The Priceless Value of a Business Plan
Since time immemorial, right from the creation stories in Genesis 1 to Noah and the ark, the captivity and freedom of the Israelites, to the prophets, to date, God has always showed his deep commitment to and passion for planning and executing His plans.Infact, Ecclesiastes 11:1a,10:10,9:10 and Proverbs 21:5,all verify these. God actually encourages us to plan and hence the need to develop a business plan for the ideas that He gives us.
A business plan sets out the method for running a specific activity over a specific future period. Indeed, with careful and detailed planning, one can win whereas with careless and less detailed planning, failure becomes a reality. Certainly from the way planning is done one can actually predict victory or defeat.
Business experts hold the opinion that business planning is about a journey which charts a route to your destination. It identifies the major hazards that you should watch for along the way and it gives you strategies for coping with obstacles and landmarks to confirm your progress. They show where you started, where you are going and how to get there.
There are some general objectives that good business plans aim at meeting, such as being a formal expression of the planning process; which helps highlight opportunities and risks, uncovers inconsistencies and provides a guide for operating and reacting to real world events. It should aim at being a request for funding; in which case it can help raise revenue for a new business or additional equity for an existing business, loan capital for an ongoing enterprise or trade credit and the justification of allocating resources to a pet business. It should aim at being a framework for approval; in which case an individual or board of directors can approve of it and it should also aim at being a tool for operational business management; and in this case it will act as a yardstick, providing limits and goals against which to measure actual performance. Considering the target audience and what they will be looking for is also of paramount importance because different people understand things differently, mostly based on their professions and experiences. For instance, a banker will love financial analysis. An accountant will love figures and a marketer will want to see the revenue section to verify where the incomes are coming from. The less numerate will want to read on and on without many figures.
It is possible to develop a successful business plan. All it takes is putting in consideration some obvious concerns such as what and why you are planning. It is also important to define your business’ activities and its current status, identify its external market and competitors and current market positioning ,develop a strategy for achieving the objectives, identify risks and opportunities, develop another strategy for limiting risks and exploiting opportunities, then go ahead and refine the strategies into working plans, follow this up by projecting the costs and revenues and let it translate into developing a plan, document it concisely, get it approved and then ensure that you use it. It is good to bear in mind that a business plan should be as short as possible because it is probable that the people you want to read and approve it have many more reading materials and may not pay adequate attention to a lengthy business plan. In case of heavy material, where possible it is prudent to summarize it in the text and include full details in the annexes.
It is also important to know that when documenting your plan, you should begin with certain inevitable preliminaries like the table of contents, contacts and definitions. You should provide an executive summary, set the scene by describing the business, review the market and the competition therein as well as your marketing position, explain your vision, mission and objectives, describe your strategy, explain your plans for developing your products and services and set out your financial projections, highlight the risks and opportunities and finally reach a conclusion. Always remember that the amount of detail in each section, and the order in which the sections appear, depend on the business and the intended readership.
Writing a good and effective business plan takes patience and time but in the long run yields much fruit, and if properly used ensures success. Therefore, in this month of July, endeavour to make a good business plan for your God-given idea and you will see just how much your business will improve. If you have made one already, stick to it and follow it. If it needs improving, go ahead and improve it. While this is a guide to making a good business plan, I would encourge you to carry out further research through the net or books like The Definitive Business Plan, 2nd edition by Richard Stutely which will add great value to your bank of knowledge. Above all pray and commit your work unto the Lord so that he may guide you and makes your way prosperous.
GOD BLESS YOU!
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