Becoming an Entrepreneur

Starting a Crisis Centers Business

These tips are ideal for those of you who want to open a crisis center. Read these tips before you start!

Thinking about opening a crisis center? We tell you what you need to know to get started.

Best Practices: Business Plans for Crisis Centers

A great business plan will lay a strong foundation for growth in your startup crisis center.

The financial section of your business plan is especially relevant to funding concerns. Not surprisingly, lenders immediately turn to the financial section and use the accuracy of your forecasts to gauge the value of other parts of the plan.

Subsequently, a thorough understanding of business plan financial basics is a prerequisite to effective business plan writing for crisis centers.

Assess Competitors

Before you open a crisis center in your area, it's a smart move to find out what the competition looks like. Use the link below to generate a list of competitors nearby. After following the link, enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of crisis centers in your area.

How are you going to successfully complete with existing firms? It's important that you never underestimate the competition.

Find Good Remote Business Advice

Once you've finished assessing the competion, the next step is to learn from folks who are already in business. Local competitors are not going to give you the time of day, mind you. The last thing they want to do is help you to be a better competitor.

On the other hand, an individual who has a crisis center in a location that is not competitive to you may be more than happy to give you a few tips, provided that you won't be directly competing with them. In fact, they are often very willing to share startup advice with you. In my experience, you may have to call ten business owners in order to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.

Where would you find a crisis center founder outside of your area who is willing to talk?

Easy. Find them using our link below and start calling until you are successful.

Crisis Center Acquisitions: Financial Considerations

Startup crisis centers carry a host of financial risks and concerns. Without an operational history, it's hard to predict how your startup will actually perform in the marketplace.

Financial risk management requires you to at least consider the possibility of setting your startup plans aside to explore acquisition opportunities. Many entrepreneurs buy an existing business for the sole purpose of tapping into the financial benefits of an established customer base.

But most importantly, existing crisis centers have documented financial histories. Although you can create pro forma earnings and financial statements for a startup, a business-for-sale should have a well-documented, multi-year history of financial performance.

Consider Franchising

Your odds of thriving in your new business greatly improve when you choose to franchise and leverage their successful brand and track record.

As part of your process in starting a crisis center, it's worthwhile to assess whether there are good franchise opportunities available that might be worth investigating.

The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.

Related Articles on Starting a Company

These additional resources regarding starting a business may be of interest to you.

Business Idea Evaluation

Coming Up With Good Business Ideas

Buying a Franchise

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