Visualise where you want to be - this is the first step in building your business plan.
(Visualising is Step 1 of our series on business planning. If you haven't already, please refer to our recipe for building bigger profits post)
When we bake a cake we visualise how that cake is going to look, or possibly the cake is already visualised by a photo of it in a recipe book. Just like the cake, in business the visualisation step is about picturing what your business is going to look like.
How do you do this?
Sometimes referred to as the Vision or Mission Statement - what you want to establish is a short sentence or paragraph really setting out the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW and even WHY you are in business.
When building this vision, think about how your business is doing things differently to your competitors, often referred to as a unique selling proposition (USP).
It's also important to remember that your business vision shouldn't be as simple as saying “I want to make money”, we all want that, but a successful business has to have a larger purpose to sustainably drive all the levers of business such as suppliers, staff, customers to be truly successful. Your vision may be based around helping a particular set of people in society, or maybe it’s to change the current model in your industry.
A vision is a far off notion of where you want to be, don't be afraid to establish a vision that is so far into the future or so far removed from where you are that you think it is unattainable. This vision is going to be with you for a longtime so in itself should be difficult to achieve.
Ready for the next step?
Step 2. Establishing the Strategy
Need help?
At Evolve Accounting we specialise in facilitating the creation of business plans and all other aspects that go into business plan such as:
- Business Plan formulation
- Goal Setting
- Cake Making
- Establishing Key Performance Indicators
- Accountability to your goals
- Acting as a virtual chief financial officer to your business (VCFO)