How to Write a Business Plan – Initial Steps – Where You Are

In the days when a blacksmith could start working under a tree with a forge and tools, waiting for the horses to wander past, a business plan was not an essential part of setting up your own shop. Today it is. A business plan is your road map to success. Without it you are likely to get stuck. The next several postings will focus on creating a business plan that works; a key step to your future success. Here we’ll look at four preliminary but essential steps. At this point you’re gathering information. You’ll actually present the plan in a coherent, organized fashion later.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Define a vision for your company.
   What is your company’s fundamental purpose? For example Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream was founded to supply quality, uncompromising, desert with wholesome natural ingredients. A mission statement is a brief description of a company’s fundamental purpose. A mission statement answers the question, “Why do we exist?”
2. Put forth your values.
   What are your values regarding your customers? Your employees? Your decision making? We are all in business to make money. One of the stories I produced last fall for a nationally syndicated television series was about a new trend in investments, putting money into businesses that that were out to make a buck like the rest of us, but were intent on financing earth friendly, sustainable, ecologically responsible companies. Ben and Jerry’s is one of these. Up front it trumpets its respects for the earth and the environment, while providing sustainable growth, and increased shareholder value. It also tries to improve the social quality of life locally, nationally and internationally. Through its orientation, Ben and Jerry’s has established a stellar reputation with its suppliers, local Vermont dairy farmers. Defining your core values up front is a great way to get everybody on your team pulling in the same direction
3. Assess your past.
   Not all of this is for publication, however you should determine why you are striking out on your own. I once wrote web copy for a concrete company where the principals had amassed years of concrete construction experience. They knew the ins and outs of it from footing masonry, cast in place walls, shotcrete, slab on grades, to concrete columns and concrete parking lots. They were true experts in their field and thought it was finally time to work for themselves.
4. Look at the present.
   Given how the market stands today, where is there a need for your services? The two construction workers I mentioned often worked on jobs that weren’t adequately planned, which let to delays and cost over runs. They knew that with their experience shaped by foresight they could do better. How did they see themselves fitting into today’s market? They were eager to put forth a very simple selling point: delivering quality work on time and under budget.