Let’s compare your business plan (a blueprint for your business) to the blueprint for the new house that you are planning to build.  You wouldn’t dream of having your contractor break ground for your new house without first going over and approving every detail, both structural and architectural, beforehand and creating a detailed set of working plans to guide the builder.  It is much easier (and cheaper) to make changes or modifications on paper with an eraser and pencil than it is to change something that has already been constructed.  The same is true for your business.
 
While writing a business plan can be a long and difficult process, it is also a very valuable process, and is time well-spent.  To paraphrase a military axiom:  the more you sweat in the planning stages of an operation, the less you bleed in actual practice.  Putting together an in-depth business plan gives you the opportunity to look at both the best- and worst-case scenarios that your business may encounter.
 
One of the main purposes of a business plan is that of a selling document, and the first person that needs to be completely sold on your idea is YOU.  Planning and starting a new endeavor is always more fun and interesting than the actual work of wrapping up a project that has been ongoing.  This is because a project or idea in the planning phase is free from the unpleasant realities of real life.  A new project is fresh, clean and loaded with potential.  An old project is often bogged down with a lot of real-life problems:  employees with a bad (or nonexistent) work ethic; suppliers who are unable to meet a deadline; customers with unreasonable expectations.
 
The process of writing your business plan allows you to thoroughly research the key aspects necessary for your business to succeed, and this hard look at the details forces you to address –or at least contemplate– some worst-case scenarios that may arise.  Being aware of some of the problems that may arise will allow you to take some of the “un” out of the “unexpected”.

For more information, please join us at StartUpPuppy.com to get your business started!