ExecutiveChronicles | The Brief Guide That Makes Writing the Best Business Plan Simple | Business ownership is no joke, and if you’re entering it for the first time, you need to be prepared with a plan. There’s a reason that 90% of startups fail, and it usually comes down to poor planning.
Luckily, there are steps you can take to minimize your risk of failure, and it starts with a great business plan. Let’s talk about what you need to incorporate in the best business plan in 2021.
Clear Objectives
Yes, your objective is to make money. Let’s be more specific.
What are your strategies for achieving them and what goals do you have for each? Apply this thinking to your financial management, marketing strategy, and more. Crunch the numbers and give exact figures that you want to exceed in order to keep the business healthy.
Expense Tracking
Before you even get started with initial funds or revenue, you want to have a plan in place for monitoring your funds. Are you going to hire a bookkeeper or do it all yourself?
There are plenty of apps available to track your business expenses and revenue, so use one at the bare minimum. You need to know where your money is going and keep as tight of a budget as possible at the beginning. You have no idea what kind of expenses could come up next week or next month. For professional help in financial planning, you can also hire fractional cfos.
Funding
Every business needs capital, so you need to plan out how you’re going to get that funding. Are you going to use crowdsourcing, investments, your own cash, or a business loan?
There are benefits and risks to all of these, and investors will take away your equity and require larger payouts later on. If you’re looking into funding options, we recommend getting a business loan first to see what you can get.
If you can get lower interest rates, you’ll simply have to pay back your loan with a little extra instead of sharing the company’s success, years down the road.
Marketing
How are you going to generate revenue if people don’t know you exist? Your loan or investment funding will only last you for a short period, and it’s probably shorter than you think.
Ideally, you want to spend around 8% of your budget on marketing as a small business, and maybe into the double digits at the beginning of the game. Poor marketing is one of the biggest reasons that startups fail.
Also, diversify your marketing strategies and use free tools to your advantage. You should be trying social media, SEO, PPC ad campaigns, email marketing, and more. Get a solid website up and running and try to direct people there as soon as possible.
Follow Through!
Now that you know what to focus on for the best business plan, start your business journey off the right way and try your best to stay afloat. Remember, a plan doesn’t work if you don’t follow through on it. We know it isn’t easy, so stay up to date with our latest business news and reach out for help when you need it!
