10 Tips on Master Business Planning
This article is from your MYB Consultancy for small business owners, in fact any business owner
Online Business Education ? Operational Risk Management Training
Over and over again as I work with small business owners I find some don't have much of a plan, little own a Master Business Plan. Sure, I find the more successful ones do, but rarely do I find that they work their plan well or that the plan is actually comprehensive. This is great for my consultancy of course because we have something really powerful to get moving on. We need a Master Business Plan.
I guess I'm a bit like a builder, they can't start without a plan and neither can I. How can I help you as much as I am capable of if you and I don't have your Master Business Plan.
This is the easiest and most common sense way to make a comprehensive Master Plan:
(1). Create Picture No. 1. This is a picture of what your business looks likes to you. It can be now or it can be in 1 year, it can be longer. If you don't know what it looks like how do you know what you want your living picture to be. To get anything you have to see it first.
(2). Create Picture No. 2. This is a picture of what your business looks like from the inside. Think about this as an outsider would so that your emotions don't get in the way. Be objective so that you find both the good and the bad. Know how you really are.
(3). Create Picture No. 3. This is a picture of what your business looks like from the outside. You need to know and think about how you are perceived and how the market place is affecting you. Again, be objective so that you can find both the good and the bad. Know how your are perceived.
(4). Create your Master Picture Create your Master Picture. This becomes your master plan. It is the combination of your pictures 2 and 3. You have a list of all the bad and all the good. Now you can turn the bad into good. This is your guide to the actions you need to take to have the business you want. You know what makes up your picture.
(5). Know what actions you will take. All the bad things need to have your ideas about how you will turn them into good things. This will give you a very clear picture of the right actions to take. A clear picture contributes to a clear plan
(6). Know how long each action will take. Think through what is required for each action to be put into effect. This will give you a realistic understanding of the work you will need to do for each one. You can then work out how long each one will take. You can create timeframes to work with.
(8). Know what your priority actions are. Think about the effect each action will have when it has been completed. It makes sense to set targets against each one in terms of when you want to achieve the results. You'll know what is of more urgent importance.