I have a friend and business partner who is probably the world’s foremost expert on buying businesses.

Over the past 50 years he has bought somewhere around 200 (he’s lost count) businesses, and still going strong today.

And one of the jokes he likes to make goes something like this:

“There are three things people are afraid of in life: death, taxes and business plans.”

In fact, from his experience, he says the business plan is the most dreaded part of the whole business-buying process.

And yet, it doesn’t have to be.

Here’s why:

While it’s true you do need a business plan if you want to get money from a bank, an investor or any other financing source…writing a business plan really isn’t all that complicated.

In fact, a business plan basically just a sales document with three main components:

1.) How much money you need.

2.) What you need the money for.

3.) How you’re going to pay the money back.

And that’s it.

See?

That’s not so complicated, is it?

All you need to know besides the above is how to structure a business plan (there are books in your local library that can help you with this free), and you’re ready to go.

Bottom line?

Don’t put off buying a business just because you’re afraid to write a business plan or don’t think you can afford to hire someone to do it for you.

If you simply educate yourself on the topic (again, go to any library and learn it free), you will be up and running with your own business in no time.

What do you want your lifewriting business to accomplish in the next 12 months? Take some time right now and plan things out.

You don’t have time, you say. Planning is an indulgence? Think of this parable:

A person is sawing a tree and is obviously harried. A second person approaches and asks, “How long have you been sawing?”

“Oh, all day and I’m exhausted. Look at how much I have left to do!”

The second person suggests, “Your saw is dull. You need to sharpen it.”

The first retorts wearily, “That might be a good idea for some other people, but I just don’t have the time to do that. Don’t you see how much tree I have left to cut! Get real.”

Take the time to sharpen the “saw” of your business life. Make a business plan.

Making (or revising) a business plan need not be arduous. In fact, it can be rather simple and very satisfying. What I am offering here is a do-able process. I call it a business plan but I might also have called it a strategy plan. (What I am suggesting is not formally a business plan but let’s not quibble here. What follows is eminently useful. For more information on formal business plans, visit your local library or bookstore.)

You need to start with a mission statement. A mission statement is a paragraph about what you want to accomplish. Mission statements do not include income considerations. Rather, they contain the reasons you are drawn emotionally to this sort of work as opposed to others. (Why you do the particular work you have chosen rather than some other work.)

The goal of a mission statement is to be lofty, to say what you want to do–as if money were no object.

A mission statement answers the question: Why am I in this business and what do I hope to achieve spiritually and ethically?

A mission statement will enlighten your activities all year long; checking your activities and choices against it regularly will ensure that you stay on the track of what is good for your soul. You will use it to assess the rest of your plan. Mission statements can come easily to lifewriting workshop leaders. We love ideas and we love being of service. The exercise that follows is less in line with our inclinations, but I’ve found it to be the backbone of success.

While we are in this particular business for reasons that have to do with nurturing our souls, we must never forget that we are also trying to support ourselves with this very lifewriting business.

Many people work assiduously, never quite getting on top of things no matter how hard they try. Others seem to succeed more easily. While the reason can sometimes be outside of ourselves, it is frequently inside. The difference may be that some people plan their work and organize their work life in a way that maximizes their success.

OK. Let’s start planning. The first thing to do is to establish the income you want/feel you need to earn yearly from your business. Your work, if it is to be financially rewarding, should be driven by your realistic income goal.

Let’s say, for the sake of this discussion, that you want to derive $50,000 from your effort. Don’t start by filling your schedule with as many workshops and tele-classes as you can get and hope that they will add up to $50,000. Instead, translate $50,000 into the number, the length, and the frequency of workshops you MUST present to earn your income. This will be your OPERATING schedule for the next year.

Your goal is not to be busy. It’s not even to help people, though your mission statement will certainly include that. Your business goal is to be financially rewarded as you do meaningful work.

Here is an example of what you might calculate if your product were a workshop:

1) Say the workshops last 15 hours (five sessions of three hours each).

2) If you attract 12 participants for each workshop (a reasonable, “do-able” number) and they each pay $540 per series (15 hours x $12/hour), you will earn $6,480 per workshop series. (Will you be offering tuition rebates? If so, estimate how much that may come up to and subtract that figure from the $6,480. Offer rebates only as a way to fill your classes at the last minute!)

3) To earn the theoretical $50,000 per year, you will have to deliver 7.7 workshops–ok, let’s go with 8!.

In practical terms, this comes out to 4 workshops in the September-December trimester, 4 in the January-April trimester, and none in the May-August trimester or 3 workshops in the September-December trimester, 3 in the January-April trimester, and 2 in the May-August trimester–or you make your own mix.

Very do-able! I have left out our income and social security tax liability. To figure these out, you can go on the web and get current percentages charged and add the taxable amounts to the income you wish to bring home.

Knowing what you are going to do is not enough. Writing a business plan is a very important tool. There are standard forms for a business plan. It is not always an easy process. You may need help to get all of the information together. There are several online businesses that offer free forms on the internet. Some of these businesses offer a free sample to look at and get ideas for your own business plan. You will have to search carefully to find the free business plans, but they are out there. Many of these companies will fill out the information for you for a small fee. It does not matter if you have a computer at home. You can go to your local library. You will be able to print off the free business plan and then you can get started.

Maybe you do not want to use the free business plans for your beauty salon that are on the internet. You can go to the local college. The business professors there will usually offer small business classes in the evening. Some of these classes will be free. How to write a business plan will be part of the material that is covered in these classes. Your local library is another tool that you can use. There are books there that will show you how to find the information you will need to write your plan. The books will also show you how to put the information together to get the plan written in the correct format. Following the expected format is nearly as important as the overall content of the plan.

When you are writing your business plan it is important to follow the normal steps. There are several categories that have to be in the plan. The business plan is not just a tool to get investors or bank financing. The plan can be used to help you organize your thoughts and make plans for the future of your salon. It will allow you to see how much competition you have. You will know who your suppliers are going to be and how much you are going to charge for your services and products by the time you have completed the plan. It does not matter if you use a free beauty salon business plan or pay for the services of a professional. The business plan is the single most important tool in the financial future of your salon.

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