Amber Dee

If you’re reading this, then I’m more than sure your time is money. As a Womeneur, your life is consumed with your to-do list and you don’t have time to add another long, drawn-out task , so I’ve complied a way for you to create your business plan in 20 minutes or less.

Say, what?! 

Yeap! Gone are the days of hiring someone to write a business plan for you. You can totally do that yourself for the going price of free.

But how can I write a business plan in 20 minutes? 

It can be done and I’m a witness. When you’re first starting out, you need a plan to make it all real instead of being abstract. If you’re serious about starting a business, you’ll need a plan because:

1. it’ll give your guidance to reach milestone in your business
2. it’ll keep you on track with new ideas
3. it’ll decrease the feeling of you being overwhelmed
4. you can clearly track your progress

“ACTION IS THE FOUNDATIONAL KEY TO ALL SUCCESS”

-Pablo Picasso

A traditional business plan will take you longer than 20 minutes. No, I didn’t lie about the 20 minutesbecause you have to start somewhere and this is a good way to get you rolling.

Okay, I know you’re anxious to get started so here’s how it’s done.

CREATE YOUR BUSINESS SUMMARY

Mission Statement – a mission statement is the core purpose and value of your business.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• What does my business offer?
• How is it unique?
• What problem am I solving?
• What’s my responsibility to my customers or clients?
• How will I reach my goal in my daily operation?

 

IDENTIFY YOUR IDEAL CLIENT

Know who you’re selling to and what they want because, of course, your product or service is not for everybody – and it shouldn’t be.

Questions to Ask Yourself: 

• How old is my target market?
• Where is my target market located?
• What is the gender of my target market?
• What is the income of my target market?
• What is my target market relationship status?
• What is the education level of my ideal client?
• What does my target market do for fun?

 

WRITE YOUR GOALS FOR YOUR BUSINESS & BRAND

Yes, you have a ton of goals to but you want to narrow down and focus solely on the message your brand is conveying to your ideal client.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• What pictures will I use?
• What colors will I use and stick to for branding?
• What font will I use?
• What feeling would I like to create for my client/customer?
• What uniqueness will I show from my personality?
• What feeling do I want my client/customer to have?

KNOW YOUR OBJECTIVES

Objectives are short-term goals that can be achieved relatively quick within 6-12 months and can be measured. Ideally, you should start with 5 but for the sake of the 20 minutes, you can start with 3.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• How many subscribers do I want in 6 months?
• How many subscribers do I want in 12 months?
• What is your target engagement rate in 3 months on Instagram?
• How much do you want your website traffic to increase?

 

MAKE A MONETARY GOALS 

This is one you probably already know the answer to which means all you have to do is fill in the blank. If you don’t know, now’s the time to think about it how you will bringing the dough and list it out.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• What products will I offer?
• What services will I offer?
• Will I sell ads?
• Will I offer memberships?
• Will I get involved with sponsorships?

 

COMPOSE A MARKETING STRATEGY 

This is probably the most important aspect of your business. Yes, you may have a great product or service but how will people know about you and all your ahhhh-someness?!

Questions to Ask Yourself:

• How can I grow my email list?
• How can I market offline?
• What social media platforms will I use?
• How much time will I spend a day on social media?
• Will I delegate or run my own marketing?

“SOME PEOPLE DREAM OF SUCCESS WHILE OTHERS WAKE UP AND WORK HARD AT IT. “

– Winston Churchill

Now all you have to do is compile each list to create your business plan.

Ta-da! See, that wasn’t that bad. 

In less than 20 minutes, you have created your first business plan. The idea is you will continue to add to this list which will make it more efficient. Be sure to place your plan in a working document that can be edited and retrieved quickly. For your convenience, I have created a business plan template that you can save to any program.

Remember, to always review and edit this plan to help you stay focused on growing your business. No excuses!

Today is the day! Now get to it!

Until next time….

 

Amber Dee

As an entrepreneur, you may have experienced a block. Maybe writers block, content block, or just a block of your natural creative thought flow. Surprise…you’re not the only one. Believe it or not, most entrepreneurs will experience this “block” at least once during the duration of their business. If this sounds like your current life situation, then this ones for you.

I suggest creating an action plan to get your creative thought process back flowing, now and in the future. The technical name of this action plan is a Creative Action Plan (CAP). Simply put, it’s a checklist or to-do list that you add to and access regularly that contains action steps in areas of your business so that you always have steps you can take to move forward.
First, start by making a list of your goals. You might not no where to start or how to keep the train wheels rolling but I’m sure you know your destination. After you have completed that step and you know where you want to be, decide how you will get there. Here are a few of my goals in my action plan that I refer to keep me going.
T: Think of ways to increase your customers
Do you recall visiting that restaurant that you absolutely loved and the service was great? Or how about that one department store you visited with the rude cashier? These memories are etched in your brain for the simple fact of how each interaction made you feel. Make a list of the things that stood out to you (good and bad) and figure out how you can recreate (or ensure you don’t recreate) that same feeling. Take the restaurant we spoke of earlier, did the waiter/waitress remember you name which made you feel at home? Create that same feeling for your customers. How can you make them feel special?
S: Streamline your process
With running a business as entrepreneur, you have so many processes to keep your business running. Research ways to streamline each step from the smallest to the biggest by writing your typical weekly routine out for each week. Think of streamlining duties such as analytics, customer intake, editing, or data entry. Even streamlining the smallest step can help your business run more efficiently. Locating an assistant, automated system, or just simplifying your steps can help you keep slaying it in your business.
M: Make collaborations
I can’t think of a better way to grow your business than making collaborations. This will keep you visible as well as keeping your to-do list loaded. Write down businesses that you would like to collaborate with and send them a pitch of your interest. Not sure of how to collaborate? Try one of these:

• guest blogging
• interviews
• giveaways
• reviews

There are numerous actions to add to your list to keep your business moving in the right direction. Continue to brainstorm more ideas to add to your CAP to help keep your creative juices flowing but for now, here’s how to take action:

ACTION STEPS:

1. Create a Creative Action Plan (CAP) that includes

a. Identify ways to elicit good feelings from your customers

b. Locate ways to streamline your processes

c. Throw out a pitch for a collaboration
Until next time.
Amber

sheknows.com

Like most of us, working is not an option. You have bills that need to get paid but at the same time, you are passionate about your dreams. I have been there and it’s not an easy task and maintaining balance is not something that’s simply done. It takes planning, organization, and consistency when it comes to working a true 9-5 while building your business on the side. Here are three ways you can still keep your sanity when working your day job while still quickly grow your business.

1. Delegate
We are women and we want to do it all, right?! We know how to run our business. Everything is suppose to look an exact way and no one can do it better than us. Unfortunately, must of us have shaped up this behavior and mindset that we are the modern day SUPER WOMAN and can handle any and everything. Well, I hate to break it to you sister but that’s just not the chase. You trying to do EVERYTHING, can hurt you more than it can help you. With any successful business, there are a team of individuals that play their role to help grow the business. Yes, you can run your social media, manage your website, and send out products or provide service, but something is going to lack which is not good for your or your company.
Start by writing a list of all the things that need to be done and put a star beside the things you could give away for someone else to complete or that you absolutely hate doing. Then seek an assistant that you can have help you grow your business. I know what your thinking, “how am I going to pay someone when I’m still working myself.” Well it’s not as hard as it may seem. A lot of people today are hiring Virtual Assistants (VA) which cut that price in half if you had an in-house employee. During my first month of assistance, I allocated $75 to my assistant budget. The help freed up so much of my time so that I could focus on bigger things to grow my business.

ACTION: Search local VA in your area or check out PeoplePerHour, ODesk, or Freelancer for possible assistants.

2. Gain a Mentor or Coach in that Area
Mentors are great to have when you are in business. This person is like another valuable part of your team that will help you elevate your business. This person has been in the shoes that you are in now and know more about the business than you. Having this person on your team to offer you advice, suggestions, or guidance will help you grow your business quicker than you could without the mentor. Instead of you having to trial-and-error certain programs, software, or systems, this person can help you by past the time and money waster, and lead you straight to the gold.

ACTION: Seek a mentor or coach by getting referrals from friends or family. You can also ask for referrals from your like-minded Facebook groups.

3. Focus on Goal-Oriented Activities
Finally, you must focus only on your goals that’s going to help you be more successful. Hours and hours on social media envying what the other person has is not going to grow your business and should not be on your goals list. Now, some competition can be good to help motivate you to get moving and stay consistent but mundane scrolling is going to get you nowhere. Or even hours of conversation with your BFF, discuss what you seen on social media is nothing going to work either.
From this day forward vow to only do activities that help propel your business to the next level. If you have to question if the activity your involved in is helping your business, chances are it isn’t and you need to move on. If it doesn’t benefit, don’t do it!

ACTION: Write a to-do list. Keep it with you and review it frequently to help you stay on track with your goals!

By implementing these three simple steps, you will be able to have your business on auto-pilot while your at work. The possibilities are endless for you to implement while your still working towards turning in your resignation. Until then, continue to push through and keep your eyes on the prize. Continue to dream BIG and know that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it. Until next time…..