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A
Business Plan
This
ebook online has emphasized several times the importance of having a
business plan. Your business plan is your master plan and
contains the goals and strategies which you believe will lead to
success. Success for a home based business can be defined in
several ways, because each person becomes a home based entrepreneur for
different reasons.
� Earn additional or supplemental income
� Replacement of current income
� Creating income source after layoff
� Desire to have control over own time
� Need to have flexible hours
How you manage your home based business will determine how well you are
able to meet these goals. Your business plan is your
blueprint for creating the kind of business you really had in
mind. For example, if you are establishing a home based
business part-time in order to generate supplemental income, your
business plan will outline the plans for reaching that level of profit
within the hours you allot to the business.
A business plan includes many different long and short term
goals. These goals and their supporting strategies are what
you will use to keep your focus on the results on you want to
realize. A business plan includes goals related to the
following.
� Building a branded image
� Reaching a particular market niche
� Building particular sales levels
� Identifying customer service program
� Identifying demographics of most likely
customers
� Establishing marketing budget and
strategies
� Developing long term plans for growth
As you can tell, the business plan is comprehensive.
Developing a business plan forces you to think in terms of your vision
and what actions you can take to support that vision. A good
business plan addresses marketing, the competition, operations, finance
and long term growth. It can also include a contingency plan
for when things do not go as planned. For example, what will
you do if competition prevents planned sales growth? Do you
have an alternative marketing or product development strategy?
Too many small businesses believe that business plans are only for big
companies. That is not true. In order to develop a
successful home based business, you need a plan as much as the largest
corporation. It is lack of planning and vision that often
causes the fail of the home based business.
STAYING FOCUSED ON THE GOALS
A business plan is not intended to be written and then placed in a
drawer never to see the light of day again. The business plan
is a working plan and not a �dust collecting� plan. There are
goals and action plans that have been outlined if you did your plan
correctly. The goals are your marching orders, so to speak,
as you build your business.
When you get your business up and running, staying focused on the goals
will stop you from veering off in the wrong direction. For
example, if your goal is to promote your product to the consumer who is
older than 50 years old, you will not target a niche comprised of
mostly young adults. This goal then leads to specific actions
in your marketing plan.
You want to review each decision you make in marketing and financial
planning against the business plan. You also want to step
back periodically and look at the business steps you are taking and see
how they measure up against your goals. For example, if your
business plan says you are going to focus on the fitness industry then
you would question whether you should add a product to your product
line that is not directly tied to fitness.
You can also use the business plan to help you use your resources
wisely. The mission statement provides the overall vision for
the company. The goals are ultimate results you hope to
achieve. The actions or tasks you complete should support the
goals somehow. For example, if your goal is to primarily
market online through a website, you would question spending money on
print advertising even if it carries your company brand.
USING THE BUSINESS PLAN TO MAKE DECISIONS
When you write your business plan, you pay attention to both general
goals and specific tasks. This forces you to think through
your business from beginning to end. This attention to detail
can help you make large and small decisions.
� What kind of home based business do you
want to develop: new start-up, existing business, franchise or
combination of one or more?
� Where will you seek initial funding and
money for expansion if you meet your financial goals?
� What kind of marketing activities will
you use?
� How will you define your customers?
� How much time will you put into the
business?
� What sales techniques will work best
for you?
� Will you eventually hire employees?
When you must make a decision which impacts your product, financing or
marketing, you can turn to your plan and review the strategies and
tasks which you defined. Does the plan say you will market
only to domestic markets? If so, you will not spend money on
global marketing strategies. Does your plan say you will
contact 3 or more new customers per day? If so, you need to
compare your actual performance against your plan and make necessary
adjustments.
The business can help you stay focused on your original goals in a
number of ways.
� Formalizes strategies you can follow on
a daily basis
� Identifies potential pitfalls which can
derail your business
� Identifies details which support your
�good idea�
� Keeps your business grounded so you
don�t begin to think in unrealistic terms
� Gives you something to compare actual
results against
� Identifies potential sources of help
including financial and personnel
� Gives you the groundwork for making
plan revisions as the market changes or your business matures
� Identifies ways you can differentiate
your business
� Provides a steady plan for growth
Using your business plan can make you a better manager in your home
business by keeping you based in reality and on the direct path for
reaching your ultimate goals.
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