How to write a Business Plan [in 2020], if You Are a Small Business Owner

Want to know how to make a business plan, but have no clue where to start?

Why re-invent the wheel while there are good business frameworks out there already you can use, and here you will learn one of them - the lean business planning.

But first... it is important to understand Start-Ups are not smaller version of large companies.

Established companies execute business models where customers, their problems and necessary product features are all known. In sharp contrast, startups operate in search mode, seeking a repeatable and profitable business model. The search for a business model requires dramatically different rules, roadmap, skill sets and tools in order to minimize risk and optimize chances for success.

I speak from experience when I say entrepreneurship is always scary because while you take advantage of opportunities you also need to embrace uncertainty.

It is like two sides of one coin – one cannot go without another.

Most probably if you have an idea for business or you already own a business you started from the idea, an innovation or a market need that other people haven't spotted, or that's currently unsatisfied.

And your goal is to fill that need.

But because that need's unsatisfied, you can't know the answer in advance will it work or not.

And if the opportunity was obvious or risk free, somebody else would have done it already.

So that means that taking advantage of opportunity is inherently about taking advantage of uncertainty and if you want to proceed you need to embrace uncertainty yourself.

Once you accept this fact, also embrace the fact that you can mold this uncertainty by thinking – formulating your business strategy.

In strategy of just starting you know very little.

You haven't built your product.

So how do you know whether people will react?

You have no past performance to draw from.

You know you need to find customers.

You don't know what they're going to look like.

You know that you're going to have to raise funding, but

you don't know from whom.

You know that there's going to be competition, but

you don't necessarily know how people are going to react.

Because startups need to learn as they go.

You need to structure your startup to learn.

It’s like million questions to be answered and no wonder if you are feeling confused – most of the people do.

The cleverest idea is to put things into structure and learn as you go.

Enroll in FREE LIVE MasterClass - Crushing Business Planning

To put it into structure use methods that can help you do that and we come back to the beginning of our story.

One is called Lean business planning

There is the book called The Lean Startup that describes these principles, by guy called Eric Ries. And he said:

 
“Startup success can be engineered by following the process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.”
 

And there are 5 principles in Lean business planning:

1) ENTREPRENEURS ARE EVERYWHERE

You don't have to work in a garage to be in a startup

2) ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS MANAGEMENT

A startup is an institution, not just a product, so it requires management, a new kind of management specifically geared to its context.

3) VALIDATED LEARNING

Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically, by running experiments that allow us to test each element of our vision.

4) INNOVATION ACCOUNTING

To improve entrepreneurial outcomes, and to hold entrepreneurs accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to setup milestones, how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to startups.

5) BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN

The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback loop.

If you need a business plan example, with financial case study click this link and download it immediately, so you can use it for your own business plan. Please feel free to copy anything you find relevant.