Back to Back Issues Page
[capitalminute] Stopping the Villians of Effective Communication
January 18, 2004
** The Capital Minute **
brought to you every other Wednesday by Mike Elia
Financial & Marketing Consultant, Author
"Business Plan Secrets Revealed!”
Click here to send e-mail

*******************

"Stopping the Villians of Effective Communication"

When you ask Warren Buffett why he thinks investors sometimes have trouble understanding investment-related communications he’ll tell you the most common reason is:

A knowledgeable writer with good intensions simply fails to get the message across to an intelligent, interested reader. And, he’ll site jargon and complex constructions are the likely villains.

Using a plain English writing style that avoids obscurity, inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction is the best way to stop these villains and ensures your audience will understand your message easily.

Yet only one out of 50 business and government documents is in plain English. Why? Because untrained writers draft documents full of passive verbs, long sentences, wordy phrases, complex words and other style faults.

Think of the advantages you’ll have over other businesses seeking to attract investors or raise money when you write in plain English: investors will clearly understand what you’re asking them to buy into and truly judge what action is best for them, which in turn saves you time and money.

So, no matter whether you use plain English in long or short documents, in prospectuses, shareholder reports, or business plans – speak to your investors in words they understand.

Here are a few plain English writing resources:

Writing Software

Stylewriter Plain English Software Editor

Books on Plain English

The Plain English Approach to Business Writing
by Edward P., Jr. Bailey, Larry Bailey

Writing in Plain English
by Robert D. Eagleson, Gloria Jones, Sue Hassall

*******************

Did you know you can sign-up for the F R E E Business Plan Secrets Revealed! Four-Part Mini-course and get tips on how to:

- build a case for your business that leads investors to conclude that you are the obvious investment choice

- write a business plan that captures investors’ attention

- find funding sources.

You'll get Part 1 immediately after you register and the remaining three parts over the next three-day period.

Business Plan Secrets Revealed! 4 Part Mini-Course

*******************

If you enjoy The Capital Minute forward it to friends and colleagues. It comes to you every Wednesday from financial and marketing consultant Mike Elia, author of

"Business Plan Secrets Revealed!"

For a free weekly business plan or funding tip, click here to subscribe:

The Capital Minute

####
Back to Back Issues Page