Writing a Business Plan: Choosing and writing a simple yet workable plan that fits your budget timescales and your individual requirements Using our free template sample and advice.
Decide which business is right for you and Identifying your core business
model.
Your either one of three scenario's
1: You have a general idea in which direction you want to go into
2: You are toying with several idea's and need to identify the best option.
3: You have no idea where to start other than you want to start a business and
are just looking for a good old boot in the right direction.
Before you even start understand what your about to embark on, starting a
business does take time and money so make sure your equipped to endure until
you can squeeze a salary out of it. Ignore
bragging commentary's promising wealth they
are simply a desperate attempt at marketing by those who don't know how.
One good aspect about an online business is that there is profit in anything perhaps some things more than others however this is often balanced out by the ratio of competition. In certain cases the more bizarre the better, its that train smash effect. As long as your site has the potential for generating interest you can transform those visitors into a source of income.
Here are a few steps to get you on track:Identify your skills, interests, the type of work
you are willing to do and what you will enjoy doing. Then interpret this into a
project, for example your interest is rock climbing you could sell equipment or
Holidays, offer tips and training, start a rock climbing blog or incorporate
several options together. By doing this you can establish a few flexible models
to work with.
Do a little research: see what's out there and get a
feel for the industry gauge who's successful, who's not and why. Get an idea of
the competition and the degree of difficulty you will face in competing with
them.
Brainstorm Think of ways to make your project
unique, more useful and stand out from the others.
Lay it out in black and white: give your project a
title and a description followed by any notes you may make.
Narrow down your options: Try and gauge the
demographics of your project who you can target, the potential interest and the
level of interest then determine what your target market share will be based on
your competition, at this stage of the game you only need to work on a estimate
to decide if the project is viable.
Define your Business category: (This can be used for
instance when getting your site listed on the dmoz) and your demographics
(language, Geographic or even professional circles)
Look at your project in perspective: Put it out of
you mind for a while then take another more speculative look at a few days
later. What might seem like a good idea at the time quite often isn't, discuss
it with friend or even on our blog if it doesnt seem right it probably isn't.
If your happy with your project then its time to give it a more definitive
structure in the form of a business plan.
Why should you bother with a business plan?
1: Setting yourself targets and giving yourself a premise from
which to work will allow to keep on track so your business will not become
unmanageable as it grows.
2: It a means of defining your business
3: Its a requirement if you want to get funding4: You have the key information relating to your business in one concise document.
Use this business plan template to transform your business model into a good
business plan
Using a business plan instead of just working from a basic
business concept or business model may appear complicated or time consuming It
might even seem as if your wasting your time burying yourself in paperwork
instead of getting leads, however it can actually save you time in the long
run. Just fill it in and update the sections that are relevant to you as you go
along. Using charts can also give it a professional look. At the end of the day
it only needs to be as involved as your requirements warrant it to be.
Now you have a plan it time to put it into action by Developing your online business- in Part 1 of our Tutorial