June 9, 2008
7 Steps To Write A Business Plan
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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