| Every business, no matter how small, needs a | | | | - How accurate were your financial forecasts? |
| business plan. It's an essential tool if you need a | | | | - If you're struggling to meet targets, what's |
| loan or want to attract a business partner, but its | | | | going wrong? |
| usefulness doesn't end there. | | | | - Are you still enthusiastic about your product or |
| In the early days, a plan that includes a description | | | | service? |
| of your business, its goals, strategies to achieve | | | | - Has the market changed? |
| those goals, assets, competitors and detailed | | | | - What are your competitors doing? |
| financial information will help to turn vague dreams | | | | - Have you reacted to customers' feedback? |
| into a realistic enterprise. Thoroughly researching | | | | - What can you do to improve anything you're |
| facts and figures to include in your business plan | | | | unhappy with? |
| will highlight potential problems and spark new | | | | Nothing stands still in business, and it's impossible |
| ideas. Remember to seek help from a | | | | to plan for the unexpected: a new competitor |
| bookkeeper for extra support if necessary. | | | | suddenly appears, you win a big contract, or new |
| Once the business is up and running, many | | | | government regulations mean you have to |
| business owners put their business plan aside and | | | | redesign your main product. Anything that affects |
| forget about it. This is a big mistake. No matter | | | | your business, for better or worse, should be |
| how busy you are, occasionally reviewing and | | | | added to your plan. You can then make |
| revising your business plan allows you to look up | | | | adjustments where necessary and use that |
| from the day-to-day details of your business and | | | | information to steer your business on a different, |
| see the whole picture again. In particular, it should | | | | but still successful, course. If you do not have the |
| make you ask some of the following questions: | | | | time to create a business plan yourself, you could |
| - How close are you to your original goals? | | | | always get an outsourced bookkeeper to do it |
| - If those goals are in sight, what next? | | | | for you. |