1. When Stephanie Mills first got the idea to
open a dog day care she imagined a
huge12,000-square-foot facility with a large
staff caring for all kinds of dogs.
But when A Dog’s Dream opened in April
2010, Mills catered only to small dogs in a co-
zier 2,500-square-foot space in Pittsford
with just six employees.
Fortunately for Mills, she recognized po-
tential problems with her original idea when
she developed a business plan and modified
it, long before ever opening a shop.
“Doing that research gave me my niche.
This definitely helped focus my attention in
the right direction and gave us something
that makes us stand out,” she said.
Experts say writing a business plan is the
first, and possibly most important, step in
creating a company. It can bring ideas into
focus and help others understand why they
should support you financially.
In a 2010 study, University of Oregon re-
searchers found evidence that a business
plan increases the chances of success. They
surveyed 2,887 business owners. For the 996
who created a business plan, 36 percent
obtained a loan, 36 percent got investment
PIECING TOGETHER
SUCCESS
FIVE TIPS FOR WRITING A
BUSINESS PLAN
» Begin with a statement of purpose. Explain
your business in 25 words or less.
» Tell how your business will work and why it will
be successful. List the owners.
» Fill in the details. Describe products or services,
the customers, the market and the competition.
List the managers and their credentials.
» Supply three years of projected financial state-
ments. Include income, loss, and cash-flow projec-
tions.
» Provide supporting documents, such as refer-
ences from creditors and potential clients and
suppliers, and evidence of insurance.
Source: Greater Rochester SCORE
Bennett J. Loudon
Staff writer
See PLAN, Page 5E
Banks won’t lend and
investors won’t buy in
without a strong
business plan
Democrat and Chronicle Sunday, December 23, 2012
This is my final column for the
Democrat and Chronicle. Having
reached the golden milestone last
month that Social Security calls “full
retirement age,” I am doing precisely
that — retiring.
This wasn’t a sudden decision. When
I came to Rochester in 2003 from Long
Island, 2012 was penciled in as the year
I might hang up the green visor. But
then that little difficulty of 2008-09
ensued, and my retirement savings did
the same thing as yours. I stayed the
course and eventually recovered, mak-
ing this move possible.
I have lost none of my love for daily
journalism. It’s a love that started when
I was 10 years old.
After active journalistic pursuits in
high school and college, my passion for
the craft led to 12 years as a reporter
and then an editor at The Miami Her-
ald, 21 years as an editor at Newsday
and these past nine at the D&C. I’m
grateful to Editor Karen Magnuson for
taking a chance on a 57-year-old who
insisted he still had plenty of gas left in
the tank.
I started writing this column in May
2007, at Karen’s urging, so there have
been roughly 300 of them.
Your emails and calls and letters
(yes, some people still write letters,
God bless ’em) have made doing the
column a pleasure. A reader in Hem-
lock, Livingston County, wrote to me
recently that she appreciated my “in-
telligence, broad mindedness and open-
ness to varied views.” I think she want-
ed to change my mind about hydro-
fracking, but hey, I’ll accept the kind
words with gratitude.
Others have said I do a good job of
making complex subjects understand-
able, even interesting, and I can’t tell
you how good that makes me feel be-
cause that’s exactly what I’ve tried to
do. My approach has been simple —
find people smarter than I am (not
difficult), get them talking about their
field of expertise, and relay what I
learn to you.
But it’s time to go. I have a wife of 37
years with whom I look forward to
spending more time, and we have a
1-year-old grandson. Enough said.
I want to thank the many sources in
the Rochester-area business communi-
ty who always responded quickly to my
requests for a few minutes of their
time. I want to thank my colleagues,
present and past, who make newsrooms
the most fascinating place in the world
to work.
Most of all I want to thank you, the
readers, for supporting the journalism
— this “first draft of history” — that we
at the Democrat and Chronicle pursue
for the enlightenment and betterment
of the region.
For a parting thought, I want to re-
turn to a point I have made in several
past columns: Rochester is a gem. For
those of us who have lived elsewhere,
who can make comparisons, the beauty,
warmth, intelligence and resilience of
this region are remarkable.
Problems? Of course. Huge chal-
lenges face us.
But Rochester has the ability to take
a knockdown punch, get up again and
keep fighting. I have no doubt it will
continue to do so.
Time to say goodbye to a resilient community
SSINK@DemocratandChronicle.com
Steve
Sink
BUSINESS EDITOR
QUESTIONS ABOUT
COVERAGE?
If you have questions about business cov-
erage or have a story suggestion, please
contact Exclusive Enterprise Editor Len
LaCara at LLACARA@Democratand
Chronicle.com or 585-258-2416.