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Doing a business plan-your way and in your time!
Today we’re talking about business plans. The point is not to finish. It’s to start your plan, update it, look at it, think about it and maybe glance at it sitting over there dusty on the shelf. But for the radio show, I removed some of the sections that are … honestly, quite icky.
First, let me do a little caveat disclaimer here. Those of you who know me also know that I don’t like structure. My rule for 2009 is this: I’m looking for structure. It is good for my brain which is going superfast all the time. Structure slows me down.
I have several business plan templates that I’m working from – one is for an established business and one is for a startup. If you’d like a copy of these, email me at susan@susankildahl.com. Since structure is the name of the game, I’m going to do my business plan which hasn’t been updated for far too long.
For you, here’s some advice on how to approach some pertinent sections of your business plan:
- Table of Contents: Dull but necessary
- Executive Summary: Write this last
- General Company Description: if you can’t write this, you have no business being in business.
- Vision Statement: I’m adding this one in, because I want you to have a vision statement. And it answers this question – what do you want your business to look like? It needs to be precise, personal and exact. It’s not an entire paragraph. And it should be a reflection of you and who you are.
- Mission Statement: If you don’t know what your mission is, you really need to get started. Wow, if you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish, then you have no business being in business. Here’s what you do, go online and google mission statements of big companies: Target, Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Best Buy and Noodles. Remember, your vision statement is personal and your mission statement is business.
- Products and Services: For those of you who have a product which is yourself — we are the product, we are the service. I have a radio show, a coaching business, a networking group, a book in progress. I do tele-seminars, classes and speaking engagements. This is the kind of information that you want to put in products and services. And, you should include products and services that you want to have later. If you are your product or service, you need to become product driven as I am becoming a product-driven coach.
- Marketing Plan: This is a real grown-up section, and it has a lot of really cool stuff in here, so fill in what you want. I’m going to suggest that you keep this template and not delete what you don’t use because you might need it later.
- Networking and Marketing: Do you know the difference between networking and marketing? Networking is what you do to go out and meet people and build relationships. Marketing is what you use to get your name out there: your book, website, business cards, brochures, flyers, tv show or keychains.
- Marketing Research: For Jan, a wellness coach who does healing touch, she may google other wellness coaches to see what their pricing structure is. Price points should be in your business plans, along with how you upsell and downsell. If you’re uncomfortable about what you charge, you need to hire me for a 1-1/2 hour performance plan and I’ll sit your butt down and set it straight. I’ll point out exactly what you need to charge to make up for undercharging yourself.
- Customers: Who are your customers? My customers are people in business who have to get their own clients. You can also complete the age, gender, location, income level, social class (I really don’t care about this).
- Competition: Do you need to know who your competition is? Maybe. Mainly, know what they’re charging and if they’re in the same price range. This way, you’ll know if you’re undercharging or overcharging. And if you want to overcharge and you can get the business, more power to you. Personally, I keep my rates competitive and not super icky.
- Niche: Who hires you? I have a definite niche. My market is so specific, anyone in business who has to get their own clients and isn’t making the money that they want. I’m a strategy coach and that’s what I do. I think you need to know who your client is and this part right here.
- Marketing Strategy: You need a strategy for marketing – it’s all about what you spend to talk about you. Keep in mind that marketing is your products and services, the part that sells them. Do you have a strategy for your website? What does your promotional material say about you?
- Operational Plan: If you have brick and mortar, fill out this section, but we’ll skip most of it for now.
- Credit policies: I personally like and use Paypal, because I don’t have to pay a lot of fees and all that yada yada yada. When a client calls me and wants to pay with a business credit card, I send them to the PayPal link, and within five minutes, I can have their money. Keep in mind though, if you’re out there and you can sell tele-classes, seminars or books, you can then have a little handheld machine – they’re about $1,000. Or you can have a shopping cart but that involves gateways and all real grown-up stuff that I don’t like dealing with, so Larry deals with it for me.
- Management and Organization: This is where you put all your people, including your accountant, lawyer and others.
- Personal Financial Statement: You can get this from your accountant or use Quickbooks to gather this data together.
- Financial History and Analysis: Put in any projections for the year that you have. If you’re trying to sell a business, bring in a partner, get funding, financing, lending, you want to pretty much put in whatever you can. Talk to your attorney, talk to your CPA. If you’re a startup, you’re not going to have anything, so you’ll want two years’ income tax returns, basic stuff.
- Financial Plan: Wow! What is cash flow? I’ve heard of that one. This is some real grown up stuff. Once again, if you’re trying to sell, get funding or to bring in a partner at some point, your business plan is going to be much more detailed, much more grown up, as I say, and robust.
- Balance Sheet: You need to know what your bills are. When you’re talking about all this financial stuff, take your time on it.
- Raising Capital: This is if you need to get a loan or get partners. Most of us who are home-based don’t deal with this at all. I’m not going to sell my business, because my business is me. If I got to the point where I was copywriting or trademarking a lot of the stuff I’m doing, I would need this part.
My business has changed so much since last summer. But do I update my business plan all the time … NOOO! Never beat yourself up for doing what you didn’t do before. As Heidi says, you don’t know what you don’t know. There you go.
Keep in mind, this is not meant to be filled out and completed today or tomorrow. There is no timeframe, so just get it done as much as you can get it done. If it still seems big, you can start to write it out on index cards. If you’re still struggling, bring your plan to any of my networking events this month, and I can help you. On the 14th at 4:30pm, we’re at the Fox and Hound in Littleton; on the 23rd at 11:00am, we’ll again be at the Fox and Hound in Littleton; and on the 26th at 9:00am at the Sunnyside Café on S. Colorado Blvd.
If you do your business plan right, it will never be finished. A business plan is a very dynamic document. If you think it’s a one-shot deal, you should not be spending your time on this document.
And please remember to join us for next week’s show on Wednesday. Our topic is very exciting: if I can do it, you can do it. It’s all about learning from others.
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