Do you know that anyone who completes a business plan is over 2 times more likely to succeed launching a business? To be exact, entrepreneurs who completed a business plan in-depth were 260% more likely to launch a business.
According to the latest stats on business plan success, those who had a business plan in place at the time of launch, had a 30% higher likelihood of seeing business growth over the long run. Plus, 70% of businesses that lasted 5 years or more had a well-structured, strategic business plan.
If you look at these stats, one can see what the fuss is all about. A business plan is a roadmap that takes a business from idea, to execution, to rapid growth and long-term longevity. But what exactly is a business plan, what does it include, and why is such a powerful force in business success?
At KINDLING: Software and Marketing Ideas, we’ve worked with businesses from the ground up — idea to pinnacles of success. It’s no surprise that we know exactly what it takes to build a highly structured plan that’s actually easy to follow, highly achievable, and dynamic enough to keep track of external variables.
But simply having a business plan in place does not guarantee success. Here’s another stat to bring you to the edge of your seat:
90% of businesses are unsuccessful in executing their strategic business plans.
Needless, to say, when you’re building a business plan, you’re aiming to join the 10% who actually succeed in implementing their business plans. How do you do that? By keeping your business plan realistic, achievable — and also highly motivating to keep you going.
Taking your business from idea to success is not going to be a smooth ride. your future company’s potential pretty much heavily relies on how well you execute the completion of a business plan. So, we’ve put our heads together to build a toolbox of essentials that outline exactly what makes your business unique,, the markets it aims to target, and how it sustains itself with revenue generation.
Al the work and effort you put into your business plan basically answers the most important question lenders and future stakeholders will ask:
Why will your specific business survive and succeed where so many others have failed?
Understanding the Essence of a Business Plan:
As the highly reputable digital marketing agency Slinky rightly points out: a business plan isn’t just a formal statement about the how, when, and why of a business. It’s also the compass that navigates your efforts, resources, and determination in the right areas. Throughout a business journey, entrepreneurs are guaranteed to hit roadblocks, reach crossroads of decisions, manage tradeoffs in ways that maximize returns.
The true gravity and importance of a well–structured business plan is also reinforced by Forbes, which emphasized in-depth how integral a business plan actually is for startups. It not only allows a clear pathway to success, moves to make and resources to allocate, roles to be played out, but also lets entrepreneurs measure the actual progress that will lead to attainment of their goals.
One of our clients at KINDLING, Sarah, was a highly talented entrepreneur in the tech industry. When she first began, her concepts, although highly sophisticated and well thought-out, were highly scattered and lacked sequence. She would find herself repeatedly taking missteps that were hurting her progress. Once she put all her ideas down and created a business plan that was clear, concise, focused and complete, her path was outlined and clearer. Not only did her moves become easier to navigate, they also became highly targeted, extremely accurate, and primed for success. As a result of a business plan that was achievable, realistic, and focused, Sarah could lead her company to greater success by making strategic moves that hit the bullseye.
Setting Realistic and Achievable Goals:
Being realistic with your business goals might be one of the most underrated business plan advice you will ever follow. When creating a business plan, it’s extremely common to get swept away with extreme plans of grand success and resource allocation and success. Although it is important to be optimistic about your business goals, there is such a thing as being unrealistically over-optimistic in goals setting, which can completely destroy the momentum when you’re actually in the business area. According to Harvard Business Review, achievable goal-setting fuels the fire of motivation for entrepreneurs, and also is the food that sustains consistent and longstanding business growth.
We experienced that firsthand while working with one of our clients. Her goals were highly ambitious, and would have been realistic if she had the resources to back those up. But her resources were limited, so her goals were completely out of touch with reality — almost impossible to achieve. And because of that, her motivation was taking a massive hit. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to seize her short term goals — which made her worry about the long term objectives. We sat down, reset her goals to set more realistic targets, and what happened next was incredible. Her stress levels and anxiety decreased, leading her to avoid getting overwhelmed. With more clear-minded focused decision making and trajectory, she was able to gain a series of successes that set her on the path to attaining her goals.
Outlining the Steps to Achieve Your Goals:
A business plan isn’t just a pretty picture of what you want to do, but also how to do what you want to do — basically the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. According to reputable resources like Entrepreneur, A business plan should outline the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. Setting objectives should be preceded by relevant marketing analysis, reporting, and funding strategies that will make you attain the objectives, marketing plans that outline special moves that will cater to those specific goals, and more.
On that note, we once worked with a local bakery with a very focused objective: online expansion. While creating the business plan, we at KINDLING included extremely thorough and detailed steps that would help achieve this goal. How do we achieve that objective for the bakery? We laid out attainable steps targeted at goal achievement, such as the creation and management of an -ecommerce platform, digital marketing strategies that were tailored to their target market and aligned to online growth achievement, and also included a realistic timeline that would lead to a successful online launch.
Incorporating Software and Marketing Insights:
In this dynamic era of rapid growth, ever changing landscapes and thriving innovation and technology, integrating and including software solutions, data and marketing insights within your business plan has become imperative. The vast number of variables in this digital age present challenges, but when looked at closely with akeen ye also present a shore of opportunities.
And that is what we specialize in at KINDLING. We dive deep into the pits of challenges that exist within the ever changing digital landscape. Then, we turn those challenges to opportunities, revealing the possibility that can guide your business to success. These become crucial parts of your business plan, handing you the guidance and tools you need to gain greater success over the long run.
Your business plan won’t be a simple document but a success plan packed with success strategies. Quite like our recent client, a retail startup that had incorporated our sophisticated software solutions into our business plan. This simple step completely transformed how their business functions, automating many of their manpower-heavy processes. This reduced the risk of error, cut the time and resource extensiveness by half, and shifted those resources to more strategic marketing efforts, attention, and resource allocation elsewhere.
This optimization is what led the retail startup to maximize efficiency and, in turn, increase sales numbers.
At the outset, a business plan is a roadmap that drives decision-making for your business along more concrete and strategic steps — strictly focused on targeted goal achievement. Every dream you have conjured up related to your business is dependent on the foundation goal strength of your business plan. It allows you to have foresight, be prepared, take pre-established detours when needed, and guide your resources — human and financial — toward goal attainment.
When faced with the complexities of the business world, no matter what your industry, the correct software integration and marketing strategies form a cohesive plan that propels your business toward success.
Our team at KINDLING: Software & Marketing Ideas are committed to setting up a business plan that allows you to develop your ideas. The end goal is to create a business plan that is so dynamic, adaptive, and metamorphosizes as the landscape challenges it. Remember, you’re seeking and identifying and discovering opportunities in a high dynamic business arena, and your business plan; is equipped with the right tools, integrations, moves, and pathways that will equip you with the potential to join the 10% of businesses that actually succeed.
Crafting an impactful business plan starts with a single step. One correct decision today has the potential to light the fire that fuels your business potential.