Video: Tips for making a great business plan

Preparing a business plan is not a easy task, but we will get you through it. In this video, we will be discussing your business plan, and the various tips and tricks that entrepreneurs have come up with over the years, to ensure a successful business plan.

The first and best tip is to ensure you have a plan. Seems kind of obvious, but over 78% of small business owners fail within the first year and when asked why it was due to a lack of planning. Often due to simply missing a business plan and not being prepared for the unexpected.

Let’s take some time together and see why it is so crucial to have your business plan ready and the various tips that will not only help you make a plan, but will ensure you have a great plan in place.

This video is part of the small business video series, which you can access here to learn more about starting up, building a business plan, finding funding, and more.

Business Plan Tips

When writing your business plan, there may be many different methods, strategies, and ways of putting the information together.

There may not always be the right way and the wrong way – but, we have some tips for you that will ensure that you follow a path that has proven to be successful time after time.

So, let’s get started.

1. Don’t be long-winded
2. Show why you care
3. Provide details and evidence
4. Understand your purpose with the plan
5. Know your audience and the market

The first and most important tip is not to be overly descriptive when writing your plan. Nobody cares about that filler content, just to make your plan longer or seem fuller. Instead, focus on the crucial details that are meaningful, and that will give value to your business.

Most business plans can fit into under 20 pages; while there are some over 50 to 100 – these can often cause more harm than good in some instances.

As you write your plan, it is important to show the reader that you care about your business. As much as you can, be sure to show that in the plan, in your writing and the information you put together. Show it, but be thorough by being excited and by simply explaining how much this business means to you.

As you start to talk about your products, services, your audience, your marketing plan and so on, be sure to provide detailed evidence to back up your work; show the reasoning behind why you are suggesting something or why you plan on doing something. Without reasoning, the reader is left to assume, and this may not be the best strategy.

An example of this would be when you talk about your marketing strategy. It’s easy to say “social media” will be my marketing strategy. You know what it means, but it is always a good idea to explain and provide detailed supporting evidence as to what you will do with it. What social media sites will you use? How will you kick-start it? What will you say, who will you target and so on?

This all has to flow together and ultimately go along with your goal of the business plan. The purpose!

What is the purpose of your plan?

Are you looking for a partner?
Are you looking for money?
Are you trying to sell your business?

Whatever the purpose is, you have to make that very clear with the plan.

The last thing you want is somebody to read the plan and say, “now what”?

Let’s say your primary goal with the plan is to obtain funding.

Everything you write about should be focused on funding and explaining to the reader why you need funding, and why they should fund you.

With any business plan, your goal is to really show the reader that you know your stuff, especially when it comes to your audience and your market.

These are the basics, but many business owners simply don’t know who their audience really is. Be it lack of research, or effort, taking the time to understand who your primary and secondary audience is,will go a long way in your plan. As it will mean you can gear your plan towards those specific customers.

These are just a few, but let’s take a look at some more tips to make make your business plan, better.

Need more tips?

Other tips to help make your business plan great are shown here.

1. Avoid using industry jargon
2. Don’t be afraid to be different
3. Know your financials
4. Understand your shortcomings
5. One writer – one reader

We get business plans all the time from various customers in different industries; construction, the medical field, marketing, the financial industry, the automotive industry, and so on.

Some business owners will talk about specific things related to their industry and assume that the reader of the plan understands their jargon.

While you may have heard of SEO – search engine optimization as a marketing strategy, perhaps the reader has not? Be sure to explain it.

Jargon is only useful to simplify the process of your writing, but don’t assume that the reader is aware, and go in with the expectations that the reader has no clue.

As you put together your business plan, don’t be afraid to be different and be unique with your idea.

Many business plans all look the same; a lot of text, a ton of photos, and everyone follows the same patterns. What makes your business plan unique?

There is a fear and a misconception that a plan has to be written a certain way, otherwise, it won’t be good. While the information in the plan has to be there and should be consistent, but the format, design, look and feel can be unique.

Another tip is to really understand your financial situation. This goes good with the next 2 tips; knowing your financials and understanding your shortcomings.

As you prepare your business plan, your financials will play a major role in determining your success.
If your financial situation doesn’t look promising, you should know how to act, to improve the situation, to cut costs, plan a different strategy to increase your revenue – or perhaps change your idea.

The entire purpose of writing a business plan is to prepare. If something doesn’t seem like it can work out, and unless you can change, it perhaps it’s time to call it quits and do something new.

Knowing when to quit is also an important strategy.

The shortcomings aspect is part of the plan and a crucial tip as well to ensuring a successful plan. If you have a list of shortcomings, you can properly prepare and plan for. Be very aware of these and know to explain, if asked.

And the last tip for now is to not allow yourself to be the only reader or reviewer of your plan after you’ve put it together.

Instead, get a family member, a friend, a colleague to read it and proofread it. To poke holes in it and ask the hard questions.

This is criticism at it’s finest and could result in the success or failure of your business if not done right.

That’s it for now; you’ve heard the tips but now let’s also review a few mistakes that business people often make when putting together a plan, so that you can avoid them!

Common Business Plan Mistakes

When it comes to business planning, there are hundreds of mistakes a person can make.

It’s not uncommon, but these are some of the more common ones that can result in your business plan looking bad; or simply hurting your business.

• Not having a business plan at all
• Having unrealistic expectations
• Over hyping your business
• Not knowing your business model
• Having too much info

Some mistakes are normal to make, while some can be really costly.

The biggest mistake you can make, is not having a business plan at all.

Many people assume they don’t need a business plan; as usually people just decide to get into business and they start. Or they have some success initially and forget the need for a plan.

As discussed previously in one of our videos, a business plan is crucial to the success of your business. For many reasons!

Not having a plan may not immediately impact you, but long term, it has proven to be one of the key reasons why small business owners fail within the first year.

Another mistake is having unrealistic expectations and planning your business at a level where it simply isn’t likely, or possible.

This is often true with regards to your growth strategies, marketing plans, financials and so on.

For example: a nail salon, with one service agent has the ability to handle 20 customers per day, without feeling overwhelmed. A realistic expectation would be 15 to 25; but if you have an unrealistic expectation , it may be closer to 30 to 50.

This becomes unrealistic and this type of planning can throw off your entire model, especially your financial projections which is the basis of your entire business model.

Being unrealistic is often a cause for concern and you should strongly revisit your plan before you take the next steps forward.

It is often best to plan your business based on a low to mid-end success level, but assume for the worst at the same time.

This also goes in line with not overhyping your business. This mistake can be fairly costly, especially if you are also seeking funding, in the form of a loan.

If you over hype your business and the bank assumes you will be super successful, they can give you a loan based on those assumptions. If you are not successful, or the results are not up to par with what you were expecting, you may be digging yourself into a hole of debt.

It is also common that many business owners make up their business as they go along. Not knowing fully who their customers are; what market they are in, how to best promote, what the plan is for the first 3 to 6 months, and so on. This simply won’t cut it in most cases and can often lead to failure.

As you put together your plan, be sure to consider the full year, all aspects of it and plan for the worst, just in case.

And lastly, a common mistake, which we already discussed briefly as a top business plan tip – is having too much information.

Truly speaking, nobody wants to read a plan that is 100 pages if the same message can be said within a 20 page plan.

It is important to focus on the detail that is crucial to you business model and nothing more.

Remember the Crucial Components

• Executive Summary

• Your Products/Services

• Your Market and Audience

• Your Growth Strategy

• Your Marketing Plan

• Funding Needs (if seeking funds)

• Financials

• Appendix

Not all business plans are created equal, but by following the needed components, your plan will fit into what is expected by the industry.

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As we come to the end of the video, I hope that some of these tips and the common mistakes we discussed can help make a difference in your business plan.

Such a large percentage of business startups fail in the first year, and many of the common mistakes that cause this can be avoided with proper business planning.

Your business plan is one crucial document and should always be considered as the number 1 step to starting a business.

Be sure to follow the components as mentioned here; be as detailed as you can be without going overboard, be confident and show that you care!

Whatever the case may be, so start a business in Canada, be sure to work with a Canada Startups expert who will help with your business idea, building your business plan and finding the needed funds to make your dream come true – and stay tuned for the next video in the series as we get into the finer details about the business planning process.

If you have found the above video helpful, review the other small business startup videos in the series as we will be discussing various things related to business planning and the required steps. These topics will range from the importance of your business plan, to the various components to include, tips and methods to get a plan in place.