A business plan is a great tool to help you gain clarity for your idea. Once up and running, it can be a reference point to keep you on the right path.
Here’s our quick guide to help you get started writing your million pound idea.
The key questions
Who is it for?
Generally new businesses, but all businesses could benefit from one.
What is it?
It’s a document detailing what the business intends to do, how it’s going to do it, difficulties that may need to be addressed and the forecasted finances.
Where is it?
A plan can be kept as a computer file or printed and pasted onto a wall to keep you motivated.
When to do it?
They tend to be written at the start of a business but they should be reviewed regularly to ensure they’re relevant.
Why do it?
To keep you focused when the going gets tough and look back proudly when you’ve achieved what you wanted.
How to do it?
It can be self-written using templates online or as simple as a scribble on a post-it note to make sure the sums stack up before you start.
7 key points to start writing a great plan:
- Love what you do
This is probably the most important. You want to enjoy this as you may be doing it for the rest of your days. - Know your market
Know who your customers are, where they shop and why they need your product or service. - Know your strengths
And exploit them. - Know your weaknesses
And overcome them. There are lots of outsourcing tools such as peopleperhour.com. Plus this can save you a lot of time, enabling you to concentrate on what you do best. - Be realistic & objective
You can’t do everything at once. We have to explain to many customers to do one thing first. Do it well, then move on to the next part of the plan. Plus writing the plan from an honest 3rd party viewpoint will make it more realistic. Or even better ask your most critical friend to read over and review it for you. - Know your target
This will help stop you overworking. If you want enough income to enable you to only work three days, know what that figure is. Likewise if you want a 7-bed mansion in Dorset, know how much that costs. This will help you with your planning. - Review, review, review
Making time scaled, recorded goals that will help you reach your target
Our Strategic Guidance services can help with planning and writing these. Contact us now for help and advice.
If you’re local to us we can then contact Chorley Council who work with Boost Lancashire to help new businesses in the area for further help growing your business.