FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
If you don't see your question addressed here please contact us to ask your question.
We can't tell you if your idea will work, but
We can make it easier for YOU to figure out if your idea will work. We can give you the tools to explore what it will take to reach your goals and what kind of activity would be involved with generating the money needed to support yourself.
We can support you with educational and technical resources as YOU work to figure it out, but unfortunately we can't tell you what will or wont work. People spend money on crazy things and we will gladly help you design a plan to get their money into your pocket but that's about the best any software can do. If you want to talk with someone to bounce ideas off of and hear their thoughts or perspectives we have seen people get great results from attending a few 1 Million Cups meetings and talking with entrepreneurs there that are familiar with your local markets.
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How long it takes to finish your business plan,
depends on a variety of factors many you control, but some you may not. We have found that these variables are usually key contributors to how long it takes to finish a business plan.
1) How much time you put in to working on your plan.
2) How complex your plan is, which often correlates to if you are a new or established business.
3) What you know when you start.
4) How quickly you learn new things along the way.
5) If you are working alone or as part of a team (sometimes you may have wait for input from others).
There are other factors as well but these are the ones most likely to affect how quickly you can finish.
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Pebble Plan is a resource for both existing (operating) and new businesses:
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Operating businesses still need to plan ahead, both for growth and for resiliency purposes. Testing your planned changes on customers is risky and can be expensive if you guess wrong; Pebble Plan lest you test your ideas in the software and look at multiple potential outcomes before you implement in real life
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If things around you have changed (market, regulation, roles/responsibilities, finances, suppliers, etc.) and you need to put together a plan to figure out what your new normal could look like, we can help. Our software lets you build on what you already have and make small changes in the software to see which parts of your business may need to change a lot, or maybe just a little.
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Even if you are already operating, if you want a loan or line of credit but you don't have a good history with a bank you can expect them to want a business plan of some sort. The more comprehensive your plan is, the better chance you have of getting financing.
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If you are seeking financing from an economic development group they will want to see your plan for creating jobs and generating taxes via your sales activity, Pebble Plan can make that easy.
Even if you are brand new to business, Pebble can work for you... If, you are willing to read a little and ask for help when you need it.
The whole app is designed to educate small business owners on the things they need to know to make good decisions and be successful.
You can start at any level of knowledge and end up with a great business plan that reflects the business you envision in your head if you will take your time and work through one section at a time. Our system builds your business plan based on your answers to questions we ask as you work your way through the app. You don't need to worry about knowing what to write about, we guide you with the questions and the system puts everything in the right order.
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You don't need to know financial formulas, the system does the math for you and we explain how the pieces fit together by describing how your day-to-day work processes work together to produce financial results.
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When we introduce a new concept we define the terms used and give examples so you can see how it relates to your business in real life.
We have topic specific help on every page, so if have a question help is always 1-click away.
Every page of the app has 3 types of help available.
- Internal curriculum: This cover concepts, vocabulary, formulas, etc. and provides examples and/or explanations for everything you will need to know to complete your plan.
- Outside perspectives: If you want to see what industry experts or thought leaders have to say about the topics discussed we provide access to outside resources that may help you expand you understanding of some concepts.
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Live help: Synchronous (chat / phone / zoom) and asynchronous (email / notes) help are always available from a wide variety of local and regional help resources that can go into detail with you.