A lot of people come to me with business ideas, but either they don’t have a real plan or haven’t taken the time to put one together. When you are seeking investors, it’s always a good thing to have. If you haven’t taken the time to do YOUR homework and put the effort into knowing everything about your business, then why should I be interested? A good business plan is the key to getting started off on the right foot, and will give you and anyone else you may be working with a snapshot of what it is you are creating. Think of it as roadmap, personalized just for you, that is going to guide you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

Writing up a complete business plan may sound like a daunting task, especially for the first timer, but if you do some research and read samples, everything will start to fall into place naturally. A good plan must include contents such as a description of the business, products and services, organization and management, an analysis of the market, and financial documents such as balance sheets, and income and cash flow statements.

There are many resources available online for free that can help you draw up your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov) has an online guide to help you through the process, complete with examples and a self-paced tutorial. Don’t be afraid to ask someone you know with business plan writing experience to look over your plan as well. Remember, experience is half the battle.

In business, just as in life, failure is inevitable. You will make mistakes. You will falter. You’ll chase bad ideas, and let good ones pass by. And just as in life, your business depends on whether or not you were able to learn from what happened, and make sure they don’t happen again.

With each new step along the path to building your empire, you must be able to look at the steps before, whether they were forward or backward, and put what you have learned into effect. Only by looking back are we able to move forward.

What have you learned from your mistakes, and how are you going to implement the knowledge in the future?

Whether you are a budding entrepreneur or the CEO of a major corporation, do not hesitate to think globally. There are potential customers all over the world that are more than willing to buy your product if they only had a means to do so.

You should always be looking to expand your market. I started on the block, then moved to the city, then the state, the country, and now our products can be found all around the world. Just think – there are 7 billion potential customers out there, but it’s up to you to find them, and you can’t stop until you do. It doesn’t take any more effort to think big than to think small.

What are you doing to right now to expand yourself and to make sure other people see YOU?

Yesterday I had a fantastic interview with Sarah Shaw from TheEntreprenette.com, which you can listen to on her site right now. The Entreprenette is aimed at helping women entrepreneurs get started in business, but the information can really help anybody, male or female.

During the interview we talk about my upcoming book, The Brand Within: How We Brand Ourselves From Birth To The Boardroom, The Shark Tank, and some great discussion about what it takes to succeed in business, and how to grow your own brand.  Check it out and be sure to let me know what you think.

A friend once told me a very inspirational quote:

“The man who moves a mountain does so one pebble at a time.” – Confucian Proverb

I’ve tried to remember this as I’ve grown my brand and my businesses. Anyone that knows me knows that I started on the bottom; my best friends and I made hats in my house in Hollis, Queens. I personally traveled across the US to cities like Philly and Detroit with icons like LL Cool J and RUN D.M.C., and sold my own products piece by piece. Those were my pebbles, and I’m still moving my mountain.

It is often difficult to see the greater significance in the mundane tasks, but it is within these tasks that you will find the ability move your own mountain. What pebbles are you moving today?