Task 2. Read the text.
Starting Business Launch
Whether you want to start your own business or just be more productive, there are some secrets for success with your work! How to be more productive, how to get the job you want and how to be more successful.
If starting a business were easy, everyone would do it. But they don’t. Only if you know deep in your heart that you’re an entrepreneur take this step. Here are a few pieces of advice that can help you keep your new business growing in size and profit:
1.Hire people who are better at the job than you are. It’s a fact that companies are built by people, and the best people build the best and most profitable companies. Put simply, great employees may cost you 20 to 30 percent more in wages, but they can be twice as productive as mediocre employees. Invest in good people.
2.Place high urgency in everything you do. Always do everything you can today. Too many people treat their business as nine- to-five jobs. Never put something off until tomorrow if you can do it right now.
3.Get customers coming back. The road to profitability is through repeat business. Too few business owners set themselves up for longterm success. Your business grows when you add regular new customers on top of existing regular customers.
4.Deliver more than you promise. If you tell a customer it’ll be three days, deliver in two. If you think it’ll be two hours, say three hours and surprise them.
5.Price yourself for profit. Don’t ever be the cheapest. You’re the little guy; you don’t have economies of scale. Big companies can make up in volume what they lack in margin. You can’t.
6.Never spend a dollar you don’t have. You don’t need a new desk, you need a cheap desk. Too many new business owners go and buy stuff because they think image is important. Listen, when you get profitable, you can have a big mahogany desk. Right now, just get a desk.
7.Set a big vision. ‘Start Small, Finish Big’ should be the title of your book. Don’t aim to be the best dance instructor in Moscow – aim to
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be the best in the country. Remember, building a business is a 10-year plan, not a one-year plan.
8. It’s simpler than you think. Before most people even go into business, they suppose it to be far more complex than it really is. Business is very simple: Sell at a profit and keep at it. Overcomplicating the process won’t help anyone. Remember, you have a lot to learn – and that’s great. You’ll make mistakes. Just try to make small ones at the start.
Never bet ranch on one deal. (Никогда не ставь ранчо на однусделку).
Task 3. Discuss the following questions.
1.Why is it so important to employ effective people?
2.Why is it not so good to charge too low price if you have a small business?
3.What do you think about having good image of your office at the first stage of your business development?
4.What are your plans for the future?
5.Is it easy to start a business in your country?
6.Would you like to have your own business? Why? Why not?
7.What kind of business would you start?
Task 4. Find synonyms and antonyms for the following words in the text. The words are given in the same order as in the text:
SYNONYMS |
ANTONYMS |
to wish |
unsuccessful |
to begin |
lost |
income |
outstanding |
consumer |
plenty of |
purpose |
irregular |
complicated |
the worst |
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Task 5. Match the following words from the text with their definitions:
1) advice |
a) the size or level of something |
2) profit |
b) words that you say to help |
|
somebody decide what to do |
3) wages |
c) the need to do something quickly |
|
because it is very important |
4) urgency |
d) money that you get when you sell |
|
something for more than it cost to |
|
buy or make |
5) to promise |
e) the stage of not having |
|
something or not having enough of |
|
something |
6) scale |
f) any material, substance or group |
|
of things |
7) lack |
g) to say that you will certainly do or |
|
not do something |
8) stuff |
h) the money that you receive every |
|
week for the work that you do |
Task 6. Complete the sentences using the words from the text: to promise, urgency, scale, wages, lack, stuff, profit, advice
1.Our …………. are paid every Friday.
2.There is a …….. of efficient marketers in our city.
3.That company made a …….. of $10 from every item.
4.She ……….. to give me the money today.
5.The book gives some good ……….. on setting up your own business.
6.What’s that green ………… on the carpet?
7.It was not until morning that the full ……. of the damage could be seen.
8.This meeting was a matter of great ……. .
Task 7. Translate the following text into English using the dictionary:
В прошлом году наша компания представила отчет о
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небольшом повышении доходов. В этом году мы продолжаем наблюдать увеличение, и наш товарооборот вырос на 15 процентов. Это хорошая новость в условиях сложного мирового рынка.
В международном масштабе рынок упал. Естественно, себестоимость нашей продукции увеличилась и поэтому рост прибыли не так высок. Правда и то, что наши достижения на внутреннем рынке произошли благодаря краху наших конкурентов, «Открытый мир», которые вышли из бизнеса в марте этого года.
Task 8. Prepare a short report based on these questions:
Who are your country’s most famous entrepreneurs? What are they famous for? Could you call them philanthropists?
UNIT 14. WHAT IS A BUSINESS PLAN ?
Task 1. Match the following English words with their Russian equivalents:
1) viability |
a) оценка |
2) outline |
b) определять |
3) prospect |
c) ожидать, предвидеть |
4) assessment |
d) жизнеспособность |
5) to define |
e) оценивать |
6) projection |
f) будущий, ожидаемый, |
7) to anticipate |
предполагаемый |
8) prospective |
g) схема, план, конспект |
9) entrepreneur |
h) использовать |
10) to evaluate |
i) поддерживать |
11) to utilize |
j) перспектива |
12) to conduct |
k) вести |
13) to maintain |
l) бухгалтерский учет |
14) accounting |
m) план, проект |
|
n) предприниматель |
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Task 2. Read the text and say what a business plan should/should not include.
What Is A Business Plan?
The primary value of your business plan will be to create a written outline that evaluates all aspects of the economic viability of your business venture including a description and analysis of your business prospects. We believe that preparing and maintaining a business plan is important for any business regardless of its size or nature. But it will not ensure your success. If you maintain a correct assessment of the changing economics of your business, your plan will provide a useful roadmap as well as a financing tool. But if you have miscalculated the potential, then your business plan could become a roadmap leading to failure.
Why Prepare A Business Plan?
Your business plan is going to be useful in a number of ways.
First and foremost, it will define and focus your objective using appropriate information and analysis.
You can use it as a selling tool in dealing with important relationships including your lenders, investors and banks.
Your business plan can uncover omissions and/or weaknesses in your planning process.
You can use the plan to solicit opinions and advice from people, including those in your intended field of business, who will freely give you invaluable advice. Too often, entrepreneurs forge ahead ("My Way!") without the benefit of input from experts who could save them from potentially disastrous mistakes. "My Way" is a great song, but in practice can result in unnecessary hardships.
What to Avoid in Your Business Plan
Place some reasonable limits on long-term, future projections. (Long-term means over one year.) Better to stick with short-term objectives and modify the plan as your business progresses. Too often, long-range planning becomes meaningless because the reality of your business can be different from your initial concept.
Avoid optimism. In fact, to offset optimism, be extremely conservative in predicting capital requirements, timelines, sales and
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