30 Things You Can Do With Your Business Plan

30 Things You Can Do With Your Business Plan

A business plan is a tool that means life for your company. The existence of a plan is to help you as an entrepreneur to make your company better, more profitable, and more stable.

You must use the real potential stored in your business plan. It is one of the most important elements of your whole business’s potential energy.

I have already seen many businesses that were started without a business plan becoming successful companies. However, the potential of that business will be much bigger if its entrepreneurs use and implement the plan as a tool that will map their path to success. Alternatively, at least the business plan would reduce the time between the starting point and some success points in the future.

Here are 30 Things You Can do With Your Business Plan

Because of that, I want to share some things you can do with your plan.

1. Make it simple.

You don’t need a complex plan that will look excellent in your or someone else’s eyes if it is not something that can be easily implemented.

Yes, you need something simple. Something that you can easily follow, measure, compare with the real results, and improve as you move through your entrepreneurial journey.

2. Make it actionable.

Your business plan will need to be actionable, so it will ensure that everything that was planned will be implemented.

You need to make sure that every aspect of your business plan is not only well thought out but also that it can be implemented.

This is one of the most important features that you need to install into your planning process.

3. Make it real.

Your business plan will need to be based on the facts, not on assumptions. It is only in such a way real and will bring real results for your company.

4. Make it promising.

As an entrepreneur, you have a vision. You know where you want your company to be in the future. With the business plan, you try to transform your vision into real action steps that will bring your company into the future you want to be.

5. Make it customers oriented.

Everything starts and finishes with your customers in mind. Here is how you can find the customers with the right purchase intent.

6. Make it easy to use.

Your business plan will need to be the means that will ensure easy implementation of all planned action steps.

Why do you need a business plan that will not give you a clear path about what you need to do next or what will need to be improved in the future?

A business plan can help you to stay focused on your goals and keep you from getting distracted by unimportant details.

7. Make it easy to implement.

As I already have mentioned, in addition to all analyses you have made and included inside your business plan, it will need to give you step-by-step instructions on what you will need to do if you want to succeed.

8. Make it easy to follow implementation.

Additionally to removing barriers, confusion, and the implementation process, your business plan will need to bring you a process that will allow you to easily follow the implementation and the results you will get.

9. Use it as a framework.

Your business plan is not something that will need to be done and put on the side. It will need to be used as a framework for the next period of time on how you will manage your small business.

10. Use it as a blueprint.

You need a blueprint, a complete business plan that illustrates how you can do or develop something.

11. Use it as a means for your startup financing.

This is one of the most used ways of business plans, where you present it to potential investors to get the necessary funding for your startup.

12. Use it as a business idea generator.

I really like this one.

While you work on your business plan for the next year or two, you will look at your business from many different perspectives. This means you can bring many possible business ideas for future improvement.

13. Describe your ideas.

You also can use your business plan as a means of describing your ideas. Probably you have many ideas as an entrepreneur. Why not use your business plan to officialize them and ensure you will save them from forgetfulness?

14. Use it as a strategy implementation tool.

As you already know, your vision is translated into strategies, and your business plan will need to respond with tactics and action steps to achieve the strategy. So, use your business plan as a strategy implementation tool.

15. Use it as a roadmap for future business activities.

This is an obvious way of using your business plan.

One interesting thing I have seen in my client’s plan is that he makes a drawing at the end of it. The drawing was simply the roadmap of future activities. This creative entrepreneur then uses the drawings on the company’s walls to motivate the team members to work on the roadmap.

16. Use it when you need to decide about something.

Whenever you doubt some decisions, simply open your plan and look at your vision, strategy, and goals. They will help you to make the right decision.

17. Use it for the development of new products and services.

This is also an obvious example of using your business plan. Your product development process starts with your plan. You describe what features your product will have. You describe the customer’s benefits.

18. Use it when you need to regulate your brain.

It is usually for most entrepreneurs to jump from one idea 💡 to another. But, many times, these jumpings can have negative consequences for the company.

It is important for you to have a means that will tell you to stop ✋ for the moment, think, and choose the right direction. Your business plan can help you regulate your brain.

19. Use it as a tool for the control function.

How can you use the controlling function if you don’t know what will need to be done and how it is done? So, a business plan is an excellent tool to follow everything that has been done and measure the results and performance of the processes.

20. Use it to improve your company.

Never forget that your business plan’s primary function is to make your business better tomorrow than today. So, use it as a continuous improvement tool.

21. Use it as a tool to manage current and future risks.

You will always have different types of risks around you. A business plan is an excellent tool for managing current and future risks. When it comes to risk management, you must try to predict the risk and work to avoid it. I have also proposed to have one topic related to risk management inside your business plan.

22. Use it to check if your goals are achieved.

The easiest way to follow the achievement of your business goals is through your business plan.

23. Use it to improve your overall business model.

The development and implementation of a business plan will walk you through every aspect of how you are doing business. So, the best way to improve your business model is through your planning process.

24. Use it to build a better community around your company.

Your company can’t survive today without a strong community of supporters. So, why don’t you use your business plan to build, maintain and grow the community around your small business?

25. Use it as a communication tool

Yes, you can use your plan as a communication tool in your company between you, your managerial staff, and all employees.

26. Use it as a regulator for your money spending.

A modern plan is not a static one. Usually, I recommend each plan to have integrated an online dashboard that on each level of your company can be seen financial projections from one side and current spending, including cash flow and break-even analysis.

27. Use it as a tool to find and analyze your business strengths.

Your business plan is an important tool for you: the SWOT analysis. So, each time you start developing your plan, you will analyze your business strength.

28. Use it as a tool to find and analyze your business weakness.

Again with the SWOT analysis, you will analyze your business weakness.

29. Use it as a tool to find and analyze your business opportunities.

There are also opportunities. You will analyze them with the SWOT analysis.

30. Use it as a tool to find and analyze your business threats.

Except for opportunities, you will have possible threats that will also be analyzed with your business plan.

Do you have experience with preparing a business plan? Can you share with us your own entrepreneurial experience when it comes to a plan?