You might think a business plan is something you put together when you need a bank loan or want to impress investors.
In reality, a business plan is an important management tool that aids you with creating clear goals for your business, detailing precisely how you’ll accomplish them. Taking some time to think about how your business operates will pay dividends in the long run.
Common Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid
After you decide to create a business plan, here are the common mistakes to avoid:
Not Taking the Planning Process Seriously
It’s not a good idea to approach creating a business plan just to have something to hand to the bank loan officer. When you don’t take the business planning process seriously, it shows that you don’t care about your business and its success.
Instead, use the time and planning process to boost your knowledge of how your business will grow. It will increase your odds with investors and lenders and investors as well as aid you in running a more flourishing company.
Improbable Financial Projections
A big common mistake made in most business plans is improbable financial projections. The notion that a startup business will quickly be profitable is frequently a naive mistake made by new business owners.
Another huge mistake in the financial projections is the inclination to overestimate your financial needs and startup costs. Investors and banks don’t like to see real greedy entrepreneurs wanting a lot of money.
At Portocol Business Strategies, we help beginning entrepreneurs with their business strategy development to create reasonable financial projections and cost evaluations, showing their company’s future financials. This is what appeals to banks and investors.
Not Paying Attention to the Competition
It is a huge common mistake for an entrepreneur to believe that there’s no competition or that competition is lacking without verifying the real threats to their business. You need to be real in this part of your business plan.
Investors and banks want to see a comprehensive competitor evaluation in order to know that you have what it takes to be competitive in your industry.
It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of being a business owner and lose sight of what’s real. There are no instances where you won’t have a competitor.
A Really Long Business Plan
Your business plan shouldn’t be the length of a novel.
Your audience doesn’t want to spend extra time reading a vast number of pages about your company. Instead, make sure you get right to the point, creating a business plan that’s as short as possible. Begin with a one-page business plan to keep things brief. You can always add more details to your business plan in follow-up pages if your reader requests more information.
Helping Our Clients Create Effective Business Plans that Yield Effective Results
We strive to help our clients create business plans that will get them on the path to becoming successful entrepreneurs with companies that deliver the high level of revenue growth they dream about. Contact us today to get started.
