This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under
GDPR Article 89.
Re: [SPAM?] Re: The "Cost" of the matter
Doug,
Yep, that's a business plan. In my experience I did a business plan
when I wanted to borrow some money and be selected for a big project
of some kind. The key area where I failed was being able to stick to
the estimate of the time I should be spending on each project or
silo. Probably as an over reaction to having been in large
bureaucracies for twenty years, or having a father who was a systems
engineer, I have never been able to allocate time for two or three
different projects in one day. I get focused on a project, I work on
it until it is done; and it may not be earning me enough money to
justify the time ; bad mistake.
The other factor in my inability to work with a business plan, was in
the 25 years every one of my big money making projects was
unexpected. One event leads to another event which leads to a new
contact and I'm working on a $40,000 video project that I never
imagined I would ever be able to take on. I guess the one discipline
of a business plan that I have always followed is knowing pretty
precisely each source of revenue and the amount of revenue each
year. I think that with the Internet it is easier and maybe even
more necessary to think about trying a business plan. Why? Because I
think a garden writer can have more control in developing projects or
funding streams than might have been possible back in the paper and
pencil days. The explosion of personal computers and the associated
equipment such as printer, scanner, and modem is almost perfect to
support a career in writing. The shift to digital and the Internet
have been frosting on the cake. I can live in the boonies of
Michigan and do almost everything that I needed support for 20 years
ago.
Maybe I should try getting into movies or owning television
stations. Or maybe I should just shut up and keep working on what I
have making me money and leave the blue sky piloting to younger less
wise garden writing adventures.
Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com
On Jan 1, 2008, at 9:51 PM, Douglas Green wrote:
Dan - I suspect your cash flow should identify the cash/financial
requirements of your writing business rather than your operational
plans. I keep them separate - using the operational plan for income
generation planning and the cash flow to control expenses so my
accountant doesn't have heart attacks on my behalf. I do plug the
numbers from the operational business planning into the cash flow
income side so I know what I "should" be making. Expenses are based
on history and any costs associated with the operational planning.
But I do consider these two things to be different. Both are part of
a business plan and my reply to jeff focussed only on the operational
planning and did not include the cash flow side of things. Sorry for
any confusion - thanks for pointing out the need for cash flow
planning.
Doug
Douglas Green
Online Garden Publishing
Blog: http://blog.douggreensgarden.com
Home: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
On 1-Jan-08, at 8:51 PM, Dan Clost wrote:
> A good point Jeff- even if I'm not Doug
>
> Will the exercise of even attempting to write out a business plan
> at least
> identify many of the hidden costs, aka overhead, that most of us don't
> account for until they bite us in the bum come tax time?
> Dan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Ball" <jeffball@usol.com>
> To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum"
> <gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 8:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [GWL] The "Cost" of the matter
_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters
GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters
Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos
Post gardening questions/threads to
"Gardenwriters on Gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters
GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters
Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos
Post gardening questions/threads to
"Gardenwriters on Gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
Other Mailing lists |
Author Index |
Date Index |
Subject Index |
Thread Index
