I along with many others will always remember the summer of 2012 for the London Olympic Games, one of the greatest sporting events. As we watched every athlete showcase and excel in their chosen field, I think we all thought to ourselves at one point ‘how can I be the best at what I do?’ World records, thrilling victories, dramatic comebacks made this a very successful Olympics as many athletes made their own dreams come true. We experienced the highs and lows of every athlete’s journey however we forget that for these athletes their journey began many years previous to this event. They all had hopes and dreams but to achieve this they had to implement a plan, a plan for the season ahead and a plan for the future.
No matter if you are an entrepreneur starting a new business or an existing business everyone must set out a plan to achieve certain milestones and to achieve their hopes and dreams! Every business/person can benefit from the process of preparing a plan; a carefully prepared business plan can provide a pathway to profit. Just like an athlete setting out a plan to prepare to participate at an international event, your business plan will serve as a guide during the lifetime of your business. One of the principal reasons for business failure is the lack of business planning – ‘the business that fails to plan, plans to fail!’ Every business needs a business plan, a plan to meet the expected and unexpected opportunities and obstacles the future holds. Preparing a plan is part of the process of preparing for a business and in the case of an athlete preparing for that key sporting event.
Preparing a business plan is an intensely focused activity. It’s an activity that requires critical thinking about your business concept, the business opportunity, the competitive landscape, the keys to success, and the people who will be involved.
Have you asked yourself are you psychologically predisposed to starting a business? What are your chances of success? Is there more to your proposal than a hope of gain? How much effort are you prepared to commit? What resources do you need? How speculative is the activity that you are proposing to undertake?
The answers to these and other questions in the planning process will open your eyes and challenge your assumptions. So, will your Business Plan adequately address all of the issues for the purpose for which it was prepared?
Unlike the Olympic Games which is a seventeen day sports event, you will no doubt want your business to go on indefinitely satisfying customers needs. Therefore you need to understand the industry, the competition and the market in which your business will grow is fundamental to the development of a business plan. A well-thought out marketing plan is a road map for introducing your product or service to your target market and inducing the customers within that market to purchase and use your product or service. The operations plan gives an overview of the flow of the daily activities of the business and the strategies that support them. Its primary purpose is to show that you are focused on the critical operating factors that will make the business a success.
It is the management team and the people that make a business work. You and your team are the ‘glue’ that brings the pieces together into a finely formed, dynamic unit. Without the right people, no unique opportunity will move from concept to reality. In the case of our own Olympic Gold medal winner Katie Taylor, as well as her sheer skill and talent, it was the team behind her that guided her to Olympic glory.
Readers of your business plan will also want to know what you project as the “bottom line.” Therefore the financial plan is a critical section of your business plan because it translates all the other parts of the business (the opportunity, the operating plan, the marketing plan, the management team) into anticipated financial results. It is vitally important to remember that Cash is King!
So is your ‘foundation’ strong enough to build on, to be the best at what you do, to achieve your goals? As Dwight D. Eisenhower once said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensible”.
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