Regardless of how unusual your enterprise may be, in the big picture, there will be remarkable similarities to other businesses, plus relatively accessible people with vast, and telling, experience in those remarkable similarities. Get their advice! You can do this both casually and formally. It should be part of your modus operandi to be alert to the opinions of others, especially potential and existing customers.
Get comfortable describing your plan in a few words and getting off the cuff responses from a variety of friends and business contacts. But for people whose reactions are key to your success perhaps essential to your next step you can't ignore the formal approach.
This means putting your thoughts into a basic business plan format so that the power brokers of your idea including, and especially, yourself can give it full and proper consideration. Anything less is an insult to your enterprise. And the more effort you put into the plan, the more valuable the advice you gather from it will be. You can't lose.
It Will Help Develop Customers and Become the Basis for Establishing Your Image in the Marketplace
It turns out that the things you say about your business in a basic statement of purpose, and in explaining how your business will meet customers' needs as no others can, are the best kind of advertising copy possible. Your words here can become the essence of your message in a variety of media you'll use to promote the business once it's up and running.
It Will Help You Measure Your Progress after You Get Started
The early days of entrepreneurism are likely to be a bit confusing. Even if your business is a runaway hit and you're giddy with apparent success, there will be questions about whether this suggests new strategies. Running forecasts of your new initiatives through the business planning process will help you make these next step decisions.
At the other extreme, if things turn out to be much tougher than expected, you'll be able to get quickly to the cause by looking at the business plan as you would the gauges on your car's dashboard. It'll tell you whether your receivables are overheating, your invoices undercharged, your expenses speeding or your income at a dead stop.
Key Elements to Consider
Let's now consider the elements of a basic business plan. And, in case you're still resisting the written word, remember: You don't have to write the whole thing at once, and it doesn't have to be a book. What we're looking for are simplified answers to basic questions. Be brief, using charts and graphs wherever possible to convey quantifiable information.
To make it even easier, let's try this: Suppose I'm writing a book about starting your own business and have just called you to hear about your new enterprise. I'm going to ask you a few questions and offer a bit of advice about how to answer them. Simply jot down your replies, and you've got a business plan.
What's Your Mission?
This is the central summarizing statement of what you seek to create. It can, and generally should, be as short as a sentence, "To be the leading supplier of gourmet baked goods to local stores and restaurants." It can be more detailed than that, including descriptions of specific products and services. But the briefer the better. It's the answer you give to someone who doesn't want to hear the whole story but wants to know the gist of what you're doing the big picture part.
How Will Your Business Achieve This Mission?
Again, briefly in less than one page summarize the activities your company will undertake in order to achieve your mission. Cite two or three key short term objectives you'll establish in pursuit of your mission, and explain how they'll be achieved.
How Did You Get Here?
Understanding that the plan you're writing will be used not only to guide further efforts, but also to sell your enterprise to prospective participants, you may want to include some background about your expertise and involvement, what your resources are and will be, and your current status as an organization. Are you legally structured yet and, if so, in what category: sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation? Who else is involved and what roles will they perform?
Let's include one comment here on partnerships: Many entrepreneurs reach out for partners for security in starting new businesses and, in their desire to do so, are blind to differences in long term goals that are there to haunt them.
"People say, 'I need to have a partner so I can have confirmation every day that I'm doing the right thing,'" says Marge Lovero, president of The Entrepreneurial Center in Purchase, NY. Many of these people would be much better off alone.
Lydia Soifer, a speech and language pathologist based in White Plains, NY, went into business with an older expert in the field, but later found she wanted to grow the practice more vigorously than her partner did. The split was difficult and bitter, but Soifer eventually found she could succeed on her own.
"There were days when I was scared out of my socks and didn't think I could do it at all," she says. But she hired appropriate advisers and began to grow the business the way she believed was possible, and now is happier than ever.
