Business Plan

Already in a position that seemed far too much to ask of a woman six months' pregnant, Liz Cahill maneuvered from her upside down "V" pose to another ridiculously tough configuration known as an extended fire hydrant. While still face down and gripping a bar in front of her, Cahill turned her belly to the right and thrust her right leg up and out to resemble a dog doing its business. A very pregnant dog. Perhaps crazier still, Cahill, 30, and her also-pregnant sister, Carrie Rorer, 34, who was similarly contorted alongside her, were each paying for this hour of sweating, panting and manipulation — $400 for a 10-session package.

When many entrepreneurs set up shop, they do so with a good idea and a passion for their work but without a business plan or a blueprint for growth. For those who have gotten off the ground but now need direction, the Women's Business Development Center in Philadelphia is offering an 11-week business course this fall. The Fasttrac II program boasts graduates from throughout the suburbs, including Janis von Culin, founder of Von Culin Associates in Blue Bell. "In some ways, I act as an on-call vice president of human resources," she said.

Eighteen residents who live near 1001 Fayette St. attended a Conshohocken Zoning Hearing Board meeting to voice their opposition to a variance sought by Charles J. Stein and Steven W. Jackman. The two men, business partners, have an agreement of sale on a house that they want to convert into an office and design studio for their graphic arts business, Type Masters Inc. The house is in a residential zone. The company is currently in Ardmore, but the two want to relocate to Conshohocken because the borough is close to King of Prussia and Philadelphia.

Two months to the day before the contract with its Transport Workers Union employees expires, SEPTA yesterday unveiled a five-year business plan it admits can't succeed without radical TWU work-rule concessions in any pact negotiated with the union. "We want to change the way we do business, change the work rules. Work rules now are economic issues," SEPTA general manager John K. Leary Jr. said. Thirty minutes after Leary made his remarks at the SEPTA board room, TWU Local 234 president Steve Brookens told the same group of reporters during a Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel press conference there's no way this will happen.

So you want to start a business? Among other things - like an idea, money and a whole lot of moxie - you should have a business plan. The plan is a formal document that fleshes out the details of a business idea. Lenders often require one before making a loan. And prospective employees might be enticed into a new venture by what they read in the plan. "You can start a business without a business plan, and a lot of people do so successfully, but the business plan is a great tool to be sure you dot all the i's and cross all the t's," said Elizabeth McCrea, who teaches courses on new ventures in the graduate school at Pennsylvania State University's Great Valley campus.

Glenn Gross and Ed Willis had been searching for an avenue to dive into the barbecue business when a "brownish-orange-colored, barn-looking building" along South Delsea Drive in Vineland, N.J., kept catching their eye. "We just kept driving by this place, looking at it and saying, 'Man, that looks like a barbecue restaurant,' " said Willis, 55, of Gloucester Township. That's where the two longtime friends opened the first Fat Jack's BBQ & Blues. The original site is now closed and their business partnership has changed, but their barbecue acclaim has spurred them to national exposure.

  DAVID GAVIGAN, 26, of Fishtown, is owner of Everybody Hits, a batting cage on West Girard Avenue near 6th Street that opened in mid-May. It's the only automatic batting cage near Center City and it's open every day from noon to 9 p.m. Gavigan, a native of Reading, moved here in 2009 after graduating from Penn State.   Q: What were you doing before? A: After college, I worked for a year with a nonprofit, Cradles to Crayons [which provides clothes and school supplies to homeless and low-income children.]

In a city rife with government agencies that specialize in patronage, waste, and inefficiency, the Philadelphia Parking Authority has long stood out among the crowd. It would be hard to find anyone among its 1,000 employees who wasn't hired because of his political connections rather than professional qualifications. With a workforce and organizational chart built mainly on political agendas, it's easy to see why the day-to-day mission is obscured. So it comes as no surprise that a recent audit by City Controller Alan Butkovitz's office found that the Parking Authority is top-heavy with managers, lacks cost controls, operates without a long-range business plan, and has apparently evaded state law on bidding out large contracts.

If there is never an economic renaissance here, it won't be for a lack of official involvement. The latest discussion of revitalization in the borough drew federal, state and local officials, as well as merchants, developers, planners and civic association representatives, all saying the same thing: Jenkintown needs a concrete plan that can be put into action. "Everybody was on the same page," said U.S. Rep. Jon D. Fox (R., Pa.), who headlined the political lineup at the session, also attended by State Rep. Lawrence H. Curry (D., Montgomery)

A high school sophomore who wants to help youth, a young man seeking to promote braid stylists, and a would-be force in fashion each have been named Youth Entrepreneur of the Year by a national group. The area teenagers, Damaris Y. Walker, Michael Green, and Erica Lynn Quigley, will be honored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel on Tuesday. In addition to an awards dinner, they will be treated to two nights at the hotel, and receive plaques and $1,500 each in award money.

Glenn Gross and Ed Willis had been searching for an avenue to dive into the barbecue business when a "brownish-orange-colored, barn-looking building" along South Delsea Drive in Vineland, N.J., kept catching their eye. "We just kept driving by this place, looking at it and saying, 'Man, that looks like a barbecue restaurant,' " said Willis, 55, of Gloucester Township. That's where the two longtime friends opened the first Fat Jack's BBQ & Blues. The original site is now closed and their business partnership has changed, but their barbecue acclaim has spurred them to national exposure.

  DAVID GAVIGAN, 26, of Fishtown, is owner of Everybody Hits, a batting cage on West Girard Avenue near 6th Street that opened in mid-May. It's the only automatic batting cage near Center City and it's open every day from noon to 9 p.m. Gavigan, a native of Reading, moved here in 2009 after graduating from Penn State.   Q: What were you doing before? A: After college, I worked for a year with a nonprofit, Cradles to Crayons [which provides clothes and school supplies to homeless and low-income children.]

LAST WEEK, a new parent from North Philadelphia dropped off her daughter at my day-care. I could see that the child wasn't feeling well and when I asked her mom about it, I could see the sadness and the fear emerge. "I will lose my job if I stay home with her," she told me as tears welled up in her eyes. Thanks to 11 Council members who voted for earned sick time, fewer moms and dads will be forced into this heart-wrenching position. Keeping our kids healthy and making sure that their hard-working parents have money in their pockets to cover the basics are priorities that our elected leaders should be standing up for. I speak not only as a Philadelphian concerned about our families, but also as a business owner concerned about keeping the doors open.

Keith J. Mastronardo, 24, of St. Petersburg, Fla., an Upper Merion native who was a partner in a skin-care start-up seen on reality TV, died Tuesday, March 19, in a motorcycle accident in Florida. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Mr. Mastronardo was riding a motorcycle east on Belleair Road in Largo when he swerved to avoid hitting an animal and was thrown off the bike. Police said Mr. Mastronardo was hit by a car driven by Jerome E. Mullarkey, 77, of Clearwater. Mr. Mastronardo died from his injuries at Largo Medical Center; the driver and a passenger were unhurt.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: I'm a high school junior and I hate it. I am not bullied, but I don't have a lot of friends and the whole thing is just ridiculous. I am already taking a few AP courses and finally talked to my guidance counselor today about graduating early. He said I can if I really buckle down, take on some independent study, and do one GED requirement class online. School is pretty easy for me, and I don't have any other distractions.

Local and Chicago investors behind the SugarHouse Casino have settled a dispute over terms of their partnership that had created a roadblock to an expansion of the city's first gaming hall. The two sides reached a settlement Tuesday but did not disclose terms of the agreement, said Jack Horner, a spokesman for SugarHouse. "The pending lawsuit relating to SugarHouse Casino and its partners has been resolved amicably, concluding a dispute regarding the casino's business plans," Horner said in a statement.

C HRIS STANCHAK, 35, a Wharton grad who lives in Center City, is CEO of TicketLeap, an online ticketing and event-marketing firm he founded in 2003. The company , on Walnut Street near 24th, has 25 employees. In 2012, it handled $55 million in gross ticket sales on its platform, which is integrated into social-media sites. Q: What was the idea for the business? A: A buddy was having a party at a club he wanted to sell tickets to, and asked me to build a Web-based system to process ticket sales for the event, but it got canceled.

As officials described the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program last week, I was reminded of another educational effort aimed at ongoing enterprises. The U.S. Small Business Administration launched its Emerging Leaders 200, or e200, training program - described as providing MBA-like curriculum to people with little time or money to pursue one - in Philadelphia in 2008. Both programs focus on operating businesses, not start-ups. The required minimum is at least two years in business for the Goldman Sachs effort and three years for e200.

Lucy and Herman Bigham's home on a tidy West Philadelphia block is more than 7,400 miles from the litter that has both bothered and inspired them. Inspired them, that is, to start a small business with anything but a small agenda. They are out to turn plastic shopping bags in her native Kenya into a valuable commodity and elevate the fortunes of impoverished women there. Of course, they also hope it leads to profit - which their backers here think is doable. After all, that's part of the goal of social enterprise: to make money to do more good.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, Evy and Ted Inoue advertising their new business by customizing their $25,000 Ford van to resemble their beloved dog. Kudos was a basset hound-cocker spaniel mix, whose personality was so bright he inspired a business plan: a start-up that would let people share online thanks to everyone from good Samaritans to great contractors. The New Hope couple named their business after the pooch, OurKudos.com. "That was supposed to be our promotional vehicle," Evy says in her kitchen, looking out the window at her creation - brown and white, with soft eyes, arched eyebrows, furry black ears that droop over the rear doors, a red tongue that sticks out of the grill and a white, adjustable tail.