It was Winston Churchill who said,

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail”

I believe he said that during WWII. What was true 70 years ago is true today in many facets. Not the least of all in business.

While life can be fun (to some) without a plan and experiencing the unexpected it is not that way when planning your business. You need to have some idea of what your business is going to be, where you want your business to go, and how you’re going to get there. Granted good businesses start with good ideas but there are may great ideas that have failed because of the lack of business planning and many mediocre ideas that are now successful businesses because of a great plan.

Undoubtedly you have the idea to start your business doing something you are good at, experienced at, and/or passionate about. But that can only get you so far. You need a roadmap to help you with the direction you are to go.

Start simple with your mission statement. This can be a few sentences about why you are doing what you are doing. For example the mission statement for my publishing company started with:

To partner with authors to achieve their dream.

Simple, meaningful, and effective. It conveys in a nutshell what the goal is for my business. It’s the springboard for setting the direction of the business. Once you can sum up your business purpose you can craft the other pieces of your plan.

Some comment elements of a business plan include:

• Executive Summary
• Audience
• Products and Services
• Market and Marketing Strategy
• Management
• Financial plan
• Investment