Make Your Business Profitable and Recession Proof

Artilient Academy &
CSU Dominguez Hills College of Extended and International Education &
The South Bay Business Resource Network

The Business Booster Program

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) estimates that over the lifetime of a business, 39% are profitable, 30% break even, and 30% lose money, with 1% falling in the "unable to determine" category. 3 out of 5 businesses will not be profitable. According to the SBA, 1 out of 2 businesses will fail within the first five years.

Some of the main reasons that businesses fail include, but are not limited to:

Starting business for the wrong reasons
A lack of passion
Lack of management controls and business processes
Micromanagement
Team Functionality
Lack of working capital and insufficient cash flows
Lack of a good financial, organizational and business strategy
Absence of a sound infrastructure

The 90/6 Business Booster Program has been designed for you: the business owner and the entrepreneur. Running a business involves a series of complex tasks combined with attention to detail of tedious operations. It involves the integration of various moving parts and functions. Our 90/6 Business Booster Program will not only train you to assess the current state of your business in an honest and diligent manner, but also to set the correct vision and then build an plan that you can implement successfully. Once you have all the components of your business working in sync, your company can achieve sustainability and thus leading to higher revenues and profitability and making your business recession-proof.

Running a business is one of the most exciting and eventful journeys that a business owner and entrepreneur will ever undertake. During this journey, you shall face several obstacles and successes. It is highly important to know your destination, the reason for this journey and more importantly, the tools you need to reach your destination successfully. We are your Business Navigators. And our objective is to help you succeed. The 90/6 Business Booster Program includes 6 easy to use steps and addresses 8 different functional areas of your business. These functional areas include:

Sessions will be held on Tuesdays starting 7/7/2009.

Class Location: California State University, Dominguez Hills
College of Extended Education,
1000 East Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747

Fees: $995

Session 1 & 2: Set Destination - One of the most important things which ensure success in a business is knowing your vision, your goals and objectives. During this section of the program, you shall be able to answer all-important questions such as: What am I in the business for? What are my personal goals and objectives? What is my vision for my company and where would I like to take my business? You shall be able to set high-level, tangible and quantifiable goals for your company encompassing the 8 underlying business functions and tie it into your personal goals.

Session 3 & 4: Point of Departure - Once the final destination has been set, it's time to evaluate where you and your business currently stand in terms of all 8 Business functions. Once you define your current state, you shall be able to embark on your journey to achieve the desired Destination. This session will also enable you to perform a reality check of your business and truly understand the results of your past efforts.

Session 5: Course Mapping - In this section of the program, you shall be able to see the gap between your Point of Departure and your desired Destination Statement. You should be able to identify what is missing from your current state in order to achieve the desired state of your business. You shall be able to assess the missing pieces in your business across all 8 functional areas of your business.

Session 6: Choosing the Ideal Path - Now that you know where you want to be, where you currently are and what you are missing, we shall help you create the ideal path to take in this journey in order to achieve your Destination. This path will include all 8 functional areas of your business and help create a strategy for all components within it too. It will include creating a project plan to help achieve your desired goals and objectives for you and your business.

Session 7: Following the Roadmap - Under this section of the program, you shall learn how to steer the business on your ideal path to the Destination. It is the actual implementation of the project plan on a daily basis across the 8 business functions of your business. It requires hands-on experience within your business, dedication and timely delegation to your team.

Session 8: Tracking Progress - Now that you have the map to success and have been busy implementing it, it is highly important that you not just reap the rewards of your effort, but also ensure that business is sustainable. This will involve monitoring the action plan, putting in the required metrics and controls within your business and tracking results and outcomes of your effort across all 8 functional areas of your business.

Michael D. Miller

http://docs.google.com/a/artilient.com/File?id=dch73z2v_25frpmfmdd_b

Mike helps executives evaluate their organization’s design, accounting, financial and human capital strong / weak points. He provides leader and manager development support, while helping executives plan and implement strategic initiatives. Mike is a member of www.allcities.org, and is the Moderator of their monthly Green Business Network Group. He is a member of the California's GREEN Workforce Coalition. Mike is also an advisor to Artilient's Clean / Green Business Incubator management team and its CBRID Incubator mentoring and managing practice, CBRID. Previously, he spent fourteen years in corporate America with FORTUNE 500 firms including the Bendix and Allied Signal corporations, and has been an owner or partner in two firms. Positions he held included acquisition manager, divisional marketing manager, new product development manager, distribution manager, national sales manager and marketing communications manager. Mike has been the keynote speaker to organizations such as the California Cast Metals Association, City of Simi Valley, Distribution Management Association, Loyola Marymount University’s MBA Alumni Association, and the Woodworking Institute of California on the topics of leadership and strategy development.
Mike has been an adjunct professor in California Lutheran University’s (Thousand Oaks, CA) evening MBA program for working adults since 1989. Last year, Mike helped start California Lutheran University’s first Entrepreneur Roundtable program, designed to help entrepreneurs start their enterprises outside of the classroom. He has also served on the Advisory Board of the Southern California Edison/California Lutheran University Venture Forum from 1993 to 1998, a program designed to help match debt / equity funders with start-up businesses.
He holds a B.S., Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA), and a M.B.A. from Loyola Marymount University, (Los Angeles, CA). Mike has also been certified by the Center for Creative Leadership (Greensboro, North Carolina) to conduct 360º leader, manager and team assessment and development processes / programs.