When I started my first couple of businesses, I was definitely not as business savvy as I am today. I actually started out as a Tekkie, building out website platforms to offer services I thought people would find useful.
I was so naive that I even did all that without any serious business model. Oh! Those naive days!
As a Tekkie, the one thing I despised so much was the conventional idea that I needed to prepare a business plan for my work. It looked like a silly thing to do, foolishness of the highest order. I wanted to invent cool web services and get investors hand me millions of US Dollars, just like I read everyday on TechCrunch.
I thought Business plans are foolish, dumb and not useful because as you may or may not know… most business plans never work out in real life.
In fact, very few business plans and business models survive intact after you go to the market.
So, from my point of view, I felt business plan was a waste of time, the 2 weeks I would invest into making a decent business plan is better spent programming or marketing for customers…
Just like you, I was carried away and genuinely thought that my passion and optimism are enough to build a successful company. I just wanted to get to work and start building up something worthwhile.
I was wrong.
When a mentor FORCED me to write up a business plan, that was the first time I had to ask myself a lot of tough questions I had been avoiding and also got me asking the right questions about the business aspect of my work for the first time.
Writing the business plan was transformative for me.
The business plan I produced was not implemented blow-by-blow, of course. Like I said… business plans are next to useless in the real marketplace. However, writing a business plan forces you to think through your business and further develop your business structure.
I am challenging you to write a business plan for your company today. If you have written one before, revise it and update it accordingly.
I also recommend that you do it yourself, do not hire a third party to do it for you, your business is your baby and you need to begin to obsess over your business and take charge of it. If you cannot write it yourself, you can work closely with someone to get it done for you. When I am tasked with preparing business plans for a client, I always make it a point of duty to ensure that I really involve them in the process.
The finished work; the final business plan should contain the intellectual output of the business owner/visionary.
Writing a business plan does 3 key things for you.
It brings clarity. A business plan defines what a business is and where it is headed, this along makes it super easy to take key decisions about the business in the future.
Business plans makes it easier to attract financing. No investor in her right senses will give you 1 kobo without asking for your business plan. The plan might not work, but it shows them that you are disciplined enough to have one and that you have spent quality time to think about what you are doing.
Business plans also helps to communicate more effectively and develop action plans.
The pros of having a plan outweighs the cons.
The business plan is important.
