Why do we need to plan? A good business plan will guide your business, help you make informed choices and remain focused.
If you don't know where you're heading, any road will get you there! Start
with a plan.
Why do we need to plan? A good business plan
will guide your business, help you make informed choices and remain focused.
From time to time, most of us face business decisions that can dramatically
alter our direction: do we expand? Move premises? Change our corporate
image? When the 'opportunity of a lifetime' presents itself, it is usually
exciting and needs a quick decision. It is all too easy to get caught
up in the excitement and lose focus on the big picture. Your business
plan will incorporate your short and long-term goals and allow you to
objectively assess whether proposals are consistent with your planned
direction. (For the record, the opportunity of a lifetime invariably pops
up every six months or so if you're looking!)
Getting Started
The most valuable plans are those that you actively
produce, thus ensuring your plan reflects your ideals and visions. If
you have no idea how to begin, then employ a consultant to work side-by-side
with you and one or two of your key personnel. There are self-help books
and computer packages that assist with developing a plan yourself; these
are ideal if you have a reasonable understanding of what you want to achieve
with your plan.
Putting the Plan Together
Your aim is to achieve a valuable and living document.
You will be more likely to use it if you are an integral part of its production.
Be wary of consultants who take your information and produce a plan for
you off-site. You may end up with an impressive looking document that
does not make a lot of sense to you and sits on the shelf untouched and
unutilised. A plan should include the following:
a brief history of your business;
a summary of your goals and objectives, including
your mission or vision statement;
a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
analysis;
a longitudinal plan on how to deal with issues raised
in your SWOT, particularly how you plan to deal with threats and take
advantage of opportunities;
financial forecasts, projected income and expense
budgets; and
an action list - what are you going to do, how are
you to do it and when!
Your business plan needs to be an active document and
you should diarise a schedule to review it periodically. Three months
is a good time for most plans but you may wish to review it sooner if
you have put short-term goals or action plans in place. Your plan is a
powerful document that can assist you in structuring your business the
way you want it. It is well worth the time and effort to develop a good
plan and ensure you use it.
Jayne Arlett has had 15 years' experience
in her own business as well as dealing with the corporate world. She has
studied extensively throughout Australia, England and America. Her expertise
has seen her business, Townsville Podiatry Centre, win numerous awards
including:
Townsville Businesswoman of the Year 1997
North Queensland Business Owner of the Year 1997
(AIM)
Telstra and Queensland Government Small Business
of the Year Queensland 1998
National Finalist - Telstra and Australian Governments
Small Business Owner of the Year 1998
Jayne writes for business journals and
speaks to business groups on management and other business issues. She
is happy to answer questions on specific issues and can be contacted on
(07) 4725 3755 or at sportpod@ultra.net.au
