Simplifying Business Planning
Girl you doing a good job, girl you doing a good job.
Yes, you did it!
You took the first step. You started your very own business, but now what? Many of us are romanticized by the idea of being our own boss. We imagine not having to answer to anyone, the ability to create our own schedule, and make our own money that we forget someone has to do all the groundwork. Guess who that someone is? It’s you! You see social media as glorious and beautiful as it is has warped our reality. We see these overnight sensations with thousands of followers, but we don’t see the 10 years of work it took to become the overnight success.
Social media has the ability to 10 x your brand with one post. But you must have the ability to sustain it without it tearing you down to pieces. We ask for expanded territory when we barely can properly handle the one we have now. I have experienced firsthand how the power of social media can really take your brand to another level. I went viral just a few weeks ago and my territory has now since been expanded.
I’ve been putting in the work for the past 10 years, so I’m ready for my newest assignment. In the last year, I became super intentional about what I wanted and who I had to become to fulfill that role. I was preparing for the day when my territory would be expanded. I knew it was only a matter of time so in the interim, I put in the work. I started to accept all of myself and as a result, my confidence imploded. I uncovered the secret to success. I was no longer crippled by the fear of rejection because when the worst did happen I always was able to overcome it and learn from it.
“My greatest lesson was my biggest failures”
The first year in business is the most crucial. You are charting unmarked territory, putting together pieces, seeing what works and what doesn't, rearranging, changing, and upgrading your offerings as you mature into your business. Please don't feel as though you must be married to the vision you first started with. As time proceeds, you will notice how your original vision develops with your new venture. Things will start to align and expand while new pieces come into your purview that you weren't considering before.
Business planning is an overlooked component by many start-up entrepreneurs. Shoot, even I wrote my business plan after I had already started my business. My whole mantra is if you knew better then you will do better, so I’m writing this to help you do better.
Having a living business plan will help make your life easier. A living business plan means that you can alter it as your business grows; it’s adjustable. There comes a point in time when you will be expanding, applying for grants, loans, and possibly taking on new business partners. Many require a business plan. You will be able to take the necessary information you need from your business plan to supplement your applications making less work for you in the long run.
Executive Summary
Bossing up
An executive summary provides a brief description/overview of your business. In this section, the goal is to highlight key components of your business. A tip is to save the completion of this part of your plan for last.
Mission and Values Statement
Take a stand
Mission and value statements are preface around the reason why you started the business in the first place. What are your core values and principles that make up your business? Think about the what, why, and how of your business. What are you striving to achieve with your business? Be as bold as you want here this is your legacy.
Business Concept
Seeing is believing
Take the time to gush over your product(s) or service(s) idea, be as detailed as you want to be. This is your opportunity to shine the spotlight on this new baby you are about to birth, or already birthed and now are nurturing.
A minimum viable product MVP; is a version of a product or service that has just enough features to satisfy early customers. This will serve as feedback for future product development and give you proof of concept. One of my mentors always said done is better than perfect.
Consider what problem are you solving if any with this business?
Management Team
Starting 5 line-up
Who is going to help you meet your business needs? What are their roles and responsibilities and what are those individuals’ expertise that will help your business attain its goals and be successful? Include in this section your own experience and expertise. Brag on you, this is not the time to be humble. In many new businesses, it is common for the founder to be the one playing every position.
Market Analysis
Scope out the scene
How large is the target market you plan to serve? How much money are they spending on products or services in your industry? What differentiates your business from other competitors? What is your “je ne sais quoi” which means your special touch, the secret sauce?
Start to think about your ideal customer, who are they? How do they dress? Where do they hang out? How old are they? Where do they live? What do they do for a living? Create a whole entire customer avatar. Be as detailed and descriptive as possible here. This is called niching down. Become inspector gadget for your business.
Financial Analysis
Show me the money
You can include future projections if this is a new business. What are the price points for your products and or services? How many of a certain item are you projecting to sell daily, weekly, monthly? What is the cost to produce your product or services? What are the owner’s initial investment contributions and what are the operating costs to maintain and run the business monthly? This part right here is a non-negotiable component you got to know your numbers, cause that is where the money resides :-).
Marketing and Sales
Setting the standard
How will you position and market your business? Will you use social media, SEO, ads, or influencer marketing? What methods will you use to bring in customers? Consistency is the name of the game here it may take time for customers to know and love you. The goal is to always show up and deliever.
Do you have a website or landing page to direct customers to? If you don’t, when is the timeline for constructing one? You must consider how you will deleievr the products or services to your customer. Ease and efficiency is the name of the game here. If you want to be able to scale up start implementing process and procedures that allow for that.
Why You’ll Succeed
If all else you got this
What are your passions ? Why did you start the business in the first place. Be realistic. Fully accept the fact that there is no such thing as failure only market research.
Appendix
This is your grand finale, your wrap-up section, or closing argument. Here is where you would add supporting documents to help establish your business plan creditability. Items to include; graphs, charts, product pictures, and any research activities. A great place to add vendor proposals and rough drafts of any contracts. Any accompanying certificates, licensing, and permits related to your industry. Trademarking, logos, and branded items.
Much gratitude is given to you, for reading this blog. It is important to share with you resources that have helped me transition from Corporate America and into Entrepreneurship with confidence. You are on the right path trust that everything is working out in your favor. There’s a saying “great things take time”, but I believe it’s the time you spend on what you love that accounts for the greatness. I ask one thing of you. If nothing else, the one thing you can do for me and you is to implement what you learned. Take as much time as you need on constructing the plan. Remember you are bringing forth something so special, so rare, something that has never been done before into the world take your time take your time. Remember even if things don’t go as planned as least it went somewhere.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchhill