A lot of people can surely agree that planning is a very important, if not the most important, part of any endeavor. Entire kingdoms of old and new have gone down due to lack of or ineffective planning. Entrepreneurs know this and that’s why drawing up an effective business plan takes at least an entire semester in business school.Online business plans are just as important and therefore should be studied and prepared thoroughly.

So why exactly should online business plans be prepared? They are going to be very useful as they will define your goals and objectives through appropriate information and analysis. Once you have a business plan, you will have an anchor you can come back to whenever you feel distracted or have strayed from your original vision. It will also be useful as a selling tool when dealing with key relationships such as with lenders, banks, and investors. It can uncover weaknesses and omissions in the planning process you undergo. It can be used to solicit advice and opinions from people, especially those in your target field of business. Input from those who have already gone some ways in the online business field will be invaluable to you, and you will have your online business plan to show those experts so they can study it and draw up conclusions and appropriate advice afterward.

How should your online business plan look like? It should be formatted in a way that all factors essential to your business purpose are systematically assessed. First, there must be a mission and vision statement, which may seem trivial but, as aforementioned, will anchor you during the whole process of maintaining your online business.

Second, you should include the people involved. Not to make your ego inflate, but you will be a key ingredient here. Consider all your prior experiences which may be applicable to your new online business. Study your resume and that of anyone else who will be involved, such as your partner(s). Be factual and completely objective as this section will be particularly focused on by anyone with whom you’ll be having relationships from potential investors to vendors.

Third, your business profile should be written. This will be the definition of your intended business and how you plan to execute it all exactly. If you envision serving a specialized market, indicate so.

Fourth is an economic assessment, which is an evaluation of the economic environment your business will be a part of. Demographics will be included here. In relation to that, the fifth portion is your cash flow assessment. Draw up a one-year cash flow which will cover your capital requirements. Write what potential problems you may encounter financially and how you plan to address them. Sixth, will be your marketing and expansion plans.

Let’s get right to it. What is branding, exactly? Branding can be simply defined as an image or symbol that represents the essence of a business. But there is so much more to branding than just the definition. It is a marketing tool that, when effectively used, can trigger our senses, emotions, and memories and leave us yearning to go back to the place that evoked us to “think happy thoughts”. Ex: by using the phrase “think happy thoughts” did your mind for a split second think Peter Pan or the power of pixie dust? Branding can be successful as slogans and catchphrases too.So what can branding provide to businesses? The key objective branding provides to any business is value. The value of a brand comes from the recognition and the recognition verifies credibility. The goal of branding is to ensure future business transactions with loyal customers and prospects. Creating an effective and successful brand is collaboration of art and science relying on the fundamentals of psycho-sociology.Branding can be seen everywhere we look. Universities brand themselves with mascots. Hospitals often brand themselves with an image that represents their ideals. When traveling down almost any interstate in America and abroad, drivers can see those golden arches from miles away and know that there is a McDonald’s located at the next exit.Branding has become so successful that there are board games sold in which the main objective is to “name that brand” to score points and win. Believe it or not, schools often teach pre-readers to read through a process called environmental reading. This is when a young child identifies the name of brands and businesses through their logos without being able to actually read the letters associated with them. The teacher then goes on to teach the sounds per each letter involved.It is important to know that branding is not just company specific but can often be created for products. This is done through product lines. Ex: If a business is launching a new product line in which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to relief aid, they would want to market the importance of value the new product line represents and create a visual aid that will exemplify all of that.Once a business has established a brand it is essential to use that branding at every contact point with the customer. These contact points include all promotions, advertisements, and marketing strategies. For product brands you will want your brand on the product, on the tags, and on the bags. Ex: When you purchase a shirt from Under Armor you are buying more than just a shirt, you are buying the brand.So in the process of building a brand, there should be no quick and rash decisions. A brand is, essentially, a long term investment that needs to be carefully crafted in order to represent the very best in your business as well as to bring out the very best in your clients.

A worker shortage might be excellent news for the economy! Maybe, just maybe, firms will awake and see workers’ substantial contribution to their success. Some CEOs take unconscionable sums and destroy their firm’s value, unlike many frontline workers who create value. During the pandemic, CEOs took vast sums as they laid-off workers. Some firms sought bankruptcy protection, but hat didn’t stop their greedy CEOs from snatching hefty bonuses.

We have a worker shortage and firms are scrambling to hire whomever is willing. Some firms, like McDonalds have paid signing bonuses. Canada’s Loblaw and its competitors paid a bonus to frontline workers when the pandemic began. They stopped it after three months in unison with their competitors. When government confronted them about this collusion, they claimed it happened independently. Go figure! It’s like you caught your three-year-old with her hand in the cookie jar and she said, Mom, “Cookie Monster did it!”

Worker Shortage Inevitable With Shoddy Treatment

Loblaw’s behavior disturbs me. During the bonus period, profits soared. Per se, that’s no problem. I favor firms making profits. To be sure, I am against government taxing profits. But paying workers the bonus during the pandemic shouldn’t hinge on profits. It was just right. Meanwhile, my wife and I shopped at a Loblaw store and workers continued their excellent service despite Loblaw’s slight.

Leaders must realize frontline workers are the firm’s foundation and treat them well, not as cogs turning out CEOs bonuses! When employers treat workers like machines, they disengage. Gallup said, over several decades, they and other researchers found a strong link between employees’ workplace engagement and the company’s overall performance. Yet employers refuse to accept this. But there is good news: surveys show some firms break the mold and treat workers with respect: Cisco, Apple, Accenture, IBM, FedEx are a few.

Next Quarter’s Earnings Drives Businesses

Companies see next quarter as the prize, so they exploit workers and fudge next quarter’s numbers. I repeat: I am against government taxing business. However, I favor the Biden Build Back Better provision to tax share buybacks that the House passed, and it is before the Senate, even if it might have only a modest effect on share buybacks. Companies shouldn’t be spending billions buying back shares while exploiting workers.

Firms should present to shareholder meetings options to use buyback funds. Choices might include effects of paying bonuses to frontline workers with buyback funds. Shareholders should hear about potential strategic investments, too. Another option is stopping buy-backs for five years after layoffs. Executives, too, shouldn’t get bonuses within five years of layoffs. We must get rid of worker exploitation that enhances CEO bonuses.