Business Plan for Lakeview Business
Over the past few weeks I have been developing a business plan for a business I would like to open in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago Illinois. It has been quite the learning experience, but I have a lot more to do before it is completed. As it stands, I have a rough business plan generated and a preliminary cash flow statement.
To develop the cash flow statement, I used my extraordinary Excel skills and created a tool that is quite robust. The tool has a multitude of settings including options for new or used equipment, leases, energy, Point-of-sale system, labor, and raw materials, among others. All which can be edited on a granular level, down to the cost of each raw material. Utilizing a bill-of-material, expected sales quantity, and retail price for each item, a revenue stream and cost-of-goods-sold is created to develop a net margin. Along side fixed costs, initial equity infusion, and loan payments, the tool can generate the first eight quarters of cash flow. It is quite the tool if you ask me!
Hopefully in the future I will post the plan here to get some feedback. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day!
Foreign Call Center’s Inherently High Cost
© H3C Technologies Co., Limited
Last month, I spent a significant amount of time talking with representatives at two different RCN call centers; one in the Philippines, and one in the United States. I was trying to get their new invalid URL request hijacking service, also known as PoxFire, removed from my account. The situation spurred me to analyze why call centers are located in foreign countries. I also wanted to review the factors that should be considered when making the decision to export a domestic call center. After coming up with a structure that can be used to determine if a call center could successfully be exported, I applied my theory to RCN’s business model. Finally, I determined if my interactions with RCN supported my theory.
Bearer of Bad News
I was recently watching Nova scienceNOW, and the host said something that really got me thinking:
Many people fear new information that might contain bad news beyond their control. But to fear bad news, by hiding from it, forfeits any opportunity to solve the problem. –Neil deGrasse Tyson
It was like the doors from heaven opened up, and the light was shining on me! I could not have said it better! Neil’s comments reminded me of my work at a former employer.
Fixed: RCN Hijacking Mistyped URLs
Late last week, I was having a problem with RCN hijacking my mistyped URLs. I was finally able to get them fixed! This post has two different distinct topics; the situation and how the problem was solved. In the near future I will post a new entry analyzing RCN’s business practices.
*Update – December 31st 2009*
I added a symptoms section and two guaranteed solutions at the bottom of this post.
RCN Hijacking Mistyped URLs
My ISP (Internet Service Provider) is hijacking my mistyped URLs! Instead of sending a “Does Not Exist” error when I type in an invalid URL, RCN is redirecting me to their search page.
*Update August 14th 2009*
See how I finally got this problem fixed.
Richard J. Durbin’s Response
I just received a message from one of my Senators, Richard Durbin, in response to the letter I sent him.
