Time to Dust Off the Business Plan

This is the time of year that a lot of business owners start looking at a vacation from their business. I’m sure that the landscapers think that I am crazy, but for many business owners this is true. And it is understandable too. The kids will be out of school, the weather is nice, and you rationalize that you have the rest of the year to make your revenue goals.

This is also a good time of year to update the business plan that you developed five years ago. It is probably filed away or on a floppy disk somewhere. A business plan should be a work-in-progress. Even successful, growing businesses should maintain a current business plan. It should be a road map for your business to follow. The importance of a business plan is even more significant now, especially in the face of economic uncertainty. A well developed business plan can help you reconnect with your customers, create happier employees, give you Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to know when things are going well, and most importantly allow you to work on your business, instead of in your business.

I usually hear the argument that an existing business does not need a business plan. Business owners will also give me the example of how they know of a particularly successful business owner that never developed a business plan, so that proves that a business plan is pointless. That is like saying basketball players don’t need any college experience before playing in the NBA, because Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett did it, and hey, they’re all-stars. But for every Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett there is a C.J. Miles, Ricky Sanchez, James Lang, Korleone Young, Ndudi Ebi, Kwame Brown, Darius Miles, Sebastian Telfair, Jonathan Bender, Leon Smith, and a dozen other kids that we have never heard of that tried the same thing. Chances are you never heard of these guys and if you did it was for the wrong reasons. So the question is, are you a Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett of your industry? If not it may be time to dust off the ole business plan.

If you are interested in jump starting your business plan you can use a business plan outline and websites for research on our site, http://www.volstate.edu/TSBDC/Documents/Business%20Plan%20Outline.pdf.

The TSBDC offers free and confidential one-on-one counseling for existing and start up small businesses. To register for go to www.tsbdc.org.Other contact information - Phone (615) 230-4780 www.volstate.edu/tsbdcThe Tennessee Small Business Development Center Network is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and local community donors.