Planning your business

• Posted by Entri Admin August 24, 2019 - Filed in Strategy - #plan  - 929 views

  Why should we take the time out of our busy schedules to draw up a business plan- time that could be spent actually building our businesses? Well, mapping out your plan for your business forces you to think about various aspects of your business that you otherwise may not have before you jumped head first into your new venture. Other than a mere submission to investors, your mentors can also review it and potentially identify any holes in your plan. Moreover, it is a tool that you can use to hold yourself accountable to your goals and plans.

  There are a number of ways and formats to formalise your plan for your business. You may select a basic format if it is only for your strategic planning purposes or you may need something more detailed if you are applying for funding. Business Plans are particularly important for start-ups as there are typically no financial statements or past track record for the investor or donor to base their assessment on.

  Business Plans

  A business plan is a traditional and formal write-up of your business ambitions- why and what you plan on doing and how you plan on doing it.  There are various templates on the web to guide your thinking. Some templates are very detailed and onerous- but this may be required if you are applying for finance or if your business is particularly complicated. Alternatively, if you want to do a business plan for your own benefit, you could find one or two-page templates.

  The essential elements of a business plan are:

  1. Executive summary: In two pages or less, briefly outline your business idea and what you are requesting (funding/ donations/ non-financial assistance etc.).
  2. Company description: Include basic details on the name of the company, backgrounds of the founders, type of ownership as well as registration. Mention your objectives and your motives for starting business.
  3. The Opportunity, Industry and Market: Describe the specific sector in which you operate as well your target market. Detail the problem you wish to solve. Having some market research (stats, trends, surveys etc.) to back this up is preferable.  
  4. Competitive analysis: Who are your competitors and what are strengths and weaknesses?
  5. The Solution: What is your value proposition? Outline whether you’ll have a niche offering or not and how you are different to your competitors i.e. why would customers make use of your offering? Describe your business model.              
  6. Marketing strategy: How will you attract customers? How will you position your brand? Include information on your pricing strategy and promotional activities.
  7. Management and operations: Describe how your business will function on a continuing basis. Outline who the members of your team along with their roles, responsibilities, skills and expertise. Remember, an idea is only as good as the people who implement them.
  8. Financials: Financial forecasts are imperative for any business plan and requires thorough research and thought. How much money are you going to need to get started and why? Forecasting can be extremely difficult but try and make reasonable assumptions and try avoiding being overly optimistic.
  9. Funding request (if applicable): Outline how much you need and why. What you will be offering in return (percentage ownership, collateral, suretyships)?

  There are many apps on the market to assist you in developing your business plan. One such app is LivePlan- a cloud-based business plan software that walks you through the entire planning process from conceptualisation down right to implementation and performance tracking. This platform has a host of functionalities including creating infographics and presentations. Its costs about $11.60 per month (roughly R160 per month). Alternatively, you can try the free version Bplans.

  Business model canvas

  You could also draw up a canvas- this a very neat one page snapshot of your business. It is not as detailed and onerous as a full on business plan, but it demonstrates that you have thought about key elements of your business strategy. This one pager could also be shared with your broader team so that they can have a better understanding of the business.

  There are 9 building blocks, namely:

  1. Customer Segments: Who are your customers?
  2. Value Propositions: What’s compelling about the proposition? Which needs of your customers are you satisfying?
  3. Channels: How are accessing your customers? Which channels work best? How much do they cost? How can they be integrated into your and your customers’ routines?
  4. Customer Relationships: How do you interact with the customer through their ‘journey’? How can you integrate that into your business in terms of cost and format?
  5. Revenue Streams: How does the business earn revenue from the value propositions? 
  6. Key Activities: What uniquely strategic things does the business do to deliver its proposition?
  7. Key Resources: What unique strategic assets or services must the business have in order to delivery its value proposition and to compete?
  8. Key Partnerships: Who are your key partners/suppliers and why? What can you outsource
  9. Cost Structure: What are the business’ major cost drivers? How are they linked to revenue and key activities?

  Below is a template of a business model canvas. You could use websites like Canvanizer which allows you to easily create your own business model canvas.

   

  Source: Innovately

  Implementation

  Aside from writing up a business plan, there is the practical element where you need keep track of your thoughts and tasks. As an entrepreneur, you will probably have a million things to think about and to do from product ideas, to marketing ideas and you may need something to help organise your mind. Trello is a FREE visual tool to organise information- basically an awesome To-Do list. You can also share and collaborate projects/tasks with team members.  This YouTube video shows how to use Trello for your business plan.

  Conclusion

  A business plan should not be seen as a once off exercise. As times and circumstances change, your business needs to adapt. Unless you reassess your business methods, your solution and approach might be an outdated one- which could ultimately lead to your business being redundant. Ensure that your business strategy is revised at least annually and that you measure yourself against your goals set the previous year. Evaluate the reasons why you have or haven’t met your targets and think of ways to improve yourself, your business and your team.

  Remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.