| So, what's your plan look like? You know, the plan for | | | | minutia that goes into a traditional business plan. |
| your business for the year? The quarter? The month? | | | | What most small businesses need when it comes to |
| You do have one right? How will you know if you are | | | | planning is a simple business plan that focuses on what |
| successful? | | | | they need to do now. It does not have to be a large, |
| Don't panic. If you are like the majority of small | | | | multi-page binder with appendices and graphs and |
| business owners, you are not very good at planning. | | | | charts, it can be a single page document that is all |
| Not that you couldn't be, you have just never taken the | | | | about the here and now. |
| time to create a plan for your business. In fact, you | | | | There are some primary elements that your simple |
| wince at the thought of sitting down and trying to | | | | business plan should have. It should have a vision |
| create a business plan. But that is where the problem | | | | statement that describes what the business should |
| is. There is a major difference between writing a | | | | look like, what it does and who its customers are or |
| business plan, and creating a simple plan for your | | | | what market it serves. It should have detailed goals |
| business. | | | | and objectives, or measurables, to help you measure |
| The traditional business plan is good for starting a | | | | the progress and success (or lack of...) of the business. |
| complex business, or getting funding for a rapidly | | | | It should also have a section on your strategies or |
| growing company, but for small and medium sized | | | | tactics that you will employ, and it should also have a |
| businesses, what they need is a simple business plan | | | | section that covers what the immediate projects or |
| to run their business. A strategic, living document about | | | | action plans are. |
| what they expect to happen in the coming months or | | | | All of these elements should fit onto a single page. And |
| years, where they expect their business to go, and | | | | the best part of a simple business plan like this one is |
| how they intend to get there. | | | | that it can always be kept up to date. The plan should |
| Traditional business plans are all about theory, and | | | | be used to run your business and when changes |
| possibilities and the unknown. They want you to spell | | | | happen, and you know they will, update the plan to |
| out what you do know, so you can make a | | | | reflect those changes. |
| determination if you should start the business, or if the | | | | There is a difference between a traditional business |
| bank should give you the loan. But for an existing small | | | | plan and planning for your business. Use a simple |
| business trying to make this year better than last year, | | | | business plan, on a single page to run your business, |
| all the while focusing on the actual running of the | | | | and see how much more focused your business can |
| business, who has time to really think about all of the | | | | be. |