Basic Business Resources

Do you find yourself putting off, in other words dragging your feet when it comes to “Business Planning”?

When I was required to write my first Business Plan, I vaguely had some idea of what it was. After all, I prepared monthly and annual budgeting income and expense plans. But, this seemed like so much more. What came to mind was a mental picture of being hunkered down over my desk for weeks trying to justify, forecast, number-crunch and ultimately wrestle with the current state of the business I was responsible for and then I needed to compare where the business was now and calculate and dream where I saw it to be five or ten years down the line.

But the business planning process doesn’t have to start and end this way.

So how do you start a business plan?
If you really want to succeed in business, as in life, planning needs be a step-by-step part of everything you do, and, be continuous.

Just think about the simple act planning a trip to some sort of meeting in an unfamiliar city.

I would map out the trip, make sure I had gas in the car and from other similar experiences of these types; I would have already thought out a series of planning (action) steps and implemented actions to ensure that I arrived at my destination safely and on time.
Then from these experiences, I also had mapping tools, roadside assistance and insurance policies, that helped me be more prepared for the obstacles that I might encounter on the way.

For many business owners and entrepreneurs – the business planning process isn’t actually a whole lot different. It gets easier as we go, because we know the steps we need to take to make the trip go smoother.

Keep it Simple

– Understanding your market and specific client – write this out – this is part of the process

– Have a clear view of your cash flow and money needs – How will you need to spend money and where is the money coming from and what and how can you logically expect to money come in? How much will go out and come in? Make this real. What helped me, was that I had several people who held me accountable and asked pertinent questions. For my first time it was a Focus Group, because this was a large organization. Then later, it became a business coach.

– List some basic assumptions about where your business is now and where you want it to go, what is it going to take to get you there.

During this process, you become clear on what you want, and what’s in you way. This is also how I instruct my business clients, that I now coach, while writing their vision statements.

Plan your long-term vision, goals, and decide upon the short-term steps to achieve your business ambition. Working with a business coach helps you develop measurement and accountability.

Use Online Resources to Help You Plan

I have always used online tools and resources that can help create a basic business plan. There are free business plan templates, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides. It takes research and planning to get to your destination. Rather it is a driving trip or a business plan. Once the planning it put into place, get your vehicle started and move towards to your destination – or your business future!

You can get the desired results you want if you’ll get busy doing something on this each day. Make a list from this article and take an action step each day towards your business planning and your vision will start becoming a reality.

If you think this is not possible for you to take on, be inspired by a solution. Think differently than you have before. Be persistent – never give up. This is true of all successful people.

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Before the business plan is even started, a little prep should be done first:

Pre-Business Plan

Business and Personal Feasibility. Without conducting Personal Feasibility, you miss out on positioning your business relative to your skills and interests. Without Business Feasibility, you won’t have a basic idea of your revenue model. I don’t include this as a numbered step, but it is the unspoken requisite for your business plan.

Business Plan

1. Mission. Often perceived as an expendable piece of your business plan, your mission is as important as anything else. Without a defined mission, you don’t have a good grasp of your personal goal of starting one.

2. Target Market. Who will the average customer be?

3. Competition. After identifying who your Target Market is, you’ll be able to identify who else is competing for them. Who are your competitors and what are they good (and bad) at doing?

4. Service Niche. Your service description will detail on the scope and specialization of your offerings. What packages do you offer? While it’s tempting to just start your business with an unclear scope of services and Target Market, the “build it and they will come” strategy rarely works. You’ll flounder and start moving away from a specialized service for a certain kind of person in an attempt to get volume. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) will build upon the findings in your Competition. What one desired thing isn’t being delivered to your target market by the existing competition? Build your Service Niche around the USP. This will focus your identity on a key thing that customers can identify with you.

5. Marketing Vehicles. You need to pick the right mix of vehicles to get your name out there. You should look at both online and offline vehicles.

6. Exit Plan, Vision, and Milestones. This is your macro-to-micro goal setting. I don’t see how you can move forward without a plan of what needs to be done. Exit Plan is how you want your business to end five, ten, thirty years down the road. Vision is where it will be in five years when you’re still on top. How will it have grown? Milestones are the steps required to launch your business or make a few initial sales.

7. Financial Projections. The most dreaded section of the plan shouldn’t be reserved until the last section. You should be working through your financials throughout the plan. This will show how, when, and where you will make money.

This has worked the best for my clients as it’s more than a back-of-the-envelope plan while it’s not approaching the complexity of an institutional business plan. Feasibility and Mission are the forgotten step children of the business plan process and should not be seen as trivial. The above can be written between five and ten pages and shouldn’t take more than a few days.

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Business planning can never be truly outsourced. If a contractor or consultant is brought into the process they may be allowed to take the lead, but the work will still require extensive collaboration between the entrepreneur or business managers and the contracted firm. This collaboration process will take a different shape depending on the specific firm you are working with, but should include these important stages:

Interview Stage

After a contract has been signed (and perhaps even before) interviewing will occur where the consultant attempts to gather as much business information directly from the entrepreneurs or managers as possible. If there are multiple managers or founders, they will look to reconcile their different accounts of what the business is attempting to do and make the team aware of significant divergences.

Research Stage

With the interview information as background, the consultant can now use a wide range of resources to find supporting data and statistics for the business plan. This will become the basis of the industry/market, customer, and competitive analysis sections of the plan. This is work that can primarily be done by the consultant or consultants on their own. However, the client should keep an eye on the process, getting updates on findings at various intervals so they can offer input rather than simply a huge report at the end of the research process.

Strategy Consulting Stage

With a better idea of the market situation, the consultant is now in a position to help the client craft a better strategy. High quality consultants will not simply accept the business’s strategy as dictated, but will bring their own understanding of business strategy to the table at this point. Discussions between the two parties will be important to the process at this stage.

Outlining and Drafting Stage

With strategy and the basic information for the business plan now in hand, the consultant can outline the basic business plan. A draft of the plan will next be created which should serve as a point of additional discussion if necessary.

Completion Stage

Finally, the plan is proofread and copy edited. Appropriate graphics, such as charts, graphs, and logos are inserted to better illustrate what is being said. The consultant should provide directions as to how the plan should be printed and perhaps even how and to whom it should be presented.

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