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:
- it’ll give your guidance to reach milestone in your business
- it’ll keep you on track with new ideas
- it’ll decrease the feeling of you being overwhelmed
- 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