Measure Twice & Cut Once - Market Study & Business Planning

Like many of you, I've had a number of summer jobs going to university. One of them included working for a construction firm building houses. I don't claim to be a great carpenter, but one adage a foreman shared with me always stuck - 'measure twice and cut once'. This same ethos applies to organizations considering starting new programs or even new schools. You need to envision what you want to build and then measure market demand for your new entity and costs/resources associated with its development in a detailed business plan before you move forward (and begin the cutting).However, on too

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Who Is Driving Your New Private School's Priorities? Can You Shrink Your Way to Success?

One of the critical blunders we see time-and-again with start-ups is that fact that founders haven't developed a detailed enough strategic business plan from pre-formation to operation over a five to seven year timeline to adequately determine whether: (1). The school is feasible in that particular market based on its program/operation/finance benchmarks; and (2) They've adequate capital to cover the initial cash-flow shortfall in the first two to three years of operation until they reach their break-even point.Our rule of thumb when establishing a school is: it needs to break-even within 24-

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