As you begin to make decisions about becoming an entrepreneur, you will want to think about setting the goals that will help sustain your drive and vision. Remember, a lot of successful businessmen do not remain stagnant. In fact starting up and running a business involves continuous learning. A lot of this learning occurs from mistakes that you will make along the way and some mistakes you will inadvertently repeat. Other lessons are learned from interactions you have with friends, fellow business owners and customers.

Some of the goals you may set for yourself and your business may involve how much money you’ll earn as the owner and how much money your company will make every year. You’ll also want to set the number of hours you will work each week and how many hours should be spent uninterrupted with your family. You’ll also want to forecast how many employees you’ll have, the number of customers you’ll do business with in your first years and the speed at which your company can comfortably grow. It will also be nice to set your age when you will retire to your very own island.

Writing your goals on paper actually helps you reach these goals. Once they are written down, you can always refer to them on a regular basis to help you keep track of your own program or change them as the situation calls for it. It also helps your staff stay focused on the truly important things for your company. As you begin your life as a businessman, writing down your goals becomes a top priority.

As you start setting goals, you will have to be as specific as possible. A lot of people simply want “a decent living”, but this is too vague. Instead, write down the exact amount you want to take in profits from your first and second years in business. The more specific you are, the easier it will become to design a plan that reaches these goals. For example, you can plan several ways to earn $50,000. You can now calculate the number of customers you will need to buy from you as well is how many employees you’ll need to hire to make the number of products you need to sell.

But what does it mean if you don’t meet the goal? That will depend on how much you’re off. If you exceed your goals, congratulate yourself. If you are a little behind profits before tax, then at least you still took home some money and you are doing something on the right path. Check your goals, set the next ones and move on. However, if after a year you’re in more debt than when you started out, it may be time to reassess your goals or even consider going back to your day job.

Many people start with a goal that is realistic and then they work backwards. They develop smaller goals along the way that helps them reach their target. It always helps to keep your feet on the ground. Be as realistic as possible when you set your business goals – write down the exact amounts in terms of profits, taxes, salaries and perks to get a near-accurate picture of what you’re dealing with. Be as optimistic as you can or you might get discouraged if you don’t reach most of your goals. It is always safer to set goals that you can win.

Having a good small business plan will ensure that your journey to success is much smoother. All successful business owners know that having an organized, well thought plan is essential to see the results they expect. Even if the business plan doesn’t give the results that you would have thought in the beginning, you can tweak and change different areas of your process to perfect it.

I thought I would go through a step by step guide to what you need for an effective small business plan. Many people try and start a business without any true expectations for the future other then ‘oh this is going to work’. You have to know exactly what “should” happen so that the surprises are less. In most cases surprises in business aren’t positive.

You must have a plan for many different areas of starting a small business. How are you going to fund the start up fees? How do you expect to sell your product/service? How do you expect to pay your employees? How are you going to promote your company effectively? Most importantly and what most business owners don’t think about is where do you want your business to be in 5…10…20 years?

Creating the right small business plan is all about creating effective systems. A system is something that you can use over and over again in different situations to receive expected results. You at least have some idea of what’s going to happen if you have the right systems in place.

The first step to your business plan is knowing exactly how much money it’s going to take to start your company. None of this has to be a professionally written up small business plan that costs thousands and thousands of dollars hiring an “expert”. Take out a piece of paper and write down your plan. The main thing is that you know exactly how you are going to fulfill your dream of being a successful small business owner.

So what are your opening expenses? Here are some questions you need to answer to find out your estimated dollar amount:

How much money does your product or service cost you? How much money will you charge for your service/product? How much money do you require to live for two years with no profit coming in from your business (safety precaution)? How much will it cost for your employees for 2 years? What are your legal fees? What are your CPA fees? How much will getting a physical location cost you (if needed)?

Every business is going to be different so think about anything that you need to spend money on to get it running. The next step you must consider is how are you going to get this start up money. Are you going to go to a bank for a loan? Are you considering finding a partner that can cover the costs with the agreement you can buy out the company later down the road? Do you want to talk with a wealthy family member about your business? Anyway you choose to get the money doesn’t matter.

Having a thorough small business plan is going to help you get that start up money though. As long as you can show the lenders how you plan on getting a return on their investment, you will be set. It doesn’t matter if you have horrible credit or don’t know anybody that will lend you large amounts of money. You can always find a way. Think outside the box!

Alright the next step should be the simplest for you. You want to write down your complete sales funnel for how you plan to sell your product or service. Go through every step you expect a customer to go through to reach your bank account. What are you selling exactly? How are you packaging the items? Are you providing multiple services and products? What do you expect to be your number one seller? What’s your specialty?

Once you have all these areas done, you have to know how you are going to promote your business and keep the business coming in. This seems to be the biggest problem most business owners have. You know everything there is to know about your products/services, but you know nothing about marketing. That’s expected too. Marketing is an expertise in itself.

If you’ve read much of my blog, you know how I preach about smart marketing. Smart marketing is all about spending your hard earned dollar and getting more then you spent in return. In other words, big return on investment (ROI). Every market will be different and different marketing tactics will work in each of them. You have a huge list of options too.

Newspapers, Yellow Pages, Radio, Television Ads Fliers, postcards, promotion coupons Referral programs Internet marketing Email marketing Holding seminars and special events Business to business referral programs

These are just to name a few of the options you have. You can never go wrong working with other local businesses. It’s beneficial for both businesses and can be something that explodes your business quickly. It should definitely be part of every small business plan.

No matter which direction you take your marketing in, remember to always be able to track your marketing method. You always want to know how effective each method is for your business. Don’t spray and pray! In other words, don’t just buy what that marketing salesman is selling you if they can’t show you how many customers you are getting in return.

Creating your small business plan with all of these areas covered is a great start to having a successful business. You can go in deeper and deeper to have an even more effective plan and you should, but this is a great start for anyone. Once you have the plan, you just have to follow it step by step. It makes your job so much easier. You have too much to worry about already. There is no reason to have to constantly be wondering…’what am I going to do now?’ You need to know what you’re doing beforehand.

Many women are so confused by the words – “Business Plan”. What is it? Who do I show it to? Do I really need it? What is it really going to do for me?

A business plan is a written blueprint for your business. It describes a summary of what your business is about and it’s goals. It also outlines how your business will function. The term “business plan” was first developed by bankers who wanted a detailed report of how a business would result in profits before they would make a decision on lending money. Today, no business banker will even entertain a business loan application without a business plan.

In a nutshell, the answer is yes, you really do need a business plan if you really want to build a solid foundation under your home-based business.

I guess the reason so many women procrastinate in doing a business plan is because they think they have to come up with some imaginary figures and statistics about their business which is of course very scary for anyone. This type of plan is known as an Executive Business Plan. This plan is shown to banks, SBA and other lenders who you may apply to for a substantial loan. Usually, this type of business plan must show a 3-5 year projection of how much money your business would make if they should lend you a specific sum of money. Although you will need this type of business plan should you wish to expand your business, the most important thing for you to know now is where you will be in the next 3,6,9 and 12 months. One of the best form of business plans to start out with is the “Working Business Plan”. This plan answers the 5 “W’s” – Who, What, Where, When and Why.

There is no pre-required length that a Working Business Plan should be. Just remember that you aren’t writing to impress, you are writing to address the important issues of starting your business. This plan is just for your planning purposes and can be expanded later on into a full executive plan. The following outline will help you in processing your thoughts and writing your Working Business Plan.

1. Mission Statement – What is the goal of your business. What purpose does it serve.

2. Objective – What will the outcome be for your business as a result of your mission. (ex: K.G. enterprises will gross over $50,000 it’s first year with a 5% error margin on its documents).

3. Management – Who will run the business and what qualifications does the person have. What additional skills or resources are needed? What are the names of others that might be able to serve as mentors or help you in grooming your business for success?

4. Service/Product – What products or services are being offered? How will they be produced. If you are selling a product, how much of the product will you need in stock? Do you have the start-up capital needed to purchase the produce? If no, how will you raise the capital needed?

5. Customers – Who are your customers? What area are they in? Is this a service or product they will want to buy? Do a typical profile of a repeat customer. 6. Competition – Who are your competitors? Where are they located? What are their prices? What services or products do they sell? How could you do better?

7. Marketing – How will you market your business? How much money will you need to market your business? How is your competition marketing their business? Do you need business cards, brochure, stationery, fliers etc.?

8. Office Set-up – What are your daily office procedures, what will you do each day that will result in the sale of your service or product? What bookkeeping system will you use and how often will you input your information in the system? Do you need a bookkeeper? What supplies do you need? What type of furniture do you need? What office equipment will you need? Where will your office be?

9. Finances – HOW MUCH MONEY WILL YOU NEED FOR THE FOLLOWING?

$ Your Income

$ Advertising/Promotion

$ Bank Fees

$ Business Insurance

$ Business Lease/Rent

$ Internet (include website, hosting etc.)

$ Supplies

$ Postage

$ Printing

$ Telephone

$ Training

$ Utilities

$ Marketing/Advertising

$ Equipment

$ Furniture

10. Networking – Who needs to know about your new venture and why? What contacts do you need to have? Why do you need to know them? What can they help you with?

Contact Management

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week.

Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week. Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

11. Sales – The number of clients you service or products you sale will give you a true picture as to whether or not you are having success with your business. But first, you must have a measurable sales goal in achieving this success. Start by evaluating where you want to be in sales for the first 3 months, 6, months, 9 months or one year. By doing this you will be able to re-evaluate your business plan every three months and determine if you need to improve in marketing etc.

12. Starting Date – Set a starting date for when you want to begin your business or put into place this working business plan. Make sure you have printed material available for all services or products offered. Also evaluate and follow-up with yourself daily for the first month to ensure that you are following your own plan. After 30 days, follow-up on a weekly basis and then monthly from that point on.

13. Remember, no plan will work unless you are willing to put it into action!

The reason why most of us make it in business is because of our unique positive ways of thinking. We hold certain characteristics that are important in day to day running of our business. We have brilliant ideas that we believe in and we are able to use these ideas to the benefit of our companies. These ideas will not always work, if we do not take time to put then on paper. This calls for us to develop business plans that spell the way forward for our businesses.

A workable business plan is often referred to as a call to be faithful physically, legally and morally to your business venture. It will help you give effective response to emergencies, faster and timely delivery of service, while your business is growing. There are different types of business plans and all of them are purely dependent on the kind of service that you give to your clients.

Your business plan should contain the objectives of your business entity and how you intend to achieve them. You should state how much money you will be required to raise and how you intend to source for it. Lay out the description of your services and the strategies you intend to use to achieve your goals. In a nutshell, dream up what you intend to do, put it on paper and then develop a strategy on how you can make it real.

If you are not able to write up a business plan, it would be prudent if you involve the services of an expert to help you draft a skeleton draft so that you can fill in the flesh yourself. It would also be wise to include a development plan, so that you can gauge excesses in your expenditure.

Do you know why there so many different types of cars and trucks. There are so many types of people in this world. A farmer may be need a truck rather than sports car. A single person may not need a van. There many car and trucks available in the markets. They fulfill all their costumer needs. But they have the same mission. Their mission is the get from Point A to Point B. It will take you where you want to be.

Same with business plan, your just want to get to Point B. There many different type of business that can get you to point B. So must you must improve your business to get you goal. Business plan will determine you progress. Without a plan, your business just like a blind person who didn’t know where to go and where are you at.

Focus on where you want to be rather that what should be your business vehicle. But you must consider to most efficient business that available. The choice is yours, you can have a cheap business vehicle that took you years to arrive at you goal or you may want to use a bit amount of money to guarantee your goal in a much shorter time.

Write your business plan now do not delay more time. Write it specifically, how much money you want, when you want it, who you need to help you, what you need to help you. Write everything that comes through your mind then make a decision what is important to do right away. Place you plan where you can read it everyday