Expert View On the
Value of Business Plans
Experts: Oprah Winfrey & Donald Trump
The
two experts that I chose to research for my blog post are Oprah Winfrey & Donald
Trump mainly because I admire both of them, have been following both throughout
their careers, now on Facebook, Twitter, and because I have listened to them
speak on different subjects, I respect their thoughts and opinions.
Oprah
Winfrey:
Oprah
was not born into a privileged family and had limited support doing some parts
of her life. According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Oprah had
a difficult childhood, because she was born to unmarried parents that soon
separated after she was born in 1954. After coming in to a dysfunctional
environment, she was left with her grandmother on an isolated farm in
Kosciusko, Mississippi. She showed early signs of being “special” it
stated, “ as a child, she played like she was in front of an audience of farm
animals and by age 21/2 she was reading. She skipped Kindergarten after
writing her teacher a note on the first day of school saying that she belonged
in the first grade and after that year she was skipped to the third
grade. Excelling early in life, Oprah became a excellent student while
living with her father, she started giving speeches at church and at events,
she even made $500 to give a speech and right than she knew she wan to get paid
to talk. Because Oprah had to move back with her dysfunctional mother to
Nashville, she became rebellious, and was abused. But once reunited with
her father, where her lifestyle became safe and normal again and because of his
strict child rearing methods, it provided guidance, structure, rules, and
books. But due to the negative experiences, and impact that her mother
put on her, Oprah came to the realization that having a business plan would
“force her to consider the what-ifs and tiny cost you might overlook” while
putting a business together. Furthermore she stated that a “business plan
would force you to see what you need to change to finally start making money
with your business.” She considers “a business plan as a living thing
because it grows and changes just like we do and the economy.”
Donald
Trump:
According
to the Encyclopedia of the World Biography, Donald was born into a privileged
family in Queens New York, in 1946 he was the forth of five children of
Frederick and Mary Macleod Trump. Donald’s parents enrolled him into the
New York Military Academy at age thirteen so that he would learn
self-discipline, and how to stay focused at an early age in his life.
Following his father’s footsteps, into the Building and Real Estate Development
business, in the summertime he would work onsite with his father doing
construction work and learning the family business. At the military
school he excelled academically, athletically, and socially where he became a
positive role model for others. He graduated in 1964. Donald than
entered Fordham University but transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton
School of Finance where he graduated in 1968, with a degree in Economics.
After graduating Donald became a big part of the Trump Organization and in 1971
he moved to Manhattan where he began to network with influential people.
Trump stated that “stance on business plans are simple: with a business
plan there is a direction and focus, not having a business plan, you are bound
to fail because there is no focus. A plan gives you direction to know
where you are going, what you are doing, and how you will get where you want to
be.” He stated in terms of obtaining an investor, its very important to
have a good detailed business plan because the investor will want to see it
before they agree to invest any money, Donald also stated “without a plan, any
entrepreneur would not be able to get their feet off the ground.”
According to Rhonda Abrams author of
Successful Business Plan, she states “Investors are sensitive to issues of the
industry health, because it is harder to raise money if the industry is facing
a crisis”, employing capable management is key also when you are seeking
funding because they realize that you can’t run a business totally alone and if
you don’t employ experienced, real, flexible, and work well with people team of
managers it can cause you business to be unsuccessful. Lastly is having the ability to control
money, by having a full understanding of the anticipated cost to start up your
business at the beginning in order to eliminate unwanted pressure doing the
honeymoon stage of the partnership.
(Abrams, 2010)
In closing, each of these people is great
examples of successful business owners, and because of their experiences, planning
and professional techniques of not deviating from their ultimate goal, they
were able to reach the top. Oprah Winfrey and
Donald Trump had two totally different starts in life, but due to their level
of success, they both have developed businesses plans that have turned into
successful businesses. Because of Donald’s drive and determination, focus
and direction that he inherited, he was able to associate his business
plan to how the military structures the life of a soldier in combat
training. He stated, “if there is no business plan there is no focus,
and you are bound to fail” which I means, staying focus in life will lead
to success. And because Oprah’s experienced heartaches and challenges
early on in her life, and she developed her plan around the concept of learning
as much as possible, and with experience it is essential to change. Her
plan was “ writing a business plan to help stay focused and having the ability consider
the what-ifs, tiny cost that you might overlook, and force you to see what you
need to change to finally start making money in your business.” In my
opinion, Oprah went through major transformations throughout her life and
because she realized that if she didn’t force herself to, and didn’t have a
plan she would have missed out on some important aspects that needed to be
addressed, whereas Donald learned what he needed to know early and stayed on
course throughout his life.
References
Abrams,
R. “Successful Business Plan” Secrets
& Strategies. 5th Edition
Encyclopedia
of World Biography. “Oprah Winfrey Biography.”
Encyclopedia
of World Biography. “Donald Trump Biography”
Expert
Views on Business Plans. “Donald Trumps and Oprah Winfrey
(N Gerecitano) http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com
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