
It is important to understand how your Financials relate to each other as you build and develop them. This is why Financial Software Programs are so beneficial, making Financial Analysis, Development and Projections a snap (once you have developed a solid Strategic Plan). There's a lot of back and forth between the Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement. When using a Financial Software Program, it is important that the program allows you to customize the Formats for your specific needs and download the Financials into Excel Spreadsheets for maximum utility and flexibility.
When making Financial Projections, the projection period differs for the particular company, venture or project. For instance, a large scale Real Estate Development Project's Cash Flow Projection could be three, five or ten years, depending on the project scope and length. Also Real Estate Companies and Projects typically require additional Financials, such as, the Construction Cost Analysis and Cash Flow, Schedule of Real Estate, Construction Cost and Disbursement Schedule, and so on (Note: some of these may be applicable to other business sectors as well- for instance, a Tire Distribution Company may have substantial real estate holdings, hence, a Schedule of Real Estate would apply). Also, for Real Estate Companies and Projects (as well as for companies applying for business finance), the Loan Package is an important aspect of your Business Plan.
A very important component of the Financial Section is the Assumptions sub-section. This details the assumptions you have utilized in developing your financials. It is important to list the various calculations and formulas used in developing your Financials since those formulas can be company, deal or project specific. Detailed assumptions provide transparency to your Financials.
Financial Projections need to be believable and realistic. If anything, they need to be conservative. Too often we also see extremes of too few numbers or too many numbers. Provide best case, worst case and expected Financial Projections, along with simple and detailed formats. Remember that if you build out your Financials as a result of a good Strategic Planning Process, the financial results will most likely be believable and realistic as possible. We find that if your Financials have truly conservative numbers (yet still see profitability), you will often exceed your Plan which becomes a great Psychological boost for your Company (and any lenders or investors).
9) Section Eight: Appendix
The Appendix Section of a business plan can be aptly called the Due Diligence section. It contains the "proof in the pudding". It contains all the Bulky Documents which supply merit and proof to your Business Plan's assertions. Since the Appendix is large in volume, it is important to have a separate Table of Contents with Tabbed Sections for easy reference for this section.

Air Net Planning Plan Properly

All great achievements have been characterized by extreme care, infinite painstaking, even to the minutest detail
-Elbert Hubbard
Failing to plan is the single reason why many people and businesses fail in this life. Benjamin Franklin succinctly put it, 'failing to plan is planning to fail.' The truth about planning is that, it is the most difficult part of succeeding in any endeavour which is why only great achievers dare to go the extra mile to plan.
The importance of planning can never be over- emphasized in any dealing. Planning helps you to put in proper perspective your major definite purpose. Once you have identified what your purpose in this life is, planning takes it up from there and gives it a beginning, a middle and an end position with clear and specific deadlines. It does not mean that at every point in time things must workout exactly according to the plan but suffice to say that it would not have happened at all after all without the plan.
How very easily you see people set out to execute a project without any form of planning. They simply think about the project, fantasize about their success without taking into consideration the tiny little bits of information that could be fatal to ignore. The fact is, more time and attention should be given to planning than to execution because planning naturally takes execution into serious consideration. This is what great achievers do. They go the extra mile; take the pain of going over and over every detail in the blue print to ensure they are in order before setting out.
Planning for the great achievers may take almost forever only for the execution to be undertaken in a few minutes, hours or days. Ask the ace athlete. They put in hours, days, months and even years of training only to run a 100m race in under 9 seconds. I have come to realize that the amount of time you spend to plan for an event saves you twice as much time during execution. It frees up time for you to be able to engage other activities.
Planning is a skill that you can learn as with every other skill. Planning if learned will make you an effective and influential person in your society; due to your exemplary orderliness. It normally raises self- confidence, boost morale and gives courage. Haven't you noticed that you go into any activity you plan or prepare for with the conviction that you are going to succeed? On the other hand, lack of preparation, which comes as a result of lack of planning, puts pressure on you and makes you feel uncomfortable. It creates doubt about your ability to succeed at the task you set out to accomplish, and as such because your thought has a direct bearing on your result; you fail at that which you set out to accomplish.
It is not that people do not plan at all but rather many people unfortunately spend more time planning for activities that will be of the least or no benefit at all to them. You may very easily see people planning with all seriousness and zest for a party or other social activities but will give very little or no attention to planning for how they want their lives' path to be charted. Such social activities are most of the time given many months of planning and preparation with every tiny little detail taken into consideration. Nothing is normally left out. Many times such people even spend outrageous amounts of money on unnecessary acquisitions to aid their planning for such occasions. Ask such people to sit and tell you what they want their lives to be like or the plans they have for their lives for just ten minutes and you'll be surprised. They won't be able to say anything reasonable. They normally cannot put their money into especially information materials like books and tapes that can go along way in shaping their lives.
Success, it has been repeatedly said by most successful people, does not come by accident but through a life spent executing a well prepared plan. It is so very true that you can achieve anything you want in life if you will just commit it to careful planning. Every great success by all of the world's great achievers was actually as a result of committing their dreams and visions to proper planning.
You can not however start your planning until you know where you are heading to, and of course, before then, where you are coming from. This is the first major step that most people miss out on. When this happens, you will find out that every other step in between will be wrong. You will often hear people say they had to stop and re- trace their steps. What they are trying to say here is that had to go back to the very beginning and start the planning they never did or got wrong from the start. Even the Holy Bible in the book of Jeremiah talks about a return to the beginning when in Jeremiah 6: 16 it said, "... stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths...' These ancient paths were that which pleased God and so most definitely the right paths to step on.
Often you will find people try to match other people in the area of acquisition of property. They buy certain things just because they see their neighbour has acquired it without the knowledge of the planning that person had put in place first before buying that property. Successful people plan their every expenditure whereas under- achiever fall prey to what Brian Tracy refer to as Parkinson's Law which says that expenses rise to meet income. Financially successful people violate Parkinson's Law by always planning their expenditure most time by delayed purchasing. This is financial planning of the highest quality.
No success story was ever written without a planning embedded in it. Nothing in fact was ever achieved without a plan. Even failure is borne out of a plan - a plan not to succeed. Planning brings about stability. That is, no undue one- sided pressure. It enhances focus, brings about preparedness, makes coordination very easy and above all gives self- confidence. People that plan have a good sense of direction and are highly goal oriented.
Planning can be adapted in many instances and circumstances and the lack of it will almost always bring a result that is undesirable. Great achievers always have their own plan. People with a plan always attract those who don't have plans of their own. Many people do not live according to any plan of theirs and so at every point in time in their live, they are working with someone else's plan.
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and you future was presented to you? Would you be happy with what you will see if you are told that it was as a result of your plans presently? Most people still do not know the importance of planning. Let me make it very clear here: whenever you plan, you take your own future, bring it into your present, shape it and send it back to the future to wait for you. When you do not plan, you care less about you very own future. Now based on all that you are doing today, would you enjoy the future you are preparing? The core of the message here is: to achieve great things, do not embark on any project from now on without a plan.

Air Net Planning Abusive Insurance, Welfare Benefit, and Retirement Plans - Important Information You Should Know

The IRS has various task forces auditing all section 419, section 412(i), and other plans that tend to be abusive. These plans are sold by most insurance agents. The IRS is looking to raise money and is not looking to correct plans or help taxpayers. The fines for being in a listed, abusive, or similar transaction are up to $200,000 per year (section 6707A), unless you report on yourself. The IRS calls accountants, attorneys, and insurance agents "material advisors" and also fines them the same amount, again unless the client's participation in the transaction is reported. An accountant is a material advisor if he signs the return or gives advice and gets paid.
Bruce Hink, who has given me written permission to use his name and circumstances, is a perfect example of what the IRS is doing to unsuspecting business owners. What follows is a story about how the IRS fines him $200,000 a year for being in what they called a listed transaction. Also involved are what the IRS calls abusive plans or what it refers to as substantially similar. Substantially similar to is very difficult to understand, but the IRS seems to be saying, "If it looks like some other listed transaction, the fines apply." Also, I believe that the accountant who signed the tax return and the insurance agent who sold the retirement plan will each be fined $200,000 as material advisors. We have received many calls for help from accountants, attorneys, business owners, and insurance agents in similar situations. Don't think this will happen to you? It is happening to a lot of accountants and business owners, because most of theses so-called listed, abusive, or substantially similar plans are being sold by insurance agents.
Recently I came across the case of Hink, a small business owner who is facing $400,000 in IRS penalties for 2004 and 2005 because of his participation in a section 412(i) plan. (The penalties were assessed under section 6707A.)
In 2002 an insurance agent representing a 100-year-old, well established insurance company suggested the owner start a pension plan. The owner was given a portfolio of information from the insurance company, which was given to the company's outside CPA to review and give an opinion on. The CPA gave the plan the green light and the plan was started.
Contributions were made in 2003. The plan administrator came out with amendments to the plan, based on new IRS guidelines, in October 2004.
The business owner's insurance agent disappeared in May 2005, before implementing the new guidelines from the administrator with the insurance company. The business owner was left with a refund check from the insurance company, a deduction claim on his 2004 tax return that had not been applied, and no agent.
It took six months of making calls to the insurance company to get a new insurance agent assigned. By then, the IRS had started an examination of the pension plan. Asking advice from the CPA and a local attorney (who had no previous experience in these cases) made matters worse, with a "big name" law firm being recommended and over $30,000 in additional legal fees being billed in three months.
To make a long story short, the audit stretched on for over 2 ½ years to examine a 2-year-old pension with four participants and the $178,000 in contributions. During the audit, no funds went to the insurance company, which was awaiting formal IRS approval on restructuring the plan as a traditional defined benefit plan, which the administrator had suggested and the IRS had indicated would be acceptable. The $90,000 in 2005 contributions was put into the company's retirement bank account along with the 2004 contributions.
In March 2008 the business owner received a private e-mail apology from the IRS agent who headed the examination, saying that her hands were tied and that she used to believe she was correcting problems and helping taxpayers and not hurting people.
The IRS denied any appeal and ruled in October 2008 the $400,000 penalty would stand. The IRS fine for being in a listed, abusive, or similar transaction is $200,000 per year for corporations or $100,000 per year for unincorporated entities. The material advisor fine is $200,000 if you are incorporated or $100,000 if you are not.
Could you or one of your clients be next?
To this point, I have focused, generally, on the horrors of running afoul of the IRS by participating in a listed transaction, which includes various types of transactions and the various fines that can be imposed on business owners and their advisors who participate in, sell, or advice on these transactions. I happened to use, as an example, someone in a section 412(i) plan, which was deemed to be a listed transaction, pointing out the truly doleful consequences the person has suffered. Others who fall into this trap, even unwittingly, can suffer the same fate.
Now let's go into more detail about section 412(i) plans. This is important because these defined benefit plans are popular and because few people think of retirement plans as tax shelters or listed transactions. People therefore may get into serious trouble in this area unwittingly, out of ignorance of the law, and, for the same reason, many fail to take necessary and appropriate precautions.
The IRS has warned against the section 412(i) defined benefit pension plans, named for the former code section governing them. It warned against trust arrangements it deems abusive, some of which may be regarded as listed transactions. Falling into that category can result in taxpayers having to disclose the participation under pain of penalties, potentially reaching $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for other taxpayers. Targets also include some retirement plans.
One reason for the harsh treatment of some 412(i) plans is their discrimination in favor of owners and key, highly compensated employees. Also, the IRS does not consider the promised tax relief proportionate to the economic realities of the transactions. In general, IRS auditors divide audited plan into those they consider noncompliant and other they consider abusive. While the alternatives available to the sponsor of noncompliant plan are problematic, it is frequently an option to keep the plan alive in some form while simultaneously hoping to minimize the financial fallout from penalties.
The sponsor of an abusive plan can expect to be treated more harshly than participants. Although in some situation something can be salvaged, the possibility is definitely on the table of having to treat the plan as if it never existed, which of course triggers the full extent of back taxes, penalties, and interest on all contributions that were made - not to mention leaving behind no retirement plan whatsoever.
Another plan the IRS is auditing is the section 419 plan. A few listed transactions concern relatively common employee benefit plans the IRS has deemed tax avoidance schemes or otherwise abusive. Perhaps some of the most likely to crop up, especially in small-business returns, are the arrangements purporting to allow the deductibility of premiums paid for life insurance under a welfare benefit plan or section 419 plan. These plans have been sold by most insurance agents and insurance companies.
Some of theses abusive employee benefit plans are represented as satisfying section 419, which sets limits on purposed and balances of "qualified asset accounts" for the benefits, although the plans purport to offer the deductibility of contributions without any corresponding income. Others attempt to take advantage of the exceptions to qualified asset account limits, such as sham union plans that try to exploit the exception for the separate welfare benefit funds under collective bargaining agreements provided by section 419A(f)(5). Others try to take advantage of exceptions for plans serving 10 or more employers, once popular under section 419A(f)(6). More recently, one may encounter plans relying on section 419(e) and, perhaps, defines benefit sections 412(i) pension plans.
Sections 419 and 419A were added to the code by the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 in an attempt to end employers' acceleration of deductions for plan contributions. But it wasn't long before plan promoters found an end run around the new code sections. An industry developed in what came to be known as 10-or-more-employer plans.
The IRS steadily added these abusive plans to its designations of listed transactions. With Revenue Ruling 90-105, it warned against deducting some plan contributions attributable to compensation earned by plan participants after the end of the tax year. Purported exceptions to limits of sections 419 and 419A claimed by 10-or-more-employer benefit funds were likewise prescribed in Notice 95-24 (Doc 95-5046, 95 TNT 98-11). Both positions were designated as listed transactions in 2000.
At that point, where did all those promoters go? Evidence indicates many are now promoting plans purporting to comply with section 419(e). They are calling a life insurance plan a welfare benefit plan (or fund), somewhat as they once did, and promoting the plan as a vehicle to obtain large tax deductions. The only substantial difference is that theses are now single-employer plans. And again, the IRS has tried to rein them in, reminding taxpayers that listed transactions include those substantially similar to any that are specifically described and so designated.
On October 17, 2007, the IRS issues Notices 2007-83 (Doc 2007-23225, 2007 TNT 202-6) and 2007-84 (Doc 2007-23220, 2007 TNT 202-5). In the former, the IRS identified some trust arrangements involving cash value life insurance policies, and substantially similar arrangements, as listed transactions. The latter similarly warned against some postretirement medical and life insurance benefit arrangements, saying they might be subject to "alternative tax treatment." The IRS at the same time issued related Rev. Rul. 2007-65 (Doc 2007-23226, 2007 TNT 202-7) to address situations in which an arrangement is considered a welfare benefit fund but the employer's deduction for its contributions to the fund id denied in whole or in part for premiums paid by the trust on cash value life insurance policies. It states that a welfare benefit fund's qualified direct cost under section 419 does not include premium amounts paid by the fund for cash value life insurance policies if the fund is directly or indirectly a beneficiary under the policy, as determined under sections264(a).
Notice 2007-83 targets promoted arrangements under which the fund trustee purchases cash value insurance policies on the lives of a business's employee/owners, and sometimes key employees, while purchasing term insurance policies on the lives of other employees covered under the plan. These plans anticipate being terminated and anticipate that the cash value policies will be distributed to the owners or key employees, with little distributed to other employees. The promoters claim that the insurance premiums are currently deductible by the business and that the distributed insurance policies are virtually tax free to the owners. The ruling makes it clear that, going forward, a business under most circumstances cannot deduct the cost of premiums paid through a welfare benefit plan for cash value life insurance on the lives of its employees.
Should a client approach you with one of these plans, be especially cautious, for both of you. Advise your client to check out the promoter very carefully. Make it clear that the government has the names of all former section 419A(f)(6) promoters and, therefore, will be scrutinizing the promoter carefully if the promoter was once active in that area, as many current section 419(e) (welfare benefit fund or plan) promoters were. This makes an audit of your client more likely and far riskier.
It is worth noting that listed transactions are subject to a regulatory scheme applicable only to them, entirely separate from Circular 230 requirements, regulations, and sanctions. Participation in such a transaction must be disclosed on a tax return, and the penalties for failure to disclose are severe - up to $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for corporations. The penalties apply to both taxpayers and practitioners. And the problem with disclosure, of course, is that it is apt to trigger an audit, in which case even if the listed transaction was to pass muster, something else may not.

Air Net Planning The Top Five Reasons Strategic Plans Fail

"Most great plans aren't. They are just nice, high-level ideas."
That's how one of our survey respondents answered our question, "What are the top three obstacles that prevent great plans from reaching effective implementation?" Despite the universal chatter around the need to be "strategic", and the untold hours spent developing strategic plans, it appears that they don't work nearly often enough. And based on the spirited responses we got from the generous folks who answered our survey, it seems that many have been involved in a strategic plan that failed. Of course, we all know it's not YOUR fault!
If it's any consolation, even the big boys can't seem to get it right. Many more than Ted Turner are disappointed in the results from the AOL/Time Warner merger strategy. Arthur Andersen had a great strategy, except for the one little loose thread that allowed the entire company to unravel. And what happened at Kmart, Xerox, and Polaroid? These are organizations that all had the wind at their backs at one time or another, and now you have to wonder if their management could lead a dogsled team to a meatpacking plant.
OK, so no need to affix blame; let's focus on fixing the problem! The purpose of the survey was to identify key contributors to strategy failure so raised awareness could guide our clients to proactively avoid them. What follows is a recap of the responses from the top five categories (in no predictable order, I'll warn you!), along with excerpts of quotations that help clarify the points speedier than a bullet on amphetamines. These five categories reflect the most popular -- although not necessarily the most significant -- responses we received, out of approximately 25 categories. Their pervasiveness certainly warrants our attention. By addressing these five obstacles, you can expect to more successfully implement the plans you devise and participate in, even if a past experience felt more like a do-it-yourself mugging.
Communications
The number two response to our question about strategy failure should be familiar to all: Communications. Since we can't get it right at home -- with one in two U.S. marriages ending in divorce -- what makes us think we're going to get it right at work?
Poor communications seems to take many forms. Apparently, some groups like to develop strategic plans, and then hide them under a rock. But they don't do it on purpose. "The failure to communicate the vision and strategic objectives to stakeholders" may mean that the developers of the strategy aren't getting out enough information for folks to understand what they're supposed to do with it. "New initiatives or objectives are outlined but not communicated throughout the organization as to how the new objectives should look and feel, what steps to take, time-frame, etc." "Poor communications among team members responsible for decisions in implementation. Expectations and opinions are not shared openly, thoroughly, and effectively."
"Every tactical action supporting the strategic objectives needs to be included in an overall communication plan so that the strategy is reinforced." There's an interesting idea: an overall communication plan. Other responses also indicate that lack of communications routinely allows plans to die out after their launch. "No regular internal press to generate momentum." "Lack of better marketing efforts." Apparently all goes quiet, kind of like a mausoleum after the entertainment goes home. This contributor didn't hold anything back: "The communication sucks! Organizations become introverted in their communication strategies, whether the group is a large company or a small team."
Communication is also much more than words and pictures. Communication is also delivered through demonstration. "The management team does not follow the strategy themselves." We all know about the hypocritical "do as I say, not as I do" admonition. What does that scream about the value of the strategy? That behavior will raise eyebrows faster than a cook who won't eat his own cooking!
Leadership
Which brings us to leadership, which was the fifth most popular category. From these responses we can learn that leadership is much like fly-fishing -- when you're up to your waist in it, it's suddenly much harder than it looks! "Most leaders grossly underestimate what it takes to lead effectively." "Failing of leadership starting and ending at the top." "Lack of a true motivating leader." This contributor offered some specificity: "Weak leadership. This results in improper resource allocation, lack of buy-in, poor follow-through, inadequate checks, misaligned goals/ strategies/ actions, inefficient rewards and punishments, cover-ups, etc."
This respondent noted that there was enough blame to go around: "Not a lack of leadership from the main person in charge but from either a lack of ability or the lack of 'willingness' from other personnel who are needed to step up and truly lead the effort to bring the strategies from paper to production." The message here is that we are all called to lead from wherever we are, even if we're not at the top.
Not all management teams are blessed with skilled leaders. "Management team and/or owner not experienced/skilled enough to carry out the strategy." Some have titles associated with leadership, but not the authority: "No assigned champion/true owner of each project who has the authority to implement." I was taught that you must delegate authority at the same time you delegate responsibility. Lastly, we have leaders who are just plain stubborn, kind of like a mule with a good parking space at the mall: "...'rogue' links in the management chain that distort the plan to suit their OWN vision, thus subverting the directive from the top without authorization." Now I'm thinking fly-fishing is actually easier.
No Plan Behind the Idea
The third most popular category is named, "No Plan Behind the Idea," captured in this summary: "Most great plans aren't. They are just nice, high-level ideas." Those of you that have attempted to execute plans that were as thin as the soles on Newman's shoes may easily relate to this: "'Strategic initiative?' No, it wasn't 'strategic' and it wasn't an 'initiative'. Calling something a strategic initiative doesn't make it one."
It seems that many of our strategic planning sessions stop halfway, before there is a plan. "Very little planning, if any, goes into the implementation process." "Undeveloped intentions." Maybe you know some of these people: "Frequently the person with the great idea is not an execution giant." While no one is advocating using masking tape on a paint-by-numbers picture, how about this example of how to do it right: "the Microsoft of today NEVER rushes in ... they wait to see how things shake out, steal some early ideas, perfect them, then smash everybody they can and conquer the world."
Inquiring minds want to know what a strategy document is really for. "A strategy document almost NEVER actually states what is to be done from day to day and a way for employees to track their actual progress. Most strategies stop at the 'conceptual stage' rather than actually give very SPECIFIC tasks to be done." "Concept not cascaded throughout the organization so that individuals know how it applies to them and their job." "Unable to break the project down into doable actions." If all this sounds like a lot of work, perhaps this says it all: "Ideas are easier to talk about than do."
Passive Management
In fourth place is a category I call "Passive Management." This is characterized by assuming that things will run themselves after we get them started, which is about as likely as being hit by lightning while being eaten by a shark. Instead, I suggest that implementing strategic plans is more like keeping plates spinning atop a number of pointed sticks. If we don't put forth a regular effort to keep them spinning, the plates will fall down and the sticks will end up in uncomfortable places. "When the implementation phase begins there is not enough follow-through -- or follow-up for that matter -- from senior management." "Poor and inexperienced management to execute the plan."
Notice the subtle difference here from leadership. While leadership is expected to communicate the vision and support it with demonstrable actions, management is expected to know how to execute the individual tactics. "All talk and no action, failure to assign and hold individuals accountable for delivering on the assignments." "No one takes total charge and follows up when someone doesn't meet commitment dates." "The objective ... is written down on paper ... and nicely filed away." Here is what seems to be missing: "... this is the objective, this is how we're going to get there, here is your part in the plan and you will be held accountable."
Like leadership, management is not easy either: "It takes a special person to be able to define strategies and to plot out and manage others in how to achieve those strategies. Most fail because they assume their team has the wherewithal to pull it off and they therefore do not manage the process." I must say, I was surprised to learn that people want more management -- at least where implementing strategic plans is concerned!
Motivation and Personal Ownership
Our last category is actually our first category. This most popular category of Motivation and Personal Ownership contains responses focused on the question, "What's in it for me?" This is not to imply that we're all a bunch of selfish, greedy, self-serving individuals -- although recent headlines could certainly make that case successfully! -- it's really that people are looking for the meaning in what they do. In other words, they want to show up for more than just a paycheck. People want to build something, make a difference. "Don't understand the purpose, goal is minimized, vision disappears. No enthusiasm to make it happen. The bottom line, how will it affect ME?"
More effort is needed to help people understand how getting behind the company's goals can support their personal goals. "The I/me mentality that is so prevalent today. If it works for me -- it works for me! Let everyone else deal with it." "You must have some kind of desire or necessary will to implement the plan. You must have some kind of image of the outcome." The message here is that you -- personally -- must desire the outcome. Perhaps that lack is what causes, "lack of buy-in from the entire group." "Typically the initiative fails because the people responsible for implementing it are not convinced of its value."
What are the symptoms when there is no motivation/personal ownership? "Employee resistance." "Lack or no sense of urgency." "Inability of individuals to view strategic planning an important and exciting part of their job." "Lack of employees' support." "Lack of better sales efforts." "Lack of initiative at the lower levels of implementation, the 'front lines'." "Lack of ability to arouse enthusiasm." In summary is this prediction: "The project will never succeed if there is no emotion or passion involved."
Conclusion
Pay attention to Motivation and Personal Ownership, Communications, No Plan Behind the Idea, Passive Management, and Leadership, and you'll be ahead of the strategic planning game. These observations and insights can help you improve your success rate with implementing strategic plans, so it doesn't feel like doing the splits over a case of dynamite.
If you have had "great plans" fail -- I've lost personal count! -- take what we have learned here and embrace a new plan for those "high-level ideas." Let's also learn from Napoleon Hill: "The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." Braced with this knowledge, you'll do clearly better this time, and without need of bullets or amphetamines!
© 2002 Paul Johnson. All rights reserved.
The survey referenced above was conducted by e-mail between July 15th and August 1, 2002. Ninety-four respondents from a variety of business environments and roles contributed 321 individual responses. Those responses have been categorized and form the basis of our observations and analysis.
Note: This article is available for reprint at no charge. We only ask that you include our copyright notice in your reprint, along with the About the Author (byline) information we provide at the end of the article.

Air Net Planning Top 10 Business Plan Myths of Solo Entrepreneurs

Don't let these stop you from having a business plan for success!
A recent study of 29,000 business startups noted that 26,000 of them failed. Of those failures, 67% had no written business plan. Think that's a coincidence?
Here's the top 10 myths Solo Entrepreneurs often have about business plans-usually, the reasons why they don't have one. De-bunk the myths, and see how having a business plan for your solo business, can actually be easy and fun--and can jumpstart your success!
1. Myth: I don't need a business plan--it's just me!
Starting a business without a plan is like taking a trip in a foreign country without a map. You might have a lot of fun along the way, and meet a lot of friends, but you are likely to end up at a very different place than you originally set out for-and you might have to phone home for funds for your return ticket.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Successful Solo Entrepreneurs know that the exercise of creating a business plan, really helps them think through all the critical aspects of running a business, make better business decisions, and get to profitability sooner.
2. Myth: I have to buy business plan software before I can start.
Business plan software comes in many shapes and sizes, and prices. Many are more geared at small and growing businesses with employees.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Business plan software can be helpful-but it's not required. Software is more likely to help if you have a more traditional type business, like a restaurant or a typical consulting business.
3. Myth: I need to hire a consultant to write my business plan.
Consultants are an expensive way to have your business plan written.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Your business IS you-and you need to be intimately involved with the creation of your business plan. A better strategy, if you think you need professional help, is to hire a coach or mentor-someone who can guide you in what you need to do, not do it for you.
4. Myth: The business plan templates I've seen have all these complex-sounding sections to them-I guess I need all those?
The only time you need to follow a specific outline is if you are looking for funding.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Your business plan needs to answer ten basic questions-that's it! Don't make things more complicated than necessary.
5. Myth: My business plan needs to be perfect before I can start my business.
If you wait for everything to be perfectly detailed, you may never start.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: If you have at least a first draft that answers those ten basic questions, you are ready to launch your business! Make your business plan a living, evolving document. In the startup stages, review and update your plan every 2-3 months. As you grow and stabilize, you can slow down the review cycle to every 6-12 months. All business plans should be reviewed and updated at least once a year.
6. Myth: I have to do everything I say I'm going to do in my business plan, or I'm a failure.
Many Solo Entrepreneurs never start because of this myth-which leaves them feeling that the success of their future business suddenly rides on each stroke of the pen or click of the keyboard!
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Think of your business plan as a roadmap for a trip. Expect to take some detours for road construction. Be flexible enough to take some exciting, unplanned side trips. And don't be surprised if instead of visiting Mount Rushmore, you decide to go to Yellowstone, if that turns out to meet your vacation goals better!
7. Myth: A good business plan has a nice cover, is at least 40 pages long, must be typed and double-spaced...
Business plans intended for investors, such as a bank or venture capitalist, must meet certain requirements that such investors expect.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: As a Solo Entrepreneur, your business plan need only satisfy YOU. It might be scribbled on a napkin, on stickie notes on your wall, or consist of a collage of pictures and captions. It might be all in one document or scattered among several mediums. As long as you know it in your head and heart without having to look at it, and and it is easily accessible to you when you have doubts, that's all that is necessary.
8. Myth: I don't need a loan-so I don't need a business plan.
YOU are the investor in your business-and would you invest in the stock of some company without seeing a prospectus?
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Seeing your plan in black and white (or color, if you prefer!), can give a whole new view on the financial viability of your business. If "doing the numbers" seems overwhelming, remember you don't need fancy spreadsheets. Just lay out a budget that shows where all the money is coming from (and going), and have an accountant review it for additional perspective.
9. Myth: My business plan is in my head-that's good enough.
I don't know about you, but I sometimes can't remember what I planned yesterday to do tomorrow, if I don't write it down!
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: There is a real power in writing down your plans. Some schools of thought advocate that the act of writing a plan down triggers our subconscious to start working on how to manifest that plan. And, of course, it's a lot easier to remember when you have it in front of you. And a lot easier to share and get feedback from your non-mind reading supporters.
10. Myth: Friends and family are the best sources of feedback and advice on my business plan.
If your brother is an accountant and your best friend is a market research expert, then this might be true.
Solo Entrepreneur Reality: As well meaning as our friends and family can often be, they just aren't the best way to get honest, objective guidance. Instead, seek out folks that have specific knowledge that will help you, are willing to be candid with you, and that have a genuine interest in helping you succeed. A business coach is one resource to consider!

Air Net Planning Building or Decorating Your Home Requires House Plans

There are some things to consider when creating plans for your home. There are two situations that call for plans or blue prints, either you are building a new home or decorating your present home. The types of plans required for either situation will vary depending on the extent of
your project.
When building a new home, there are several things you will want to consider carefully. The most obvious is where you are going to build your house. The climate will affect where you build. You wouldn't build an icehouse in the middle of the desert. You will want to determine what material you will want to use. Brick, wood, and cement are popular. In the southern states clay adobe houses are the norm. In the north and other areas brick, wood, and stone are options. The climate will influence this choice as well. In areas where there is cold weather brick and cement are used because they absorb and retain heat. In the south wood frame houses are built. The size of your lot will determine the size and type of house you want. You couldn't build a mansion on say a quarter of an acre. On the other hand a one bedroom, single floor home would look strange on a lot that is two acres or bigger. Whether your home has a basement could be important and that would depend on where you live.
If you are lucky to have a basement, it can house the laundry room and your gym equipment or be a playroom/guest room.
Now that you know where and what type of climate you will be building in it is time to think about the plans. Blueprints are or have been used to draw a linear picture of the house as you see it. Now however there are computer programs that will allow you to build your house in 3-D. There are also web sites online that will also allow you to build your house and see it in 3-D. Not only that but some sites will allow you to place your furniture. There are several kinds of technical drawings that are used to create plans for a new home. There are site plans that address coding issues, landscaping, location specifics, drainage (land contours), trees, set backs, and property lines. A floor plan is a design plan of the house, the layout of the rooms, and where the windows and doors. Another type of plan is building sections, which is a cross section of the house. It helps determine any issues, visualize your finished house and floor plans using section marks. Wall sections show the construction of one exterior wall where sections are indicated with section marks. Exterior Elevations include such features as porches and decks. They also show furniture, window and door locations, eave heights and roofing. Interior elevations show the lighting layout and ceiling conditions. Porches are another very interesting option; they can be enclosed, go all the way around the house. They can also be half-enclosed and half-open. They can be reminders of times past. A huge porch reminds me of my aunt's farm years ago. Porches are great for extending family time and conversation while still being protected from the weather.
Decisions to be made are the size of each room, the number of rooms and the number of floors to be built. Will there be a basement or a fireplace, and where is the house going to sit on the lot. You could have a front yard or the house could be in the front of the lot with a yard in the back. You could also put it right in the center and have land all around.
The next consideration is whether you will have a contractor draw up the plans which will be an expense, or you can do them yourself. To do them yourself you will need a pencil or pen, scissors, a measuring tape, and graph paper with 1/4-inch boxes.
You will draw rooms to scale; one box per foot is good. Measure your rooms, doors, windows, heat and air cooling appliances. Draw the outlines of the rooms according to scale.
Measure your furniture (you only need to worry about length and width here) next and take another piece of graph paper. Draw out lines of your furniture, label them and cut them out. Use these pieces to set up the rooms. When you find an arrangement you like, you can make a more permanent drawing. On another sheet of graph paper draw a box for each wall. Scale your windows, doors, built-ins and other features.
Picking a floor plan is a process of answering some very important questions. Will this place be big enough or too big in a few years? Does your design fit in with the houses in the neighborhood? Does the design of the house fit in with the lot size and shape? Will the windows provide the best view and what windows will catch the sunlight in the morning and afternoon? Will changes need to be made or can changes even be considered? Are the rooms that will be used most of the time of adequate size? Expanding your house size could mean you need to sacrifice amenities or storage space. Do you have specialty rooms such as a craft room, an office, or a gym? An office can double as a guestroom. The trend now is toward creating a family area where there is room for each to do his/her own hobby or to be together watching movies or playing games. When all the decisions are made and the plans are all drawn you will be ready to build.
Suppose now, that you are purchasing an already built home or renting an apartment. Plans can be done in these situations as well. Most places will offer a floor plan for you to look at with the measurements of the space in the rooms. If this is not available you can draw your own plan.
You would need the same materials and the plan is fixed, you are limited to what is already there. Draw the outlines of each room according to scale. Take another sheet of graph paper and draw the outlines of your furniture. Label them and cut them out. You can move these pieces around till you find an arrangement you like. You might be limited with your television set because the outside antenna is in a certain spot.
Take another piece of graph paper and draw the wall sections of each room noting the windows, doors, and any heating or cooling appliance might be situated. You will have already 'placed' your furniture so you will have a good idea of what your new home will look like. You can now decorate according to your tastes. In a rental home however, you might not be able to change wall colors or in rare cases hang pictures.
Planning for your home can be very exciting. You could be buying new furniture but you might want to consider the color of the carpets or the floors when you are choosing your pieces. A blue couch on a brown carpet does not exactly match. When planning for your home whether you buy or rent should be done carefully. Keep in mind your preferences, your limitations and if you are building, local zoning ordinances.

Air Net Planning Pre-drawn House plans the Benefits and Styles

Pre-drawn house plans are those that are drawn by architects or home designers and then offered for sale, unlike those that are drawn for an individual, with input from the customer. While this method may be a great idea, there are definite benefits to purchasing pre-drawn house plans. Architects and home designers that do custom home designing also do a lot of their own designs, and it is these plans that are offered for sale
They are adept at making plans that utilize available space to the best possible advantage, and at laying out a floor plan to optimize curb appeal.
Custom designing of your home can take months to be completed and is extremely expensive, often up to ten times the cost of predawn or stock house plans. Using custom drawn plans can delay the construction of your home by many weeks There are dozens of home styles and literally thousands of plans to choose from, so you can be sure to find the home of your dreams.
If you find a house plan that you love, but want to make minor changes, most companies can have their designers do that for you, at an additional fee. It is also possible to have your plans reversed, for instance, if your breakfast nook faces west but the view from the north side of your lot is more attractive, you can reverse it. Many of the sites selling house plans will allow you to see a reversed view, of houses you might want to build.
Another service provided by the companies that design and sell house plans, is one that allows you to estimate the cost for building a particular house in your area of the country. The South is the least expensive area to build in and the West has the highest cost .The national average is somewhere in between.
There are dozens of house plan styles for you to browse and hundreds in each category, from A-Frame to Victorian, , from small to large, you can find the right home for your family. There are magazines, books and web sites galore that you can search
Beach houses, are small one story homes, raised above the ground, and usually have an open floor plan, with a lot of windows, to get a good view of the yard.. A low end Beach house with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen and Great room would cost, about $74,000.00 to build, according to the national average, and about $15,000.00 more in the west and $8000.00 less in the south. These little houses make great vacation retreats and are also suitable as a starter home or retirement home for empty nesters.
Bungalows are 1 to 1and ½ story homes, They often incorporate features of the Craftsman style house, such as natural building materials, exposed rafter ends and gables. They also sometimes borrow features from the Country or Victorian look.A two bedroom, one bath bungalow in the mid-range can be built for between $70,000.00 and 95.000.00, depending on what part of the country you live in. A low-end two bedroom one bath can be built for $52,000 to 70,000. These cute homes are great for newlyweds or retirees
Large front porches, dormers and a roofline that lies parallel to the road are the main distinguishing features of Country homes. Farm house and French Country plans can also be included in this category. Open floor plans are not common to this type of house. A small country home, 576 square feet, with one bath and two bedrooms, can be built for under $60,000.00 can be erected on your site for under $60,000.00. A three bedroom, 1 and ½ baths, will average about $84,000.00 to erect on your site. .
Craftsman style homes are characterized by the use of natural materials like wood or stone for exterior walls, and rock foundations that slope out towards the ground. They may also include dormers, exposed beams, and overhanging eaves. A two bedroom one bath house in the craftsman style will cost between $52,000.00 and $62,000.00 to build a two bedroom, two bath, home with a 2 car garage will run about $96.000.00.
Another popular house plan style is the French Country home. They are similar to Country style in that they feature front porches, dormers and roof- lines that run parallel to the road. A two bedroom, two bathroom house with volume vaulted ceilings, walk in closets, walk in pantry covered rear porch and two car garage can be built for aproximately$112.000.00 to $133.000.00 depending on where you live.
Log homes make the perfect vacation home since they evoke feelings of comfort and peace. These homes come in various styles and sizes. Wood logs are the main construction material,. A one story, two bedroom, one bath, log home, with a covered front porch, will cost about $90,000.00 to build.
Victorian style houses are generally two stories, with steep roof pitches, dormers, octagonal turrets and of course the trademark gingerbread trim. A two story, three bedroom, three baths home of this style, with an open floor plan, and unfinished basement, can be built on your lot for around $100,000.00.
Luxury homes are huge house with at least 3000.sq. ft of living space, they are characterized by large master bedroom suites.1 walk in closets, and extra rooms which can be used as a library, music room, media center or home office to name a few. A three bedroom, two and ½ bath, luxury home with a two car garage with storage space, breakfast nook, and covered front porch .will cost you between $ 180,000.00 and 240,000.
There are dozens of other house plan style categories, such as A-Frames, Mission, Contemporary, Southwest, and Tudor to name just a few. A web search for house plans yields a mind blowing number of searchable sites. Most of these allow you to search for house plans, by style, number of bedrooms, baths, with or without a garage, or by sq. ft. of living space.
Keep in mind that the estimate price to build, doesn't include the price of the plans, any changes you make to the plans or building permit fees. Despite these fees,
Building your new home from pre-drawn plans will be cheaper and probably faster than having your home plans custom drawn.

Air Net Planning 1000 Managers Turned Their Plans Into Energy

I bet you can't tell me how leadership training and
strategic planning work together to boost business results
and energize performance improvements.
A recent survey of 1000 managers conducted by the UK-based
Chartered Management Institute, revealed that organizations
experienced, "improved business performance when [their
leadership] development [programs were] linked to [their]
business [strategic planning process]."
Why aren't the energies generated by corporate leaders being
used in developing, managing and adding value to strategic
plans?
Put another way, how can organizational managers train,
advise and encourage their people using the strategic plan
as a guideline for making performance improvements?
Usually we separate planning from training, however, wise
leaders see their plans as a blueprint for enriching,
growing and nurturing the skills, attitudes and maturity of
their people.
Guideline-1 - Enrich Their Experiences!
Inertia is defined as the tendency for things to remain the
same. When we get trapped by the draining energies of
inertia, our efforts begin to fail or our plans become stale
and lifeless pieces of paper.
If you hope to break out of inertia's grip and your feelings
of frustration or futility, you must turn your plans into
opportunities to develop and train your people to become
leaders.
Show your people why the plan has been created the way it
is. Tell them that the plan is a general indicator for
direction and level of achievement - let them know that they
will be responsible for making it successful.
Once your people begin implementing the plan, you can assess
their ability to meet the challenges of its activities and
objectives.
By supervising their performance on a biweekly basis, you
could help them develop plans for self-directed and
instructor-led learning exercises.
Self-directed learning could include reading, keeping a
journal and taking low cost self-paced courses.
Instructor-led training might take the form of courses at
your local or community college, web-based seminars, email
courses or training conducted by in-house personnel.
Enrich their experiences by increasing their confidence and
positive self-image!
Guideline-2 - Grow Their Domain!
We can use the planning process itself as an opportunity to
generate energy and distribute those energies throughout the
organization.
Those energies produced during the planning process should
be identified, evaluated, captured and directed towards the
refinement and execution of the plan.
When we speak of energy we mean a factor, force or influence
which may be classified or fitted into one of the following
categories or domains:
=> Creative - the acts of perceiving something new or of
looking at something in different or radically new ways;
=> Innovative - the acts of trying out something new or in
doing something in different ways;
=> Entrepreneurial - the acts of approaching or offering an
idea or object in new or different ways
=> Social - acts involving teamwork, collaborative efforts,
forming or arranging networks, partner ships/alliances;
=> Systems-related - where a system's design, analysis,
operation or support process facilitates advancement, etc.;
=> Educational - the acts of training, development, self-
directed learning, and leveraging human capital assets.
In a nutshell, you can transform your strategic planning
process and its improvement or implementation into a series
of leadership skills training and development exercises for
any of the above categories.
If you first grow the domains of your people you can hold
them accountable for refining and supervising the plan!
Guideline-3 - Nurture Their Maturity!
Leadership development is an essential ingredient in
nurturing or realizing a state of maturity and credibility.
You can never reach that stage of development without having
the ability to:
=> Take responsibility for your actions,
=> Commit to staying the course through good times and bad;
=> Accept the authority of others without rancor or back-
biting [when they act honestly, ethically and responsibly];
=> Admit a need for help, support or guidance;
=> Act in congruence with your values, ethics and morals.
Use the objectives of your strategic plans as your guideline
and blueprint for coaching, counseling, mentoring and
consulting your people.
Provide your people with a safety net by giving them
authority to implement the plan but be sure to nurture them
towards developing into mature, seasoned leaders.
------------------------------------------------------------
Over 90% of those executives surveyed by the Institute saw
the connection between strategic performance improvements
and their leadership development efforts - you can too!
Those managers agree that the "skills acquired at work are
held in higher esteem than natural [leadership] talent" -
they overwhelmingly believe "that on-the-job experience is
more valuable than natural [leadership] ability".
Using your strategic plans as the blueprint for your
leadership development efforts is a wise course of action
that's sure to deliver real performance improvements.
"Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is
no solution." - Stephen Sondheim, composer
Your plan expresses your vision, your leadership training
program energizes the execution of your plans.
Remember, enrich people, grow their domains and nurture them
into maturity - do those things and you'll have a successful
strategic plan.
Copyright © 2005, Mustard Seed Investments Inc.

Air Net Planning 3 "P"s of Planning - Prepare, Personalize, Pilot

Here's a really simple way to make sure your plans always
produce the results you expect.
"There is one quality which one must possess to win, and
that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one
wants, and a burning desire to possess it." - Napoleon Hill
Every plan must provide its leader with the capability to
fulfill this multi-level purpose:
=> To inspire the commitment of others,
=> To execute on the plan's promises
=> To supervise the plan to successful conclusions.
The reasons why many plans fail can be grouped into one of
these categories: its strategic approach, its relevance to
people, its use as a control tool.
You need to follow the 3 "P"s for planning and learn how to
develop plans that deliver breakthrough results.
Prepare Your Plan!
Sounds obvious, doesn't it? If you hope to follow a plan,
then you have to prepare for it, don't you?
Wise planners have clearly defined ways to prepare their
plans.
=> What major goals do you want your plan to accomplish?
=> How many resources, assets and partners will your plan
require?
=> When will your plan begin and when will it end?
=> Where will you find the most reliable information?
=> Who will benefit from your plan, who will do the work of
the plan, who will be responsible for leading the plan?
=> Why will we need each section of the plan and why will
that section be important to our success?
Personalize Your Plan!
Every plan involves people. They are either participants in
or beneficiaries of your plans. Regardless of their roles,
your plans must be sensitive to their talents, values and
priorities.
When you include the following principles, you can make your
plans "people-friendly":
=> Defining their problems, wants and expectations
=> Building communities of like-minded folks
=> Expanding your impact through partnerships
=> Linking their needs to your delivery of value
=> Addressing their hunger for new growth opportunities and
prosperity
Use these ideas to find ways to serve the demands of those
people affected by your plans - that means involving your
partners, suppliers, employees or team mates and your
constituents or clients.
Pilot Your Plan!
If your plan is supposed to guide you, why don't you use it
to pilot your efforts to successful outcomes?
Commercial pilots use their 'flight plans' as a checklist,
map and control manual to make sure they land us safely at
the right airport. You wouldn't want to end up at some place
1000 miles away from your home or office, would you?
As a Checklist
=> What steps do you need to take?
=> What outcomes or results are your actions supposed to
produce?
=> Who does what and at what stage are they supposed to do
those tasks?
=> How much work needs to be done?
=> How are you supposed to do your tasks?
As a Map
=> Indicates or suggests direction
=> Defines distance between starts and finishes
=> Provides pathways, specific processes or flows
=> Shows intersections, linkages and connections
=> Gauges progress towards milestones and targets
As a Control Manual
=> Describes conditions, factors and forces
=> Supports problem-solving and decision-making
=> Empowers training and coaching interventions
=> Facilitates situational, contextual or structural
analysis
------------------------------------------------------------
Leadership stands on a foundation of effective planning.
Great leaders use plans to strengthen the resolve of their
people and focus those people on crystal-clear goals.
W. Clement Stone was a self-made, mega-millionaire
entrepreneur who lived and believed this truth - "You, too,
can determine what you want. You can decide on your major
objectives, targets, aims and destination."
Are you ready to shape your plan and plan your shaping? Are
your most ardent desires searching for the concrete
certainty of a plan? Are you hungry for the next growth
opportunity?
If so, use these 3 "P"s as your guide, your map and your
playbook - when you do, you'll breakthrough your roadblocks!
Copyright © 2005, Mustard Seed Investments Inc.,
All rights reserved.