importance of business plan

Many small business owners don't feel they need a business plan,
that's only for large companies. They then work hard and wonder
why they aren't making more money. Although there are lots of
reasons a company struggles, the lack of a business plan is one. A
business plan enables the owner to check the overall health of her
company and then adjust accordingly. If you don't know what a
healthy company looks like how do you know if yours is sick? A
business plan is a map to success, it guides the business owner to
the next level of business as she works toward her long term goals.
Without a plan it is easy to get lost on a tangent working hard but not
bringing in any money.

You don't need a business degree to create a business plan. Drag
out the white board, pads of paper and ask a mentor or other support
people to come and brainstorm with you. Take a day to organize the
new ideas into a written comprehensive goal plan. After this you will
need to do some research and answer some basic questions like,
what is your core business or what makes you money? Who is your
competition? What are they doing different from you? Are they
successful and why? What is the economic outlook for the area?
How can you benefit from it? Who is your target market? Where is
your target market? Along with many other questions that will
provide you with a comprehensive view of your market, past, present
and future. Add in a marketing plan and financial reports so you can
assess present health and compare it to the ultimate health of your
company and you have a comprehensive business plan.

There are lots of resources available to the business owner to help
them succeed. There are internet sites which provide business plan
outlines & examples, see below for links. There are professional
business development specialists that will help ask the right
questions and then help to find appropriate solutions. There are how
to books in both the library and book stores. The Canadian
Governments have set up organizations to help small businesses. It
will take either time or money but will be worth it in the end, provided
you continue to assess the health of your company against the plan.

The only difference between a large company and a small company
is economy of scale. The day to day operations are similar and both
need to bring in more money than they pay out. To be successful a
small business owner needs to think like a big executive and
understand their market, know where they want to be and how to get
there. The small company has an advantage over the large one
though, flexibility. A small company can adjust as economies change
rapidly where a large company has bureaucracy. However, the small
business owner needs to understand her market so she can adjust
accordingly or else go down with the ship.