Do you have a business plan?
When I ask business owners if they have a business plan, most of the time they stare back at me with glazed eyes in shame and shock horror.
The most common reply I get is “ah no
Well, let me ask you this, would you build this beautiful home in the picture without a plan?
If you had no plan,
how would you know where to start?
How would you know what expertise to bring on board?
What would you use as a reference point when things went wrong?
What would you use to share your vision with other contributors?
How would you know how to change or modify aspects of your home when trends change?
Would you be able to build a strong foundation and then layer it up with all the things you love so that it would last a lifetime?
Building businesses are the same as building houses.
You need a strategic plan, that acts as a roadmap to your desired future. It allows you to;
- build strategies around all aspects of your business from finance, operations, marketing and culture.
- provides a framework of tasks and forces you to prioritise your goals and KPI’s within a specific timeframe.
- allows you to adapt to changes in the market, economy and your product or service.
assists you with sharing your goals with all stakeholders, including employees and collaborators.- forces you to spend more time working on your business, than in your business.
Just like we love to make over our homes with the latest looks and trends, you need to review your business plan consistently to keep up with all the changes that are going on not only within your industry but also within the business itself.
Customer needs, desires and wants are evolving and changing every day, therefore your product or offer may not be of service at a given time in the future. A different solution for a different set of circumstances and behaviours will need to be employed and a business plan review will help you identify these challenges before it manifests into a deeper problem.
Creating business plans have come along way from the traditional thirty page booklet which can be daunting and tiresome. There are many free tools and templates available on line if you have the time to search around for the right one.
What I find has worked for my clients, is defining the business model first and then effectively describing the outcome using the one-page Lean Canvas tool.
A business model is a story about how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures value
Saul Kaplan, The Business Model Innovation Factory
If you haven’t reviewed your business plan, I encourage you to set aside some time to figure out what parts of your business you need to act upon sooner rather than later.
And if you don’t have a business plan, then you need to put that at the top of your action list and create one ASAP.
And lastly, I know what your thinking, “but I don’t have time to do all this, I know what I am doing, I need to work in my business because there is not enough resources and time to work on that stuff.”
My advice, just like you seek an architect and builder to build your home,
find a great business consultant/coach who resonates with you for expert advice and help.
