It is easy
for entrepreneurs and small business to convince themselves they don’t need to
do complex planning, strategy development, or a lot of writing of documents for
their business. Without a business plan,
they end up spending more time and money while making no significant progress
toward their goals. So let’s talk about the importance of a business plan so
you can avoid sinking your own ship.
1. To Clarify Thinking.
Writing a business plan gives you the opportunity to think carefully
about your business, your strategy, your vision of success, and the steps,
goals, financing, and marketing required to achieve success. Writing a business plan forces you to think
in structured ways about how you will define your business, how you will
compete in the marketplace, how you understand product or service offerings,
and how you will market and sell the products or services you offer.
2. To Convince Yourself Starting and Growing a
Successful Business is Possible. We all have
reservations, doubts and questions when we start a new business. However, a
high level of confidence in your business is crucial to your success. Writing a
business plan, by forcing you to think through all aspects of business success,
allows you to convince yourself the business can be successful. There is nothing like doing a revenue
forecast and figuring out that you can actually achieve your financial goals.
3. To Understand Costs and Return on Investment. There are many costs (not all of them financial) associated with starting a business and taking it to the next level. It is easy to overlook or to underestimate some of these costs. Writing a business plan gives you the opportunity to understand and anticipate the costs you will have. It will also help you identify where to focus your efforts for the highest payoff activities.
As a soon to be MBA grad, your points are well taken.
Just because you're small, doesn't mean you shouldn't plan like the big boys do.
Posted by: Julianna | March 12, 2009 at 07:23 AM