Business Plan Experts

Tim Berry

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com as well as co-founder of Borland International. Berry received his MBA from Stanford. Married for 42 years and a father of five. Tim stated, “I believe in business planning but I don’t think a business plan is a document (Timberry.com, 2012).” Aside from being a founder, co-founder and chairman Berry is also an author, speaker, and blogger.

With a MBA degree from Stanford, Berry also graduated with honors from the University of Oregon with an MA in Journalism, and received a BA in Literature from the University of Norte Dame.

Berry has published books that help small business owners create business plans as well as help them with business startups. He has written books with titles such as The Plan-as-you-go Business Plan, Business Plan Pro, 3 Weeks to Startup, Sales and Market Forecasting for Entrepreneurs, and Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning. Tim has been very vital, as a business plan expert, Jim Blasingame, one of the most well-known small business radio talk show hosts, has referred to him as “The Father of Business Planning.”

Tim does not believe in writing business plans for business owners but instead he provides free business plan advice and coaching, through his blog. This blog has over 200 posts that contain all types of articles, videos, presentations, and even a couple of books.

 

Ellen Rohr

Ellen Rohr is the president of Bare Bones Business. Rohr teaches business basics as well as a columnist for PHC News and a writer for many business journals and trade magazines. With a college degree in Business Administration, Rohr started out running a family plumbing business which she also let belly up.

In 1995 Rohr started Bare Bones Biz, a venture capital and consulting company. Over the next 17 years she made many contributions to numerous of company, Office Depot and American Express Open Forum just to name a couple.

Rohr has a seminar entitled, "Business Planning made EASY: A simple strategy for a powerful business plan that will DRIVE you in the direction of your GOALS."

In this seminar she makes six points that you should follow when creating your business plan.

·      Setting Sight.  What do you want your business to BE?  How will you know when you have “made it?”

·      Building the Team.  Who does what?  Why, how and when?

·      Making Money.  Learn the bare bones basics for building a budget, keeping score and bringing in the bucks.

·      Getting it Sold.  How to create a sales-focused culture…without insulting your soul.

·      Getting it Done.  Developing sure-fire systems for doing things the first time, every time.

·      Making Sure.  Are you on the right track?  How do you get back on track?  It’s all about asking and answering the right questions.   

For more of Rohr’s business planning insight you can visit her website How To Grow A Small Business...Into Freedom!