A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing | Trubook Digital Learning Solutions

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A Good Business Plan
is a Beautiful Thing

by Donald A. Bittar
© 2016 Trubooks: Digital Textbooks and Digital Learning Solutions

Textbook Level: Degree, Diploma & Certificate Programs
Audience: Accounting, Finance, Business Management and Marketing majors
Course Type: Project Based, 8 or 16 Week Semester

Everything you need to start teaching from day one!

✓ A complete digital learning solution.
✓ All videos, interactive learning, and course management tools are built into your textbook.
✓ At any time, you can customize and add your own content.
✓ Designed for minimal prep and easy teaching, so you can focus on what you love to do.
✓ Anywhere, anytime, on or offline.

Used in leading business schools nationwide... more »

Explore A Good Business Plan

Textbook Overview
Table of Contents
Teaching Methods
Trubooks Platform
Reviews
Meet the Author
Author Q & A

A Comprehensive Project to Build an In-the-Money Business Plan

Students learn to write a dynamite business plan in just 8 to 16 weeks: A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing carefully guides students step-by-step through the entire process of writing a comprehensive business plan. Business students and non-business students can use the book successfully. It has been student tested both online and on campus. You can use this book with confidence as the perfect companion project for a class in accounting, finance, marketing or management.

A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing moves beyond the printed page to create a rich learning environment for students. Students' learning of key concepts is supported by 39 expert video explanations and more than 100 links to external sources. The illustrative examples used in the book are based on the types of business selected by many students. The learning curve for students is dramatically shortened by the exhaustive glossary which explains the meaning of more than 220 terms included in the book.

A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing - textbook cover

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Designed for effortless teaching
This Trubook is designed to make class prep easy and teaching nearly effortless, while ensuring a rewarding active learning experience for your students. It includes customizable PowerPoints, videos, illustrative examples and a proven step-by-step project-based approach that helps students develop critical thinking and marketable skills, as they go through of all facets of building their own business plan.

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Cuts your grading time by 80%
The Student Feedback Guide anticipates the errors most students make in writing business plans and provides you with full and comprehensive feedback to copy and paste directly into their projects. Each section of the Trubook includes interactive self-assessments allowing students to check on their own learning. The test banks and test functionality allows you to create and distribute quizzes and exams and provides you with auto-grading. All of this, directly from within the Trubook.

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Gets outstanding student feedback
Encompassing the teaching techniques and best business practices gained by the author (while teaching and consulting for Fortune 500 companies for over 30 years), courses using this textbook consistently receive great student reviews. In an initiative to improve overall student satisfaction, Donald Bittar's outstanding teaching methods have been adopted by other courses taught at Florida International University. Bittar was awarded Teacher of the Year at FIU in 2013.

	Trubooks can easily be tailored for a perfect fit. Use the tools built into the Trubooks platform to customize A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing, to meet the specific needs of your course, integrate other course curriculum, and keep it relevant to current events in the marketplace.

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Sharing the good stuff...
You and your students get access to the same authoring and content management tools available to all our authors and publishing partners. The resources you create can be seamlessly integrated into your coursebook(s) as needed for the classes you teach. They can also be made available for you to share with your colleagues or to be adopted by educators around the world who are using Trubooks in their classroom.

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About This Book

Getting Started
+ The Toolkit
+ You're the Biggest Investor in Your Business
+ Adding Credibility to your Business Plan
+ Add Some Sizzle to Your Narrative
+ Writing and Printing Your Business Plan

Step 1: What You Are Selling
+ What You Are Selling
+ Describe What You Are Selling
+ Writing the Narrative

Step 2: Market Analysis and Revenue Forecast
+ Sizing the Market
+ Market Segments and Sub-Segments
+ Data Sources
+ Building the Size of Your Market
+ Writing the Narrative for Your Market

Step 3: Strategy and Implementation
+ SWOT Analysis
+ Competitive Edge
+ Web Plan
+ Marketing Strategy
+ Sales Strategy and Forecasting
+ Implementation Milestones

Step 4: Company Resources
+ Our People
+ The Business Structure
+ Start-up Capital

Step 5: Financial Statements
+ Statement of Operations
+ Balance Sheet
+ Statement of Cash Flows
+ Breakeven Analysis
+ Important Ratios and Other Indicators
+ Important Assumption

Step 6: Introduction and Overview
+ Executive Summary
+ Goals and Objectives
+ Mission Statement
+ Company Summary and Ownership
+ Startup Summary

Additional Resources:

Modeling Tools and Narrative Template
+ Modeling Tools

Product Description and Pricing Model
Target Market and Revenue Model
Breakeven Analysis Model
Personel Plan Model
SWOT Model
Milestones Model
Financial Statement Model

+ Business Plan Template

Useful Links
+ Agencies
+ Banks
+ Other Resources
+ National Associations
- Boarding
- Product Manufacturers
- Restaurants
- Retail Products
- Retail Services

Pedagogical Approach and Teaching Methods

Effective teaching draws from an array of teaching strategies that best suits the situation.

This Trubook can be used effectively with a number of different teaching strategies. Being an interactive online resource it naturally brings technology into the learning experience. Being project focused it makes for active learning. With the instructor serving as facilitator, students are given the responsibility to be active participants in their learning process, turning any class into a learner-centered experience.

The easy to understand, everyday language used in the book makes the use of this Trubook in a variety of different settings, course-levels, and with students from different disciplines possible. Business students, entrepreneurs, and non-business students can all engage in this project coursework successfully.

Depending on the focus of the class it can be used as a complete course or as a companion project to an 8 or 16 week course in accounting, finance, marketing or management. Students can develop their business plans as an individual project or as a small group collaborative learning project to lighten the work load or accommodate the available time. This course has been used successfully in online, blended and flipped learning classrooms, as well as with the tradition lecture based teaching model.

A complete turnkey classroom solution

Ensure a rewarding learning experience with a big take away for your students!
. . . And make class preparation and instruction easy for yourself.

Building a Business Plan. A project with a big take away.
Designed to be used as a complete course, or as a companion project within a 8-16 week course.

You will be able to confidently guide your students through the process of writing a dynamite business plan. Your students will find it easy and will remember you for it.

Step-by-Step
The coursebook carefully guides students step-by-step through the entire process of writing a comprehensive business plan, using the exceptional techniques Bittar has developed writing successful business plans and working with Fortune 500 clients for over 30 years.

The working resources your students will use for this are:

The 7 Excel Business Modeling Tools: the secret ingredient in this book that takes students understanding and critical thinking skills to a professional level.
Business Plan Narrative Template: upon completion will provide a ready to go business plan narrative to tell your business story and attract investors.

At each step in the process, A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing expertly explains which Modeling Tool to use, how to use it, what to copy and where to paste it in the Business Plan Narrative Template.

Creating a rich learning environment for students
This coursebook has been used successfully in online courses and in campus classrooms.

The easy to understand, everyday language used in the book makes it different. Your students will like the difference. Business students and non-business students can use the book successfully.

Developing Critical Thinking
The learning resources that will keep them engaged and help shift their critical thinking into high gear are:

39 expert video explanations
more than 100 links to external resources
illustrative examples
comprehensive glossary with more than 220 terms used in the books

Self-Assessment
At the end of each section is an ungraded self-assessment for students to check on their own learning.

Reduce your administration and grading time by 80%.
. . . While giving each of your students the comprehensive feedback and guidance that they will remember you for.

The robust instructor resources included in your teacher version of the Trubook are.:

Student Feedback Guide for Instructors: the Student Feedback Guide anticipates the errors most students make writing their business plans and provides you with full and comprehensive feedback for the error. Simply copy and paste the feedback provided in the guide directly into the student's plans.
7 PowerPoint decks: Simple and professional, the slides focus your students on the key points and provide you with some accompanying narrative in the lecture notes. The PPT files can be downloaded, edited, and uploaded back into your Trubook by you or your TA with administrative privileges.
Test Bank and Answer Key: are provided for each section including Getting Started

The flexibility of the Trubooks platform to enhance the learning experience

You and your students will have your own modern, cloud-based, easy-to-use Learning Management tools that come fully integrated with your Trubook textbook.

The Basics
+ Online access, on any browser, on any device
+ Offline access to content as needed with iPad app
+ Glossary definitions pop-up with a click
+ Highlight and annotate any text
+ Customize the textbook to your teaching needs
+ Quizzes and exams can be taken within the textbook
+ Assignments can be completed within or uploaded
+ Built-in gradebook linked to assignments & assessments
+ Self-Assessments are interactive, ungraded section review

Wherever it is possible you will have auto-grading and can set personalized auto-feedback! You will love how easy and efficient it is to manage even a class of 300 students.

Your students will appreciate getting your feedback to their assignments and assessments directly in the context of the content.

Question Pools & Assessments
+ Add to existing question pools or create your own
+ T/F, multiple choice, multiple answer, short and long answer
+ Develop new and even randomized assessments
+ Publish to class the moment you wish to make it available
+ Self-Assessments can be taken any number of times

Gradebook
+ Student profiles auto-populate on purchase/given access
+ Automatically tied to student submissions
+ Set grading weight for each assignment and assessment

You'll find it easy to adapt this book to fit your syllabus and your teaching style. Or, you can simply use it as it is.

Adapt to Fit
+ Keep everything you need in one place
+ Authoring tools allow you to create or add resources
+ Add your tried-and-true lessons and favorite assignments
+ Add content from other Trubooks, YouTube, etc.
+ Reorder/remove original textbook content segments
+ Add current event or local interest material anytime
+ all new content is automatically integrated with the LMS

Easy prep and readiness for this semester and the next.
+ Improve, modify, add to your course as you go or over time
+ Easily manage large or multiple classes of students
+ Easy management of all your teaching resources

New class, new semester
+ We clone your Trubook along with your customizations
+ You can relax

Sharing the good stuff...
+ Make resources you create available for others to adopt!

Learn more about the Trubooks platform . . .

Praise for the Book

❝ I rarely come across any books, articles, or programs that I get excited about. I have to tell you that Don’s book, A Good Business Plan, is exceptional. He has laid the entire business plan process out in a detailed, easy to understand and easy to follow method. The book stays current by having links throughout the material. The links include relevant and interesting You Tube videos on such things as pricing, selling, “making something people love”, etc. Don has really done superior work here. Just my two cents.❞

Robert Kiemer, Professor, College of Business, Florida Institute of Technology

❝ I want to highly recommend you consider adopting his textbooks, “A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing” and “Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report.” Donald has an incredible ability to take very difficult, financial concepts and create an easy, simplistic, understandable approach to learning them. And he makes it enjoyable for the student. The information he provides in the instructional material makes it just as easy for the Instructor to prepare as well. I have used Donald’s material in the past and have found it to enhance the understanding of my students. Reviewing his material is well worth the time and effort. ❞

Michael Winterhalter, Professor Business Management/Finance, Lanier Technical College

❝ Donald Bittar has one mission with “A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing”: to help you run a better business. By breaking the elements of business into simple sections, and systematizing the process of developing the business plan, Donald leads you to truly understand the underpinnings of the business, and find the weaknesses in your models and plans. While this book may seem to be written for students, it is well worth reading the text and exercises even if you’re an established business. It will help you identify new opportunities. ❞

R. Flynn, International and Key Accounts Sales Manager, Johnson Outdoors, Inc.

❝ I was very impressed with the books and assignments, as were my students. Based on students’ feedback this was one of the most helpful and memorable projects from the class. ❞

Dr. Joshua Hernsberger, Assistant Professor – Management, Gordon Ford College of Business, Western Kentucky University

Donald A. Bittar

CFO of a public company, Fortune 500 consultant and 2013 FIU Teacher of the Year.

[email protected]
LinkedIn

For the past 30 years, Donald Bittar has helped companies as an officer, board member and consultant to prepare their annual report to shareholders. Presently he is the CFO and board member of First Choice HealthCare Solutions, a public company. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Business and was the online 2013 Teacher of the Year at the Bisk College of Business of Florida Institute of Technology.

Donald has continually operated DABittar and Associates, a management and technology consulting firm for public companies and banks. In previous years, Donald was also President and Chairman of Associated Mortgage of North America, Inc. and President and Chairman of Marine Telephone, Inc.

He has been a frequent speaker at the National Association of Mortgage Bankers, National Council of Savings Institutions, Council of Presidents, New England Bankers Association and the National Corporate Cash Managers Association. Mr. Bittar received an MBA from Long Island University in 1964 and is resident of Melbourne, Florida.

Q & A - discussions with the Author and Trubook Team...

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Q: I have substantial lecture notes and a lab manuals that I would like to provide for my class. Can I include it in the Trubook for my course?
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Q: Can students make PDFs of articles or chapters on the Trunity platform?
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Q: I want to use material (text, images, graphs, videos, etc.) created by other parties in my content. How does that work?
A: Instructors must insure that they have permission to use all content in the work that they do not own the rights to, or that the use of copyrighted material constitutes “fair use.” The fair use doctrine in the United States allows--under certain circumstances--the use of copyrighted material without permission. Here is a concise summary of fair use: https://www.teachingcopyright.org. If you are feeling especially ambitous, you can refer directly to Title 17 of the United States Code that describes fair use in the nation’s copyright law: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
There is a large and growing quantity of content on the Web that is rights-free, or available through other licenses that are low or zero cost. We work with authors to help identify these sources

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Trubook FAQ

Q: Do students have to pay for the software in addition to purchasing the content?
A: No. Students pay only for content. The use of the platform by students is free

Q: Where can I find more information about the experience of authors, teachers, and students for using the Trunbooks?
A: An overview of Trubooks features and functionality can be found at Why Trubooks? For more in-depth tutorials, visit our Support Portal at http://www.trunity.net/support/

Q: Can I embed assessments such as assignments and quizzes into my content?
A: Yes. The Trunity platform enables authors and instructors to create their own test questions, assignments, and other assessment material, and place them in the content where they are most appropriate

Q: I have substantial lecture notes and a lab manuals that I would like to provide for my class. Can I include it in the Trubook for my course?
A: Yes. You can include types educational content, regardless of its form This includes lecture notes, lab manuals, training manuals, and so on. You can interleave your added materials in the content sequence of the textbook

Q: Can students access content when they do not have access to the Web?
A: Yes, the Trunity Mobile app enables a student to download select content or a complete digital textbook for offline use.

Q: Can students make PDFs of articles or chapters on the Trunity platform?
A: No. Our platform does not support PDF downloads due to the inability to control the dissemination of content once such a download is made. The ability to share electronic PDFs, and to print/copy physical forms of a PDF, render it impossible to control the copyright and royalty rights of both author and publisher.

Q: I want to use material (text, images, graphs, videos, etc.) created by other parties in my content. How does that work?
A: Instructors must insure that they have permission to use all content in the work that they do not own the rights to, or that the use of copyrighted material constitutes “fair use.” The fair use doctrine in the United States allows--under certain circumstances--the use of copyrighted material without permission. Here is a concise summary of fair use: https://www.teachingcopyright.org. If you are feeling especially ambitous, you can refer directly to Title 17 of the United States Code that describes fair use in the nation’s copyright law: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
There is a large and growing quantity of content on the Web that is rights-free, or available through other licenses that are low or zero cost. We work with authors to help identify these sources

Q: How long do students have access to the content they have purchased?
A: In higher education students have access for one calendar year from the date of purchase. In the K-12, business, and other markets, access is variable and is determined on a case-by-case basis

A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing by Donald A. Bittar
Originally published: 2014
Last updated: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63097-009-3
Publisher: Trunity

Price per student*:
Higher Ed: $49
Bookstores: 5% discount
K12/AP: $36

*Price includes:
✓ all listed resources
✓ built-in LMS functionality
✓ powerful customization tools
✓ free instructor & TA access

This Trubook can be customized to fit your needs. You may select desired chapters and even combine with chapters from other Trubooks. The price is pro-rated based on content included in customized version. For more info, see our Trubook FAQ, or go straight to our Adoption Form.

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