A “professional” is an amateur that didn’t quit. -Me

The ECN’s Sixty-Minute
Business Planning Guide

What is an entrepreneur’s key frustration with business planning…?

It takes too d*mn long!

But…
That’s only true if you take a long time to do it! Some folks manage to create their entire plan at the kitchen table – on a napkin – and their business plan exists in their head for the life of the business. I don’t fully subscribe to the napkin plan, although I’ve used them before and likely will again in the future – nor do I believe a business plan should take forever to complete.

The ECN’s 60-Minute Business Planner is a solution that need not take a lot of time or paper, although it will require some effort! Sometimes it is helpful to just simply bull your way through the process – and come out on the other end with something on paper, something to build on. Those of you just starting out with a new business idea can use this process. It can be equally useful for those of you who are already in business and wish to apply for a loan. It can also be a valuable tool to help a business owner re-center, re-focus, and re-build.

Here is the pathway…

Allow yourself at least one uninterrupted hour. Have your favorite pen or pencil (or your kid’s purple crayon!) and a few pieces of paper handy. Find a comfortable spot where you can think and write without interruption. Stick to this process, and within an hour you should have a simple mini-business plan completed.

The purpose of this activity is to create a written mini-business plan in less than an hour.

Before you launch, here are seven tips to propel you into business planning nirvana:

• Once you have begun, don’t stop until you have finished writing.
• Don’t worry about perfection – that might come later… for you. My own business plans have never reached that threshold of distinction, I doubt yours will either.
• Holes-lead-to-goals! It’s helpful to keep a spare piece of paper handy to write yourself a list of “things to do” for information that doesn’t easily find its way into this writing – and that you don’t want to lose due to a faulty memory.
• Write in the third person – treat the business as separate entity from yourself.
• You might like to write this mini-plan for some point in the future – this allows you some artistic license. For example, you can imagine and write that certain tasks (such as renting an office or doing lease-hold improvements) are already done, providing you intend to have them done by that date.
• Lists, tables and graphs are great tools for communicating – don’t hesitate to use them – if it seems right.
• Keep it simple silly.

So… whaddayathink? Ready to write?

Here is our 8-part ‘mini-business planner’ process:

Sixty-Minute Business Planner, LLC
(write your business name)

Part 1) Identity Statement
Goal: Identify your business.
Answer these questions: What is the name of your company? When did or when will your business start? What is the nature of your business? What is the form or structure of your business? What is your market area? What industry is your business in?

Part 2) Mission Statement
Goal: Develop your mission statement.
Questions: What are the most important attributes of your business?
Suggestions: quality, dependability, cost effectiveness, safety, excellence

Part 3) Description of Products and/or Services
Goal: Describe your key products and services.
Questions: What proprietary features (patents or trademarks) do you hold for your products and services? What are some innovative characteristics of your products and services? What are the benefits and features of your products and services? Who will buy your products and services?

Part 4) Trends and Overall Objectives
Goal: Identify the major trends affecting your industry and your objectives for growing your business.
Questions: What major trends affect your industry? What are your sales projections for year 1, 2 and 3? Where will your business be located in year 1, 2 and 3? What market area will you serve? What new products and services will you add, and when?

Part 5) Competition and Advantages
Goal: Briefly describe your competition and your advantages.
Questions: Who are your main competitors? How many competitors are there? What are your advantages over the competition? How do your prices compare with your competitors?
Key Points: better location, reduced overhead, lower prices, contacts in the industry, proprietary features

Part 6) Qualifications
Goal: Identify your team and describe your qualifications.
Questions: Who owns your company? What is your educational background and work experience? How and why are you qualified to operate this business? What are the qualifications of your staff or team? How will you compensate for your weaknesses?

Part 7) Financial Requirements
Goal: Clearly state your financial request.
Questions: How much money do you need? When do you need the money? Are you approaching other organizations for financing? What type of loan or grant are you seeking? What terms are you requesting or offering?

Part Security
Goal: Clarify what security you will provide.
Questions: What can you offer to the lender or financial institution to reduce their risk? What is your investment in the business?
Key Points: general security agreement, collateral, bonds, shares, debentures, equity, receivables, capital equipment

That’s it! You’ve either just finished a mini-plan, or started on a bigger plan, depending on what you want to do with it. If you have more questions than answers at this stage, that is most likely a good thing.

Remember – it is “what we-don’t-know-we-don’t-know” that is most dangerous to us in business. If you’re discovering “what you-didn’t-know-you-didn’t-know” – the mini-business planner is probably doing what it should do for you.

Next steps might include:

• Complete your list of things to do, while they’re still fresh in your mind
• Prioritize and follow-up on your list of things to do
• You might choose to use this mini-plan as an executive summary and build on each element to develop your detailed business plan

Congratulations! You’ve just done more than most micro-business owners do for their businesses, and for the most part, fail due to lack of planning. The fact that you put something down on paper improves your chances of success by several factors.

If this has spawned within you a ravening desire to create a more detailed business plan, you might like to check out our ‘ECN Business Planning System’, which will be a downloadable item soon.

Or you might just decide to do another mini-plan in a month or two… because it could become habit-forming, once you’ve done it a time or two. I know it was for me… but then, I AM a serial entrepreneur, so it’s no big deal.

Happy planning!