SBA Small Business Plan

You need a business plan.

It needs to drive daily decisions.

There are tons of free resources out there to help you get started.

One website has over 400 free sample business plans.  This can be a great place to start.  But all it is is a start.

You need to make this plan yours.  If you ask an investor for money and all you did was copy someone else’s plan, they won’t be impressed.

If you really want to impact your industry you need to know your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses better than they do.

You need to show how your product or service eases someone’s pain.

Your strategy needs to be air tight.

You need to see how your company is positioned to respond to the next wave of innovation.  If you don’t you’ll join well managed companies like Sears, which pioneered catalog sales and the use of credit cards, only to completely lose both those markets.

You probably have an idea in your head about what you want your business to be, but something magical happens when you commit it to paper.  Sometimes articulating your vision will reveal holes in your thinking.  Or maybe you will see completely new opportunities.

Don’t forget to make your plan an iterative process.  You need to be making small changes with a scalpel, not a butcher’s cleaver.  Work on it for a few hours then set it aside for a day.  Then come back with a fresh set of eyes.

Making small course corrections every step of the way will keep you closer to the path you set.  That’s also why when you already have a business plan you need to revisit it on a regular basis.

Contact us if you need a fresh set of eyes to make your plan great.

Tags: Business Development, Business Plan, Strategy

This entry was posted on May 31, 2010 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Business Plan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.