Start First.
There is this belief that you need to have a business plan before going into business. The truth is that while a business plan is a necessary document that can help startups access funding, not having one should not stop you from starting. As a matter of fact, I believe in being sure you actually have a business before you even register the business.
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Most business plans do not reflect the realities of doing the actual business, and unless you have the funds to pay for the services of a business development expert, which also does not guarantee that your business will succeed, you might as well just launch out.
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You shouldn’t waste too much of your time trying to develop a failure-proof business plan. If you look closely at most people who got venture funding, they all share one thing in common: They were already doing what they wanted to do, and they were only seeking funding to grow what they had already started.
Mark Essien. Jason Njoku. Name them.
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The data you need to develop a real business plan can only be best acquired by offering your proposed service or product to the people whom you believe need them and gauging their response.
If the response is positive, you can continue, learn, and improve the service or product along the way. If it’s negative, well, you may have to shelf it for a more lucrative business idea if you don’t have a customer after 3 months. Businesses cannot survive without customers.
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So what you should actually be looking for are customers, people who are capable and willing to pay for your product or service. Find them, and in the course of serving them, you will develop a concrete business plan backed by data acquired by actually doing the business. In looking for where your customers are, you will develop a real marketing strategy to reach them. In serving your customers you will also become aware of the way your business operates and how to structure it effectively.
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I recently met with an agripreneur who runs a fish farm. I offered to help him develop a business plan after he shared his vision for the business, the challenges of running the farm, and the revenue potential of the business. He presently produces about 6000 grown catfish annually. The farm lacks security, and the harvest would have been more he said, if not for theft. He wants to employ security and more hands at the farm. He also needs to build more fish vats and plans to supply cooked catfish, roasted catfish, and live catfish to his customers who would order from a website. I was impressed. He did not have a written business plan but he had a “working” business plan.
.
Write one if you can, or if you have the resources to hire professional help, but tweek it as you go along, don’t try and stick to what’s on paper because most of the time it’s just that, “on paper”. The real world is not on paper, it’s outside your doors.
.
So plan, visualize, write down what you see but don’t wait till everything is perfect. Start first!
.
Most business plans do not reflect the realities of doing the actual business, and unless you have the funds to pay for the services of a business development expert, which also does not guarantee that your business will succeed, you might as well just launch out.
.
You shouldn’t waste too much of your time trying to develop a failure-proof business plan. If you look closely at most people who got venture funding, they all share one thing in common: They were already doing what they wanted to do, and they were only seeking funding to grow what they had already started.
Mark Essien. Jason Njoku. Name them.
.
The data you need to develop a real business plan can only be best acquired by offering your proposed service or product to the people whom you believe need them and gauging their response.
If the response is positive, you can continue, learn, and improve the service or product along the way. If it’s negative, well, you may have to shelf it for a more lucrative business idea if you don’t have a customer after 3 months. Businesses cannot survive without customers.
.
So what you should actually be looking for are customers, people who are capable and willing to pay for your product or service. Find them, and in the course of serving them, you will develop a concrete business plan backed by data acquired by actually doing the business. In looking for where your customers are, you will develop a real marketing strategy to reach them. In serving your customers you will also become aware of the way your business operates and how to structure it effectively.
.
I recently met with an agripreneur who runs a fish farm. I offered to help him develop a business plan after he shared his vision for the business, the challenges of running the farm, and the revenue potential of the business. He presently produces about 6000 grown catfish annually. The farm lacks security, and the harvest would have been more he said, if not for theft. He wants to employ security and more hands at the farm. He also needs to build more fish vats and plans to supply cooked catfish, roasted catfish, and live catfish to his customers who would order from a website. I was impressed. He did not have a written business plan but he had a “working” business plan.
.
Write one if you can, or if you have the resources to hire professional help, but tweek it as you go along, don’t try and stick to what’s on paper because most of the time it’s just that, “on paper”. The real world is not on paper, it’s outside your doors.
.
So plan, visualize, write down what you see but don’t wait till everything is perfect. Start first!
Written By Tchidi Jacobs