How a Business Plan Can Make You a Better Manager

It’s an unfortunate fact that only a small fraction of business owners put together a plan for their business. If you are operating your company without a business plan, you are essentially running blind and taking an awfully big risk. Since planning is about effectively managing priorities and resources, it makes sense that a lack of a plan could lead to failure. Here are three steps to better planning that will make you a better small business manager.

1. Create a Plan. As your company’s owner or manager, you should write down every important detail about your operations. Create bullet points and tables, if necessary, to make your business plan more readable. You want to focus on the things that your company does best, what matters to your core group of clients, and how you can best target your business. You can also use this document to communicate your plan to employees.

2. Define Success. When you create your business plan, have some short and long-term goals in mind. Think about where you want to see the business in one, five, and even ten years. Put this in the plan and include financial projections. You can also forecast such things as website traffic and other non-financial goals.

3. Take Action. Now that you have a business plan, it’s time to put your strategies in place and include some methods to track your progress. This is vital because tracking can allow you to spot trouble areas quickly and make adjustments when needed instead of waiting until it’s too late to impact your bottom line results.

Your company’s business plan can also give you access to valuable capital since some lenders want to see that you have a plan in place before they will approve a loan. This is particularly the case with SBA loans. If your company would like to explore the various ways that commercial financing solutions can help your company, contact Ironhorse, LLC now to speak with one of our experienced small business consultants.