The start to your business plan

Your business plan is not something which you write once and put aside, it’s a document which lives with your business; it changes, adapts and grows based on your journey – as your business evolves so does your business plan.

Benefits of a business plan

1. Decision making
   Creating a business plan allows you to eliminate any grey areas in your business as everything is written in black and white for everyone to follow in the same direction.
2. Reality check
   Once you think the business plan is complete you will get a better understanding of where you are at in your business journey and also what steps you need to take to move forwards to reach your goals. You may find that your idea needs further development or that other areas of the market should take priority. Being able to identify these weaker areas early on is a great benefit as you do not want these to unexpectedly creep up on you part way through your business lifecycle and you’ve not got any procedures in place to remedy the situation.
3. New ideas
   When preparing your business plan, you may explore new areas which can lead to greater opportunities for the business. As your business plan will be constantly evolving, your business plan will allow you to make it clear exactly what avenues you should explore and then start mapping out your plan of action to get there.
4. Action plan
   As your goals, market, product portfolio and business risks are all analysed in your business plan, you will have greater confidence in how to maximise your opportunities and how to eliminate your risks and weaknesses.
5. Sources of finance
   Having a solid business plan gives investors the confidence they need to invest into your idea, they will be able to see how strong your business is and what considerations you’ve made to ensure the longevity and security of your business. Your financial forecasts will allow investors to see the true potential of your idea and you can use this yourself to monitor your performance going forwards.

Considering the above benefits, you can appreciate how powerful a well-written business plan can be for your business in order to start, scale and venture further with greater confidence.

Core foundations of a business plan

As we’re starting a new business let’s keep things humble and begin with answering the core questions which maps out the foundation of our business plan to move forwards with:

1. What is the idea or concept?
   1. Where does your value come from?
   2. What problem are you solving, or what is lacking which you are fulfilling?
   3. What does the current market look like?
2. What are your goals?
   1. What does success look like for the business?
3. How we’re going to achieve them?
   1. Who is already in this market? How does this affect your value?
   2. What support do we need? – financial and staffing requirements
4. Financial forecasts to prove its value

Once you’re happy with your answers for these questions, we can move forwards to the next level of our business plan. Follow along to the next post in our new business series where we’ll formulate a company overview, look at marketing opportunities and also consider the risks involved.

Follow our blog series on new business information for additional helpful content and interactive tools to help kickstart your journey. Contact us to see where we can provide value and advice to you through these exciting times.