Don’t let these stop you from having a business plan for success!

A recent study of 29,000 business startups noted that 26,000 of them failed. Of those failures, 67% had no written business plan. Think that’s a coincidence?

Here’s the top 10 myths Solo Entrepreneurs often have about business plans-usually, the reasons why they don’t have one. De-bunk the myths, and see how having a business plan for your solo business, can actually be easy and fun–and can jumpstart your success!

1. Myth: I don’t need a business plan–it’s just me!

Starting a business without a plan is like taking a trip in a foreign country without a map. You might have a lot of fun along the way, and meet a lot of friends, but you are likely to end up at a very different place than you originally set out for-and you might have to phone home for funds for your return ticket.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Successful Solo Entrepreneurs know that the exercise of creating a business plan, really helps them think through all the critical aspects of running a business, make better business decisions, and get to profitability sooner.

2. Myth: I have to buy business plan software before I can start.

Business plan software comes in many shapes and sizes, and prices. Many are more geared at small and growing businesses with employees.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Business plan software can be helpful-but it’s not required. Software is more likely to help if you have a more traditional type business, like a restaurant or a typical consulting business.

3. Myth: I need to hire a consultant to write my business plan.

Consultants are an expensive way to have your business plan written.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Your business IS you-and you need to be intimately involved with the creation of your business plan. A better strategy, if you think you need professional help, is to hire a coach or mentor-someone who can guide you in what you need to do, not do it for you.

4. Myth: The business plan templates I’ve seen have all these complex-sounding sections to them-I guess I need all those?

The only time you need to follow a specific outline is if you are looking for funding.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Your business plan needs to answer ten basic questions-that’s it! Don’t make things more complicated than necessary.

5. Myth: My business plan needs to be perfect before I can start my business.

If you wait for everything to be perfectly detailed, you may never start.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: If you have at least a first draft that answers those ten basic questions, you are ready to launch your business! Make your business plan a living, evolving document. In the startup stages, review and update your plan every 2-3 months. As you grow and stabilize, you can slow down the review cycle to every 6-12 months. All business plans should be reviewed and updated at least once a year.

6. Myth: I have to do everything I say I’m going to do in my business plan, or I’m a failure.

Many Solo Entrepreneurs never start because of this myth-which leaves them feeling that the success of their future business suddenly rides on each stroke of the pen or click of the keyboard!

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Think of your business plan as a roadmap for a trip. Expect to take some detours for road construction. Be flexible enough to take some exciting, unplanned side trips. And don’t be surprised if instead of visiting Mount Rushmore, you decide to go to Yellowstone, if that turns out to meet your vacation goals better!

7. Myth: A good business plan has a nice cover, is at least 40 pages long, must be typed and double-spaced…

Business plans intended for investors, such as a bank or venture capitalist, must meet certain requirements that such investors expect.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: As a Solo Entrepreneur, your business plan need only satisfy YOU. It might be scribbled on a napkin, on stickie notes on your wall, or consist of a collage of pictures and captions. It might be all in one document or scattered among several mediums. As long as you know it in your head and heart without having to look at it, and and it is easily accessible to you when you have doubts, that’s all that is necessary.

8. Myth: I don’t need a loan-so I don’t need a business plan.

YOU are the investor in your business-and would you invest in the stock of some company without seeing a prospectus?

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: Seeing your plan in black and white (or color, if you prefer!), can give a whole new view on the financial viability of your business. If “doing the numbers” seems overwhelming, remember you don’t need fancy spreadsheets. Just lay out a budget that shows where all the money is coming from (and going), and have an accountant review it for additional perspective.

9. Myth: My business plan is in my head-that’s good enough.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes can’t remember what I planned yesterday to do tomorrow, if I don’t write it down!

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: There is a real power in writing down your plans. Some schools of thought advocate that the act of writing a plan down triggers our subconscious to start working on how to manifest that plan. And, of course, it’s a lot easier to remember when you have it in front of you. And a lot easier to share and get feedback from your non-mind reading supporters.

10. Myth: Friends and family are the best sources of feedback and advice on my business plan.

If your brother is an accountant and your best friend is a market research expert, then this might be true.

Solo Entrepreneur Reality: As well meaning as our friends and family can often be, they just aren’t the best way to get honest, objective guidance. Instead, seek out folks that have specific knowledge that will help you, are willing to be candid with you, and that have a genuine interest in helping you succeed. A business coach is one resource to consider!

Copyright 2004, Terri Zwierzynski – Accel Innovation, Inc.

Starting your own business can be a rewarding experience. Many individuals attempt to enter the business world every year, and many of these people will fail. However, for those with the passion and determination to succeed, the experience can be a thrill ride that creates a solid income and an investment for the future. Starting a carpet cleaning business is one such venture that can quench the entrepreneurial thirst in many. Starting a carpet cleaning business can be as easy as following these simple tips.

The first thing you need to do when starting any business is to write a business plan. The plan should include your mission statement and your vision of the future. The vision will guide you in your future business decisions and make sure you keep on track to meet your goals. Next, you will need to include your financial statements and break even analysis. This will include things like your balance sheet. Finally, your marketing plan is one of the most important pieces of your business plan. This section will help you to determine how to reach your customers.

One you have your business plan written it is time to determine if you would like to be a franchise of an independent cleaner. Both have there good and bad points. Franchises will cost more to open and operate; however, you will receive training in all aspects of the business. As an independent you will have to learn everything on your own; however, the cost to start up will be lower and you will enjoy more freedom in your decisions.

Next, you will determine a niche. Successful cleaners start by dominating a niche market, then moving on to another. Find a market that is underserved in your area and become an expert. It could be commercial carpet cleaning, high rise apartments, or any number of segments. It is easier to be an expert in one small area rather than spreading yourself thinly over many different markets.

Once you determine your first niche you can further hone your marketing plan. Determine the best ways to get in front of your ideal customer. If it is commercial accounts then you could send letters introducing yourself and offer a free, no obligation quote or blanket the businesses in your area with postcards every two months. For high end residential customers you could offer one free room of cleaning to try your service out. There is any number of marketing ideas for specific segments. The important thing is to try out several ideas on a small scale before launching a large campaign.

For any aspiring entrepreneur, building a successful business plan can seem daunting. Many small businesses ask themselves: Do we really need a plan? Well, if you have a business or want to start a business, you NEED a business plan! “Winging it” never worked for any successful business. Even well-established businesses need a business plan, or need to drastically modify their business plan when the situation changes.

The first step to building your business plan is determining your goals and objectives for your business. Visualize where you want to be a few years from now. Do you want to remain a small business, or are you more adventurous? Also, consider your personal goals and objectives. How much work are you willing to put into your business? Is this a business that will provide a livable income, or more of a hobby? What tasks and jobs are you willing to delegate to your employees?

Second, determine what you bring to the customer. What distinguishes your business from your competitor? You must come up with the key attributes of your business that will draw customers to you again and again. Without proper brand development and recognition, your customers will glaze over your website and you won’t have appropriate levels of business to sustain.

Third, consider your budget. How much money will you need to start up your business? Are you going to take out a business loan, or find investors? Do you want to allow investors in on your important business decisions? Also, consider what happens as your business changes and grows. How are you going to spend income? Are you going to re-invest in your business? Finally, how much income do you need to support your personal lifestyle?

When you have these essential elements, you can consider your business strategy. Basically, this is a plan of how you’re going to market, design, and operate your business. In any business plan, you will usually open with an Executive Summary and Business Description. After that, you get to the “meat” of your plan.

The third section of your business plan is your Marketing section. Consider your target audience and how large your customer base may become. Then, consider how you will reach your market (how feasible it is to actually contact your customer base). Will you use website only? Or perhaps television and paper mediums? This will help define your pricing, distribution, promotion and marketing methods. Once you have this section completed, you can see how you measure up with your competitors. You should aim to outperform and outlast your competitors, and draw their customers to your base.

The next two sections are the overall design and operations plan of your business. How will you design your business’ brand? What are your most visible attributes? Also, how many employees do you want, and how will your business flow? Will you delegate tasks or handle most of it yourself? A lot of this section is highly personal and gives you a chance to show your passion about your product or service.

Finally, you must come back to your finances and determine what is feasible for your business. Also, try to examine what your future financial goals will be as the market changes and your business grows.

With a business plan, you can ensure your business has a solid foundation in reality and what you can feasibly expect from your venture. This is essential to business success and will maximize your profits!

It is an American dream to own a business. But sadly, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, only 1 in 5 businesses is still in business 5 years after it opens.

A business needs a great business plan, but it doesn’t give management enough information to have a successful, profitable business. You dramatically increase your chance of success with a game plan. According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey, over half of the fastest growing firms not only have business plans, but also have separate game plans to keep them focused on what must be done day to day.

A business plan gets you in the game. A game plan keeps you in the game. To use the sports analogy, it’s easy to see how you are going to win the game in from the locker room. Most businesses don’t have a working plan that takes into account what actually happens on the field once play starts.

A business plan is a sales brochure and a game plan is an instruction manual. You send a business plan to potential investors and others to excite them about the business. A business plan is about strategy. You create a business plan at a management meeting. A game plan is about tactics and is created by and for the people on the front lines. A game plan talks openly about the good, the bad, and the ugly in the business and is used by people in the business to make decisions every day. It talks about what to do in a crisis.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

The CEO takes a look at his balance sheet and decides that his company has too much of its cash tied up in inventory, so he gets his managers together and creates a new corporate objective for the year – to reduce inventory by 25%. If they do that they will all be entitled to a bonus. The managers aren’t stupid – they know the only way to reduce inventory is to sell what they can and not replace it. So they put on a special promotion for their hottest selling items, they reduce the inventory of those to almost nothing, and they get their bonus. But what has really happened here. The CEO’s company is now left with the inventory of the items that weren’t selling, and they don’t have adequate inventory of their best selling items. The CEO didn’t really lead, the employees cared more about their bonuses than doing what was right for the company, and there wasn’t a plan of action that was tied into a meaningful company objective.

A game plan focuses on these things: creating big goals that matter, giving individual employees responsibility to carry out their portion of those goals, creating a budget and a reward system that supports the goals, and tools to allow employees to measure their own progress.

Steps in the Game Plan Process

The game plan requires a series of steps, beginning with the CEO getting in touch with his or her desires for the business. Then, the management team must delve into what is real for the business today – understanding the business model (how the company makes money), having a handle on what is happening in the market, and finally, knowing what is happening in the company culture. With all this background work done, the actual creation of the game plan begins. At best, it is a facilitated process of discussions matching what is real today with what is possible tomorrow, in the long run and in the short run.

A game plan only looks out a year at most, but within the context of a much longer period of time. The company might decide where they want to be in five years – the game plan is just the next series of steps toward that longer-term goal. There is no point in setting objectives for which there aren’t adequate resources, so objectives and budget are discussed in tandem. Another challenge of the game planning process is to define success for each objective and decide how it will be measured.

This is a time for healthy argument as sales wants more resources to increase revenue, product development wants more of the objectives to be toward R&D for the company’s future, and the operations manager wants more staff to improve quality. This is also the time for managers to consider the implications for all the decisions. And it is the time for the CEO to create a connection between the objectives and each of the managers so that there is personal commitment to the success of the company. If managers are not committed, they will never be able to expect commitment from other employees.

Turning Objectives Into Actions

When the company objectives and budget are ironed out, about half the work is done. A second series of steps takes the objectives set at a corporate level, and creates specific action items for each employee that support the department and then company objectives. Just as the CEO and the managers hashed out the process of give and take between what is today and where they would like to be tomorrow, each manager must go through the same process with the departments’ employees. Each employee must have a series of actions, but most importantly, each employee should know where they stand at any time they wish to check.

For instance, if the objectives for a customer service employee are to keep call length to an average of 2 minutes, have sales of an average of $50 per customer who calls, and to return all calls within 24 hours, then you want that employee to be able to find the measurements for those objectives as often as he or she wishes. The goal is for the employee to have access to just as much information about his or her performance as the manager. An employee who can assess his or her own progress real-time will correct performance deficiencies without a manager’s insistence.

The Plan Isn’t a Secret

The final piece is constant communication about the plan and the company’s progress to the employees. The game plan is not only communicated initially, it must be kept alive throughout the year with meetings focused on measuring progress toward the goals. Successes should be celebrated frequently.

In my own company, we used something we called a Game Plan Circle to illustrate our plan each year. It was a six-foot circle with our vision in the middle that radiated out to cover company objectives, department and individual objectives. It served as a visual we could refer to in meetings to keep us on track.

The Bottom Line

Don’t let your business become another failure statistic. A business plan is a great first step in starting or fundamentally changing a business. The next step is a game plan – a translation of that business plan to each employee’s actions every day.

Once you have completed your research and made your business decisions, it’s time to write out your business pan.

First, go to http://www.microsoft.com and download one of their free business plan templates. After opening it, delete any section you will not be using.

By keeping only the parts you will need, you cut down on the amount of work deeded.

How through you are at writing your business plan depends on who’s going to see it? Will you be looking for a venture capital firm to invest in your business?

If so, then your plan will have to go deeper into details. If not then you can get by with a much simplified approach.

Use a professional writer to develop your business plan if you intend to seek financial assistance.

What goes into the plan? All of the information we’ve been collecting since we started our research.

Here’re the sections I suggest you have in your business plan:

1. Title Page

Just provide your basic contact details and the name of your business.

2. Table of Contents

List just the first page of every section.

3. Executive Summary

This section is where you give a high level overview of your business concept and strategy.

4. Vision Statement

Your vision statement should give details on the following:

a. Competition

b. Description of Products and Services

c. Pricing

5. Operational Plan

Your operational plan describes how you plan to run your business. Include information on all of the following:

a. Management

b. Employees

c. Policies and Procedures

6. Marketing Plan

In the marketing plan section you will outline your overall market strategy and how it will help your business.

Outline, at least, the following:

a. Financial expenditures for marketing

b. Marketing Vehicles to be used

7. Startup and Capitalization Expenses

Detail all startup and operating cost for the first year of business.

8. Financial Plan

Describes the financial health of your new company and how you plan to maintain and grow your revenues.

You will have to complete your marketing plan to finish the business plan, because the marketing plan is a critical step.

Implementing an effective marketing plan is critical to the success of your business. Make sure you do not skip this step!

A business plan is nothing more than a method to ensure you cover as many areas as possible. Not every plan needs to be fifty pages long.

If a simple plan serves your needs then use a simple plan. Starting a business isn’t rocket science; instead it’s mostly common sense.