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One of the keys to success in any venture is having an accurate and informative business plan. It will set a clear direction and ensure you spend your time productively. As a vital document, you need to invest time getting it right before you make any key business decisions.
There are numerous tools and sources of information online, that allow you to research and plan virtually any business idea. Here are a few of our favourites.
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Marketing your business should be fun and simple. Surely there can be no better way to spend a day than working on something which is going to help you achieve your objectives more quickly?
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Writing a business plan is an important step in the business start-up process. Even if you don’t place much importance on the business planning process, the simple act of writing down your thoughts can help focus the mind on aspects of running a business which may otherwise have been neglected. If you want to raise funding for your business at a later date, you simply must have an up-to-date business plan in place.
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A business plan outlines your vision for the future of your business, looking at where you are now, where you want to be by a given date and how you intend to get there.
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One of the most useful bits of advice that established entrepreneurs give to people starting their own business is this: ‘cash is king’.
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in and how profitable it is, if you run out of cash, your business will struggle to continue. If you can’t pay suppliers you’ll have nothing to sell, and it’s a quick, vicious circle from there to insolvency.
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When you decide it’s time to get your business started, you’ll find the first piece of advice given by most experts is to “get a business plan written”.
And they’re right; that is the first step to turn your business dream into a reality. But many people find it the hardest step to make.
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As you start up your business, the need for a well thought through business plan is clear.
Even if you are just going to be you sitting in your spare bedroom selling things over the internet, you need a business plan to understand how you’re going to market your products or services and actually turn a profit.
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Starting your own business is a really exciting thing to do. You get to take a dream that you have been harbouring for years and turn it into reality.
That means lots of planning and thinking about your business and how you want it to pan out. You can decide where you want to be years down the line and aim for it.
Most people have a plan that they are following, whether that’s a formal written business plan, something scribbled on the back of an envelope, or just a rough guide in their head. The majority of these plans focus on improving the product, getting more sales or growing the business.
However it’s also vital that you plan what you will do if something happens to you. As the founder of your business and the person who is the driving force, you are probably the key factor behind its success. And if you are a sole trader, there may not be a business without you.
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A business plan is a document which captures how you expect your business will grow, according to a large number of factors such as funding, how the market behaves, the people involved in the business, and – of course – how successful you are at selling your product or service.
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On day one of your new business, as you sit at an empty desk wishing the phone would ring, you think about the future and how exciting it will be to be busy.
Fast forward two years to when you are working 14 hours a day, six days a week (and there’s enough work to fill your sleeping hours). Your wish came true, but it turned into a nightmare along the way
If this is happening to you, don’t worry, you are not alone. It’s a common problem that affects many small business owners. The hard work and long hours to get the business off the ground never seem to stop.
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Life can be great when you’re running your business as a one man band. You get to escape the shackles of employment including a boss telling you what you do and when.
Of course there are downsides, such as the loss of a regular salary and other employment perks. And the most serious of these is how you would continue to earn money if something happened to you or your business.
It’s called business continuity planning and it’s a serious matter, especially for one man bands.
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There is a lot to be gained from business planning but many businesses will search for a million reasons to avoid it. However large or small your business is, planning for the future is critical to its success.
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Many companies need to impress a prospective client or partner following an initial meeting or phone call, especially when asked to submit a business proposal.
This is not the time to become complacent. There will be others on the short list so a well-written and attractively presented business proposal is a crucial sales tool, which can make the difference between a winning proposal and losing venture. Hilla Ovil-Brenner, CEO of WhiteSmoke English Writing Software, gives us some useful tips for your next successful business proposal:
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Starting a business is fun. It’s a world of learning and discovery as you try to build something brand new from scratch and make it on your own two feet.
Many people are so caught up in building their business that they don’t really consider where they want it to go in the long-term. And very few people at the start are forward thinking enough to plan the finish – their exit strategy.
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With all the excitement of starting and running your own business, it’s easy to overlook what might happen if it all goes wrong.
A disaster could strike your business at any time, in any form. What if your main sales person was lured to an aggressive competitor, you lost your data, or your building was destroyed in an accident? It’s rare, but it happens.
Here are seven simple steps to a writing a simple but powerful disaster recovery plan:
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Many of the world’s most successful business people became that way with help from a key figure in their lives.
When you have a mentor or a coach, you are involving someone else in the decisions you need to make to grow your business. They will help you stay focused, on track, and get the most out of yourself.
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The principal reason for restructuring or reorganising your business is to make sure it is in the best position to achieve its objectives. As a business grows, it will face a number of influencing factors such as new markets, changes in demand, or the need to improve working practices and processes internally.
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This business plan guide is aimed at helping you put your message across to one particularly critical audience – the business angel. This article contains an introduction and overview, and Part 2 discusses how to present the chapters of your business plan.
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Part two of our two-part guide to writing a business plan for business angels takes a look at the main chapters of the business plan. You can read Part 1 (the overview and introduction) here.
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It’s easy to focus on the day-to-day running of your business, especially in the early stages. But once your business is established, it is actually time to start planning again. Warren Ralls from Business Link Surrey looks at the importance of reviewing your business and how to get started.
Reviewing your business’ performance
Although you should review of your business’ progress regularly, it is particularly useful if you feel uncertain about how it is developing. Are you exploiting market opportunities effectively or do you feel you’re going in a different direction to the one you planned? Put aside some time to go back to the beginning, assess your performance against the business plan and think about longer-term, more strategic planning.
Assess your core activities
The best way to start your review is by re-evaluating what you actually do – your core activities. These might be events, conferences, catering or your standard service offering, but assess what it is that makes you different from the rest, how you can improve your offering and if you can incorporate any new features to your offering.
It is important to make sure that your hotel is meeting the needs of its customers. If you feel that this may not be happening, you should factor in further market or customer research. Ask yourself which of your products and services are succeeding and which aren’t performing according to your plan. If you are having problems, where are they coming from? Are there issues with pricing, marketing, or customer service? Think about whether you are reviewing costs frequently and is there a way you could lower them?
There are five areas in particular that you need to look at, from product and performance to finance and HR. Use these five areas to structure your review and better understand how you are progressing.
How efficient are you?
Many new businesses use a short-term, reactive way of working in the early stages. This offers flexibility – but can cost time and money as you move from getting the business going to concentrating on growing and developing it. The best option is to balance your ability to respond rapidly with a clear overall strategy.
Re-examine some of the decisions you made early on like your property commitments, your equipment, staffing schedules and IT systems. Are these where they need to be to make your business efficient and grow to the next level?
Knowing your finances
Businesses often fail because of poor financial management or a lack of planning. Often the business plan that was used to help raise finance is forgotten as time passes and the business stabilises.
When it comes to your business’ success, developing and implementing sound financial and management systems (or paying someone to do it for you) is vital. Once again, updating your original business plan is a good place to start.
When reviewing your finances, you might want to consider the following; your cashflow, levels of working capital, your cost base and debt levels. Use Business Link’s free online tool to make sure you’re on the right track.
Look around you
Having been in business for some time, you will probably have a clearer understanding of your customers and competitors. With that in mind, you may want to take another look at everything around you to make sure you’re still on track and aware of your business environment. Consider the following:
Redefine your business goals
Having looked at your business inside and out, use these insights to re-examine your business goals. Are you going in the right direction and are your goals sufficient for your needs? Develop work plans for your business based on the results of your review, as well as a timetable to make sure your meet your targets.
Furthermore, a simple planning cycle can greatly enhance your ability to make changes in your business routine if necessary. Good planning helps you anticipate problems and adapt to change more easily, so know when your next review is scheduled and keep the date.
Next steps
When you feel you have covered all five of your business areas, you can start to plan the next phase and build a cohesive strategy to develop your business. There are a variety of growth options for every business – it’s important that you settle on the right one for you.
Also, once you’ve isolated your best route for developing your business, you can really give your chances for success a boost by planning carefully and monitoring your progress against an updated business plan. Remember, reviews and progress monitoring should be done on a regular basis, so put achievable dates in the diary for the next meeting with your business plan.
The Business Link Service is delivered through advisors in your local area, supported by a national website (www.businesslink.gov.uk), and a national phone line 0845 600 9 006.
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