Asset Consulting has been involved with a number of retail clients over the years. The impacts felt from Covid-19 have been difficult, to be sure. In many cases, the initial downside from this pandemic caused retail to all but shut down operations. Like most of us, retail businesses had no idea this would go on so long. It appeared initially that if we were able to weather a couple of months, things would turn around.
As it turned out of course, the pandemic is still with us a year later and many retail outlets have found a way to cope with this new reality. Unfortunately there have been very difficult circumstances and many stores and restaurants just could not survive. I was on a Chamber of Commerce Zoom meeting a year ago and a few owners were very concerned they could not survive for a long time. One year later, I’m relieved to say that most of those owners have indeed survived and have adapted to the new reality of distancing and masks.
Our business saw some downside as well and revenues took a hit in the beginning. After a few months, we started to see a different entrepreneurial spirit emerge and clients started asking us about the on-line potential to help their sales numbers and wanted to try a different approach.
In fact, we decided to build a very targeted market campaign and have seen a lot of interest in the area of attracting venture capital. SPACs have emerged as an interesting alternative to raising funds to help a business. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies may be able to provide IPO level investments much more quickly for owners looking for partners and investors.
We have found as a result that Business Plans were necessary to break into this investment vehicle and we were tasked with putting together these documents. One of the first things required of a business looking for investments is to have a current Business Plan. To build an effective Business Plan, we really have to peel back all the layers of what may be a very private insider’s look at a business. These plans may take many weeks and in some cases, months to complete.
In the end, we recognize that investors often want to see the big picture for the business and this is a great way to get relevant data on a company all wrapped up in a 25-50 page document. When we work with effective owners or organizations, our relationship becomes very close and we understand we are providing a necessary value. Through advanced discussions in the beginning stage, we can fairly quickly tell whether the business should be spending the money on a Business Plan at all. We have to believe this document will help the owner get the investment money or partnership as a result. We have suggested alternatives in some cases where the numbers simply did not help the business’s chances.
If you are interested in speaking with us about Business Plans, we would be pleased to have a complimentary discussion to help you decide if this is the way to go.
Thank you for your interest and comments, we will contact you as quickly as we can. If your needs are urgent please call us at our office number below.
We cover all of Vancouver Island and across North America.
Asset Business Consulting and Coaching
phone 250.580.5250
craig@assetconsulting.ca