Tweet

Create a Successful Business Plan in 30 days

Guest post by: Janis Pettit

Article Overview: It's time to make business goals. How much time have you scheduled in for planning this year? If you want a successful business, you have to plan!

Create a Successful Business Plan in 30 days

It's time to make business goals. How much time have you scheduled in for planning this year? If you want a successful business, you have to plan!

The reason many small and solo business owners don’t plan is because they are caught up in an endless list of daily tasks that keep them running. By the end of the day you may find yourself too tired to do the creative thinking and brainstorming necessary for successful planning. So what you need to do is reserve thirty minutes or more first thing in the morning when you are refreshed and not stressed where you can think clearly and when great ideas can bubble to the surface. Do this for just 30 days.

Go ahead and schedule that time right now. Go ahead. Because if you don’t you’ll read this and then go back to doing things the way you have always done them. It’s human nature.

It wasn’t until I really grasped the crucial nature of planning for a successful business that my business growth exploded. Since then, in my work as a small business coach, I’ve walked hundreds of small and solo business owners through this process and it really can be fun and exciting. So how do you get started?

You need to create a Business Design that is based around your long term goals, your lifestyle and around creating both active and passive income streams so you’re not stuck just selling time for dollars. You got into business to live a certain lifestyle and you need to consider that when planning. A Business Design will take you through several important steps that will end up being a repeatable system that you can implement over and over in your business.

1) First you need to determine where there is an obvious need in the marketplace, within the scope of your talents, skills, passion and knowledge that you can fill. Where are there people searching for the solution to a problem you can solve, who are willing and able to pay for that solution? Don’t make the frustrating mistake of creating a product or offering a service because you think people want it. Go find out what they want first by doing some basic online research.

2) Once you’ve identified an obvious need or growing trend within your area of expertise, you’ll need to develop a series of sequential or related products and services that can address that need and that group of people over time. I call this the Product Funnel. If you get a client, you don’t want to lose them after a single sale, do you? So you need to plan out a natural sequence of products that you could sell over time to that customer.

3) Next you’ll need to figure out how you will lead people from one product to the next. One way might be to offer levels, like beginner, intermediate and advanced. You could have a basic version of a product and a fully loaded version. You could create a product or service that addresses sub niches within a bigger niche. For example, people that need to learn about marketing their business need knowledge in many areas: how to create a great website, traffic generation, how to use e-mail marketing, how to use social media, and how to write good sales copy. So how can you logically move buyers from one purchase to the next in a way that will increase the value you give them and the loyalty they have for you and your business.

4) Figure out the “plumbing”. What marketing materials will you need? What new web pages will you need? Will you need to add new autoresponder lists and write new e-mails for new leads? Do you need any programming done? What about photos, graphics or videos? Make a list of what you’ll need to support each product in your funnel.

5) Decide on a Marketing Design. Pick 3 primary marketing activities you will relentlessly focus on implementing to drive leads to your business and generate online traffic. Obviously working on your webpages and following an online lead generation system is crucial. You may also include search engine optimization or pay per click ads with Google or Yahoo. Don’t forget to focus on active marketing offline as well. Pick marketing that allows you to connect directly with your leads, through speaking, networking or phone sales.

6) Finally, map out a schedule for next year, or at least for the first 6 months

-Decide exactly which marketing activities you’ll do each week and month.

-Decide when you’ll launch new products and when you will need to start marketing your new product.

-Schedule tele-classes, webinars, speaking engagements—whatever you can plan in advance.

-Schedule in your vacation times so you know when not to plan business activities.

-Add any regular activities to your schedule.

In one month, with just 30 minutes a day, you can complete this task. I cannot tell you the feeling of elation when you see your business plan there, on your calendar, in black and white. The energy, focus and clear goals that it creates are so motivating. And the successful business that will be the result is the real reward.

So the next time you’re tempted to skip the planning, think of what you really deserve to achieve and how you’ll get there so much faster by planning.

Related Articles
  Home Business Expert: Eliminate Your Limiting Beliefs
  Business Mums – How to successfully juggle being a Mum and an Entrepreneur?
  Successful Home Business Explained
  Harnessing the power of dreams to create wealth
  If You Want Something You Don’t Have … TAKE ACTION!
  Business Plan Software Reviews - What to Know Before You Buy
  Small Business and Home Based Business Owners - Why Should You Plan Daily and That Too on Paper?
  Developing Successful Habits
  Home Business Expert: Importance Of Consistency & Persistence
  How to Maintain Marketing Momentum
  Work From Home Internet Business Tips For New Entrepreneurs
  Make Money Business Opportunity - Stop Procrastinating
  Plan Your Blog for Success
  How to Accomplish Your Goals As Soon As Possible By Using This Powerful Method
  The 7 best reasons to write a business plan
  Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?
  5 Secrets To Success In Your Zrii Health Drink Opportunity
  Essential Elements of a Good Business Plan for Growing Companies
  Effective Time Management Is the Key to Successful Home Business on the Internet
  Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail

Article Tags: business design, business plan, marketing design, small business, small business coach, successful business, successful business plan



Related Forum Posts
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
Re: NEW VIDEO - How to improve your business plan - Ask Evan - Thanks Evan, great intro into how the VC's see business plan. I will take a look, but hope that this video as number 1 in a series. It is unfortunate that these types of errors, the most basic of errors as you point out here are common to too many business plans, having reviewed a few hundred myself from both a development and funding perspective. As a mentor and workshop facilitator for Business Plan development for a number of start-up IT and multimedia companies, your presentation help support and show how the VC's see and evaluate a plan Shameful, that too many don't take the time to learn how to properly prepare, present and defend their plans. Over the years, I have enjoyed Business Plan competitions, and help re-work some of the winning proposals
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
Del Castienne - International Business and Project Brokers - In addition to the above, Del Castienne is an international brokerage firm specializing in various entrepreneural services. Del Castienne is more than just a brokerage, as we facilitate Private International Venture Capital for Business and Projects from Commodity Speculation Transactions, MBO, MBI, M&A, Bridging Finance, Patents, Branding, JV, Corporate Advisory Services, Business Plan Development, etc.. Del Castienne is linked to 1200 private international Venture Capital consortiums and Funding Syndicates with a funding capacity of $ 115 billion and 5000 international Investment Bankers and Business & Project Brokers. This in itself should provide you with a gateway to the best source of funding in the world. Through Del Castienne any entrepreneur can have up to a potential success rate of 25% (conditions apply) with absolutely no up front costs. Del Castienne charges a maximum of 5% commission which is far below the international standard of 10% - 12% on project value. If you are tired of running back and forth with countless dissappointments, please give us an opportunity to assist you. Our minimum Venture Capital amount is $1 million and we a Commitment Letter can be provided with in 30 days after formalities are in place and your information was received.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What I Really Want Is...

Get Your Business on Google Places

When Your Smiling

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.