What’s the best thing to do for your business at the beginning of any new year?
Dust off your Business Plan of course.
I can hear the sighs of boredom form here. And I can imagine the “Business Plan. What Business Plan? I don’t need a Business Plan” shrug of the shoulders. Maybe you feel you haven’t got time (or the will) to refresh your Business Plan – or even put one together in the first place. You just want to get on with marketing your products and services so that you can sell more.
Gosh, I hate to be the one to rain on your parade, but a successful business starts with BUSINESS PLANNING NOT MARKETING.
Before you get started on your marketing planning this January, I would like you to think a little bit about Business Planning because, believe me, your marketing won’t work if you don’t know what you are marketing and who you are marketing it to – that’s Business Planning.
You Have to Plan Your Business If You Want a Business
As someone with a micro business or a side hustle, you have to plan your businesses if you are going to have a business at all.
You may think it’s hard, that you have to produce a massive analytical document, that you will get bogged down in detail, or you think it takes time and it’s boring. You just want to get on and do your ‘thing’.
However, your business plan is vital because it holds the key to selling your ‘offer’ to your target market – MARKETING. Your business plan is your detailed route map from PASSION to PROFIT.
The Missing Link Between Passion and Profit Is Planning
I have worked with so many business owners who are struggling to make that leap from their passion for their products or services through to a profitable micro or side hustle business. They want to stay small but be big – it’s just not happening.
My task as their Business Mentor is to work with them to create systems, processes and automations that will allow them to grow and develop. Invariably, the biggest thing standing in the way of this happening is a lack of clarity on what to do when to ensure the biggest impact.
They need a plan for their business – not necessarily a Business Plan. If you’re not sure of the key difference, take a look at this blog
The One Page Business Plan
When I first approached the problem my clients were experiencing, I looked around for something that would help.
I found lots of examples of so-called ‘simple’ business plans – some of them were even on one page (with very, very small text!). But I didn’t find anything that specifically worked for those ultra-small, often artisan, micro or side hustle businesses.
For me, one of the biggest failings in these examples was their inability to:
- place the business owner at the heart – the ‘why me’, ‘why this business’ aspects
- recognise the proximity of the business owner to their customers – in a micro business, it’s the business owner who answers the phone
- understand that the business owner does everything!
If you have a micro business or a side hustle your planning doesn’t have to be difficult, and the plan for your business doesn’t have to be complicated, it can be done on one page – I know, because I have created one just for you.
If you want a copy and start to take your business from passion to profit, you can get your copy here.
Once you have downloaded your copy of the One Page Business Plan, don’t forget to let me know how you get on.