My first venture into writing a business plan was in a Finance class.
Our assignment was to take given assorted costs as a starting point and to add to or adjust them into a final business plan. The project was to purchase the land (given cost) and build a small factory on it. So it was a construction and initial plant start-up budget we were to generate.
Trust me, it looked neat and pretty on paper but the totals went bust and there was not enough financing to cover the plant cost. I think the professor felt I needed to find a new line of work.
Of the two biggest mistakes I made the first one was a huge number. I failed to put money in for civil engineers to raze the land of everything on it so something new could be built there. My second mistake was to use their estimate for Hand & Bench Tools. That number should have been increased for all the tools that made it home with the last construction workers and the new employees!
But I learned my lesson. That is why I am not in panic from all the headlines today that this and that is failing, that they are intentionally destroying the so and so. I am not the least bit concerned by that news as all that crap has to be bulldozed out of the way so that necessity can dictate that new systems are required immediately here and here without everyone hollering trying to save the unsalvageable systems.
I hope I get a good grade on the plan I am betting on this time.
P.S. I prepared my first DoD small construction bid that was awarded to us ($1M SCADA Computer system installed). Under "Deliverables", I added "Lunch with Murphy - $20,000". It was a pad in case I forgot something and Murphy ate our lunch. I was shocked that the Feds paid the $20,000 on the first invoice I submitted which showed the itemized deliverables. Because the inspector checked in and signed for the deliverables, I felt certain they would withhold the 20k until the last invoice.
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