Business Plan Anxiety Removed

Business plan writing can be extremely frustrating when you are not clear why you should write one and how it should be written. Further, how is it used? This article will cover the essential things you need to know to make the effort worthwhile.

Why write a business plan in the first place? For two primary reasons.

Number one, there is a dual quality nature operating in the material world. Everything has its mate. To be complete the mates must be together operating as one interacting whole. In this case abstract and concrete are the opposite mates. Bring them together and you get action.

The idea for a project, in this case a business, is an abstract thought. The world is not made of thoughts alone. It has material or matter.

The written plan is the matter. When idea and matter come together you get a real world. The big bang effect happens every time you think up an idea and write a plan for it. It's that simple.

This concept is similar to husbands and wives. The two are dual mates, opposites. Married couples are,

More productive,

Generally healthier,

More financially stable,

Live longer, and

Produce offspring. Hope you get the picture.

Secondly, the human mind is an automatic goal seeking mechanism. The mind's nature is to set and pursue goal fulfillment as one of its core functions. Every muscle you voluntarily move is done through goal seeking mechanisms.

An example of the goal seeking mechanism is the left hand automatically moving to support the lead of the right hand (for right handed people). When your mind sets a goal for you to pick up an object the right hand moves with subconscious thought, and the left hand follows on an even deeper subconscious level.

When you set goals your mind goes to work automatically to fulfill those goals. While you are not even aware of what is happening your mind is working systematically to move you to the fulfillment of your goals.

The goals you write out trigger the automatic goal seeking mechanism of the mind. The mind then goes to work moving step by step to reach your set goals.

A written business plan should have stated goals for it to fulfill its purpose. A plan without goals is going nowhere. If you have a destination you get somewhere. The opposite is true in reverse.

The Harvard Business School MBA program of 1979 did a research study on that year's graduating class to see how written goals affected their career success. Members of the class were interviewed at graduation. The results:

13% had goals, but were not in writing;

84% had no specific goals.

Ten years later, the members of the 1979 MBA class were interviewed again. The results:

13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% that had had no goals at all; The 3% that had clearly stated written goals were earning ten times as much as the other 97% combined.

This is an often sited authoritative study on written goals in business schools. While there may be any number of reasons that the 3% with written goals outperformed everyone else in the class, the goal setting dynamics hold true consistently from situation to situation.

So, make a plan and put clearly stated goals in it. Make the goals within reach, but set them so you have to stretch a little. The objective is to grow.

Business plans can be simple or complex. They can be informal or formal.

For most small business people a simple written business plan scratched out on a piece of paper that you can work with as you go along works wonders. The idea is to get something down on paper after some careful thought.

Inverstors or business partners in your business may want a formal, written business plan. This can take a number of forms. For purposes here just know that if you have clear, thought out goals with ways to achieve them that is the starting point of a written plan. People will tell you what else you need in your plan if it is lacking.

A formal business plan can include any number of parts such as,

a strategic plan which lays out your long term vision for your business,

a marketing plan,

a country study for international operations,

research studies, and more.

The overall plan starts with the big, strategic vision you have of your business (a summary). Then the remaining parts summarize how you will get there.

Put a business plan in writing, and go to work. Let nature takes its course.

Click here to return to Home Page after viewing Business Plan page.

A strategic plan is necessary for business growth. Here are some reasons why... please click here. Your marketing plan is the key part of your business plan. Here are some things you should know... please click here.