Even when an entrepreneur decides to fly without an official business plan, informal planning, organizing, and forecasting will still be underway. And this is what is the makings of a business plan!
When starting a business, every entrepreneur is likely to wonder, ‘Do I really need a business plan?’ Many people consider business planning a waste of time. There’s so much to do to get a business going, and the hours spent in planning can be put to better use in building the company.
And despite the profusion of business plan services, it is a fact that a business can still survive without a business plan. But, even if the entrepreneur decides to skip the business planning route, starting a business will still call for some preparation and analysis. This will include:
1. Fleshing out the idea2. Creating a value proposition
3. Studying the market scenario and requirements
4. Understanding the targeted customer base
5. Creating marketing strategies
6. Planning administration and staffing of the business
7. Pondering on what the business aspires to achieve with some general deadlines
8. Financials like how much outlay is needed and where the funds will come from
9. Benchmarks that will define business success
Without even realizing it, the entrepreneur is actually working on the business plan!
Indeed, a business plan is based on the above fundamentals that are carefully expounded and embellished with some more research and other data. There are projections, milestones, and other statistics, but the base is the rudimentary planning that every business calls for and every entrepreneur is likely to do anyway!
So, why not formalize the process and formulate an official business plan? This will become a physical document that is a roadmap for the business, right from the launch to the meandering journey towards success and growth. In fact, the business plan provides direction to the business and keeps the entrepreneurs focused on the path that they themselves had envisaged. Without the plan, the business is more likely to wander off course or find itself muddled in conflicting strategies.
In contrast, the business plan will become a persistent commitment to certain actions and decisions while eliminating the tendency to constantly switch the approach and get lost in the noise. However, this does not mean that there is no scope to change tack en route as the business discovers new possibilities and hits on different options. The business plan can always be modified and updated in the face of changing circumstances and emerging opportunities. In fact, the plan is never supposed to be static or invariable – it is a dynamic instrument that can roll with the punches and still emerge successfully!
Yet, the entrepreneur cannot always spare enough time to build a formal business plan or may not feel capable of doing full justice to the same. Help is at hand in the form of professional business plan writers, like The Plan Writers (Planwriters.com). With a variety of skills and experience under their belt, the team is well-positioned to craft clear, comprehensive, and winning business plans.