Free business education from New Tech Advertising
50 Years of Business Experience. Now You Can Learn From It Through AI.
Not just a business plan generator. A guide to understanding the business you want to build.
Thinking about starting a business, making a change, or strengthening one you already own? The free NTA Business Growth Guide helps you work through the real questions behind business decisions—one conversation at a time. It draws on the practical lessons and teaching approach of Rick Hesse, developed through nearly five decades of firsthand business experience.
The guide opens in ChatGPT. A ChatGPT account may be required. Your conversation takes place in ChatGPT, not on the NTA website.
The experience behind the guide
Built from a lifetime of doing business—not just talking about it.
I’m Rick Hesse. Over nearly 50 years, I’ve worked in retail, wholesale, business-to-business sales, and online business. I’ve learned from customers, made decisions with real consequences, and seen how important it is to understand a business before trying to grow it.
I built this guide to share those lessons in a way more people can use. You bring your idea, questions, and circumstances. AI helps turn my business teachings into a conversation you can work through at your own pace.
Learn more about Rick’s experienceWhat makes this different?
Many AI business tools focus on producing an answer or a finished document. This guide is designed to help you understand the decisions behind the plan.
It listens first, asks one useful question at a time, explains practical options, and helps you distinguish what you know from what you still need to find out.
It uses AI and information too. The difference is the real-world business perspective and teaching method shaping the conversation—not a claim that technology can replace personal judgment.
Explore your idea
Talk through what you want to build, whom it serves, and why customers might choose it.
Understand the numbers
Work through costs, pricing, sales assumptions, cash flow, and questions still needing answers.
Build a useful plan
Turn the conversation into a practical draft with assumptions, open questions, and next steps.
Questions people ask
Business planning questions, answered in plain language
Explore the answers here, then use the free guide to work through what they mean for your own business.
How do I write a business plan if I've never written one before?
Start with your business idea, the customers you want to serve, what you'll offer, how you'll operate, and what the numbers might look like. You don't need to finish everything at once. A useful plan can grow as you answer questions and verify assumptions.
Can AI help me create a business plan?
Yes. AI can help organize your thinking, ask useful questions, explore options, and draft a plan. It cannot independently verify every assumption or guarantee your business will succeed. Your knowledge and judgment remain essential.
What should a simple business plan include?
A practical plan explains the business idea, customers, products or services, competition, operations, startup costs, revenue assumptions, cash flow, risks, and next steps. The amount of detail depends on what decisions the plan needs to support.
How much revenue does my business need to replace my paycheck?
Begin with your household income needs, then account for business expenses, taxes, benefits, debt payments, and cash reserves. Revenue is not take-home pay. A business may need substantially more sales than your current salary to support the same lifestyle.
How do I know whether my business plan is realistic?
Look for evidence behind your assumptions. Can you reach enough paying customers? Are prices and costs reasonable? Is the workload manageable? Can the business withstand slower months? A realistic plan identifies what still needs testing.
What makes the NTA Business Growth Guide different from other AI business planning tools?
The guide is shaped by Rick Hesse's nearly 50 years of experience in retail, wholesale, B2B, and online business. Rather than simply generating a document, it uses a question-first teaching method to help you understand your choices, recognize risks, and build a practical plan around your circumstances.
Can an AI business guide really teach me about running a business?
AI can make experienced business teachings more accessible through conversation. The NTA guide draws on practical lessons and structured methods developed from Rick's business experience. It helps you think through decisions, but doesn't replace real-world research, professional advice, or your judgment.
Is the NTA Business Growth Guide free to use?
The guide is offered by New Tech Advertising as a free educational resource. It opens through ChatGPT, where account requirements and usage limits may apply. You can explore ideas and develop a business-plan draft without committing to NTA services.
Can I save the business plan I create with the guide?
Yes. You can ask the guide to organize your conversation into a written business plan that you can copy, save, review, and continue developing. The plan should distinguish established facts from assumptions and unanswered questions.
Thinking about starting a business?
Start with the question that matters most to you. Each article offers practical considerations and a question to take into your own planning conversation.
Want to learn before you plan?
Explore Rick Hesse's Better Business Building Book and the NTA Knowledge Library.
Explore the bookAlready running a business?
For advertising, visibility, customer experience, and practical digital growth support, use Your Digital Growth Guide™ on NTA's website.
Explore Your Digital Growth Guide™