I’m all about the business plan, or so I thought until I stumbled upon these shorter, and a heck of a lot easier methods.
Business Model Canvas
Used mostly for quick product turn out, it works great as a summarized business plan.
Business plans are time consuming, not to mention overwhelming, and if you haven’t done one before, make you feel like you’re trying to disarm a bomb that’s about to blow up your business.
Most people have a basic idea of how their business will function, but that’s not always easy to translate into a beast of a document like a business plan. And let’s face it, not all businesses are created equally and fit into the typical business plan.
This method captures the essence of your business in a visual format you can easily update, all on one page, and in a way that’s more detailed than the traditional business plan summary. Now that I’m done raving, let’s get started with how to set one up. First thing you’ll need to do is ask questions about these areas of your business.
Who is my audience(s)?
What products or services will I provide?
What channels will I use to reach my customers
What’s type of relationship do I want to have with my customers
What are your revenue streams
What are your key resources (talent, capital)
Your key activities to create value (marketing, etc.)
Your key partnerships
The cost structure of your business model
You can create one in word or google documents, depending on what format you’re most comfortable with.
If you’re scratching your head because what I mentioned above doesn’t make sense, don’t worry, there are links at the end of the blog post taking you to a magical place with more detailed information, including app options.
Plan on a Page
This seven step plan is also one page. The process is similar to the plan above and asks questions about yourself and your business so that you develop a simple one page action plan to implement and accomplish your goals. The difference is it’s geared around writers.
Wondering what plan I use? The answer is both.
I used the first one to give me an overview of my business CayWriters and the second one for my author career. Knowing me I’ll switch back on forth between them to see what works best, but for now both are a lot simpler than the five page document and process I used to have.
I’ll be blogging more about the journey to form my company CayWriters along with tips I hope will help you. Here’s the first post. Follow my blog if you’d like to learn from my screw-ups experiences.
What do you like or dislike about business plans? Would one of these methods work for you?
Click here for more about the Business Model Canvas
Click here for more about the Plan on a Page
I really appreciate the focused, clear outline in this blog post and can’t wait to follow this series of posts, Elke. I’m especially interested to see if you develop the “key partnerships” question into a blog post… 🙂
What a great body of content you’re providing your readers. Thank you!
(And thanks for linking this post to the October Hump Day Blog Hop. Don’t you just love Wednesdays?)
Cheers!
I prefer blogs that are bullet points, so I figure readers will too.
Key partnerships was an interesting section for sure, Julie.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Julie! I try to make my content useful.
I do love Wednesdays, but I especially love Hump Day Blog Hops. 😉
Great post. I have always been horrible at business plans. I am more a fly by the seat of your pants gal. Was a disaster when I had my shop. I am a bit more organized with my writing, although I am all over the place with blogs and websites. Looking forward to following your posts and finding a better way to do things.
Thanks, Barbara!
Business owners are meant to focus on running the business, not invoicing and other not so fun stuff, but unfortunately most small business owners can’t afford to have someone do it for them.
Hope you find the future posts helpful. Thanks for stopping by!
This is so helpful, Elke! I have a consulting business yet I’ve always thought that creating a business plan must involve some kind of tedious, lengthy process that I had didn’t have the time or energy for! But this is something I can really use. I love that it only has to be one page. Thanks! Off to write out my plan…
That’s great, Patricia!
People start twitching when they hear the words business plan. These simpler methods removes the twitches. 🙂
Good luck with your plan and consulting business!
I don’t have a business brain, but I like the idea of the plan on a page. Good luck with your new venture.
Thanks for stopping by, Sadie.
I’m excited and can’t wait for what happens next!
I don’t have a business or anything official, but it does seem a lot simpler and less intimidating if you need to make one page versus creating a 5 page document business plan. Better be short and concise is what essays have taught me in school.
Good luck with your company 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Winfield.
Yes, short and concise it usually better.
Too many people start a business without a plan and end up making many mistakes along the way. Look forward to reading this series of posts.
Sad but true, Elizabeth. Thanks for stopping by!