If you've always dreamed of starting your own business and don't know where to begin, this article is for you.
As no house is built from the roof up, over the next few lines we're going to help you draw up a business plan that will be the skeleton on which the entire structure of your project will rest.
Business plan: what is it and how important is it?
A business plan is a kind of mediator between what we idealise and reality. In other words, the business plan is the rationalisation of the business idea we have in mind and serves, among other things, to set down on paper the objectives, methods and resources to be used to make the dream a success.
In this document, all areas of the business will be described in a simple and understandable way, such as marketing strategies, competition, suppliers (if applicable), products/services that the business will offer, means of payment (online and/or offline) or projected expenses, sales and profits.
How important is a business plan?
As well as setting out in a document the entire structure, goals and viability of the business, the business plan is essential if you're thinking of applying for funding, as both the IEFP and the banks require it.
The business plan also helps you establish the value of your project if you're thinking of selling it, assess the viability of a promotion or new product or service line and analyse the competition in detail.
How to make a business plan step by step?
Having explained the concept of the business plan and its importance, we move from theory to practice with all the steps to create a business plan that leaves nothing to chance.
Step 1: Define the Vision
The first step in creating a business plan is to define your vision for the business. This involves establishing the business's mission and its goals and objectives:
- Mission: a statement that explains, in general terms, the company's management structure and its development. In addition, the mission statement should explain to employees, potential clients and business partners what the company is, how it came into being and for what purpose, and how it proposes to innovate in its specific area.
- Objectives and targets: what the company is aiming for, what it expects in terms of sales, what the estimated expenses and profits will be in the first year and in subsequent years, are some of the things that should be included in this section.
Step 2: Market analysis
Before starting a business, it's important to carry out an in-depth and detailed analysis of the market in which it will operate.
Things like what products you sell and what the competition's turnover is, what the public expects or wants to find, what your target audience is, what suppliers there are, etc., are some of the questions you should answer during this market analysis and which will help you chalk out more assertive and disruptive business strategies.
Step 3: Business strategy
With the market analysis data the creation of a business strategy is made easier, as you will know the best audience and geographical area for your product/service and what the competition offers.
In addition, a business strategy should include: the choice of sales channel that best suits your business (physical, online or omnichannel), performance targets for the company's various departments, making sure they are specific, measurable, time-bound, relevant and achievable, and a section dedicated to suppliers in which the possibility of growing our business that each one offers is foreseen.
Above all, the business strategy must be flexible and accommodate a plan B and even C if, for some reason, plan A doesn't work or proves difficult to achieve the proposed goals.
Step 4: Structure the Business Plan
The structure of the business plan will have the function of describing in detail how your business works, i.e. it will contain everything you need to not only offer a quality product/service, but also capture the attention of consumers.
The structure looks like this,
- the number and qualifications of your employees
- the estimated production time
- storage and distribution capacity
- estimated delivery times
- the raw material needed to meet a certain demand
- marketing strategies
- the means of payment to be made available to customers, taking into account the nature of the business and thus providing means of payment. online payment without friction and means of physical payments integrated with technology contactless.
Step 5: Financial plan
This plan should include expenditure on suppliers and raw materials, salaries, renting or buying premises, hosting online domains, marketing and advertising.
To this you should add financial projections about the sales you expect to make, the cash flow and the break-even point (the point at which you expect revenues to equal expenses and operating results to be positive).
Step 6: Implementation and Monitoring
Once you've drawn up your business plan, it's time to implement it.
Get the whole team together, if appropriate, and try to clearly explain the objectives of the plan, what you will do to achieve them and what you expect from each of your employees.
Throughout the implementation process, monitor performance metrics so that you can quickly reformulate the plan or identify where it is failing and why.
