Business Plan

Today's Baltimore Sun editorial ("Good money after bad," March 17) did a good job of recapping the ongoing nastiness about who gets slots and where the machines get installed. However, as a Maryland taxpayer and horseracing fan — both for over 40 years — I am baffled by the fact that The Sun has chosen at this late date to demand a "business plan" for the operation of Laurel and Pimlico. As if that would be a vital step in saving thoroughbred racing industry! The key to any attempt to save the industry is a substantial infusion of purse money.

A website that helps people rent their tools to make money and another that offers a low-cost way for diagnosing causes of fevers were the top two winners of the TowsonGlobal business plan competition yesterday, the university announced .  The first place winner ToolSpinner, designed by two brothers -- Daniel and Steven Cole -- who graduated from Towson, bills itself as an online rental marketplace for tools. People who have tools -- i.e. a circular saw, a palm sander -- can rent them out for several dollars a day. ToolSpinner charges a 20 percent fee for facilitating the transactions.

R olling Stone writer Matt Taibbi famously described Goldman Sachs as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." His July article detailed how the history of the financial crisis reads like a "Who's Who" of the investment bank's graduates. If Taibbi were to make the same analogy of the 50 states, Maryland could compete for top honor. The latest figures show that total direct federal expenditures grew 73 percent in Maryland from 2000 to 2008 from $45 billion to $78 billion.

Business Succession Planning - Offered by Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf and Hendler LLC and RCM&D. Designed for business owners and entrepreneurs. A free breakfast seminar that will address such topics as: proper valuation of businesses, timing the sale or transfer of ownership, financing options, tax implications, insurance and risk management issues, and dealing with wealth transfer ramifications. 8-10 a.m. Nov. 16, Ten Oaks Ballroom, 5000 Signal Bell Court, Clarksville. Free. Registration required.

Corey Blanton, the new owner of Howard County's Bagel Bin restaurants, wants to be evolutionary - not revolutionary. He has extended the operating hours of the four stores - which now close at 9 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., and is adding items to the menu, including soft-serve ice cream. Blanton also changed the name, tacking on "and Deli." But, he said, "Bagel Bin and Deli" reflects more what the 21-year-old chain founded by Steve Girard already is, not what it will become. "I don't want to change the business because Steve had a great company," said Blanton, 35, who lives in Clarksville with his wife, Emma, and their six children.

Long before Tim Allen made it big with his hit show "Home Improvement," it was "Tool Time" in the Enger household.As soon as Kyle Enger was able to, he helped his father, an entrepreneur who ran a bank consulting business, tackle home improvement projects around his Seattle house.Years later, Enger has come up with an entrepreneurial venture of his own, and it's enough to make any do-it-yourselfer -- or father -- proud.Enger's plan for Superbuild.com, an online resource for the purchase of home improvement products, beat out 24 other entries to win the Chief Executive Officers Club of Baltimore's third annual business plan competition.

As an Air Force intelligence officer, Sean Lane saw firsthand the communications challenges facing soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Civilians in the United States had better, faster access to data on their smartphones and 3G networks than soldiers did in these dusty, foreign lands, he found. So Lane decided to do something about it. He designed a portable, tactical cellular system that soldiers can use anywhere, without erecting towers and other expensive infrastructure. With only a business plan and a pitch to Pentagon officials, he sold the idea to the Defense Department and kickstarted a new company.

A business plan is an indispensable management and operating tool for using your time, capital and energy most effectively. The plan of action for building a successful small business examines the environment where you expect your business to operate, including potential problems, cyclical trends and growth opportunities. If you plan to seek financing, it is certain that a lender will require a business plan as part of the loan application. Putting your objectives in writing as you build a business plan also forces you to think realistically about sales, expenses and short- and long-term goals.

May I offer you an opportunity? I have perfected nuclear fusion in my basement, working with alligator kidneys, artisanal sea salt and a Keurig coffee maker. Cheap, safe, boundless, pollution-free energy is at hand. All I need to build the ExxonMobil of clean power are investors. Be my startup partner. Sorry that I can't show you a business plan. Or profit and loss statements. Or how much of the company you'll own. But trust me. We'll scale the enterprise and leverage our core competencies.

Patricia Granata Eisner strives to turn Baltimore's neediest kids into business owners. As executive officer of the Baltimore office of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, she introduces low-income kids to the world of business plans, spreadsheets and returns on investments. Through school classes or business boot camps, NFTE helps kids come up with an idea, write a business plan and then eventually open that business. The kids, ages 11 to 18, can then enter their business plan in a national competition against other NFTE chapters.

May I offer you an opportunity? I have perfected nuclear fusion in my basement, working with alligator kidneys, artisanal sea salt and a Keurig coffee maker. Cheap, safe, boundless, pollution-free energy is at hand. All I need to build the ExxonMobil of clean power are investors. Be my startup partner. Sorry that I can't show you a business plan. Or profit and loss statements. Or how much of the company you'll own. But trust me. We'll scale the enterprise and leverage our core competencies.

As an Air Force intelligence officer, Sean Lane saw firsthand the communications challenges facing soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Civilians in the United States had better, faster access to data on their smartphones and 3G networks than soldiers did in these dusty, foreign lands, he found. So Lane decided to do something about it. He designed a portable, tactical cellular system that soldiers can use anywhere, without erecting towers and other expensive infrastructure. With only a business plan and a pitch to Pentagon officials, he sold the idea to the Defense Department and kickstarted a new company.

Bright Spot Wellness Community - Hosting its grand opening. Featuring owner, lead kettlebell trainer and acupuncturist David Beares, who will speak about "Building Your Health Portfolio"; group acupuncture demonstrations, small group personal training using Kettlebells, pilates, massages and nutrition information. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 19, 9160 Rumsey Road, Suite B-4, Columbia. Business Succession Planning - Offered by Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf and Hendler LLC and RCM&D.

The city Board of Estimates selected a Maryland firm Wednesday morning to come up with a plan to make Baltimore's historic Edgar Allan Poe House self-sufficient by next July. The winning bid was submitted by Cultural Resources Management Group (CRMG), which has addresses in both Mount Ranier, Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia. CRMG was selected from among four firms specializing in managing historic properties, and was awarded $45,000 to draft an operating and finance plan for the 19 t h century home at 203 Amity Street.

Several businesses have told state and local government officials that they planned to create a total of almost 200 jobs, Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development said Monday. Some of the plans are short-term, while others will take a few years to complete. XLHealth in Baltimore told economic development officials that it intended to hire an additional 50 to 60 nurses and pharmacists this year, for instance, while EA Engineering, Science and Technology said it planned to add 40 jobs over the next four years as it moves into a new headquarters under construction in Hunt Valley.

In a Canton basement lit by fluorescent lights, a dozen glass jugs of fermenting grape juice share space with a washer, dryer and furnace. Standing before them, Erik Bandzak surveys his wines: two deep reds made from a Rougeon grape and an Isabella blackberry blend, which every few minutes emit tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide through their glass air locks. A glass hydrometer, an instrument that gauges a wine's sugar content, measures his Rougeon at about 0.99. "That's what I want it at," Bandzak says.

Chamber to give awards at membership dinnerAnnapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce will hold its first Beacon Awards Membership Dinner on Thursdayat the Radisson Hotel in Annapolis.The event will begin with a reception at 5: 30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6: 30 p.m.The chamber will present awards including business leader, entrepreneur and minority business person of the year.Entertainment will be provided by comedian Roger Mursick.Cost is $50 per person. Information: 410-268-7676, Ext. 100.SCORE seminar teaches how to make business planA one-day seminar, "Let's Prepare a Business Plan," will be presented by Service Corps of Retired Executives Chapter 390 from 8: 45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the first-floor training room of the Heritage Office Complex at 2660 Riva Road, Annapolis.

Today's Baltimore Sun editorial ("Good money after bad," March 17) did a good job of recapping the ongoing nastiness about who gets slots and where the machines get installed. However, as a Maryland taxpayer and horseracing fan — both for over 40 years — I am baffled by the fact that The Sun has chosen at this late date to demand a "business plan" for the operation of Laurel and Pimlico. As if that would be a vital step in saving thoroughbred racing industry! The key to any attempt to save the industry is a substantial infusion of purse money.

Maryland businesses announced plans in 2010 to add more than 15,000 jobs and make $4 billion in capital investment, according to a state study released Thursday. The 2010 New & Expanding Businesses in Maryland report, compiled by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, examined new economic activity based on public announcements made by new and existing businesses in the state. The data does not measure actual net job growth in the state. Net job growth in the state in 2010 was larger than what the report found.