Writing your own business plan by yourself is a amateur activity for wanna-be business moguls. You hear of people slaving away for months/years on plans that are hundreds of pages long, full of technical language, and therefore, "excellent" beyond belief.
I have been there, and it took me ten years of doing it before I learned my lesson. I have lost count long ago, but I've probably written 100 or more business plans in one form or another. I was a business idea factory. I'd get an idea, drop the previous one I was working on and start writing another plan.
Here's a method I developed after many years of planning, starting, running, and selling/closing businesses.
1. Write an outline of your business concept/idea.
Nothing big, just a page or two on what activity and related activities will make the business money. If you read and analyse your concept and it seems like it won't work, re-work it or don't proceed to the next step. If you have multiple business ideas, do this for all of them. Read and critically analyse them all, and tear up the seven worst ones. If you can decide on a clear winner, great. If not, you can optionally test all three in the next step (although it's written for one idea - just repeat for three ideas, but don't take your time).
2. Test the concept
Sell your product or service. Find customers. If you plan to make widgets, go find customers to buy your non-existent widgets at 25% (arbitrary number) off with a delivery date months into the future. If you can sell it, you are proving the concept could be viable. Do not spend the money you get yet. Make sure you can refund it if you can't deliver. If the results suck, kill the idea and move on. Do not keep dreaming about doing it. Let it go.
Only proceed to the next step if pre-sales really convince you the idea is viable (well, market-accepted, at least). I hear rumours that pre-selling stuff you don't own / that doesn't exist is illegal in places in the US. Find out for yourself, but it seems to me that it is just folklore from non-business people. That said, I'm not in the US and have no real idea.
3. Build a team
Make a list of people you'd like on your team, ensuring each one has the skills needed to cover each important area. List multiple names for each job - shoot for really good people first. Don't worry about money yet. Take your concept document and pre-sales records to them, and ask them to sign a letter of interest or something like that - non-binding, they don't have to do anything and won't get sued. Take the letter from the first person, along with the concept plan and the pre-sales record and get the next person to (symbolically, for now) join your team. With the team located, call a meeting, get everyone to meet each other, generate some excitement for the mission ahead. The mission is to plan and start the business.
4. Get your team to write the business plan
Every team member is briefed on the mission and basic strategy which you will design. They are then given the task of working on their own section of the plan, and turning it into a coherent whole.
5. Shop for seed money (optional)
Depending on how much you need, you might need different funding strategies. Leverage your team here. They might have contacts and cash of their own. Raise some seed money from them and their contacts, and bank it.
6. Shop for big money
You now have a concept which has been proven with paid pre-sales, cash in the bank, a good team, and a well-written business plan with 5 or more names of good people listed on the cover. Go see a VC, a bank, hard money lenders, whoever you have to in order to get the right finance for your plan.
7. Execute the plan.
This method has obviously been described in a very simple/brief manner, so don't be a knucklehead and follow it blindly. Use your brains, do your due diligence, and see if it's right for you.
It sure beats the old way: spend months/years writing a bad plan, burn out, never look at it again / get another idea, do that instead.
I was thinking about writing a book on this (real, paper book)
Would you pay $20-$25 retail for a real book (made out of paper, delivered by Amazon) like this that explained this in detail? Remember, it'll be written by a guy who has an MBA from our equivalent of the Ivy League (and one of the top universities in the world), who has written LOADS of business plans, started, operated and sold companies internationally, and who now teaches at the same excellent university (paid, but just for fun)?
If so, what would you like to see in it? (I might make a focus group from some members here who'll get a free copy in exchange for ideas and opinions on the draft).
I have been there, and it took me ten years of doing it before I learned my lesson. I have lost count long ago, but I've probably written 100 or more business plans in one form or another. I was a business idea factory. I'd get an idea, drop the previous one I was working on and start writing another plan.
Here's a method I developed after many years of planning, starting, running, and selling/closing businesses.
1. Write an outline of your business concept/idea.
Nothing big, just a page or two on what activity and related activities will make the business money. If you read and analyse your concept and it seems like it won't work, re-work it or don't proceed to the next step. If you have multiple business ideas, do this for all of them. Read and critically analyse them all, and tear up the seven worst ones. If you can decide on a clear winner, great. If not, you can optionally test all three in the next step (although it's written for one idea - just repeat for three ideas, but don't take your time).
2. Test the concept
Sell your product or service. Find customers. If you plan to make widgets, go find customers to buy your non-existent widgets at 25% (arbitrary number) off with a delivery date months into the future. If you can sell it, you are proving the concept could be viable. Do not spend the money you get yet. Make sure you can refund it if you can't deliver. If the results suck, kill the idea and move on. Do not keep dreaming about doing it. Let it go.
Only proceed to the next step if pre-sales really convince you the idea is viable (well, market-accepted, at least). I hear rumours that pre-selling stuff you don't own / that doesn't exist is illegal in places in the US. Find out for yourself, but it seems to me that it is just folklore from non-business people. That said, I'm not in the US and have no real idea.
3. Build a team
Make a list of people you'd like on your team, ensuring each one has the skills needed to cover each important area. List multiple names for each job - shoot for really good people first. Don't worry about money yet. Take your concept document and pre-sales records to them, and ask them to sign a letter of interest or something like that - non-binding, they don't have to do anything and won't get sued. Take the letter from the first person, along with the concept plan and the pre-sales record and get the next person to (symbolically, for now) join your team. With the team located, call a meeting, get everyone to meet each other, generate some excitement for the mission ahead. The mission is to plan and start the business.
4. Get your team to write the business plan
Every team member is briefed on the mission and basic strategy which you will design. They are then given the task of working on their own section of the plan, and turning it into a coherent whole.
5. Shop for seed money (optional)
Depending on how much you need, you might need different funding strategies. Leverage your team here. They might have contacts and cash of their own. Raise some seed money from them and their contacts, and bank it.
6. Shop for big money
You now have a concept which has been proven with paid pre-sales, cash in the bank, a good team, and a well-written business plan with 5 or more names of good people listed on the cover. Go see a VC, a bank, hard money lenders, whoever you have to in order to get the right finance for your plan.
7. Execute the plan.
This method has obviously been described in a very simple/brief manner, so don't be a knucklehead and follow it blindly. Use your brains, do your due diligence, and see if it's right for you.
It sure beats the old way: spend months/years writing a bad plan, burn out, never look at it again / get another idea, do that instead.
I was thinking about writing a book on this (real, paper book)
Would you pay $20-$25 retail for a real book (made out of paper, delivered by Amazon) like this that explained this in detail? Remember, it'll be written by a guy who has an MBA from our equivalent of the Ivy League (and one of the top universities in the world), who has written LOADS of business plans, started, operated and sold companies internationally, and who now teaches at the same excellent university (paid, but just for fun)?
If so, what would you like to see in it? (I might make a focus group from some members here who'll get a free copy in exchange for ideas and opinions on the draft).
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