Your business plan is heavily linked to your budget, KPIs, and goals, which makes it critical to the success of your business.
Many business owners feel intimidated by the process of creating one, and this is understandable, as it can take up valuable resources. Contrary to popular belief, however, a business plan doesn’t have to be a long-winded exercise or an intimidating 10-pager document! In fact, we encourage creating 1-page plans as a starting point to simplify and streamline the process.
When creating your business plan, make sure that it covers the following:
- goals for the year,
- important strategies to achieve set goals, and
- KPIs or set measurements that determine whether or not your goals have been achieved (measurable on daily, weekly, or monthly basis).
At BDO, we regularly provide business planning workshops for our clients. These tried-and-tested workshops focus on providing a straightforward business planning structure and is incredibly valuable for those who are unfamiliar with this process. If you would like to discuss a tailored business planning session for your business, please get in touch with our retail team.
Finally, it’s important to remember that a business plan is not a one-and-done task. In fact, planning is a cycle. It begins with (1) reflecting on what happened, then (2) reaching a conclusion on what did and didn’t work. (3) Plan creation can then begin after initial deliberation, and then once you’re happy with it, you can (4) put actions in place to achieve the plan. After some time, the cycle can begin again.
Treating business planning as a cycle instead of a static document ensures that you continuously refine your business to meet changing market demands or to adapt to external circumstances, such as a worldwide pandemic.