The Birth Of A Business - A Business Plan
Hello Folks
After yesterday's little piece of research I have formulated an idea as to the approach I want to take so I decided to get it all down on a business plan today.
Does Every Business Need A Business Plan?
According to The Balance Small Business website: "But if you don't need a business loan, you probably don't need to spend the time creating a formal business plan."
According to the Small Business Development Center in Duquesne University, Pennsylvania: "A good business plan not only helps entrepreneurs focus on the specific steps necessary for them to make business ideas succeed, but it also helps them to achieve short-term and long-term objectives."
Personally, I prefer the SBDC's approach, especially when it's a business area I have no experience in.
The Cons And Pros Of A Business Plan
Cons
It can be inaccurate
Too much time spent on analysis
Lack of accountability
It needs implementation to work
It restricts freedom
It creates false certainty
Pros
It forecasts an idea for profit potential
It will reveal resource allocation
It puts everyone on the same page
It's an easy way to identify demographics
It shows others you're taking it seriously
It has elements of a marketing plan
I agree with all the pros, lets see if I can break down the cons.
It can be inaccurate - Yes, it probably will be but I need one to, at least, show me 'a' way forward. After all, if you don't have a plan, do you have a journey?
Too much time spent on analysis: Yes, this could well be a problem and something I will have to keep an eye on. Perhaps some sort of timing structure per plan section may be useful here.
Lack of accountability: I can't see this being a problem right now because there is only me here. It may be a problem for a larger company however. I also intend to show this plan to 3 other people who are in a position to whump me good if I stray.
It needs implementation to work: D'oh! Really? Not really a 'con' in my opinion, at least not for me
It restricts freedom: I guess that if you see an opportunity that you need to jump on it straight away then a business plan could certainly restrict and/or change the way you approach it but I need to remember that it's only a plan and not set in stone.
It creates false certainty: I guess if it is too rigid a structure then it might prevent me from seeing opportunities off to the left or right of where I want to go; however, I have a pretty specific destination in mind for myself but I must bear in mind that the world is currently in a state of flux so things are fairly certain to NOT turn out the way one originally looks at them.
How Complicated Does A Business Plan Need To Be?
The plan can be as complicated or as simple as you need yours to be. There are templates for one page plans or 100 page plans. Personally I think a 1-page plan is too short for me and 100 pages is just way too much, I found a free template on a site that has 6 pages and I think this will be enough, at least for now.
What About Other Plans?
There are 2 other plans I want to get together: a website design plan and a marketing plan and those 2, I think, will go hand-in-hand as I'm going to need landing pages, blog posts, payment pages, different programs etc.
I won't be sharing my business plan online anywhere as it relates specifically to me but I may well share the headlines of each section just so you get to see what information my plan needs.
It's going to take me a couple of days to fill out this template so I'll be back later.
Do you have a written plan for your business? I'd love to hear your opinions below
Recent Comments
16
Something else you may wish to consider:
SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
Templates are available on line.
Hey Dave, that sounds like shades of Business adminstration when I was getting my degrees at Kansas State University in the mid 1990s!
Jeff
Jeff,
I can't recall learning it in school or teaching it (but I may have).
We applied the analysis to projects while I worked full time in the 2003-2015 time frame.
Thanks, Dave! I think it might have been in one of my Management classes for some reason! That was in the early Nineties though, so kind of foggy now!
Jeff
Hey Mikol
I thought it was too small and too near medical issues for me to run with. It may have done better as a section/category in a bigger website.
Also, frankly, I got bored with it
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No, Dom! Now in my 31st year of my Locksmith business, I plan to keep doing the jobs I can do and refer the ones that I cannot! It is in its phase of declining! I'm older, have health issues, and other interests, but ti still provides the lion's share of my income for now! A buddy of mine who worked for me in the early 2000s had alocskmith buisness up in Lincoln Nebraska, and with three years, he plans to absorb my business as a subsidiary of his, providing me with a well equpped newer van, and extending my service area form the town I am in up to the Nebraksa border! We shall see if that happens! Until then, I keep doing what I do in all my business endeavors!
Love your idea for a plan, but I've never truly used one, or if I did, it was very basic, indeed!
Jeff
Hey Jeff - whatever you did, it looks like it worked! 31 years in the same business is not something you can ignore and the possibility of expansion sounds like a solid way forward.
It seems to have, Dom! It hasn't alway s had the best success, but it has still been steady for all of these years! I merely added extra income streams to it over the years!
Jeff