The Business Plan = Map to Success

Writing our business plan has made me use my brain in more ways than I have since college, I think. Lack of planning is one of the top ten reasons why small businesses fail in their early years, so having a solid business plan that includes information about your company, its products, your distribution and marketing strategy and financial projections for the next couple years is like a map that will help you chart out your course of business. Although it's taking a while to put the various sections of our business plan together, I have to admit that it's been really great to get all the ideas that have been swimming around in my head onto paper (or rather, typed out on my laptop).

Of course, it always helps if you have deadline to adhere to when you're working on a document like this one. We have an appointment to review our business plan with a consultant at a Small Business Development Center located at a nearby university in two weeks. This organization is part of the larger network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) across the country, which provide resources and services to help entrepreneurs at little or no ost. They can offer many of their services for free because they partner with universities, colleges and state economic development agencies as well as the U.S. Small Business Administration. At our meeting, the consultant will review our initial draft and provide us with feedback on any parts of the document she thinks can be flushed out.



Screenshot of SBDC website

Being the NPR addict that I am, I found out that NPR's daily show that focuses on business, Marketplace is currently doing a six-part series on small businesses called Nuts & Bolts: The Basics of Building a Small Business- it's pretty interesting, because they interview real entrepreneurs from all walks of life and discuss why some businesses fail and others flourish. You can also download podcasts for this series.



Screenshot of NPR Nuts & Bolts website

It's 4th of July tomorrow- enjoy those fireworks!