At the very beginning of your new business you had to create a business plan to show off to the bank or investors to prove that you could maintain an income stream that would pay the bills. The question is have you kept your information up to date since then? I guess the real question is did you even create a business plan to begin with? When I first began in business this was probably my biggest challenge, which was keeping things organized and putting my business plan together. To help you I have devised a 5 step plan to helping you get on your way.

First step, brainstorm and map out all of your thoughts by using mind mapping software. A software called Free Mind works very well, but there is also MindMapper which also works well. Mind Mapping will open up your eyes to more opportunities and will allow you to move your thoughts around very easily. You can even set alarms of when you want to work on a particular item. As time progresses you can continue to branch off of your mind map.

Second Step, get a large binder with portfolio dividers to place everything about your business in. This will help you get organized so you don’t have to worry about digging for all of your content while trying to find information for your business plan. In this binder you can place your registration of your corporation, banking records, professional service contacts, etc. 

Third Step, check out the book Small Business Kit for Dummies this book has a template for small business plans as well as template tax forms. The book also includes employee handbooks, management guides, forms for issuing stock, etc. This book is extremely helpful and can give you a nice overall look of what is to be expected when you are starting a business.

Fourth Step, check out the market for your business at sites like Hoovers.com or the Harvard Business Review. Hoovers.com will tell you revenue streams of some of your competitors and where they dominate the market. The Harvard Business Review gives a pretty good look at case studies of businesses in certain industries. 

Fifth Step, write out your rough draft in full detail to the best of your ability after gathering your information from your mind map and business binder. Having your binder together and mind map should help you move through the business plan swiftly. Once you have your plan written up take it to your local small business development office to review your plan and modify any changes that need to be made. Don’t be afraid to have a few of your colleagues or mentors review the plan as well. This maybe a step that will be done over a few times.

Putting together a business plan can be difficult, but following these five steps should help ease the process. Having a business plan is not only good to help you get financial backing, but also to set a course of action for the future of your business. The key to starting any business is to stay focused, write your plans, and keep an optimistic mind. I wish you the best of luck and if you have more things to add to these 5 steps please let me know.

Tags: Business Plan, Harvard Business Review, Hoovers.com, Mind Mapping, small business

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 11:18 pm and is filed under Management, Startup, Team Building, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.