Writing the Business Plan

Posted June 19th, 2006 by Wendy Piersall

I started on my biz plan a few months ago for eSelfHelp, and put it down for a while to get the site up and running. But the site has enough content and ads now :: I need to get back to the plan and refine my strategy.

I’m taking a forward/backward thinking approach. I could determine my next steps by looking ahead, and thinking about where I want to go. But I have found it more valuable to sort of step into the future first. I am taking the time to envision how I want my business to be - and then really getting in touch with WHO I would need to be in order to take my business to that level. Then I am creating a business identity, and creating a list of values that a business like that would have, as well as standards, goals, etc. I then work my way back to today, and make my future plan based on who I and my business will become, and ask myself, “If I were that person and my business was that business today, what would I be doing to get myself there?” It’s a great exercise that allows me to tap into a completely different resource pool within myself as I create my action plan.

So my to-do list for today is to completely walk through my forward/backward process, then open up my business plan software and get to work. I found a good entry today from The Entrepenurial Mind about The Danger of Short-cuts in Writing Business Plans. Though this entry is geared more to businesses that will be seeking serious VC funding for companies that plan on growing huge, it does give GREAT advice on how to write a business plan, as well as how NOT to use business plan software. Knowing my marketing plan needs some serious immediate attention, I’m glad to see that Jeff agrees that this needs to be one of the first parts to develop.

I know I need my software to help ensure I get all of the info I need into my plan - and to be my roadmap to completion. With Jeff’s insight, I will refine the plan to pull it all together and create a compelling, powerful ’story’.

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