What is the true meaning of these things? I asked myself several times what importance they had in the world of the living. Every experienced business person I knew at the point when I was venturing into business asked me if I had one and I always mumbled a shoddy excuse in the hopes that they would forget about it and listen to the brilliance of the latest idea I had. I had so many, I thought they definitely meant I would succeed in implementing and growing filthy rich from at least one of them.
I was wrong.
Business ideas are in plenty. I dare say that there are probably more business ideas than there are people on the planet. If a survey was conducted, the results would surprise many people because of how they think they have million dollar ideas in their heads and just how few of those ideas are actually feasible. I learnt that writing a business plan is not as bad as I made it out to be in my mind , it really is a tool, to help chart the path to success.
I remember the first business plan I ever wrote. It was about thirty pages long. It was really boring if I say so myself as I had simply put in as much information as I could to overwhelm anyone attempting to read it so that they would hopefully take me seriously. The business plan was not successful and in hindsight I see how a solid plan was not in place and was part of the reason why things did not work out eventually.
I later had the help of a professional, an uncle of mine who clarified that a good business plan can even fit on one page. This was so hard for me to visualize. I could not understand how I was going to condense all my content into one page. I worked on it for a week and ended up with three pages but still he insisted. Eventually, I got to one page. I learnt the reason for this later. The simpler a plan is, the easier it is to implement and fix in case of a problem which is inevitable, really.
A business plan is a necessary part of any successful venture. It simply outlines the short and long term goals of the venture, the challenges expected, the strength, weaknesses and such. It also helps set targets which measures growth and efficiency. If you would like to open a business, at whatever level, even if it is a simple tuck shop, I strongly suggest that you write up a good plan. It is the foundation and will make or break the business.
As always, it is a good thing to make mistakes, the right ones that is. If you are not making mistakes, you are probably doing it wrong.