Drive more traffic to your website and hotline
by offering a Personal Action Plan, a
convenient online tool that connects business
owners and prospective entrepreneurs to
network resources.
See Powerpoint Presentation or watch video from SourceLink Affiliate Quarterly Conversation, Sept. 25, 2019
A Personal Action Plan is a customized
checklist of next steps and people to meet to
move a business forward. The plan is free of
charge and emailed within 24 hours from the
request.
- An introduction to your organization’s
network navigator and/or staff members and
establishes a personal connection for
continued follow-up and
communication
- Customized referrals to three or four
organizations based on geography and by
type of assistance requested.
Plus, by adding a Personal Action
Plan web form to your website, new client data
will automatically be sent to your SourceLink
database as a Pending Task!
How to get started:
- Create
the Personal Action Plan web
form in SourceLInk Pro. (See Creating
Web Forms)
SAMPLE WEB FORM
- Create a dedicated web page and embed
web form.
Sample Personal Action Plan web
pages:
- Develop an email template for
responding to requests for a Personal
Action Plan (see samples below).
a. Include
recommendations
and links
to your website for next steps,
i.e. evaluating your business idea
or how to writing a business
plan.
b.
Refer client to three to
four
resources in your network
include
a description of the
organization
with a contact name,
email, phone
number and web address.
(Use the
Resource Navigator for
your
search)
c.
Include
information about
receiving a follow-up
survey to
check in on
progress.
Additional
ways SourceLink can
help:
- Capture client interactions and referrals while sending emails.
- Use Surveys to capture additional information like overall satisfaction and referral ratingsa. Start by using the provided 1-Month Satisfaction Survey and Survey Invitation template to send surveys to new clients at the end of the month.
- Use
reports to track
increases in hotline
calls, emails
and
number of
searches:
a.
Google
Analytics
to
track
website
traffic
b.
BA408
Annual
Report
Toolkit
on
SourceLink®
to
track
number
of
entrepreneurs
seeking
assistance
thorough
Hotline
and/or
Email,
number
of
searches
through
The
Resource
Navigator®,
types
of
assistance
requested
and
counseling
hours
provided
and
level
of
satisfaction
with
your
services
c.
SU470
Resource
Partner
Search
Hit
Analysis
shows
the
number
of
times
each
resource
partner
was
displayed
to
a
user
as
a
result
of
a
search
within
a
specified
date
range.
d.
EX623
Extraction
of
Referral
Information
produces
a
spreadsheet
listing
all
incoming
and
outgoing
referrals.
Sample Email Templates
Sample from
KCSourceLink:
Hello {{Client Name}},
Thank you for reaching out
to KCSourceLink. I hope you find
the below resources helpful as you
move forward to start your
business.
Ideas are everywhere. How do
you
know if your idea is a good business
opportunity? If people are willing to
buy
it. Before you bet the ranch on your
idea, take the time to research who
will buy
your product or service and what
competition you will face. A
great place to start your research is
with Square
One Small Business
Services by Mid-continent
Public
Library. Square One has a number of
databases
that you can tap to help you figure
out who your target market would be
and who
your competition is. I encourage
you to
make an appointment with them to learn
how to use the databases they have on
hand and which databases will work
best for you.
The
information you are able to pull from your
research will go in to helping you
write a solid business plan. A
business
plan serves as a blueprint to guide your
business’ policies and strategies. A
well written business plan will help you
understand the financial impacts and
implications as well as marketing for your
business. Here are some templates and
outlines that can be used to achieve
that:
- Outline
for building your
business plan (Small
Business Administration)
- Business plan
template (SBA)
- On-line business
plan
templates (SCORE)
It is always wise to seek out
those individuals and organizations
who have gone down your path before you
that can speak with you and help you
focus your thoughts to help you determine
if your business concept is
strong. A mentor will also be happy
to
review your business plan once you have it
written.
One
organization that can provide you with
1-on-1 mentoring is SCORE.
The Kansas City SCORE volunteers are
real-world professionals with time-tested
knowledge who donate thousands of
hours to help small businesses
succeed. I strongly recommend you go
to the SCORE website and sign up to find
a mentor. When you are
filling
out the online request for a meeting, make
sure to be as detailed as you
possibly can so they can pair you up with
a mentor that will have had similar
experiences to share with you.
SCORE
4747
Troost Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64110
(816)
235-6675
There are many organizations
that provide classes or
seminars at little to no cost that can
help you in your business
journey.
Class options:
- SCORE is offering a free class on “Starting
Your Business – Basics” on
Tuesday, June 11th that you might
find beneficial.
- If this event does not work for
you, I encourage
you to take a look at the KCSourceLink
events calendar page on our
website. Here you will find the
most extensive business calendar in KC
full of
events to help the small business
owner.
Once you have accomplished these
steps, give us a call. We will be
happy provide you with what you
need to do next to accomplish your small
business goals.
We will touch base next month to
see how things are going.
If you have questions in the meantime, let
us know – we are happy to help.
Good Luck!
{{Navigator Name}}
Sample from
MOSourceLink:
Dear {{Client Name}},
Starting
a business can be a daunting task.
That’s why MOSourceLink is here to
help you
every step of the journey - aspiring
or established, rural or urban,
lifestyle
businesses or innovation-led startup.
MOSourceLink connects you to the
resources you need to start and grow
businesses in the state of Missouri, for
free.
Here
is your step-by-step plan to start a
business in
La Monte.
1. Evaluate your business idea
and develop a strategic
plan.
Ideas
are everywhere. Successful
entrepreneurs know that not every idea
is a good
business opportunity. A strategic
business plan is key for a profitable
business and will help you identify
your roadmap for exactly how you want
to
start, run and grow your business.
Before you bet the ranch on your idea,
take
the time to research who will buy your
product or service and what
competition
you will face. Below are some online
resources to get you started.
- Evaluating
your business
idea (Small
Business and Technology
Development
Center)
- Outline
for building your business
plan (Small
Business Administration)
- On-line
business plan
templates (SCORE)
To help with this
step of the process, check out to
the Trails
Regional Library. The library
has access to resource
materials and online databases used by
business owners to access information
such as; what are typical revenues for
this type of business, who should I
target for customers, how do I reach
them, where should I spend my
marketing
dollars, how much money does it take
to start this type of business in La
Monte? Talk to Laura Parent at the Trails
Regional Library – Knob Noster
Branchvia phone
(660) 563-2997 or just stop by.
2. Build your business skills by
attending a
workshop.
There are
tons of classes available to help you
succeed as a business owner, ranging
from
a full “how to start a business” class
to a basic “writing a business plan”
workshop. The Small
Business & Technology
Development Center –
State Fair Community College hosts
a great program called LaunchU that would
be helpful for you. If this class does
not work for your schedule, take a
look
at the wide variety of others
available on the MOSourceLink
calendar.
3. Meet with a business
counselor.
Once
you get the basics down, reach out for
one-on-one help. The Small
Business and Technology Development
Center (SBTDC) provides free
counseling to
help with the analysis, training
and guidance in marketing, finance,
management and technology development.
Kelly Asbury is located in Sedalia at
the Small
Business & Technology
Development Center –
State Fair Community
College. Contact
Kelly Asbury by phone (660) 596-7350
or by email kasbury1@sfccmo.edu.
4. Make your business
legal.
Decide
what kind of business entity (legal
structure) is best for you. For a
description of the pros and cons of
legal structures, go to forms
of business organization. You
can also look at forms
of business
comparison chart. The
UMKC School of Law has a helpful
video on Initial Legal
Considerations of Starting a New
Business. Then, register with
the MO Secretary of State:
- Check
on the availability of your
business name by
searching the Secretary of State’s
online database.
- Sole proprietors using their own
name DO NOT need to register. Sole
proprietors using a name other
than
your own, file a Fictitious
Name Registration.
- LLCs file articles of
organization.
- Corporations
file articles
of incorporation.
All filings can be done online.
For questions, reach out to the Missouri
Secretary of State,
Jefferson City by
calling (866)
223-6535.
Then,
obtain an Employer
Identification Number (EIN) from
the U.S.
Internal Revenue Service.
Employers with employees, business
partnerships and
corporations must obtain an EIN. We
recommend ALL businesses get an EIN –
it is
free and helps reduce identify theft.
Next,
contact the Missouri
Department of Revenue to complete tax forms
based on your business
activity including
products sold and used in your
business. You can register
online with the Missouri
Department of Revenue as
well as the Department of Labor
(if you will have employees).
If you have questions, there is
a tax
assistance center in Kansas
City as well as Jefferson
City (they
don’t take appointments but are open 8
– 4). If you still have questions and
can’t make it to either of these
locations, give MOSourceLink another
call at
(866) 870-6500.
You will
also need to contact the Pettis
County Clerk’s office to
see if you need any
specific licenses and permits. Nick La
Strada is the current County Clerk and
can be reached by calling (660)
826-5000 ex: 4.
We will
reach out next month to see how you
are progressing and check in to see if
you
need additional resources. Feel free
to reach out between now and then –
we’re
happy to help!
Yours in
entrepreneurship,
{{Navigator Name}}

View this Personal Action Plan: https://www.kcsourcelink.com/myplan

View this Personal Action Plan: https://www.colmena66.com/es/miplan