Do You Have A Plan For Your Business?

Greetings Entrepreneurs!

I wanted to make a quick post about some things that have been on my mind lately.  This blog is specific for business owners (online and offline).  I have some key things you should consider in your business.  I have come up with a 12 step business plan that could CHANGE the way you think about YOUR  business (and any business for that manner)

Let’s get right into it..

1. Size of your market – Think about how many people will actually NEED your products/services.  If you have an over saturated market, then it might be wise to consider something else.   The GREAT thing about online businesses is that the market is HUGE for almost any industry because you are reaching the world.   Local businesses really need to consider the size of their market before they start.

2. Target market – Who are you trying to reach?  You need to be VERY VERY specific in the type people you are trying to reach.  Its not enough to say “I want to reach people in the United States/etc…”  You need to consider many other factors besides location.  For example, gender, age, race, personality type, financial status, etc…  ALL of these factors will play HUGE into what you offer your market.  You can’t offer a $1000 dollar product to someone who makes $1000 a month.   It doesn’t make any sense and they will not buy anything from you.   Suggestions…brainstorm with your employees/co-workers/partners/etc..about these decisions.  Most of the time, the star employee at your business will know the business better than the owner his/herself  (I’ve seen this happen MANY of times).

3.  Method of marketing – How will you market your business?  Will you use fliers, ads, websites, PPC (Pay-per-click campaigns), lead capture pages, blogs, yellow pages advertisements, newspaper ads, magazine ads, videos, TV commercials, etc…?  What’s the most effective for the type business you are going into?  It all depends on who you are trying to reach.  If you have a business geared towards senior citizens, throwing up a website and doing online marketing doesn’t seem the best way to go about marketing your business.  Its a great idea to have one, but not the most effective.  You want to use the strategies that WORK.  This eliminates waste of money and more importantly, your time.  Consider using marketing firms when starting your own business.  They usually have great methods of marketing and know the most cost effective ways of doing it.  If you are an online businessmen (like myself), then you can use the online methods (which are least costly and MOST effective in targeting your specific customers)

4. Quality of competition – Yes there are other people doing what you are doing!  Don’t ignore that fact.  You need to research your competition.  The more you know about your competition, the better off you are.  Knowledge is power.  Know their prices, know how they perform the service.  Know their products inside and out.  Ask questions, get ALL the info you can put your hands upon.  Heck, even ask them what works and what doesn’t.   Some people might consider this “unethical” but if the business is smart, they will know not to disclose all their secrets.  If you want to be completely ethical, then just study the  available information.   Business ethics is a whole another blog post that is extremely important.

5. Gross net costs + variables – What will it cost you to run your business each month?  Can you afford it?  Can you still pay the bills necessary to survive?  What will you sacrifice to get your business going?  What are the all the variable costs?  Think of insurance and different scenarios where you might be liable for damage to a customer.   Think of every single situation you can and PLAN on these things happening (even if you think it is ridiculous).  I.e. I am a locksmith and we jump start cars as another service we offer.  Well I would never think there could be damage to a radiator fan caused from jump starting car, but guess what?  It happened…(Insane,  I know but you MUST be prepared for the worse)

6. Time of events – Do you have a time schedule of when you things need to be completed?  What kind of time window are you going to offer your customers for the product or service to be completed.  How long will it take you to get to your customer, or will your customer come to you?  Will time be a selling factor in your business?  Time is money.  Time is the most valuable thing we all have.  It can not be regained nor can we gain any more of it.   When will you launch your products?  How long will the y be available for?  When selling your products, there always needs to be a sense of urgency.   If you don’t establish this, no one will buy ANYTHING from you.   Also, allow time for your plans to be accepted.  Most people think if things don’t start to work right away that its not going to ever work.  Look at all angles of the plan you have in place and adjust accordingly

7. In-house Management – Who will you delegate the tasks of your business to?  You CAN’T do it all by yourself and expect to be successful. You need assistants, even if they are virtual assistants.  I learned this one concept a long time ago from Timothy Ferris after reading his book, The Four Hour Work Week.  There are so many people oversees who are BEGGING to do petty work for business owners.  YES you do have to pay them, however, it is much cheaper than trying to hire people in the US to do your work.  The only issue is the trust issue.  Build relationships with these people and make sure they will do your tasks just like you want them done.  Elance.Com is a great place to find people to have work done for you.  I put out ONE  job and got 48 responses within 3 days.  I sent them all the same email back and now have ONE good person to do my work for me.    DON’T hire people just because you have a good feeling about them.  Heck, even give them a test assignment and see how they perform with it.

8. Profit Anticipated – How much money do you NEED to survive?  I encourage you to take out the bare minimum you need to survive and RE-invest in your business.  This allows for huge growth.  You never know how fast your business will take off.  Remember this, in order to make money you must be willing to spend money.   Come up with blueprints of your expected profit for your first year, second year, etc…Where do you see your profits ten years from now?  20 years?  All of these questions NEED to be answered.   It helps you plan better.

9. Relative Past Experience - What kind of people will you want aboard your team?  Look at their past experience and how their knowledge could improve your business.  For instance, you don’t want to hire someone who works in the medical field to do your marketing if they haven’t had any marketing experience in their life.  Use your knowledge of people to your advantage.  Place the people in positions where they are best equipped.   When interviewing potential candidates, test their knowledge on what you are trying to hire them for.  Also, ATTITUDE is a huge factor in your hiring.  I would rather have someone who has little to no knowledge and has a great attitude then one who has superior knowledge but a poor attitude.  (Just another pointer)

10. Exit Options – What if your business fails?  How will you exit out of it?  The absolute worst thing is for a business to fail and you (as an entrepreneur) are in debt a severe amount.  Be sure you can successfully exit the business without future harm to yourself.  The best way to do this is to establish a LLC (Limited Liability Company).  I’m not sure of the exact process you must go through to do this but it will be helpful.  Think of ways you are going to repay your business loans if things don’t work out just right.  However, by you creating this business plan, your business should not fail.  The business plan is here for you to prevent failure.

11. Limiting Factors – What will hurdle your success in the first year, or even the first five years?  Think of all the obstacles you will encounter on your journey.  Think of solutions to these obstacles.   What if you loose an employee?  What if an employee turns on you?   What if there are new laws in place that prevent you from doing things the way you have already planned?  How will you overcome these obstacles?  How will you tell an employee he/she is fired?  How will you deal with internal conflict?  Will you hire someone to do this or will you do it yourself?  Every successful entrepreneur always has a manager to help him along.  The manager might not be in place at first, but when the company grows, a manager is necessary for success.   (IF you don’t hire one, you might just go CRAZY)

12. Cash Required – How much CASH assets do you have?  Business loans alone will not finance your entire business.  You need to be able to put your hands on some real CASH.   This might seem petty but it is necessary.   Even though you get certain business loans, you will encounter unexpected expenses along the way.  You need CASH and you need to have enough set aside just for your business.

Creating, Owning, and Establishing a business is a serious task.  All of these steps will help you really PLAN your business out for success!

Until Next Time

Filed Under: Entrepreneurs Only