Kathleen Allen

Prepared entrepreneurs learn as much as possible about their marketplace and what customers want. This cheat sheet helps you test new ideas and weed out the keepers from the also-rans. It poses key questions about your concept, the marketplace, the industry, and your team. It even shows you how to create a marketing plan, and more!

Before you earn an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree, you can still apply MBA-level knowledge in your career: Be a better business manager by efficiently delegating responsibilities among your employees and successfully rewarding those who do a good job. Hone your design and marketing skills by creating an informative and easy-to-use business website and a brief but clear marketing plan.

MBA-level executives know that a well-designed business website is critical for attracting customers and generating sales. When customers access websites, they want to find information quickly. The easier it is for your customers to use your website, the more likely it is that they'll take action — such as registering at your website, answering company-generated questions, or purchasing product.

Your marketing plan can be an elaborate 50-page business plan or a simple paragraph. In fact, many professional marketers suggest the simple one-paragraph plan because it's focused and identifies the key components. A productive one-paragraph marketing plan has the following elements: Purpose: What's the marketing plan supposed to accomplish?

As a business manager, you know your employees will be happier, perform better, and stay at their job longer when they're recognized and rewarded for doing a good job. Do your part as manager by using these guidelines for effectively recognizing and rewarding employees: Specify the behavior you're rewarding. When you reward an employee, be sure that you're clear about exactly what behavior merits recognition.

No manager can do everything alone, MBA or not. Delegating is an effective tool that business managers can use to achieve goals. If you delegate work, responsibility, and authority to employees, you'll increase the amount of work accomplished and often with better results. Delegation is a great management tool when done right, so follow these steps to help: Communicate the task.

Entrepreneurs develop business ideas all the time, but how do you know when to pursue one further? Some entrepreneurs have a hard time screening product ideas, but you can do it very quickly by answering a few simple questions. You’re on the right track if you answer "Yes" to the first three questions and very positively to the final two: Am I excited about this idea or opportunity?

For entrepreneurs, an effective marketing plan is crucial. Entrepreneurs need to determine who's going to buy the product and how to let those customers know that you have what they want. Creating a marketing plan is manageable with these steps: List your options. Brainstorm all the possible ways you can make customers aware of your business and what you're offering.