Simply Junior

Having a good small business plan will ensure that your journey to success is much smoother. All successful business owners know that having an organized, well thought plan is essential to see the results they expect. Even if the business plan doesn’t give the results that you would have thought in the beginning, you can tweak and change different areas of your process to perfect it.

I thought I would go through a step by step guide to what you need for an effective small business plan. Many people try and start a business without any true expectations for the future other then ‘oh this is going to work’. You have to know exactly what “should” happen so that the surprises are less. In most cases surprises in business aren’t positive.

You must have a plan for many different areas of starting a small business. How are you going to fund the start up fees? How do you expect to sell your product/service? How do you expect to pay your employees? How are you going to promote your company effectively? Most importantly and what most business owners don’t think about is where do you want your business to be in 5…10…20 years?

Creating the right small business plan is all about creating effective systems. A system is something that you can use over and over again in different situations to receive expected results. You at least have some idea of what’s going to happen if you have the right systems in place.

The first step to your business plan is knowing exactly how much money it’s going to take to start your company. None of this has to be a professionally written up small business plan that costs thousands and thousands of dollars hiring an “expert”. Take out a piece of paper and write down your plan. The main thing is that you know exactly how you are going to fulfill your dream of being a successful small business owner.

So what are your opening expenses? Here are some questions you need to answer to find out your estimated dollar amount:

How much money does your product or service cost you? How much money will you charge for your service/product? How much money do you require to live for two years with no profit coming in from your business (safety precaution)? How much will it cost for your employees for 2 years? What are your legal fees? What are your CPA fees? How much will getting a physical location cost you (if needed)?

Every business is going to be different so think about anything that you need to spend money on to get it running. The next step you must consider is how are you going to get this start up money. Are you going to go to a bank for a loan? Are you considering finding a partner that can cover the costs with the agreement you can buy out the company later down the road? Do you want to talk with a wealthy family member about your business? Anyway you choose to get the money doesn’t matter.

Having a thorough small business plan is going to help you get that start up money though. As long as you can show the lenders how you plan on getting a return on their investment, you will be set. It doesn’t matter if you have horrible credit or don’t know anybody that will lend you large amounts of money. You can always find a way. Think outside the box!

Alright the next step should be the simplest for you. You want to write down your complete sales funnel for how you plan to sell your product or service. Go through every step you expect a customer to go through to reach your bank account. What are you selling exactly? How are you packaging the items? Are you providing multiple services and products? What do you expect to be your number one seller? What’s your specialty?

Once you have all these areas done, you have to know how you are going to promote your business and keep the business coming in. This seems to be the biggest problem most business owners have. You know everything there is to know about your products/services, but you know nothing about marketing. That’s expected too. Marketing is an expertise in itself.

If you’ve read much of my blog, you know how I preach about smart marketing. Smart marketing is all about spending your hard earned dollar and getting more then you spent in return. In other words, big return on investment (ROI). Every market will be different and different marketing tactics will work in each of them. You have a huge list of options too.

Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Radio, Television Ads Fliers, postcards, promotion coupons Referral programs Internet marketing Email marketing Holding seminars and special events Business to business referral programs

These are just to name a few of the options you have. You can never go wrong working with other local businesses. It’s beneficial for both businesses and can be something that explodes your business quickly. It should definitely be part of every small business plan.

No matter which direction you take your marketing in, remember to always be able to track your marketing method. You always want to know how effective each method is for your business. Don’t spray and pray! In other words, don’t just buy what that marketing salesman is selling you if they can’t show you how many customers you are getting in return.

Creating your small business plan with all of these areas covered is a great start to having a successful business. You can go in deeper and deeper to have an even more effective plan and you should, but this is a great start for anyone. Once you have the plan, you just have to follow it step by step. It makes your job so much easier. You have too much to worry about already. There is no reason to have to constantly be wondering…’what am I going to do now?’ You need to know what you’re doing beforehand.

Vision informs the future state of the successful business. The reason that most small businesses fail is because there is no clear line of sight between the goals and objectives of the business and its envisioned future.

Without Vision, the business never gets the right things done and, in fact, often gets the wrong things done, or gets nothing done at all. Such a business is destined to wander aimlessly and lose its direction entirely.

Everyone may look busy in such a business, but this should not be mistaken for productivity or achieving results. A business without a Vision has no clarity, no coherence and no future. Such a business is operating on borrowed time and fruitless energy and invariably ends up in a place that it does not want to be.

Setting the Vision for the small business is an imperative and is critical for its success. It ensures that all the streams of organizational activity are aligned and in keeping with the notion of doing one thing well and in pursuit of excellence.

A Vision Statement is not just a pithy saying that sits below an inspirational picture that hangs on the wall. For it to achieve its full effect, the Vision of the business has to be a lived reality by all of the people in the business. It is the future that is created for the business, and it forms an integral part of the business performance management process.

Fulfilling the Vision is the key benchmark against which business development and risk management are measured. Effective and successful business owners are always asking the question, “How does this activity further our Vision?”

There are four key perspectives required in developing clarity around Vision in small business.

Action

A sense of Vision in the business has to be aligned and integrated with the Mission and Values of the business. Vision is the living out of the Mission and behaving in the right way. Vision is something you do. Vision is venturing out into a future that is unknown, and it is refined and understood more clearly only as it is enacted.

Remember, there are no futures in that sense, apart from the ones that we create for ourselves. We set out toward this envisioned future and act as if it were a reality, and in so doing, the Vision becomes clearer as we go and more likely to become so.

Listen and Observe

Creating Vision in the value-based business then is a process of discovery through action. The successful business owner and effective manager is always listening to and observing what is going on in their business in relation to the external world.

The Vision for the business, imparted with, through and for others, is the result of this ongoing process and a growing understanding of what the Vision means. All business activities being undertaken are sifted through the lens of Vision.

One of the highly valued qualities of good leadership is this ability to listen to all the voices, including customers and employees, and once having listened to them, determine the course of action that must be taken in a decisive way.

Hone and Evaluate

As the Vision is enacted and used as a filter for discernment and determining new courses of action, the Vision itself becomes clearer, more vivid and indeed more apparent.

The Vision for a business then is a dynamic reality that requires continual refinement, in light of initiatives that are executed in the business.

The sense of Vision in the successful, value-based business then informs all business policy development. The Vision in turn is informed by the unfolding nature of the business as it grows and develops.

It is critically important to review the words that encapsulate the Vision on a regular cycle to ensure that the words used reflect the true nature of the Vision of the business.

Reaffirm

The cycle of visioning in business never ceases. The envisioned future must be reinvigorated and reaffirmed, in light of actions taken, ongoing listening and observation and evaluation. In the value-based business, the Vision must be reaffirmed at least on an annual basis for it to maintain its freshness and relevance.

If this is not done, it will revert to just being another catchy marketing slogan, with no substance, that soon becomes obsolete and irrelevant.

The successful business owner is always focused on the Vision of the business and continually reaffirming commitment to it at every opportunity.

A business plan is the backbone of every business, whether it is a small family run business or a big corporate house. Proper planning is very much essential to ensure survival and growth of any business.

So, if you are going to setup your own small business, your first step is to make a business plan. If you plan well ahead ,chance of success will be more. A business plan includes various dimensions. I’ll list each of them. So, let us start. My assumption is that you are the owner of your business and your business is a one-man show or atmost supported by your family members.

Business Objective:Write down a small single sentence stating clearly your business objective, it is the very starting point of all the business plans. I can give you one good example of this one. A renowned brand before opening their new retail stores all over India stated their objective is to provide fresh vegetables to the end users and make them happy. This is their basic plan. Very simple indeed but it transpires the basic business objective. Similarly, you have to write your business objective, it must be simple, unambiguous and realistic.

Describe your product or services:This is the second major step for development of a business plan. You must write in full details what are the products or services that you are going to offer. Write down the salient feature of each product, including pricing, taxes, shipping and delivery charges and time involved.

Set up your financial goal:First of all a word of caution. Never setup any unrealistic goal, otherwise, you may be frustrated quite soon. Setup your goals that you think is achievable. If you have just started your business and really do not have much idea about how much it can yield, then atleast try to run your business at break-even point within three to six months of starting. Most of the small business venture experiences a premature death because they aim at too high in a very short span of time.

List all available resources:Resources include manpower, machinery, raw material or finished product , your knowledge or expertise in a domain. Whatever you have or you know, and if that is somehow related to your present business, include them under the head available resources. Try to use each of the available resources in the most effective way. This will reduce your business overheads. For example if you already have some free space, you can use it for office purpose instead of hiring a new office premises in the very beginning.

Identify the marketThis is one major part of your business plan. You must know where the market is, how much big is the market. After all it is where you are going to get revenues from. The better knowledge you have about the market, the better will your products/services sell. Stay-at-home Moms are usually successful in cosmetic/jewelry business for their access to the end users. I have seen a lot of them selling garments, bed-sheets and bed-covers and earning a lot. The key ingredient for their success is that they know the market. May be, they have access to a very small section of that market, but, still that is enough for them to run their business in profit.

Marketing planOnce you have identified the market, you need to setup a marketing plan. You can promote your products and services in varieties of ways. Most of them involve certain cost. So, if you want to make a cost-effective campaign, use leaflets, posters and banners; publish classified advertisements in newspapers also word of mouth is the free but the most effective mode of campaign. So, try to tell about your products and services to as many person as you can each day. I have seen a renowned holiday resort company started its marketing campaign based on word of mouth alone. And it worked.

Financial plan
This is the most important part of every business plan. Every business needs certain amount of investment in the form of fixed and running capital. So, after completing all other plans, calculate how much capital you require to start your business and how much capital you need to run your business on a monthly basis. In any case , you must keep in reserve atleast six months running capital before starting any business. And now estimate the revenues that you may generate. If you have no previous data, take the break-even point as your staring sales target. Your financial plan should reflect achieving break-even point within three to six months and generating profits thereafter. It should take into account all sorts of expenses and probable income from your business.

Strategic planning and implementation
Be very specific to prepare a strategic plan of how to run your business. It involves management responsibilities, daily work schedule, marketing and promotional schedule, progress monitoring and reviewing schedule.

A final summary
After covering all the aspects, start a survey campaign. Discuss about your new business and its various dimensions with your friends and family members. Take their feedback. Modify your plan, if required. But stick to the plan once you have finalised it, atleast, for a period of two years.

When starting a small business venture, it pays off to be objective. You will need to capture your projections in a written format. These objectives are best captured in what is known as a business plan. This functions as your road map and furthermore, it helps you gauge, in the course of the venture, if you are still in the right track.

Making a business plan may be simple or difficult, depending on the nature and scope of operation of the enterprise. As you write it down, you get to capture your short term, medium term and long term goals. These goals are what help you determine whether the enterprise is realizing its dreams or not as it progresses. You also get to gauge the risks at hand and determine how to deal with them effectively.

On a larger scale, the plan helps you do a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This means that you can be able to identify where the venture is doing well, where it is failing or facing challenges, whether it has room for growth and improvement as well as whether it is likely to be at risk by operating in a given way. By so doing you will be able to determine the best course of action.

Writing a plan for your venture should be guided by a number of principles. The first one is that, it must adhere to a given outline, bearing in mind that there are many other enterprises out there coming up with such plans as well. You must also have the audience in mind. Is the plan for funding purposes or for partnership? The depth will be determined by the audience.

Over 85% of small businesses do not have a strategic business plan (strategic plan). By operating without a strategic/business plan, many small businesses are missing out on a powerful tool to help them define and reach their goals. Many small business owners believe that only large companies need such plans, but the reality is that small businesses can reap tremendous rewards by creating a strategic plan.

A strategic plan is like a roadmap for your company. It needs to identify where you are and what you stand for, where you are going, how to measure progress and estimate when you will arrive, and what resources are available for the journey. The plan helps the company maintain focus, recognize progress and take corrective action when needed.

While each company will have a unique document, the elements of the plan are remarkably similar across the board. Common elements and their purpose are listed below:

Vision, Mission, and Commitments: what do you stand for, what are your high level goals, and to what are you committed? Executive Summary: a quick synopsis of the document Company Background, Products, and Services: what does the company do to produce value for its clients? Marketing Plan: how will the company attract new clients, keep current clients, how much is budgeted for marketing, and how is success measured? Operational Plan: how will the company execute operations? Organizational Structure: how is the company structured and what are the roles and responsibilities to identify accountability? Financial Report: what is the long-term financial projection? Strategies: what is the company going to do to accomplish its goals? Challenges and Solutions: what obstacles are anticipated and what solutions are identified in advance? Budgets: how much will be allocated to each functional area?

Taking the time to put a guiding document together requires thinking through what the business objectives are, how they will be reached, the role individuals will play, etc. It is also a “living” document. It is of minimal value if it is put on a shelf and only referenced quarterly. It becomes a part of the operation of the business and is updated and referenced frequently. It can and should be used at meetings to measure progress and to help the company’s employees stay focused on the strategic goals and progress towards those goals.

What are some of the benefits of having a strategic plan? The effort required to create the plan necessitates contemplation of long-term goals and a manner to achieve those goals. The strategic plan helps orient the organization towards a common target and is a useful tool to create an environment of accountability. By constantly measuring progress against the identified goals, the workforce maintains focus and understand where their efforts fit into the grand scheme. A well thought out plan helps accurate budgeting and enables quick adjustments to be made if needed.

Elements can also be a useful tool to engage employees, focus productivity, and reduce turnover. We live in a different economic and workplace environment compared to a few decades ago. Gone are the job-for-life and benefits into retirement contracts that used to be common. Because of the turbulence now inherent in our business economy, people feel totally free to change jobs frequently and without concern for loss of accrued benefits. A strategic plan enables workers to see the long-term plan for the small business and helps create buy-in into the future they helped define. Reduced turnover and employee buy-in are valuable to any small business.

In summary, while the perception may be that strategic plans are not needed for small businesses, the reality is that a small business with a strategic plan is more aligned, has better employee engagement, and can quickly and accurately measure its progress towards well-defined goals.

Contact Michael now to find out more about how a strategic plan can help your business and to learn why a strategic plan is one of the first outcomes of my coaching process.

Michael Nelson
Phone: 877-242-4812
michael@thecogentcoach.com
www.thecogentcoach.com
This article may be shared provided it is not altered and the contact information remains intact.
© Cogent Consulting Group, LLC All Rights Reserved 2010