Writing your Minipreneur Business Plan

Do Not expend effort with the 90+ page traditional plan everyone is used to, but instead write a “One Page Business Plan”.

A Business Plan Is Not Financial Spreadsheets, should not be lengthy and is not full of puffy business jargon.

There are really only five essential elements in a “One Page Business Plan”, so instead of using complex, confusing definitions and diagrams, use the following simple questions to help build your plan.

Vision. What are you building?
Mission. Why does this business exist?
Objectives. What results will you measure?
Strategies. What will make this business successful over time?
Action plans. What are your business-building projects?

YOUR VISION STATEMENT
Your vision statement answers all the “whats” about your business-to be.

To write it, begin thinking about the following questions:
1. What type of company is this?
2. What markets does it serve?
3. What is the geographic scope?
4. What customers will it target?
5. What are the key products and services?
6. What size will the company be in three to five years?
7. What will revenues be?
8. What number of employees do you expect to have eventually?

Your Mission Statement
In about two sentences (less than 20 words), the mission statement should answer the following questions:
1. Why does this business exist?
2. Who are you in service of?
3. Why are you serving this customer?
4. Why is this important, needed, or beneficial?
5. What promise or commitment are you making to your customers?

YOUR OBJECTIVES
Objectives are graph-able business results; they are intended to tell what will be measured. This section will include elements of your overall business model, including your achievable goals and specific targets.

Every objective must be measurable, because only by measuring can you see results. This helps monitor progress, which leads to understanding. Then you can determine what is and what isn’t working in the business.

When thinking about what to include in your objectives, you will want to include things like your sales in units and dollars, gross profit, profit before tax, number of clients or customers, cost per unit (payroll, materials, overhead), number of speaking engagements, etc. Don’t forget to set goals for life balance, like the maximum hours per week you
will work and the number of vacation days you’ll take per year, etc.

Eventually you will have five to eight total objectives. Take five minutes and list five objectives:

Sales: Sell __________ ($ or # of clients) by ________ (date)
Profit: Earn ___________ ($ or % profit) by ________ (date)
Number of clients: ___________ by ________ (date)
Average sale: ___________ by ________ (date)
Marketing: ___________ by ________ (date)
Education: ___________ by ________ (date)
Personal: ___________ by ________ (date)
Attend: ___________ (classes, events, mixers, etc.) by ________ (date)
Do ___________ by ________ (date)
Do ___________ by ________ (date)

YOUR STRATEGIES
Strategies explain how you will build your business and what will make it successful over time. They also describe how you will achieve the goals listed in your objectives. They are the types of things you will do that will produce a desired outcome. They set the direction for your company and answer the question, “How will this business be built?”
Sometimes, they consist of processes or programs you plan to implement, or ideas that provide a special “hook.” They can even set limits on what a company will do or will not do.

Craft a strategy that defines how your company is going to accomplish these critical business activities by filling
in the blanks:

Focus on selling our products/services to __________, __________,and __________.
Make people aware of our products/services by __________,__________, and __________.
Make it easy for people to make their first purchase by __________,__________, and __________.
Make sure our products/services are high quality by __________,__________, and __________.

YOUR ACTION PLANS
Action plans define the business-building work to be done, the specific tasks the business must undertake to implement strategies and to achieve objectives. When devising your action plans, name each task and assign a specific date for completion to help you stay on target.

Ideally you will eventually have about eight action plans. But take five minutes to write only five action plans now:
Do ______________________ by ___________ (date)
Do ______________________ by ___________ (date)
Do ______________________ by ___________ (date)
Do ______________________ by ___________ (date)
Do ______________________ by ___________ (date)

Copy your answers all onto one page, print it and keep it on your wall.

For a much more in-depth discussion of this planning process including a workbook with sample plans, step-by-step instructions,and a CD with templates, purchase a copy of “The One Page Business Plan” by Jim Horan.