Equip-M is one of our major partners.

Business & Strategic Plans

As one of America’s most well-known and accomplished founding fathers Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Clear achievable and measurable plans underpin effective decision making and form the roadmap for your success.

Here are some good reasons why you need a business plan:

1. It will provide direction for your business as you start and grow.

A business plan is like a roadmap or GPS for your business growth. An effective plan guides each stage of starting, structuring, developing, and managing your business. It helps you to think through and document the key elements of running your business.

2. It’s a relatively small investment to increase success factors.

It provides steps for you to think through key elements. Yes, it may take some investment of time and finance but used appropriately it becomes a living document and invaluable tool for guiding you towards success. It reduces your risk of making mistakes and losing valuable resources or opportunities. It can contain mini-plans for key areas like resources, sales, and marketing, pricing, operations, etc. It’s not meant to be rigid or like an encyclopedia with all the answers but a flexible document that can change with the organisation.

3. It will help you to identify and reach business milestones.

An effective plan helps you think objectively about the core elements and achievable milestones that your business needs to succeed. It provides the guide rails for your decision making.

4. It can help you get funding.

Business plans are an essential requirement when seeking partners, investors, sponsors, funding grants, or business loans. Having a good plan increases the confidence of potential stakeholders or investors. Your business plan is an important tool to positively influence others that working with you is the right decision.

5. There are plenty of formats for you to pick from.

There are numerous formats available and you can pick the type of format that works best for you. It is important that the plan meets your needs. Business plans tend to fall in one of two categories: traditional or lean start-up.

Traditional plans are more common, using a standard structure requiring you to fill in the details. These are initially more work upfront. Lean start-up business plans are more like a short summary of the most important elements of your plan. This format may work if you want to start your business quickly and your business is relatively simple, or if you regularly plan to change and refine your plan.
How to put your plan together can be a bit daunting. Equip-M can work with you to simplify the process and tailor-make a plan that is just right for you.

Contact us to find out how or for more information.

Grant Writing

Here are some important considerations when looking for grant funds. You can take these steps yourself or engage a service like Equip-M to support your endeavour and maximise the possibility of a successful outcome.

• What type of grant can I apply for – first clearly define your project’s or business purpose, what kind of funding is needed and why. Are there other avenues for raising funds? Is it a government, small business or corporate grant that you need? Do some research to see what is available.
• Find a suitable grant, check the requirements and make sure you comply. All questions must be able to be answered with-in their word limits with sufficient detail and appropriate language. You need to efficiently provide evidence of competency to achieve the project and funders goals including case studies, methodology, project plans and expenditure.
• Conduct an analysis. You do not want to waste valuable time and energy on the wrong grant or on completing a grant without the right expertise or ability to attract the interest of the funder.
  – Evaluate if you can fully comply to the grants criteria, including the legal, accountability and reporting criteria and if you can you strategically align with the funder’s priorities, it is better to look for something more suitable if you can’t.
  – Evaluate if you have the required skills and time to write the grant and if not, think of hiring a grant writer the skillset to do this. Equip-M can provide this in an affordable way.
• Submit a polished response. It’s important to allow time to proof read and edit your response. Unnecessary errors can undermine the grants potential.

For more information contact Equip-M.

Recruitment

Having a recruitment specialist that listens to your needs and designs a custom-made process to ensure the best outcome makes perfect business sense. EquipM can support you through any part, or all of the recruitment process from developing the initial job specification to advertising, shortlisting the best candidates to initial and final interviews, and then support through to review stage. The right people with the right skill set at the right time” is our motto.

So what are some of the benefits of using our specialist recruitment consultant?

• Gaining expertise in assessing the needs of your business and relevant recommendations about career pathways and remuneration packages which align with your corporate goals
• Access to broad industry knowledge and the capability to quickly gain understanding of the specific industry skills required for the position
• Professional insight into the development of teams to ensure the new employee has the appropriate skillsets which complement the team.
• Extensive industry experience provides cost effective and efficient methods which enhance the screening process and provides a direct path to the best pools of potential candidates.
• Maximising the potential to attract the right candidates to ensure a “win/win” outcome for both employer and candidate.
• Negotiation skills which cover sensitive topics such as salary and ensure clarity and understanding between both parties with confidentiality guaranteed.
• The advantage of having your own “recruitment specialist” who understands your needs without all the overheads.
• Potential for developing a lasting and honest business relationship to ensure your ongoing recruitment success.