[eddie d]

hi
i went on a buisnesslink day course to show me how to write a buisness plan which im going to do
.this is after 15/20 years in the game .but the course was very good and a eye opener.the courses are free so log on and book your place.
but how many of you guys have a written buisness plan and know where your going ??

[pingu]

No business plan per se but I have monthly and yearly targets with regard to turnover, customer base, area projections, daily work against turnover.

Does anyone else think that a business plan is needed for one man bands?

Cheers
Dave.

[Village Gleam]

Yes you do need a business plan. To a degree everyone does it naturally, but you can't beat applying formal thinking.(note the correct use of the word formal as opposed to formerly pingu)

What it gives you is the tools to apply and attack what is in front of you. What is your you unique selling propostion- your mission statement- value statement- strategy(there are only three basic stragegies for instance, can you guess what they are?)- market segments.....

I waffle on about this but no one takes much notice.....

[Moderator David@stives]

Mr s

I am interested tell me more !!

Dave

[Ian Rochester]

Every year I take time to write out/review our one year and five year business plans and every 3 months I have a review with our accountant to look at how the projections are panning out.

We look at our operating profits for the past year, look at how we can increase margins, look at what investments need to be planned in and set new objectives for the coming year and ways to achieve those objectives.

It's all fine and well saying "This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires!" but you need to always have a plan as to how you are going to get there and not just leaving it to let someone phone you,

Things can by quite dynamic and change at short notice, however if you can take a little bit of time to stop and actually look at your business critically and ask yourself what you are striving for, then it is always a good exercise.

How many people on here are looking towards their retirement and how are they going to achieve the lifestyle they want when they do retire.

[Spursboy1972]

I have written a business plan and have written one for someone else a few years ago. Had a venture capitalist look at previous effort and he gfave me some o=pointers which were very useful. Difference is that one was to attract investment and mine is for me. I have broken it down into days and targets for each day, week, year for the next 5 years. Will then revue it annually.

The bank manager usually likes to see one and I find it helps with self motivation.

[j.v. price ltd]

Sitting down and putting a business plan together with the accountant made a massive difference in the growth of my business, was a real eye opener and a few little changes made the turnover and profit grow over night.

One of the main things we changed where the out goings and manged to save a good deal of money by getting better rates and deals with suppliers.

Doing this icreased the proffit without uping the turnover so more money for no more work.

Sounds good to me,

Business link is a great thing