Businesses, like buildings, require a blueprint or design plan. Could you start building and putting up walls? Sure, you can start off with enthusiasm and creativity, but there will come a point where the parties won’t come together as they should and your efforts will start to feel unproductive, confused, or even in vain.
Entrepreneurs start businesses in many ways based on their personalities and belief systems. Some need detailed and well-researched plans. Others jump in, get clients, and are rolling before they’ve even decided which business they choose to be in. Then they are all in the middle.
For some, planning dampens their enthusiasm, for others, it is an absolute must. Regardless, the planning process itself is a great exercise that prompts the business owner to develop clarity and objectives in key areas.
Where it gets interesting in my opinion is after the plan is finished. How to use? Is it used at all? Does it prove to be a guide light or a rigid limiter?
For one to adhere to very detailed plans, the business owner, the organization, and the plan must be well aligned. The plan should be reviewed and revised periodically, quarterly or monthly, so that consistency remains intact.
For those who are not planners, a business plan provides vision, structure and general form. It’s a helpful framework that provides structure, direction, and purpose, while leaving plenty of room to change and create over time.
Here are some key components of a business plan that can serve as the foundation for your business development:
1. Your vision – There is something you imagine when you go into business. Capture that vision on paper. Why are you driven to be in business? Who do you serve and how? At its best for the future, what does everything look like as it unfolds?
Specificity in your vision is key. This is the snapshot “on the road” that you have in your mind as a reward. The plan is designed to help you achieve this vision, so the clearer the vision, the more useful the plan will be.
2. The why – Document and regularly remind yourself why this vision is important to you. Your “big why” is whatever reason you have that is meaningful enough to get you through tough times and challenges. Identify your most important reasons for being in business and remind yourself why you are willing to do whatever it takes to re-commit each day.
3. Unique brightness – Your unique brilliance is that special life force you bring to your business that makes you authentically and empowers you. If you examine what you have always loved (since childhood), add words or qualities to it, you have something really special that marks and differentiates your business because of the qualities you bring.
Your brilliance is not a technique or skill, it is a talent that emanates from you and permeates your work. For example, a unique brilliance statement might be: “I spark innovation.” Keep it simple but powerful. Think of Walt Disney. I think her childhood imagination was her unique brilliance, and look how it developed.
4. A stand – What is a general principle of your business? Are you standing up for something in your business that transcends products and services? Indicate what you stand for that is expressed through your business. For example, “I am an advocate for people who communicate effectively to make the world a more harmonious place.”
5. Experience – What are you an expert in? This is still aimed at the business owner, but it is more related to the work they are doing. What experience do you have (and should your team have) that will drive the business forward? An example might be: “I am an expert at making people beautiful.” This experience will be used in business and branding.
6. Brand values – Identify the brand promise you are making to the market you serve. This is the promise of an experience they can look forward to when working with you on the product or service. What values are necessary to provide that consistent experience? As an example, consider Four Seasons Hotels and the experience you have there, whether you’re staying in a suite or just dining at the bar.
7. Target niche – Who is your ideal customer specifically? Pick as narrow a niche as you can so that your marketing can be very specific and specific. This is not intended to alienate people, but rather to give you as clear a picture as possible of the customer or customer who is best served by what you have to offer and your experience. These are the people you need to speak to in your message, as they will be the most willing to engage.
8. Products / Services – Define and describe exactly what you are offering to your niche audience. What products or services does your company offer and why? What is the intention of each one? What results should customers expect from what you offer? What differentiates your products and services from similar ones on the market?
9. Marketing and sales – Provide details of how you will market your products and services and what your sales process will be like. Regular attention should be paid to the optimal ways to reach your audience and convert them into paying customers. Identify mechanisms to track what works and what doesn’t. Good communication and a consistent branding are the key here.
10. Delivery system – How will customers receive the products or services offered? From start to finish, it is beneficial to design and implement good systems for efficient and high-quality product / service delivery. Consider detailing this for each service or product category.
11. Operations – What are the front and back office activities that make the organization run smoothly and efficiently? Who are the players? There is a flow of production, communication, information, transaction and monitoring that occurs in all businesses. Design the best operating systems for each area of your business and document the desired flow and equipment necessary to make it work.
12. Prices – Identify price structures for your goods and services that cover costs and provide reasonable profit margins. This requires you to research the cost structure of your business in all areas, as well as understand the range of comparable prices in the market.
13. Financial objectives / monitoring – Every business should have financial goals to live by and ways to keep track of key financial goals. Identify five to ten key revenue drivers and set up tracking and reporting mechanisms to see where you are going and if your strategies are paying off.
14. Personnel / Equipment – Whatever your current size, plan how your org chart will look when you reach your goals. In your vision of the future, how many people are working in the organization and in what capacities? Put a value on your time as a business owner. If you can hire someone for less than their time’s worth, you’ll want to work toward that end. Continue that analysis throughout the organization. Prioritize future hires and plan how delegation can take the business to new levels of growth.
A plan, written this way, will automatically combine critical pieces of mindset with more practical business strategies. This gives you a solid foundation from which to move forward. It is your best opportunity to build a solid and sustainable business. At that point, you will be rewarded with the opportunity to add those creative details that are not shown on the map.
