A business plan is a must. The process of creating one forces you to organize your dreams and goals into a specific strategy. It brings forth issues you may have forgotten – maybe not thought of at all yet. It helps organize your efforts and focus them on the ultimate goal: Success.
The business plan is a solid, non-negotiable tool to measure progress. It actually simplifies your life. Why? It removes the emotion from decision making. As a business owner, you will be making a lot of decisions. All of them will affect your business.
Let's consider marketing. I love marketing as an example. There are millions of ways to market a business. Some are costly and others are not. Some are appropriate and others are not.
Let's say that. Marketer has contacted you with the latest and greatest marketing opportunity available. The opportunity is a commercial. You get so many minutes a day to air your commercial on XYZ radio. The investment is anywhere between $ 2,000.00 and $ 15,000.00 and a 12 month contract is required.
You listen to the benefits, get the cost and make a decision. What is the decision based on? Is it based on fear that someone else will do it and you will be left behind? Is it based on finances? Is it because today you are in a really good mood? None of these are good tools for decision making.
A more appropriate tool is your business plan. You already decided what marketing options you are going to pursue. You are monitoring their results routinely and know they are as planned. The questions are
1. Is this marketing option appropriate for me?
2. Does it fit anywhere in my marketing plan?
3. Does it fit within the marketing budget?
4. Do I need to give up something else to make it fit?
5. If so, will it be worth it?
Anyway, you get the idea. There could be many more questions. The bottom line is that the business plan assists you in making objective and appropriate decisions for the business. The ultimate goal is success. A poor decision could slow down progress or ruin it altogether. Conversely, you could jump forward so fast you achieve your goal well before you planned.
If you have not done this already I strongly suggest that you do. Be aware, the process itself can be very overwhelming. Rest assured it is well worth it. Without you have partners with a stake in the business, do it on your own. A business plan is unique to the owner (s). A big part of development is research; delegate as much of that as you can. Make sure to give specifics as to the type of information you need and also a finish date.
This is only a suggestion; you do not have to do this. As far as I know, unless you are seeking loans or investors, it is not required. It is in your best interest to do one. I know a lot of people who have never done this for their business. I have also seen them struggle routinely with decisions. It is sad. They are very bright people who work really hard. They deserve to succeed.
Food for thought: You can drive down the road aimlessly and hopefully, ever get there OR you can create a specific action plan and speed up the process.
If you have decided to create your own business plan either get a book that walks you through the process or hire a professional to compile information for you. Do not waste your time trying to figure it out. Find someone who has already done it, wrote a book about it, and simply follow the steps.
The book I used is "Kick Start Your Dream Business" by Romanus Wolter. It basically held my hand and walked me though every single step. The plan was created without even knowing it until reaching the final chapters.
