The stages of a business

Like every business, yours can be expected to go through four stages: survivability, growth, profitability, and decline. Your objective should be to achieve the first three and avoid the fourth as long as possible.

• Survivability. When you are forming your business, you are spending a great deal of money just to get started. You have to buy or lease equipment; invest in furniture and fixtures, experiment with new products or services, find markets, promote your name. The money coming in may be barely enough to meet your bills.

• Growth. Once your business has survived its start-up problems, it enters an era of growth. Income may exceed current expenses, but you'll need to reinvest surplus funds to hire more staff and buy more equipment. Additional customers make your business grow, but that means spending more on materials, inventory, supplies, and wages.

• Profitability. When your business reaches its desired sales level, profit becomes available to you. The business brings in enough money to pay for supplies, materials, and personnel. Surplus funds need no longer go for expansion.

• Decline. No sooner is it evident that a business is prospering than competitors enter the scene. They will attempt to produce a better product or service, and to produce it more cheaply. Profit margins will be lower as you struggle to compete. The less efficient competitors will be forced out of business*. Those that fail to devise a better product/service/price "package" for their customers will decline. This is the time when you must emphasize marketing, develop new products and services, become more efficient.

Business enterprises are like trees in the forest. They sprout, they struggle to grow, they flourish for a season, they decline. Some seedlings perish.* Some trees are felled by lightning*. As trees need nourishment, sunlight, and rain, businesses need sound financing, effective marketing, and adequate sales volume.

Planning Is Not a Onetime Activity*

Don't just prepare a business plan and then follow it blindly. Reexamine your plans and update them according to your experience. Where are your financial weaknesses? What can you do to improve your profits?

To start your business, you may need more money than you now have. Should you save more cash before starting? Should you borrow from a relative or friend? Do you need a bank loan? Credit from suppliers? Careful, detailed, thorough financial plans enable you to make sound decisions* about your business; they also are the key to financing your new enterprise.

narrow down the possibilities – сузить выбор

a sense of the tricks of the trade – понимание секретов профессии

to supply or anticipate a need – чтобы удовлетворить существующую потребность или предвосхитить ее

fuel shortage – нехватка горючего

gasoline (Am) – бензин

prepackaged and catered food – полуфабрикаты или приготовленная и доставляемая на дом еда

from scratch – с самого начала; зд. из продуктов

shun them – избегать их

gadgets – технические новинки, приспособления

do machine conspire against you? – вы не в ладу с техникой?

to let your imagination roam – дать свободу своему воображению

hot air balloons – надувные воздушные шары

health care – здравоохранение; служба здравоохранения

to come up with a brand-new business in the service line – предложить совершен но новый вид услуг (в сфере обслуживания)

elbow grease – грязь на локтях

the image your business requires – имидж, который требуется вашему бизнесу

stapler – устройство для скрепления бумаг

a first-time fill-up of the fuel tank – первоначальное заполнение топливного резервуара/бака

There is bound to be waste. – Определенные затраты неизбежны.

such benefits as health insurance, life insurance, or vacation pay – такие льготы, как страхование здоровья, страхование жизни, оплата отпуска

there are bound to be slow periods – обязательно существуют периоды застоя (неблагоприятные периоды)

FIСА – Federal Insurance Constitutional Act – Федеральный конституционный закон о страховании (напр. от увечий, медицинское обслуживание, страхование по старости)

to be short of cash – не иметь наличности

can take a great deal of the guess-work out of starting a venture – которая избавит от неопределенностей при основании делового предприятия

word-processing programs – программы подготовки текстов

speaker's lecture fee – гонорар за лекцию докладчику

If you are graphically inclined – Если вы умеете чертить графики

where you are worse off than before – когда вы окажетесь в худшем положении, чем раньше

by taking over some services the landlord provided – взять на себя некоторые виды обслуживания, предоставляемые домовладельцем (компанией)

in a way that jeopardizes your business in the long term – до такой степени, что это будет угрожать существованию вашего бизнеса

you are pursuing "the best quality" and "the best service" – вы стремитесь к высшему качеству и первоклассному обслуживанию

will be forced out of business – будут вытеснены из бизнеса

Some seedlings perish. – Какая-то поросль погибает.

are felled by lightning – повалены молнией

not a one-time activity – не одноразовая деятельность

to make sound decisions – принимать разумные решения