As Karen Klein states, in her Bloomberg Businessweek write up Building a Better Business Plan, "A business plan serves two purposes: It's an organizing tool... And it's also a document that sells your business idea" (K. Klein).
Klein touches on the two very important points, the first is the most clear to anyone sitting down to make a business plan, and that is you need a plan. The BP acts as a fail safe guide to show you where you are at with your current idea, how well it will stand up in the industry, and what you need to work on to make it successful from day one. The other key point that is sometimes lost while drafting the BP, is that after completed, it is a great way to sell your company and yourself to investors or potential strategic partners. To get a better idea of what we can gain from a great BP we turn to two industry experts to hear what they have to offer op on the subject!
 |
| Image source: http://www.frankfiore.com/ |
Frank Foire is a "best selling author" for his work in non-fiction prints which include the book Write A Business Plan In No Time. "He has a B.A. in Liberal Arts and General Systems Theory from Stockton State College and a Masters Degree in Education at the University of Phoenix." (http://www.frankfiore.com/)
"A business plan also acts as a dry run for your business even before it starts. It's actually a written description of your business' future." - Foire
What Foire is stating here, is that a well thought out and honest BP can show a potential business owner how well they are doing in preparing for the launch of their business, as well as what areas they need to focus on before seriously considering moving forward. As we worked on our business plans for class this week, there where a number of areas that I realized I had taken little to no time to consider and that launch was quite a bit farther off than previously assumed. Although this is technically considered a set back, it is much better to be honest with yourself prior to starting the business than the jump in and realize you need to work out a few kinks.
 |
| Image source: mark-cuban.jpg |
Even with all these major accomplishments, rather than sit back and let his fortune mass up, Mark has developed his own version of a Stimulus Plan which directly relates to the creation and distribution of business plans.
"Rather than trying to be a Venture Capitalist, I was looking for an idea that hopefully could inspire people to create businesses that could quickly become self funding." - Cuban
Essentially Cuban was offering his personal Blog "Blog Maverick" as a place where potential business owners could share their ideas with him in hopes of having him invest in their companies. The only catch that comes along with posting your business plan on an investors site is that now it is out in the public for anyone to try to emulate. This however may have been exactly what Cuban was looking for, yes there is a moral grey area about actively pursuing someone else's idea, however this gives the public that subscribes to Cuban's Blog endless ideas to not only make a life for themselves, but also to boost the economy.
The base of this idea is a well made, well delivered business plan that not only shows a clear outline of how the business is too be run, but also a creative and engaging portrayal of the direction the presenter hopes to go as well as how successful the company potentially can be.
After reading what these successful experts had to say about the importance of a well thought out and honest business plan, it has really changed my out look on my own plan and lead me to address potential flaws within it. Although it is important to be confident in the success of the business, it is also important to understand just how much of a chance you stand regardless of how confident you are.
I hope this has helped you to consider going back, dusting off that old business plan, and giving it another look!
No comments:
Post a Comment