I’ve always wanted to start my own business. I’ve had a few false starts and setbacks, but in the next two weeks I’ll finish up work at my current job and move into my new offices as co-owner of my new start up. I’m thrilled, excited and terrified, all of which are good things. I’ve worked for plenty of start ups and dot coms in the past and hope that experience helps me this time around. I’ve also been a manager before my tech career and I know those experiences will come in handy too. But nothing really prepares you for running your own business like running your own business.
The first thing we had to do was to get our business plan put together. A business plan is just that, a plan for how you want your business to go. It is not a list of things to do, it’s a broad over view of how you think this will go. It’s a summary of your ideals, beliefs and mission. It’s a break down of projected costs and income. And if you don’t end up doing it 5-10 times then you aren’t doing something right. Even after you finish it, you aren’t really done with it. It is very much a living, breathing document that you’ll revise as your business grows and changes.
We had to get one ready for our business and we’ve never had to do one of these before. But don’t worry, there is help. One of the places we looked at was Bplans.com which has a large selection of sample business plans. We must of have looked at dozens and dozens of them. There’s so much that goes into a business plan that you won’t think of on your own, so following these examples is a great start. But seeing examples wasn’t enough.
We could have put our plan together in Microsoft Word or Excel but we ended up using a program to make sure we got everything right. My partner Steve did most of the work putting it together and he used a program called Business Plan Pro. Using a program helps you get everything in the right order and format. Presentation is a big part of a business plan. It shows you care about what your doing, that you’ve thought things through and that you know your industry. As you move through your business plan you’ll identify your weak spots and strengths as well as think about things you might not have.
Having a solid business plan is very, very important. You might be tempted to skip putting a plan together, but I highly recommend you go through the process. You’ll discover so much about your business and you’ll see potential problems and proper planning is just smart business. A new business has a very high chance of failure. More than 50% fail in the first 5 years. Give yourself every advantage you can to beat the odds and succeed.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats ! Good fortune and good health to you my friend.
Thanks Mike!
You are quite right about the importance of business plans. I often tell people that business plans are like dental flossing – no one wants to do it but the benefits are worth it. I do think, however, that not everyone has to do the traditional formal business plan. Folks should ask themselves what the purpose of the plan will be. If it’s to get financing, then you definitely will need a formal business plan to show the bank or investor. But if it’s to determine whether a business idea is worth pursuing, the research is important but writing it up in a formal document is less important.
By the way, I your blog’s tagline makes me smile. I have a similar passion (ah hem!) for office stuff, which I’ve written about in my blog called OfficeStuffer
Barbra, Thanks for commenting. I totally agree with you. If financing is important, then by all means do the whole formal thing. Or maybe even if you are just trying to figure out if the project is financially viable. But if you aren’t going to be getting a loan or funding then a less formal approach makes perfect sense. It’s always the right move to have a plan, it just depends on exactly what you’ve got cooking as to how detailed that plan needs to be.
As for your blog, I’m already a subscriber!
Hey Barbra – I added your blog to our Blog roll. Thanks for stopping by !
Thanks Chrispian and Mike! I do think our blogs are very complementary, and I suspect we have another passion in common – cats! When I first starting writing for OfficeStuffer for KnowMoreMedia I received a very professional blogger’s handbook that covered the a – z of writing for the company. One of the things it specified was that bloggers were to stick to business, and they specified as an example – don’t post pics of your cat! Well, I managed to break that rule right off the bat with a post about how integral my adorable kitten Loony is to my business!