
Avoid working with somebody who will deliver a plan and disappear. Some business plan writers think like coaches and have that kind of relationship in mind, and some don’t. So you have to have somebody helping who will either pass the plan on completely so you can review and revise it easily, or be available later to help with review and revision. Business plans go stale in a matter of weeks.įor a plan to be useful, you need to review results regularly, track progress, and revise often. That’s just not the way real business planning works anymore. Find someone who is in it for the long haulĪvoid hiring anybody that assumes a business plan is a one-time thing, to be used once and discarded. You want the math and finance to be correct. So I don’t say don’t ever get help. As with a lot of business tasks, maybe a coach can help, somebody to look over your shoulders, particularly on the financial projections. Still, I made a living doing business plans for owners and entrepreneurs for more than 15 years, and I deal with bad business plans often enough since I read more than 100 startup business plans every year. Of course, I’m biased on this question too because here I am writing on Bplans, surrounded by ads for LivePlan, which exists to make it easy for you to do your plan yourself. A plan is good or not based on its content, specifics, milestones, scalability, defensibility, financial projections, and team in charge. Anybody who can develop a business can develop a business plan. I am saying that you can do it yourself and that you do know how. Still, let’s assume for a moment that you are a business owner, or that you want to start a new business, and you have a budget to pay for help and you don’t want to do your business plan by yourself.Īm I suggesting you shouldn’t even try to get help? No. Look for a coach, advisor, and confidante So first, you decide what you really need, for real business purposes.Īssuming you do need to show a plan to outsiders, as you go for help you look for a coach or advisor, not somebody to just write your plan for you so you don’t have to. As always in business, form follows function. If, on the other hand, you have a business plan event, in which a business plan is a requirement for a loan, investor, divorce settlement, strategic ally, or some other outsider, then in that case maybe you do have a business need to go beyond the basics and formalize a plan with well-written summaries, descriptions, and so forth.
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See Also: How to Develop Your Business Strategy If your business plan is to help you manage better by setting strategy, tactics, milestones, metrics, and essential projections, tracking results and revising often, then the keys to success with that task are not related to what you normally get by having an outsider do it for you. Before you go for outside help, focus on the business purpose. Like everything else in business, the planning process should adhere to the general business principle of getting a return on investment of time and effort, as well as money. The best you can do with the writing and formatting and such is keep that all out of the way, so it doesn’t interfere with the content.
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Make no mistake, it’s the business that’s impressive or not it isn’t the business plan.Ī business plan is impressive when it combines a credible team with an attractive market, plus differentiators, barriers to competition, good product-market fit, some proprietary secret sauce. I had to explain this earlier this month, in response to a question on : “How do I make an impressive business plan?” So, before you dive headfirst into finding someone to write your plan, read these two articles: 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Business Plan Writer, and Business Plan Writing Can’t Perfume a Pig. But these are not the all-important factors.įor example, my article My Worst Ever Business Plan Engagement tells a true story of smart entrepreneurs with a solid business plan not getting funded because they didn’t know the plan by heart. Some people think it’s about the paper itself, or even the writing. The underlying reason for my caution on the topic of outsourcing the writing of your business plan is the confusion about what makes a business plan successful. See Also: How to Write a Business Plan Be aware of common pitfalls
