mardi 29 octobre 2013

Making A Small Business Plan For Financial Success

By Emma A. Pack


Having a good small business plan will ensure that your journey to success is much smoother. All successful business owners know that having an organized, well thought plan is essential to see the results they expect. Even if the business plan doesn't give the results that you would have thought in the beginning, you can tweak and change different areas of your process to perfect it.

I thought I would go through a step by step guide to what you need for an effective small business plan. Many people try and start a business without any true expectations for the future other then 'oh this is going to work'. You have to know exactly what "should" happen so that the surprises are less. In most cases surprises in business aren't positive.

This review period should be in keeping with the rates of change that the business encounters around the factors experienced in both its internal and external environments.Given that this is clearly understood, and that any gaps in capability have been identified, the small business plan is written with seven critical components in mind.Determine Where You Are Now.This is simply a list that identifies and spells out where the business currently finds itself in relation to a particular critical issue. An example might be sales and marketing, for instance. The list, in bullet point form, spells out what is being done, at present, in relation to these activities. All critical issues facing the business should be analyzed, in turn.

I am writing this guide in small sections to allow you to follow the plan in your own time. This article will demonstrate the complete overview of what you will need to consider when writing your small business plan.

Objectives.By analyzing the gaps between the two lists we have created, we are able to identify the main objectives that must be achieved to fulfill our vision across the agreed time frame. These gaps must be managed well as part of the business performance management process and the business development and risk management profile.

Tasks.Objectives must be broken down into a series of tasks and jobs that need to be completed to ensure that the given objective is met. These tasks must be specific, agreed, realistic, targeted and have accountabilities and responsibilities clearly assigned to them.

Financial: This is a key section and should clearly demonstrate your total costing's, direct expenses, projected stock holding (if applicable), accounting methods, sales tables and your sales targets and company budget controls.Timetable: When writing your business plan, you will need to focus on 'forward planning'. This will encompass you projecting a timetable of development .where do you see your company in 5 years for example.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities.All the tasks must be assigned to people who take responsibility for getting them completed within the agreed time frames. The successful small business has developed a culture where the taking of personal responsibility for an assigned task is simply a given.

In my next article we shall begin attacking each aspect of the business plan in detail beginning with your business aims.I hope you find this resource useful and remember, taking a week or so to write your small business plan will save you time AND money in the future.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire