Frequently when a person takes the decision to open a company, launch a new product or enter in a new market, all that his eyes see are opportunities and this is alright. Being able to realize a dream or put an idea forward is something extraordinary and the sense of satisfaction fills the heart. But many people forget to start with a business plan.
It is not easy for most of these entrepreneurs to reason more logically about what can happen if it does not go 100% as expected.
According to CGIA data, unfortunately 1 of 2 startups in Italy closes its doors within 5 years. So, what can be done to not end up in the most unhappy part of this graphic?
Sun Tzu, in the book “The art of war” wrote: “If you know the enemy and yourself, your victory is sure. If you know yourself but not the enemy, your chances of winning and losing are equal. If you do not know the enemy or even yourself, you will succumb to every battle.”
So, knowing yourself and your competitors is the key? There is a lot of information on the Internet, but it is often fragmented. How to choose the ones you really need and how to organize them in a coherent way?
• How the business plan can prevent your startup from failing:
– Organize ideas
The business plan is the best answer for those who want to better understand their current or future business, greatly increasing the probability of being successful. Organizing all the ideas and information before starting the company or at the time of a major change can be tiring or almost impossible without a good model. It would be like building a house without having a plant. You can go up to a certain point, but sooner or later there will be a mess and it will cost a lot, money and time, to solve it.
Perhaps you are thinking: “But then that I am convinced to start my business or to change something in the current one, I also have to spend a lot of money with expensive consultants who will eventually give me a 200 page document to follow, moreover incomprehensible?” The answer is decisively no. Obviously you can do it, but it is not necessary. The company organization must not be something strange or incomprehensible and can even be done by yourself. If an entrepreneur goes on the Internet and tries to write a business plan on his own, it’s something. The important thing is to organize the ideas and be able to identify which action is the most important for creating and growing the business. I’ve never seen a startup entrepreneur have time to do everything he wanted. The key to success is not to do everything you want, but to choose only what you need at your business and do it at the right time, not before.
Therefore, having any business plan is better than nothing. Here too the Italian saying “Piutost’ che nient’ l’è mej piutost” (Rather than nothing, it is better rather). The question is how much time will you have to study and compile your own ideas when there are so many things to do in your business? And even without having someone who can understand you and tell you about others experiences with examples that can be useful to you? This means time and money saved to better face the challenge of putting your dream into practice.
– Simplicity and efficiency
But it is also a duty to say something about what kind of plan you need. A more complex and complete one or a smarter and faster one to fill out and start up. Usually, for those starting a business, the second type. The advantages are obvious: it’s faster to write, costs less and the result comes first. A second but important advantage is that a simpler model allows upgrades in a faster way, because no plan resists 100% in front of reality. There will always be something to fix, maybe a price, a marketing action or even a new market or product.
Then a lean and useful plan will be like a good map with a marked path, but which you can change when the environment is different. Certainly, with so many decisions to make every day, you will not always be one hundred percent sure of the right path, but the important thing is to be sure that the choice is yours and has been taken based on your vision of the market, not by chance. This will be your business strategy.
– Not only for you
So far, we have seen the advantages and the need to have a business plan for yourself, but it will also serve to show others what you are thinking and planned. The others in this case may be investors, banks, partners, but also your family, your friends and who you would like to work with you as partners or employees.
• But what is a Business Plan:
In short, it is a collection of useful information about your potential business. The more visual, the easier it is to be understood. It is better to use diagrams and tables than annoying texts to represent your business.
The typical structure is this:
In the next blog posts, we would see a bit more about any part of a business plan that I hope will be useful for those starting a business or for those who need to improve their current one. Slowly, we would see the whole structure of a business plan, not a complex and beautiful one, but one that it is really useful and can help you make decisions with less anxiety.
Your business plan will always be there to remind you where you can arrive with your business and the way to go, like a true companion, because so many times it happens to the entrepreneur to work in the same routine, day after day, without realizing the threats that can ruin it or opportunities that could make your business grow. Sometimes it’s important to raise your head to understand where you’re going to and if that’s really where you want to go. All this you will write in your business plan. Are you convinced? Then see you in the next post.
And now?
If you came up here, the article probably helped you in some way. Do you have something to add? Would you like to suggest a topic for a future article? Please let me know by writing a comment.
PS: Are you an entrepreneur or an aspiring one? In this site you will find different services that will help you achieve results, including the Business Plan.
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