Simply Home Business

No. You don't need a formal business plan if you aren't going to borrow money from a bank.

And, yes. You do need to plan if you want to reach your goals. Your planning doesn't have to result in the kind of document a bank would expect.

The most important result of your planning process will be action which moves you forward towards the achievement of your goals.

The processes that I have used successfully combine two systems modeled on the work of:

1. Mark Joyner's Simpleology 101, and (This link will take you to a page where you can sign up for a short course in using Simpleology principles and process to plan for business success. It's free as long as you stick with Simpleology 101.)
   
2. David Allen's Getting Things Done. (This link will take you to a page where you can access a couple of really practical blogs written by David Allen Co. staffers.)
   

For me and my business development, the outcome of practicing the Simpleology process has been to switch from long To-Do Lists of accumulated items to a list of daily targets coming straight from actions I've decided will take me closer to achieving my medium and long term goals.

You will be most successful at visioning and planning for your new business if you follow the “3 for 3” formula described by James Ray in his book Harmonic Wealth. Go “3 for 3” like this:

1. Get crystal clear about what you want—see it in 3-D. See it, feel it, smell it, taste it, hear it, and make it specific and measurable. [Sound familiar? See First Steps #1 & #2.]

2. Ramp up those feelings—think about why you want the thing. [Why do you want the business? And, why do you want that?] What does it feel like to have it? Who have you become?

3. Take action every day, based upon where you are going, not where you have been, not where you are.

“Know that what you want also wants you.” --James Ray, Harmonic Wealth

Planning is at the beginning of the process of #3 above, taking action every day based upon where you are going.

To be able to describe where you are going with your business you need to be able to describe the following:

1. Your Mission. A one sentence statement that answers these questions:

Why does my business exist? How is it unique? What value does my business offer?

2. Your Goals. In a year looking back, what would you like to tell people were your three biggest achievements?

3. Your Strategies. Strategies describe the way you will do business. How would you answer these questions: What is the direction, philosophy, values and methods I’ll use to build and manage my business? What kind of business am I in? Who is my customer? Where am I going to be in business? How am I going to be in business? What standards are you going to implement and insist upon?

4. Your Projects and Tasks. Very simply, all of your work can be planned and executed as Projects and Tasks. A Project is something on your To Do List that is more than one step or action that results in the completion of the Project. Tasks are single items. They either stand alone as “must do’s” on your To Do List—or they are each one of the steps to complete a Project.

Here’s an example from my To Do List for this week:

Project—Implement 5 email series for new Simply Home Business subscribers.

Task—Load up emails from document to auto-responder.

Tip: Whenever you are using a task list (e.g. Tasks in Outlook), make sure that for every Project you schedule, you have scheduled the “next actionable item”, in other words, the next step you can take in one small chunk of time (the next Task) that will take you closer to completing the Project. You might leave the end date open for a project, but every task you put on your list should be scheduled and a chunk of time set aside for completing the task.

Here’s an exercise to get your business plan down on one page of paper:

On one piece of 8 ½ X 11 paper, write the following:

1. Mission: In one sentence or a series of words and phrases--Why I’m in business and what value I bring to my customers/clients.

2. Goals: List the three biggest achievements you aim for in the next 12 months.

3. Strategies: Describe how you will be doing business. What systems will you use to find and keep customers? Recruit and train staff? Market and sell your products and/or services?

4. Projects and Tasks: List three priority projects to complete that take you towards achieving one or more of your Goals (See #2 above.) For each project, list at least one task, the next actionable item and schedule it.