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Sunday, November 28, 2010

My Idea of BUSINESS PLAN :) :) :)

Disclaimer:- By writing this document I am sharing my best practices ( ideal practice that one should do)to all the entrepreneurs or to be entrepreneurs , it’s not a guarantee that It would work , though it should work. People can add salt and spices as per requirement.

Community who plant everything on paper are seldom the ones who take any feat and the ones who desires to just go and get it done never give the impression to put anything on paper; this is so true for entrepreneurs, and I think … no I believe that I am different from the later community.
Pen down everything coz kya pata "kal ho na ho" either plan or pen:)

Not so many people know except my mom, that I write down each and everything, I create plans, execute them but prior to that I document it somewhere. Now why I am bringing this context as I am about to share my practice along with my imagination, probably I may exaggerate but I believe this ideally should be done in a specified manner.
But, everyone in their life ends up using Microsoft Word. Okay Okay, that was just a degraded artistic way of saying it. The point is even the action heads-on kind of entrepreneurs at some point would have to sit down to write everything on paper before it gets too messy. You have all the money, you don't need any investors investing in your business, but you still need your business model on the paper. You need your business plan in writing.
So today gyan guru celebrated his weekend by clearing the junk from his computer, during the process he found some interesting business plans that gyan guru’s intellectual mind once conceived when he was in college and the interesting part is ,some business plans has names only , that’s it period dot full stop and blank document afterwards like fill in the blanks.


Thats what Gyan Guru  says, if it’s in your head, it can never be done , you have to write and you have to write till the end , not just  Business name, and self organization is also important in a way or other  .So, once you have folded your shirt sleeves and loosen that blue tie to sit and write down that dreaded piece of document called the business plan, here is how to do it.


You can't leave any information out of this document, everything has to be on it, the team, the product, the service, the target market, the projected or actual balance and income statements, the money invested, the money loaned, the money expected, the exit strategy for investors, the intent of doing the business, the duration which you are expecting to be in this business, everything and once you have written and verified it, verify it again, there's a big chance that you forgot to put in something.
Let's begin.

How thick my plan should be?
Oh, come on! It can be as small as a one page or as long as hundred pages but keep in mind that no one is going to take a one page plan seriously as much as no one is going to complete reading a hundred pages one too. On an average, 30-50 pages are enough for small businesses, but its better be a 50 pages one with diagrams and bullets rather than a 30 pages flat text. 
It should not contain headings only coz as I said earlier nobody likes “fill in the blanks “anymore
Define What and Why.
What is it you want to do? What is the plan? You don't need to mention how you would be pulling in money here, just define what is it you want to give to the world. Be honest here, investors or anyone else reading your plan would want to know what and why you want to do something.
The Team.
Layman likes the concept of a single innovator but thats not how the world works, team is what makes a business, Start with people who have made it big in the outside world, moving down to people who haven't made it big but have worked for people or companies who are famous and then lastly moving down to those who have not been in the limelight. Write a lot about the last ones, tell them about their professional and personal traits which makes them the right member to be on the team.

Or just search options near by you, but never bring another entrepreneur into your team if you have selfish and egoistic nature or sometimes you get mad when things goes wrong unexpectedly.
The Market.
Start with the surveys you have performed which prove what market your product fits in. Explain how would be targeting the people in this specific market. Elaborate about the current situation and how crowded that market already is, how big are your competitors and how you plan to tackle them. You need to show some figures here to back what you are saying, if you have not performed any survey and you just know how these group of people are the right target for you, don't expect anyone to believe you.

The Green Paper.
I cannot express how much I would like to say that investors or anyone else reading your business plan would look in the value you are giving to the world, but this is not a fairy tale and I risk losing my job if I say that, I must tell you the truth. You are selling crap but you are making good money, you will get people hooked to you. Financial projections is the highlight of any business plan. If you are already in operation, you would have to show your actual otherwise projected income and balance statements for 3 to 5 years with the first year broken down monthly and rest shown quarterly. If an investor is looking at the plan, he would grill you over your break even diagram which signifies when would you be in a position to make some real money after you have paid all your expenses.
That’s what my own company is doing nowdays , building a bridge of money over loads US, UK and Australian citizens : (
Exit.
Any investor looking at your plan would need a few pages on the exit strategies, no investor wants to stick to you forever, and they want to invest, earn, go out and live happily ever after. Show them how and when they can leave. Some of the common plans are IPO, franchising, passing the business on to another in the family, etc. But again, this is not a fairy tale and no matter what you have read about internet companies in the autobiographies of their founder, going public is a very tough option for any startup. If you include that in your business plan, be ready to be grilled.


Once you are done with above mentioned points , your business plan is ready , make it on Microsoft word , save it in hidden folder , and forget it. Someday you will start cleaning junk from your computer and find this business plan then you will LMAO.
But on a serious note , if you have will to do something and of you are passionate , just implement  this plan into this real world and share 5 % of the total profit to Gyan Guru for enlightening your thoughts.
Coz Gyan Guru Said So.... Enjoy!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great thoughts. thanks.

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