June 9, 2008
7 Steps To Write A Business Plan
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Do you own… or intend to own an internet business?
And do you have a written a business plan for your business? Most entrepreneurs don't have one. This is an expensive mistake. You need to know exactly where you're heading with your business if you want to succeed.
Take simple steps to put together a business plan today. You don't need to go into great detail. Jot down easy steps of information to keep you on track… and accountable for taking action in your business.
Follow these 7 Steps To Write a Business Plan
Step 1: Reflect on The Previous Business Year
In a few statements, reflect on how your business performed during the last year. What were your successes? What were your setbacks? What exactly is working and what not? What do you need to change and improve for the coming year?
Step 2: Write Your Business Plan On A Single Page
Are you focused enough on your main business activities?
You need to define your business, your target customers, and your major goals on a single page. And only on one page, please. This helps you to have a quick overview of your business planning.
I also have my plan saved in the Microsoft Word software on my computer, so I can change and improve the plan quickly.
Step 3: Write Down A Vision Statement
Everybody is building some kind of vision and business. What kind of business are you building? Make your Vision statement very specific. This is your vision of your company. Create your vision precisely, so you know it step-by-step, and you can share it with a team if you need to.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What type of company is this?
- Who is my perfect customer?
- What kind of business am I building?
- How big will my company be and what profits do I want to generate?
What are my most important products and services?
What will my marketing strategy look like?
Step 4: Define Your Mission
A mission statement always answers the question: Who will you serve and what can your do for them?
Then think ahead and answer the question: Why will my customers purchase my products and services? Which problems do I solve for my clients and what makes my solutions unique?
An sample a mission statement for a Ranch Management company could look like this:
“Healthy Land, Happy Families, Profitable Business… Ranching for Profit”
Step 5: Write Down Your Action Oriented Goals
Write down your specific goals you want to achieve for your business. And then write down action-oriented goals. I've found the most effective goals to be an action-oriented, as it helps to accomplish the most important task… taking action daily.
Once you've put down your yearly, monthly and weekly goals for your business, consider additionally writing action goals. They state which action you'll take on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. And then focus on these action goals every day.
Another guide to track how you're doing in your business is to write down your goals with numbers attached to them, so you can compare your goals to the years before. Examples could be:
- Reach a gross profit of $200,000 for this coming year
- Get 10 new clients every month
Step 6: State Your Business Strategy
Which strategy are you going to choose to achieve your business goals?
Your strategy is simply a definition of what steps you'll take to make your business successful. You need to set a specific direction and follow that direction without side-stepping along the way.
For example, you should decide how you're going to:
- Position your Business in the marketplace
- What pricing policy you're going to follow
- How you're going to attract targeted customers to your business
- How you're going to find joint ventures
You need to define a simple strategy and follow it. You can't market your business in 150 different ways, for example. You'll probably have to choose up to 10 ways initially. So be clear what your strategy is and do it.
Step 7: Create An Action Plan
After you have defined your goals in Step 5, you'll also have defined your action-oriented goals. Now simply create an action plan from these action-oriented goals. Make an action plan for at least the next year, and break it down to all the way down to a daily plan.
I have a daily action plan with only 3 or 4 things I must do. If all else fails on that particular day due to an emergency, I've achieved the most important action goals for that day. Remember, do them first thing in the morning, and you'll be surprised how much you can achieve in a year.
So again… focus your the priorities for the day and do them first!
Take these seven simple steps to write an effective business plan and raise the productivity in your business! Should you want more information on how to create your business plan, check out Jim Horan's great book "The One Page Business Plan".
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Responses to 7 Steps To Write A Business Plan »
Thanks for breaking down the business plan process into easy steps.
I might add , that a continuous check and balance system to hold your you and your plan accountable is helpful
Thanks for hitting this home. So many people get so caught up in starting a business online they never sit back and formulate a blueprint to success.
Thanks, nice tips.Latest tips is Gold :)I sometime fail to do anything during yhe day
thanks from italy
tnx, business plans are very important for any business .
Having a plan is a must, when you haven't got a plan you find yourself getting lost in the internet world and not working on your business. Nice article.
I would agree with you that starting a business without plan is an expensive mistake. When doing planning, we can forecast some of the future problems which leads us to the solutions before it happens.Despite the importance of the plan itself, ACTION is also very important. The plan will not be useful if it is not turned into action! Cheers!
Thank you so much for the tips. It is very valuable.
I took the time to start building a business plan and daily action plan. You are right, a plan is something many of us are missing.
It can be scary thinking of a how to start a online business. I recommend people start out for a few months learning how to run just a basic blog or website because you need to know the basics before you can start a viable commercial online business in this highly competitive internet arena.
Distractions are all around us with out a business plan I could not get much done.It helps you stay focused.
I think you should also set a budget for your business plan. I would also set percent of money made to be saved for more advertising each month.
Great post some good info that most people never consider. If you have a plan it is that much easier to see how your doing and to motivate yourself.
It's hard to make and start a business plan. Thank's for the interesting post. I've learned that plan is very important.
Up to now I was one of the many without a business plan.
I always said to myself, I don't need one as I only do it part time…But I see the benefits of having one so I guess I will sit down this evening and just do it
those are some good points… #4 always seems to hold me back :/
As a current college student, who is majoring in finance currently in my third year into the finance major, I can say that, Yes I do intend to start my own business.
I don't yet have a clear written business plan, more of a dream of sorts. But these 7 steps, will help me alot in defining more clearly my goals, and where I want to be in the end.
I haven't yet learned steps like these at school, but hopefully they will teach us soon!
Thank you for the tips. Business plan is very important when you have a business.
Nice post. 7 nice steps which i took into consideration before setting up a business. Thanks!
This has been very helpful to me and will be very applicable to my new business. Gracias!
I almost clicked the back button when I saw the cheesy "make money online" looking header and free e-book/e-mail subscription solicitation on the right, but luckily, I kept reading. This is the first time I've ever been pleasantly surprised on a site that looks like this one. Great piece!
Thanks, nice tips.Latest tips is Gold :)I sometime fail to do anything during yhe day
Good strategy brother. It can be useful for me. I have been start a little business now
That was a really good read. Supporting traditional business model approaches. I tend to focus more on the strategy for the current year, which should not include the flaws of the previous year.
Anyway a very good and helpful read.
Planning is good even we can't get it perfectly. Thanks for the plan layout. Very useful.
Thank you!
Really good.
Thank you for sharing such a nice layout. I know that Planning is very important in the business.
Thanks for letting us know RT!
It's odd, but most of the people I know have the exact opposite problem. They over-plan instead of under-planning, which leads to a wealth of great ideas and no follow-through.
I agree there too!
The trick is to set up a simple plan, keep it in front of you all the time, and follow-through!
Taking action is the most important part of the plan.
This post is an excellent reminder for what I have been planning on doing since a long time. Thanks. Will surely get to it today.
When I started a business in the early 80s, I found the business plan I put together to be a total waste of time. If you are setting up a business with no prior expirience, I don't think its really of any benefit because you don't know whats going to come up. However, 2nd time round, I think it could be quite useful. Although, nothing ever seems to go to plan or schedule.
Great post! I have not written a business plan yet but I have written down my weekly action plan, and this has been very beneficial.
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Great tips! I studied Advertising and Marketing in college and that's exactly what they taugth. As well, people under estimate the value of setting goals. They are great to do. It puts things into perspective and is there for you to strive for. Great post!
Some good advice there. Plan plan plan… or it'll end up costing you money.
This post is highly informative. Thank you for sharing such a nice layout.
This is a great post. I had to write a business plan for my entrepreneurship class last semester. I graduated and am now in the middle of trying to successfully start and run that business… an online marketing business using free blogs and google adsense.
I agree that a detailed yet manageable plan is the most important thing.
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This post helps a lot to get better ideas about making business plans. Thank you very much.
What a cool stuff!. Thank you so much for the useful information.
Thank you so much for the Awesome information. Keep it up.
Business plans are the most important thing to have if you need financing to start you business.
I just wrote one and it was a long process but it helped in getting the financing I needed and gave guided direction on where I was going.
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