How To Get A Leg Up On Small Business Planning
So you’ve finally decided to take a BIG leap and start your own small business. You like the idea of your own hours, picking and choosing what projects you work on and let’s not forget the chance to simultaneously fire your boss and give yourself a pay raise….or several. But have you considered where to start when it comes to proper small business planning?
This can seem to be a daunting task in itself, let alone actually getting your business up and running. But the truth of it is, without a proper plan, your business will fail. Full stop, end of story. But what do you need to start planning?
In short the very first thing you need is to have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. What I mean by this is quite simple: take for example the last time you went to your local store to buy a vacuum. You were not going because you were all gung-ho to buy a vacuum. You were going because you wanted to solve a problem: DIRT! Specifically you were looking for a solution that would help you clean your place quickly and efficiently.
It is the same here, once you have a solid understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and have come up with a solution, a main portion of your planning is done. This goes hand in hand with what is known as market research. Simply put, who are your customers? Ah-ha! Remember the problem you came up with earlier? The people with that or a similar problem are your market.
Now that you’ve gotten this far in your small business planning, what is next?
You need to make sure you are writing everything down as this will help you focus your efforts and see at a glance if there is something not quite right. And should you decide that you need an outside funding source (a bank, or venture capitalist), a written plan is an absolute necessity.
Along with the items discussed above, you will need to provide estimated daily operating costs, monthly profit and loss projections, a unique selling proposition (although if you’ve done your problem/solution research correctly, you have this already) as well as short, medium, and long term milestones and how you will reach them.
Another thing to remember is that your business is not a static entity. It is a living thing that will change over time, depending on the market conditions. This is in fact a good thing as a business that does not evolve will soon wither and die. So you need to implement progress checks. Revisit your overall plan on a monthly basis to see what is working and what is not and revise accordingly. A plan written and forgotten serves no purpose, so if you need to post a reminder on your monitor, desk, or somewhere else, do so.
It is a truism but bears repeating here: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. A solid, well thought out plan is a major step forward on your road to entrepreneuralism. It is the glue that holds all your efforts together and is your encouragement for when you face challenges. Small business planning is a crucial step, that, when done properly, will yield results beyond your expectations.
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