Why Is a Business Plan Important? 
We’ve touched on this a bit already, but it’s worth taking a deeper look. Exactly why is making a business plan important? After all, you’ve got a killer idea, and you’ve seen it done enough to know how these things go. Taking the time to plan your business would only slow things down—or so it feels.

Here’s the truth of the matter: in the real world, learning on the go isn’t always an option. There will come crucial times in your business when you’ll want to have a plan or risk things going south in a hurry. Having a business plan helps you address all the elements of the business, set targets, plan marketing and getting customers, funding, and all the operational issues. A quote from James Dyson, the British entrepreneur, states that, providing the actual product or service only constitutes less than 10% of the elements necessary to set up a successful business!!  So the set up in all the other areas requires more time and attention, once the product or service are in place.

Five Steps to Business Planning 
Understanding this, let’s go over five crucial steps to business planning. By following these steps, you’ll be more prepared to craft your one-page business plan:

1. Write What You Know ………. Why, when and how?? 
   One of the first steps to effective business planning is writing everything you already know (or think you know) about your prospective business. First of all is why you are doing it! Sometimes, it can feel like you have it all planned out—until you’ve got it written down on paper, that is. Putting your thoughts down can help you realize just what you’re working with when it comes to your business.

   You can write down anything at this stage: potential names, your target audience, the products or services you intend to sell, etc. The important thing here is that you begin to really set your ideas down and make them more concrete. Even without a defined structure, this will help you get a better feel for your business and how much it’s going to take to get it operational moving forward. And it will identify the areas to be addressed. 

2. Ask Yourself the Important Questions 
   After this step, you can ask yourself the important questions. What do we mean by this? It’s simple. In order to make a working business plan, you’ll need to have thought out a variety of scenarios and understand your business from a number of different angles. This means that you’ll have to ask yourself crucial questions such as your short- and long-term goals, your funding plans, the best way to start your business, etc.

   If you can answer these questions at this point, great. You may find, however, that some answers are more elusive. You may need to make a variety of contingency plans that you can fall back on no matter the stage of your business. At this stage, you can begin collecting the information you need to make a more viable business plan.

3. Meet with Your Team or associates 
   If you’re going it alone, you’ll have to review your information and prospective business notes yourself. If not, however, you’ll want to take time to meet with associates or your team after any preliminary information is collected. Does everyone agree on the goals you’ve laid out? Are there facets of your plan that don’t hold up to scrutiny? Now is the time to iron out those details.

   Meeting with other people is a great way to receive valuable feedback on potential business plans, so you’ll want to do that before you make any commitments. This pre-planning stage is crucial to crafting a business plan that will actually take your business to and past launch date successfully. Without reviewing your information, you’re essentially winging it (not recommended) or acting on bad data or information (which can be even worse).

4. Make Necessary Changes 
   Have your preliminary business planning ideas been dragged through the mud? Don’t worry. This is an invaluable step of the process. Now you’ll be able to make the changes necessary to refine your data, goals, and agenda. You’ll need this concrete information to write an effective business plan, so don’t take it for granted!

   You may have to update this process numerous times to ensure that you are ready to make a business plan that actually works for your proposed business. Don’t worry about the wait. Remember: when it comes to business, you’re playing the long game, anyway.

5. Write Your Business Plan 
   Once you’ve done all this, you’re ready to write your business plan! Startup Assist UK will offer advice on what to include in the initial one-page plan.  Then there is the more detailed working plan. Very few new entrepreneurs are able to create this usefully, even with a template.  This includes essential targets and details about your business model. And the financial review needs to be flexible enough (in a spreadsheet) to enable changes in numbers, prices, and “what ifs”. “What ifs” are where you want to be able to try numbers and prices and costs to achieve certain profit levels….

The Bottom Line
Planning your business won’t always be fun. In fact, it can be overwhelming at times. Still, those businessowners who take the time to plan their operations against targets end up doing better, statistically speaking. Fortunately, we’re here to help you plan your business every step of the way. Using this guide, you can start to work toward crafting the ultimate one-page business plan. We make planning your business easier than ever before, so make sure to take advantage of our simple one-page business plan template (free).  Then create, probably with assistance, your working Business Plan

ACTION: Engage the team at Startup Assist UK to draft the working Plan for you, BUSINESS PLAN ASSIST (with your input.). This will ensure that all the key areas are addressed, or if being used to support a request for funding, that the content and the format are usually accepted by funding companies.