Online Marketing Entrepreneur Mindset

If you are creating your business plan for the first time, you may not be aware of things you should do and things you shouldn’t.  If you have knowledge of this in advance, you can create a winning business plan right out of the starting gate.

Do’s of Writing a Business Plan

• Be Comprehensive: Create your business so it describes in detail every aspect for your business right down to how you will handle different situations.  The more comprehensive your business plan is the more likely you will be to succeed and be taken seriously by lenders and investors.

• Package It: Design your business plan in the form of an attractive kit.  Not only does it look professional, but it will get you where you want to go with lenders, investors, and vendors.

• Seek Advice: Use your business plan to seek advice from experts that are related to your field of business.  Not only will you learn a few things, but it will spare you some business headaches and monetary mistakes down the road.

• Spell It Out: Describe the strengths and weaknesses you foresee in your business and then describe how you are going to handle them.  This includes any management that will be a part of your team.

• Modify It: As your business grows, continually modify your business plan to reflect the changing conditions that result from business growth.

Don’ts

• Avoid Inflating Estimates: When creating future sales projections, do not inflate the predictions.  It is better to play it safe and be conservative with your projections.  If you end up with more sales then expected it looks better than if you lost sales.  The opposite principle applies to projecting costs.  Try to keep costs as low as possible so the sales to cost ratio balances out.

• Don’t Ignore Weaknesses: Do not disregard weaknesses in your business plan when they are pointed out.  This will come back to bite you later.  Instead, reflect on them and figure out how to improve.

• Don’t Stress the Long-Term: Do not focus on your long-term projects.  It is better to have a solid plan for the short term which would be the first year you are in business.

• Don’t Spread Yourself Thin: Do not write your business plan so it serves everybody.  It will mean more to the people involved with your business if you are focused on a specialization.

• Don’t Base the Plan on a Concept: Do not write your business plan based on a concept that you think will make it look spectacular.  Test the ropes first with what you are trying to accomplish.

As a final thought, always keep your business plan up-to-date and current with changes of your growing business and never…..never omit preparing a business plan before you start your online business.

Learning online marketing with you,

~ Julie