Many people struggle with putting what is in their head down on paper. I am currently going through a vigorous business planning exercise. It is keen on exploring the countless thoughts and ideas I have. Many entrepreneurs will relate to the inability to put their dreams, plans, actions, rationale in a way that can be understood by others.
Five things you can do to get started;
- Articulate the vision. What do you see happening with your business? If you own a kindergarten, do you see it becoming a primary or secondary school? Will the kindergarten expand to other towns or markets? Nobody can tell you what vision to have. They can trigger some level of thinking but ultimately, you have to own the vision. Vision can incorporate the values that you want the business to have. The experience or impact you want to see happening. Your vision will scare you because you will not be able to logically see how this will get done. Vision never seems possible, but it is!
- Business rationale: Why does your business actually make sense? What problem exists that you are solving? Why do you expect your business to make money? It could be that there is a higher demand for schools. Maybe a certain target market has not been catered for. This should be put in a way that anybody can understand.
- Goals: Goals are very specific! If you wanted to have your school in multiple cities, the goals should break this down to where and when. For example, ‘open a second kindergarten in Nakuru by June 2019’ or ‘start offering lower primary classes by January 2021’. The vision can be vague at times, but goals are clear on what is going to happen. If your aim is to get to the mountain, there will be specific landmarks, towns even signs. These signs are your goals and the mountain is your vision. Goals will tell you that you are on the right track. Vision is great but our minds need something more tangible to latch on to so that we can be more focused.
- An action plan. Without intentional effort to do something different, you may find yourself in the same boat three years from now. Goals have to be further broken down into activities. We separate the dreamers from those who execute at this stage. To launch the school in Nakuru there are certain things that would need to get done e.g. finding venues, teachers etc. Give each of these actions a deadline. Many entrepreneurs are stuck in survival mode dealing with the usual emergencies that tend to crop up. Your goals will be achieved if there is intentional time spent on doing different activities. Many of these activities may not have results today but in the future. Being clear about what you need to do will help you consciously allocate time to that.
- A financial plan. This is the amount of money you expect to make and how you expect to spend it. People become very unrealistic with this part of the business plan. This is because they want to impress others or convince themselves that they will make loads of money. When doing a financial plan, it is okay to project losses. The financial plan doesn’t need to show increasing profits always. There could be a bad season for instance what many businesses faced during elections. These projections get you thinking about what resources or expenditure you might incur. Planning ahead helps you figure out what to start doing as soon as possible. Remember, you cannot claim to triple revenues without investment in people, systems, marketing etc.
Many entrepreneurs need money, but do not state exactly what they will do with it once they are given the funds. Having a plan provides a basis for what you are asking for and how you intend to pay it back or give a return. It could be money from the bank, relative or an investor. If you want to get into strategic partnerships, you can use this plan. It’s an excellent way to communicate the agenda of the business to your teams. Most importantly, it is a working document for you to keep improving as you learn and discover new things along the way.
Waceke runs programs on Entrepreneurship and Personal Finance Management. Registration is currently open and ongoing through our website centonomy.com For more information get in touch with her through waceken@centonomy.com /Facebook-Waceke Nduati /Tweet @cekenduati