This section will provide you and your community businesses with tricks of the trade, advices or ideas. We will be adjusting or adding content occasionally. Your comments and suggestions will be most welcome and will be greatly appreciated!

Electronic Reference Tool

In January 2006, the FNQLEDC provided you with a hard copy reference tool. In order to facilitate the updates to this tool, please find enclosed the electronic format of the document. Please note that the contents of this tool will be updated 3 times a year.

Interactive Business Plan

As a point of reference for the next sections
Interactive Busines Planner
Copy of the Financial Tables
Sample Business Plan
NB : for the 2 first links, you will need a username (cdepnql) and a password (cdepnql)

What do I need to know before starting a business?

If you are thinking about starting a business, it may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
• Am I ready to take on the responsibility?
• Am I a self-starter, a leader and a good manager?
• Do I stick to the jobs I start?
• Am I a good organizer and can I keep records?
• Do I like people?
• Can I live with uncertainty?

Some of the other challenges to think about include:
• Isolation and constantly having to market yourself;
• Long hours with no regular income;
• Meeting government requirements for help;
• Surviving the "politics" in a small community;
• Fear of failure-not being sure of yourself; and
• Not having access to support services such as computer repair or bookkeeping services.

You should evidently mention to your employers that you are not asking them all these questions to diminish their motivation, but rather to make sure that they are well prepared to venture into the business world and own their own enterprise.


Why is a business plan necessary?

A business plan is a requirement of any financial institution.

A thorough business plan demonstrates that you have a complete, organized and factual plan. This may help convince investors, bankers, government agencies or other financial sources that you have a sound business concept, worthy of their investment.

The purpose of a business plan is to help you thoroughly plan your business. The business plan should set goals, guidelines and milestones. It describes how your business will operate.

This will help you identify problems before they become unmanageable and help you to keep your business on track.

How do I develop a business plan?

Although there are no hard and fast rules, many sources recommend that business plans should be between 10 pages and 25 pages in length. Sections that are common to most business plans include:

• an overview which introduces the reader to the business;
• a description of the products and services;
• an overview of the industry in which the business will compete;
• a marketing strategy which summarizes the product, promotion, pricing, and distribution strategies of the business;
• a description of the management and staff;
• an implementation plan;
• a financial plan that includes pro-forma balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements. A balance sheet compares what your business owns to what it owes. A cash flow statement compares how much money will be coming in to how much you will be spending. An income statement compares your revenues to your expenses to see if you are going to make money. (NB: please visit the Internet link Copy of financial tables, at the upper section of the page, for an example of presentation of financial statements);
• an Executive Summary which summarizes key points of the business plan in one or two pages;


Other questions might include:
• Who will use the product or service?
• Is this a one-time purchase or is there potential for repeat business?
• Who are the competitors and what is the difference between that business and the one being proposed?

It is important that when you are thinking about starting a business, you can thoroughly describe what you have in mind, why you think there is a need and how much money it will cost to start up and maintain. Once the entrepreneur will have answered all these basic questions, he will be in a better position to ask for your help.

Please visit the Internet link Sample of a business plan, at the upper section of the page; it gives you a concrete idea of what a business plan is all about. Please do not hesitate to transmit this information to your entrepreneurs. It should be noted that the example I am suggesting you falls within the sector of services.

To be specified to your clientele when handing over a sample of a business plan:

• They have to write their own business plan.
One common mistake made by entrepreneurs is to copy too much information from a sample business plan and simply change the names and some of the numbers. There are two problems with this approach. First, the emphasis you place on various sections of the business plan must reflect what is important in your particular business. Second, business plans which borrow too much information from other business plans tend to be disjointed, with some sections contradicting others and some key issues being overlooked.

• Make sure your financial projections are believable.
For many readers, the financial section is the most important section of the business plan because it identifies your financing needs and shows the profit potential of your business. If you are overly optimistic or fail to take into account the full costs of running your business, your business plan will not be credible.

A variety of advices for your entrepreneurs

• When starting a business, it is best to contribute as much of your own money as possible

• Many kinds of services and products can be made into a business. Crafts, food, clothing, cleaning, childcare, construction, bookkeeping, personnel management, manufacturing and Internet graphic design are all areas of business

• The First Nations community may have a community development plan. There may be restrictions on how land can be used depending on whether you have a "certificate of possession" or other form of interest in land.

• The Council may also have plans to open a similar business as a community venture and you would have difficulty competing.

Other things to consider:
• A permit or license may be needed before opening the business.
• A building inspection and ongoing inspections of the business may be required.
• Garbage pick-up may be needed, especially if a large amount of waste or different kinds of waste result from the business.
• The business may not be able to operate noisy equipment at certain times of the day or you might have to make arrangements for upgrading electrical, water or sewer connections to service the business.
• There may be environmental, cultural, health and safety standards that the Council will insist you meet in order to protect customers and the community.
• Do I want to stay in my community or start a business somewhere else?