I was listening to a sales podcast called Young Hustlers this morning and the host talked about the different plans you need in life. Inspired by his message, I wanted to add-on to what he was saying and publish this article.
I believe a great business plan (even if it’s only 2 or 3 pages) can offer what an entrepreneur needs most – CLARITY. When we are clear about the direction of our business, we’re able to attract great team members, advisors, capital, and sales.
Every entrepreneur needs to write 4 plans – in this order:
- Life Plan - Before writing a great business plan, we must write our own life plan. What do we want to achieve in life? Do we want to change the world like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs? Do we want to impact our community? Help underprivileged children learn STEM? Create generational wealth for our kids? Retire at age 50 with $10 million in the bank and $1 million per year in passive income? What’s your life plan?
If you want to retire with a big pot of money, then you may want to start a business that you can sell. If you are focused on service to others, you may want a social enterprise that allows you to be profitable while giving back.
You can never start your business plan without knowing your life plan. And it’s important for all of us to remember that our life plan must include a selfish component. We cannot feed others if we are starving ourselves. It’s much easier to start a charity when you are able to donate the first $1 million to it.
I encourage everyone to write your life plan first.
Business Plan – The second plan you should write is your business plan…even if it’s only 2-3 pages. Some questions you’ll want to answer include:
a. What product or service are you offering? What’s your revenue model?
b. Why is it special? Why should someone choose your offering over your competitors?
c. Who’s your target market? Who’s most likely to buy quickly? Who are the whales in your industry that you’d love to sell.
d. What’s the market size?
e. How many customers do you want to serve annually?
f. How will you get and keep (attract and retain) customers?
g. Who do you need on your team to succeed? (Employees, advisors, board members, independent contractors)
h. What is your financial forecast for the year? How much will you make in revenues? What will your expenses be?Sales Plan – A sales plan is simply an activity plan. What will you do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in order to reach your sales goals? For example, let’s say you sell machinery to manufacturers. In your sales plan, you will outline which companies you have the highest probability of selling, identify the Operations and Finance directors, write scripts in order to get a meeting, create your presentation for these professionals, create a follow up plan, and create a service plan once you get their business. The best sales plan can then be placed into a CRM and put on auto-pilot.
Day Plan – Once your sales plan is in your CRM, you review what needs to be done that day. Brian Tracy wrote a great book called “Eat the Frog” and for many of us, making sales calls is the hardest thing to do. However, it’s essential if we want to grow our small businesses.
I heard a woman named Richelle Shaw say that she would create her To Do list daily and then circle all money making activities in green. Those were the tasks she’d do first. I used to create a Top 3 list – what are the top 3 things I had to do that day in order to be successful. My business did well when at least 2 of those items were money making activities.
Your daily plans should ultimately help you achieve the goals within your life plan. I ask myself everyday if my activities are leading me to my financial freedom goals. If they don’t, I work hard to correct myself.
Business plans and sales plans are the hardest plan to write. I suggest you either hire a professional to work with you or take time away from the office to write them. These plans can accelerate your progress and help you move farther faster.
Cheree Warrick is a business plan writer that helps entrepreneurs receive bank loans, angel investment, government certifications, immigrant visas, and more. Contact her at wewritebusinessplans.com or call 703-934-4630.