How to Prepare A Business Plan: A Step by Step Guide

How to Prepare ABusinessPlan

A Step by Step Guide

Peter Osalor

CONTENTS

PREFACE

FOREWORD

FOREWORD

COMMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

The only limits to the realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

CHAPTER 2

Success is a state of mind.If you want success, start by thinking of yourself as a success.

CHAPTER 3

"Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a bit.

CHAPTER 4

To guarantee success, act as if it were impossible tofail.

CHAPTER 5

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because the world needspeople whohavecome alive.

CHAPTER 6

It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have.

CHAPTER 7

All great achievements require time.

CHAPTER 8

The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

PREFACE

My Life’s Journey and Motivation

Iwasbornintoafamilyofsixinthemid-1950'sinWarri,Delta State,Nigeria.Welivedinamudhousewheretherewasnoelectricity and it was difficult to access drinkable water. My fatherwas always in and out of menial jobs and at times, it was challenging for us to get a decent meal to eat. From an early age, I began to fendfor my family by going to the water side to collect firewood to sell.Unlike us, neighbours and friends did not have to struggle to eat,some took their security to ready available food for granted and theirparents would even discipline them or buy them multivitamins whenthey refusedtoeat.

I quickly realised that knowledge was key and began to dig deep, as I wanted to satisfy my growing curiosity on the big social differencesin society. Why where some living in affluence and others in abjectpoverty?Ihadtastedpovertyandhatedit.Itwasthishatethat fuelled my choice to live a life dedicated to finding out exactly whythe worldworks thewayit does.

I went to college as a house boy to a teacher because we could notafford to pay the school fees and that was the best the college coulddoforme.AftercollegeIwenttoworkforPanalpinaWorldTransportation Company in Kano.I bought a house for my motherand established a hotel for her.Then I bought a taxi, started a taxifirm and began to buy more vehicles,however I was not satisfiedwith my level of knowledge. I wanted more. I wanted to become aglobal entrepreneur, not merely a local one. I left for Britain in 1983,where I studied accountancy. While there, I took exams to become an accountant and began to apply the knowledge I acquired to variousbusinesses.

By1991Iwasacharteredaccountantandacharteredtaxadvisor. As I was investing in my global education in Britain, my wife and Ibought two shops in 1995 but had to sell them by 1999 in order tofight bankruptcy.

In 2000, we established East London ITEC an IT and accountancytraininginstitute.From2001-3,IestablishedbranchesofPeterOsalor and Co. in Port Harcourt, Warri, Yenagoa, and Lagos. Wetruly became a multinational global enterprise.Believing I couldmake a difference of the state of affairs in Nigeria, I ran for governor of Delta state in 2007 but was not elected. Throughout my entirejourney, I have gained extensive experience in teaching, accounting,management, capacity and business building. Over time, I began tonotice the consistent, predictable patterns and principles that appearto accompany and govern all business and career success. The mostimportant of these principles is having an entrepreneurial attitude.This is what I aim to teach within the pages of this book. It is mydesiretoguideandmentoryoutoyourpathofbecomingasuccessful entrepreneur.

My purpose in life has been the same for more than thirty years. It isto liberate the in-built potentials of individuals by giving them ideasand strategies to fast-track the benefits and rewards they can achieveas successful entrepreneurs. I intend to motivate people by makingthemrealisethatsuccessisachoicetheyhavetomakeandANYBODY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL if they choose to be.

Putting into practice my vision for entrepreneurial development inAfrica, Ihave establishedseveral initiatives:

-                                 I have established Success in Your Business, a UK registeredcharity committed to eradicating poverty by equipping individualswiththeentrepreneurialspiritandtherightskillssucceedinbusiness.

-    I have an on-line TV program

-    As part of my awareness creation strategy for entrepreneurship, I run a weekly TV programme