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I Don't Need A Business Plan

Written by: Tom Long

Article Overview: Why is a business plan important? Why you need one if you don't have one already.

I Don't Need A Business Plan

I Don't Need A Business Plan

Neither did Alice in Wonderland.

``Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?''

``That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.

``I don't much care where,'' said Alice.

``Then it doesn't matter which way you go,'' said the Cat.

``How can I increase my business?'' The answer is often easier than most think. But before figuring out how, they must decide where they want to take their business. This is why everyone in business should have a business plan, not just the people seeking venture capital.

Your business plan will be the ``road map'' of your enterprise. It will show you how to get to where you want to go. To develop a good plan, you need to write down the answers to quite a few questions.

To get you thinking, let's jump twenty years into the future.

Describe your life. Are you still working or are you retired? Are you worth a lot of money? If so, how is your wealth distributed? Stocks? Bonds? Equity in your business? Other businesses? Are you independent or do you have a company? How large is your company? What is your annual revenue (in today's dollars)? How many hours per week do you work? Do you work on weekends? Do you travel? And most importantly, are you happy?

Tough questions? Maybe. But they need to be answered honestly and realistically. I know that life can hit you with some unwelcome surprises that might change the way you want things to be. It is because of these changes, however, that you should re-evaluate your plan completely every year – for a new business every three months..

After defining your long range goals, break them down into 1 year, 3 year and 5 year goals. Make sure they are consistent with your long range plan. The next step is to determine what you need to do to achieve your goals.



Here are some short-term questions you should think about:

Do you want more customers or steady customers?
What is your competition doing?
Will advertising help increase your profit?
If so, what kind of advertising and what media should be used?

Think of your own questions.

Your specific marketing strategies will depend on your individual goals (once you have an idea of where you want to take your business). Put your answers down on paper! Organize your thoughts, questions, and concerns. If you have financial data, use it. You don't have to take your plan to the bank, but by recording your income and expenditure you will have a benchmark to use when you review your goals and accomplishments.

Review your plan for consistency. Is it coherent? Is it realistic? This is your guide to your business. It will help you get what you want. Keep it updated. Change it as your goals change or as the market changes. Remember, a little planning will take you a long way.

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Article Tags: alice in wonderland, business plan, money, new business, range goals, road map, seeking venture capital, steady customers, stocks bonds, three months, tough questions, twenty years, unwelcome surprises



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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.
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
2007 Goals - 1. Web site complete, fully operational 2. Revenue stream from both individual and corporate 3. Business Plan complete 4. Full marketing strategy complete and implemented
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? - Business Plan or generally work plan (to do list) improves the quality of my work at least 4 times. I have seen the positive results of planning and focus in my online business. And I know from my past experience how uneficient your business can be when you are not doing planning. So I agree that there is a relationship between entrepreneur success and planning.


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