Questions and Answers
Our team is here to help you.
What is the procedure of the posting approval?
What are Critical Success Factors?
Critical Success Factors (CSF) are factors critical to your successful business idea implementation. The better you address the CSF in you posting the more professional your business idea presentation looks and the better chance you have to find the right business partner and turn the idea into real business.
Other BUSINESS IDEAS Forum users can rate your posting by CSF.
The CSF are:
1. You know who are your customers and how you can reach them
2. You know who are your competitors
3. You know your competitive edge or what is so unique with your idea
4. You know how to promote your business
5. You know who what is your experience in this type of business
6. You are aware about estimate on how much it will cost to start the business
7. You are ready to commit assets/equity to the start the business
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What is Business Plan and how to write one?
The business plan is the blueprint for your business. You wouldn't walk over to an empty lot and just start nailing boards together if you wanted to build a house. Starting a business without a business plan is just as foolish.
Yet unlike a house, a business isn't static. We often make the mistake of thinking of a business plan as a single, static document that you just put together when you're first starting out and then set aside.
In actuality, the business plan for any business will change over time as the business develops, and any particular business may have multiple business plans as its objectives change.
Here are five good reasons why you should write a business plan:
- To test the feasibility of your business idea.
Writing a business plan is the best way to test whether or not an idea for starting a business is feasible, other than going out and doing it. In this sense, the business plan is your safety net; writing a business plan can save you a great deal of time and money if working through the business plan reveals that your business idea is untenable. Often, an idea for starting a business is discarded at the marketing analysis or competitive analysis stage, freeing you to move on to a new (and better) idea. - To give your new business the best possible chance of success.
Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to both the broad operational and financial objectives of your new business and the details, such as budgeting and market planning. Taking the time to work through the process of writing a business plan will make for a smoother startup period and fewer unforeseen problems as your business becomes established. - To secure funding, such as bank loans.
You're going to need both operating and startup capital to start a new business and you have no hope of getting any money from established financial institutions such as banks without a well developed business plan. And established businesses often need money, too, to do things such as buy new equipment or property, or because of market downturns. Having a business plan gives you a much better chance of getting the money you need to keep operating or to expand. - To make business planning manageable and effective.
A business plan is essential if you're thinking of starting a business, but it's also an important tool for established businesses. Viable businesses are dynamic; they change and grow. The company's original business plan needs to be revised as new goals are set. Reviewing the business plan can also help you see what goals have been accomplished, what changes need to be made, or what new directions your company's growth should take. - To attract investors.
Whether you want to shop your business to venture capitalists, or attract angel investors, you need to have a solid business plan. A presentation may pique their interest, but they'll need a well-written document they can take away and study before they'll be prepared to make any investment commitment.
Be prepared for your business plan to be scrutinized; both venture capitalists and angel investors will want to conduct extensive background checks and competitive analysis to be certain that what's written in your business plan is indeed the case.
Writing a business plan is time-consuming, but it's essential if you want to have a successful business that's going to survive the startup phase. If your business doesn't have one, maybe it's time to start working on one. The process of writing a business plan can do wonders to clarify where you've been and where you're going.
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Executive Summary Definition Business Plan Definition |
Writing The Business Plan Funding and FAQ |
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How do I enter my posting the way that everybody can find it?
Business sector: Choose the business sector, which closest characterizes your business. Suggest a new sector if you
think that none of the available sectors are suitable. We might consider to add the new sector into our database. The sector is used in a sequential
and expression search.
In the sequential search other users can find your posting either by
searching for the same sector as you have entered or by using the "any" choice for selecting all postings regardless their business sectors.
Country of business: Choose the country where you wish to find your potential business partners or/and customers. Choose "world area" if
your potential business partners and/or customers can be found in more than one country and you want to rather select a world area from
the Region drop down menu.
In the sequential search other users of this site can find your
posting either by searching for the same country as you have entered or by using the "whole world" choice for selecting all postings regardless their country of business.
Region of business: Choose the region where your potential business partners or/and customers are located. You have two possibilities.
1) When you choose a concrete country from the Country of Business drop down menu. In this case you can directly enter a region in the country.
In the sequential search other users of this site can find your posting by reviewing the result of the country search when they use the same
country as you have entered as well as when they have used "whole world" choice. Additionally they can find your posting by choosing
the world area in which the country your have entered is located.
2) When you choose "world area" from the Country of Business drop down menu.
In this case you can select a world area from the menu below.
In the sequential search other users of this site can find your posting by reviewing the result of the country search when they used the same country as you have entered as well as when they have used "whole world" choice.
Additionally they can find your posting by choosing the country, which is located in the world area you have selected.
Posting label: The label is the first information other users of this site can see from the posting. Based on its content they decide whether they review it or not. Therefore it is important to use here as much descriptive
expression of your business idea as possible. Sales phrases like "best product..." or "ultimate offer..." won't be accepted because they are not solely descriptive.
Other users can find your posting by entering a word or a phrase in the expression search and checking the Posting Label box.
Description of your posting idea: Here you describe your idea. Our Posting Moderator approves only those postings complying the posting rules.
Other users can find your posting by entering a word or a phrase in the expression search and checking the Posting Text box.
What you need from others: Here you describe what you need from others. Our Posting Moderator approves only those postings complying the posting rules.
Other users can find your posting by entering a word or a phrase in the expression search and checking the Posting Needs from others box.
How is the posting revised?
Our Posting Moderator approves each posting prior it is published in the Forum. It takes up to
one working day observed by BUSINESS IDEAS Forum to approve and if necessary to revise your posting. The posting must not contain any contact information in the posting text but only in the dedicated contact dialog and must comply with our posting
rules. The posting dialog available during the Forum helps to create a correct posting structure. The posting has to be assigned to the existing business sector.
The Posting Moderator creates a new business sector, if there does not already exist suitable one.
After the posting is revised it is sent to you for approval. You can either approve our version of the posting and immediately publish it in
the BUSINESS IDEAS Forum or send us an Email with your revised version of the posting. You can revise our version of the posting max. 2 times.
If no agreement is reached about the posting wording after your second revision, we reserve the right to decline from publishing
your posting in the Forum.
When will my posting appear in the Forum?
Within one working day observed by BUSINESS IDEAS Forum after receiving your acknowledgement of our revision. You have one working day observed by BUSINESS IDEAS Forum to acknowledge the posting. When you fail to acknowledge the posting within this period, we post our revised version of the posting.
How do I comment existing posting?
Click on the posting you want to comment to see the posting details with available dialogs.
Why can I not mention any contacts or names in my posting?
The posting rules do not allow mentioning any names or contact information in the posting text but only in the Contact Information user dialog, which any member can access for free of charge as long as you publish a Paid Posting. A member needs to pay a small fee when he wishes to contact a posting author who has published a Free Posting.
The main purpose of postings in the BUSINESS IDEAS Forum is to stimulate curiosity of other visitors to ask their questions on-line the way that other people can see it and comment it at will. We don't want to give people immediate contact to their would-be-business partner and let them to be alone in the business knowledge creation, which we consider very important for starting a successful business. We believe that widely shared business knowledge creation can highlight the business issue from much broader perspective than a simple knowledge creation between two people. The shared business knowledge creation thus helps to avoid common pitfalls waiting for new entrepreneurs everywhere on their complex way to create a profitable business.
Avoid sharing precious information with potential competitors
It is up to you to what extent you publicly present the idea in the forum. You have to always balance two things:
->to say enough to attract some interest and get reasonable feedback, which can inform you about potential pitfalls during the business idea implementation. It is the business idea implementation that is most important because at the end it is all about making money.
->to say not enough to avoid stealing your idea by somebody else. Very often the author of the idea (in this case you) has resources, information, etc., others don’t have. This creates barriers against idea stealing and most importantly against business idea
implementation.
How are the postings displayed?
The postings are displayed in the following format:
6 
Posting_Label by John , 11-05-02 , 6
Where:
| Posting_Label | The posting label |
| John | The author of the posting |
| 11.05.05 | The date the posting was published in the Forum |
| 6 | Number of users who have reviewed the posting |
| A member of this site directly contacted the author of this posting |
| The posting is less than 10 days old |
| Posting popularity, which increases with number of views and contacts and decreases with period of time the posting is displayed. |
| Picture in the posting |
or or  | Number of Credits required to contact the posting author. Free = No Credits required |
| 6 | Posting score calculated from the members feedback scores who have contacted and made business with the business idea
author. (Applicable only for Materialized business ideas found in the Forum.) |
| Bold Italic formatting | The posting is a Shared Paid Posting with contact information available for 0,5 Credit |
| Bold formatting | The posting is a Paid Posting with contact information available free of charge |
All postings are threaded i.e. references to other postings are graphically
revealed.
The threads are not available in the search results but are always displayed in the posting view.
All postings formatted blue have not been read and all formatted black have been already read.
How do I search for existing postings?
You can use a sequential, expression or direct search accessible from the Forum.
The sequential search has three steps, i.e. business sector, country and region.
1st step The first dialog menu shows all business sectors linked to the existing postings. Select business sector and press "Search" to see all postings from the selected business sector or select any to see all postings regardless business sector.
2nd step The second dialog menu shows either:
a) all countries or world areas linked to existing postings and the business sector you have selected in the first step
or
b) all countries of posting authors linked to existing postings and the business sector you have selected in the first step.
3rd step The third dialog menu shows all regions linked to the existing postings, the selected country or world region and the business sector. Select the region or the world area to see all postings linked to the selected business sector and country. You can select "countrywide" to see all postings complying only the country and business sector selections.
The expression search allows you to enter any expression. The expression could be a single word, part of it or multiple words separated by space. The search is not case sensitive. Click "Show Posting" button if you what to see the actual postings complying your selection. You can as well search for Posting ID number or Posting Author name.
I can not find posting about my specific business idea.
Although our database contains hundreds of business ideas, it is natural that sometimes you cannot find the one you are looking for. This could also mean that your idea is so original that nobody has ever thought of it.
In fact there were plenty of other BUSINESS IDEAS Forum users who couldn’t find what they wanted. Nearly all of them have chosen to publish their ideas to get feedback, network with other people, and find business partners or customers. Most important thing is that many found the right people who helped them to turn their ideas into genuine business.
We suggest you to do the same as many others have done before you and share your business ideas with others. The choice is on your site.
Can I delete or edit existing posting?
You cannot delete any already published posting because it could damage the forum threaded structure where one posting relates to other posting.
You can disable the contact information in your posting and this way deactivate the posting. The posting will be still displayed but nobody can contact you.
You can edit your existing posting at Posting Management page.
Converting Free Posting to Paid Posting or Shared Paid Posting.
Free Posting is a posting published free of charge. Other BUSINESS IDEAS Forum members need to pay a fee in order to contact you.
Paid Posting is a posting published free of charge but whenever other BUSINESS IDEAS Forum members request your contact information, 1 Credit is deducted from your Credit account.
Shared Paid Posting is a posting published free of charge but whenever other BUSINESS IDEAS Forum members request your contact information, 0,5 Credit is deducted from your and from the member's Credit accounts.
Use the Postings Management Page to convert Free Posting to Paid Posting or Shared Paid Posting and vice versa.
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Alerts when somebody tries to contact you.
An Email generated whenever somebody tries to contact you concerning your Free Posting.
The function can be switched on and off at Your Postings page.
Alerts when somebody comments your posting.
An Email generated whenever somebody comments your existing posting published in the BUSINESS IDEAS Forum.
The function can be switched on and off at Your Postings page.
View log of users who have tried to contact you.
A list of all users who have tried to contact you last two months. The list shows date of contact, member name contact status Yes/NO, and country of origin
The function can be found at Your Postings page.
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Posting alert service.
Allows you to passively monitor the posting activity in the Forum by creating your posting alert profile consisting of country, world area and business sector. The alert service notifies you by an E-mail or through the RSS channel when a posting complying your search profile appears in the Forum.
- Notification by Email:
You receive an Email each time there is a new posting complying your posting alert profile. You need to provide email in order to get this service. The new Email address you enter either in the New User menu or add to your existing user accout. - Posting alerts by the RSS channel
:
RSS means Really Simple Syndication (RSS). It features a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. RSS has evolved into a popular means of sharing content between sites.
RSS channel has one significant advantage in comparison with Email account.
Any Email account can be abused by spammers and unsolicited Emails. There is not much you can do once your Email appears in a “wrong database” but use complicated spam filters or change completely your Email address. With RSS channel you select what information you want to receive by connecting to a channel of your interest. If you don’t want to receive the information you simply disconnect from the channel.
On the BUSINESS IDEAS Forum web site you can use customized RSS channel to monitor the posting activities at the BUSINESS IDEAS Forum without providing the Email address.
Please do following to subscribe to BUSINESS IDEAS Forum posting alert service by means of RSS channel:
-Step 1: Create New User account while omitting your Email address.
-Step 2: Create your posting Alert Profile. Get the url address linked to BUSINESS IDEAS Forum posting alert RSS channel.
-Step 3: Use your existing RSS reader or install new one (for example FeedReader) to read RSS channels.
-Step 4: Add a new feed to your feed reader with url address provided in step 2 or in any Forum page at the bottom.
When you first connect, you get a feed containing all postings complying your posting alert profile. There will be as many feeds as there are posting alert profiles. Later on you got a new item in your feed whenever there comes a new posting complying your posting alert profile.
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Newsletter
You can subscribe for a newsletter concerning BUSINESS IDEAS Forum site.
In the newsletter you can read about monthly featured business idea and new features BUSINESS IDEAS Forum introduces for its members.
See the list of all published newsletters.
Who pays to get direct contact information?
Posting Viewer:
- It costs 3 Credits
or variable EUR amount (depending on the actual posting popularity) to contact a Posting Author of a Free Posting . - It costs nothing to contact a Posting Author of a Paid Posting .
- It costs 0,5 Credits
to contact a Posting Author of a Shared Paid Posting.
Posting Author:
- It costs nothing to publish a Free Posting not providing your contact information for other members free of charge.
- It costs 1 Credit
each time somebody requests your contact information in your Paid Posting . - It costs 0,5 Credits each time somebody requests your contact information in your Shared Paid Posting.
Postings in the Forum
Postings Text Views
What is the posting popularity value and how it influences the price you have to pay to contact the posting author?
- The more frequently others view the posting the more interesting it might be and thus the higher its value is.
- The value of the business information and the idea behind it considerably depends on time. It is high when your chances to find your business partner are high. The longer the posting is published in the Forum, the more potential business partners can contact the author and consequently, the lower is your change to make a business with the posting’s author. Thus the posting value decreases with time.
- The more potential business partners contact the posting's author the higher is the probability that the users of this site think the business idea is worth trying. Therefore, the posting value increases with the number of times the posting author is contacted.
- The posting value depends on values of other postings of the same author.
- The more other postings reply to or comment the posting, the more interesting is supposed to be and thus the higher value it has.
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What are your odds of finding the right business partner?
Your odds of finding the right business partner while publishing Free, Paid or Shared Paid Posting depend on number of potential contact leads you receive and on the leads quality.
1. The more potential business partners contact you, the more likely it is that you find the right one.
2. The more the potential partners pay to contact you, the more likely it is that their intentions are serious.
The table below shows the odds of being contacted and the average contact quality. Both values are calculated from the Forum contact activities and members feedback statistics.
| Published Posting | LIVE READINGS CALCULATED FROM THE BUSINESS IDEAS FORUM | |
| Odds of being contacted by other members | Quality and genuineness of potential business partners | |
Free Posting Free of chargeYou get very few contact leads because other members might think your idea is not good enough or you are not serious enough when you don't wish to invest money (Provide Paid Posting or Share Paid Posting) to promote your business idea or proposal. |
|
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| Shared Paid Posting 0.5 Credit required
|
|
|
Paid Posting 1 Credit requiredYou usually get many contact leads. |
|
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BEST DEALLearn who are the most successful BUSINESS IDEAS Forum community members and who might be your best business partner.
What are the Credits for?
Credits allow you to either provide free contact information in your posting or contact authors of other postings who have published Free Postings not offering contact information free of charge.
Learn more about BUSINESS IDEAS Credits
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I bought Credits but users still can not contact me free of charge.
Go to Your Postings page to convert any of your existing Free Postings to Paid Posting.
Leaving feadback after making contact.
After each contact and business idea evaluation, the members are allowed to rate each other by leaving feedback. Each feedback left consists of a rating (positive, negative, or neutral), and a short text comment. These ratings that members leave for each other are used to determine individual member profiles. In order to make that contribution fair and safe, each member can only affect another member's feedback score by +1, 0, or -1.
+1 for positive feedback
You have OR you think you are going to make a significant progress in your business with the member.
0 for neutral feedback
You have not yet made any significant progress in your business with the member.
-1 for negative feedback
The member failed to contact you directly OR you can not make any significant progress in your business with the member because of the member.
The feedback score represents the number of members that are satisfied doing business with this member. It is the difference between the number of members who left a positive rating and the number of members who left a negative rating.
Example: 5 members left positive, 2 members negative and 3 neutral feedback. The feedback score is 5-2+0=3.
In practice, 30 days after establishing a direct contact we send you an Email where you can provide a simple feedback about the member you have contacted. This member also receives a similar Email
where he can provide a feedback about you.
You receive a final request to provide the feedback when you fail to leave your feedback about the other member within 30 days from the date of receiving the first feedback request.
The feedback affects your feedback score, which any member of BUSINESS IDEAS Forum community can see before making direct contact to you. You can as well view your feedback list with names of all members who left feedback about you.
The member feedback scores help to generate a list of materialized business ideas and successful BUSINESS IDEAS Forum members from the Forum.
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