The merchants of the conventional wisdom would have you believe that the very first thing you should do when setting up a new company is to create a business plan. No matter if you sell odds and ends on eBay from your living room or something larger and more complex, Business plans are excellent and necessary. Too few of us are self-employed and freelance people use them.
They require us to clarify our objectives. We have to attribute a lot of our expectations and assign a time line with our objectives. They become our road map and keep us on track. But I suggest that you can not make a business plan that worthless unless you done your homework.
And that means knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it. And whereas there is sufficient demand for your product to generate sufficient revenues to cover costs and ensure a profit.
In other words, before the business plan comes research.
If a body of knowledge that already exists, it is wise to call on him and save you some work. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources, for example, publish a large number of demographic information. Some of it is very useful.
But it is also likely that as a sole proprietor creation, statistics do not exist on your specialty. Many small businesses seek a specialised niche market. And many held by creative types exist to sell a product or service that do not follow well-worn prototypes.
It is particularly difficult for these people to find published data. If you fall into these categories, you will have to create your own information. Do not limit your search to include only data from the company. You are building a life and a business.
Are the requirements and conditions of your project activity consistent with the life that you want to create? For example, illustrators often work with short deadlines - meaning that sometimes they are forced to work late into the night to finish a project on deadline. In addition, some clients are demanding, and some do not pay in a timely manner. After all this, you can still "love it" enough? Or maybe your company is such that sales fluctuate throughout the year. How are you going to make it through the lean months? Can you manage uncertainty of a fluctuating income?
So how do you find information?
First, while others provide services similar to yours talk to them. You have a lot of information quickly. Their answers to your questions will save you a lot of steps and open their eyes to the factors that you may not.
Try to talk to at least five or six people so you can get a range of views.
You can find them through professional associations, schools, word of mouth. If people are reluctant to share information - perhaps because they see that you direct competition - look similar people in another location.
Then create the information you need. Mimic and simplify what big companies do. Reduce their methods to descend to a level that is practical and affordable. For example, maybe you want potential customers to the investigation and obtain feedback from customers.
If you are creating a micro-business on a shoe-string, it may not be affordable or practical to order a discussion group. But you may be able to speak informally to potential targets or using direct mail to send a simple survey.
Finally, you have to "put your feet in the water." Try it in a small way - if you do not lose much if it does not work - and observe the results. Secondly, test and modify as needed . Once it works as you wish, you can dive in.
This approach, known by the technical term "trial and error" can be applied to any aspect of your business. After all, even the largest producers of market test new products before they are rolling. Put some parameters around your efforts. Decide in advance how long you want to allow and how much you want to budget.
Then test, test, test.
Use trial and error for every aspect of your business. Experiment with different ways of packaging your services, rates and different prices, different types of marketing, etc.
You can quickly find that some approaches work better than others. Eventually, your experience and the data suggest viable strategies. And then you are ready to create your business plan.
They require us to clarify our objectives. We have to attribute a lot of our expectations and assign a time line with our objectives. They become our road map and keep us on track. But I suggest that you can not make a business plan that worthless unless you done your homework.
And that means knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it. And whereas there is sufficient demand for your product to generate sufficient revenues to cover costs and ensure a profit.
In other words, before the business plan comes research.
If a body of knowledge that already exists, it is wise to call on him and save you some work. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources, for example, publish a large number of demographic information. Some of it is very useful.
But it is also likely that as a sole proprietor creation, statistics do not exist on your specialty. Many small businesses seek a specialised niche market. And many held by creative types exist to sell a product or service that do not follow well-worn prototypes.
It is particularly difficult for these people to find published data. If you fall into these categories, you will have to create your own information. Do not limit your search to include only data from the company. You are building a life and a business.
Are the requirements and conditions of your project activity consistent with the life that you want to create? For example, illustrators often work with short deadlines - meaning that sometimes they are forced to work late into the night to finish a project on deadline. In addition, some clients are demanding, and some do not pay in a timely manner. After all this, you can still "love it" enough? Or maybe your company is such that sales fluctuate throughout the year. How are you going to make it through the lean months? Can you manage uncertainty of a fluctuating income?
So how do you find information?
First, while others provide services similar to yours talk to them. You have a lot of information quickly. Their answers to your questions will save you a lot of steps and open their eyes to the factors that you may not.
Try to talk to at least five or six people so you can get a range of views.
You can find them through professional associations, schools, word of mouth. If people are reluctant to share information - perhaps because they see that you direct competition - look similar people in another location.
Then create the information you need. Mimic and simplify what big companies do. Reduce their methods to descend to a level that is practical and affordable. For example, maybe you want potential customers to the investigation and obtain feedback from customers.
If you are creating a micro-business on a shoe-string, it may not be affordable or practical to order a discussion group. But you may be able to speak informally to potential targets or using direct mail to send a simple survey.
Finally, you have to "put your feet in the water." Try it in a small way - if you do not lose much if it does not work - and observe the results. Secondly, test and modify as needed . Once it works as you wish, you can dive in.
This approach, known by the technical term "trial and error" can be applied to any aspect of your business. After all, even the largest producers of market test new products before they are rolling. Put some parameters around your efforts. Decide in advance how long you want to allow and how much you want to budget.
Then test, test, test.
Use trial and error for every aspect of your business. Experiment with different ways of packaging your services, rates and different prices, different types of marketing, etc.
You can quickly find that some approaches work better than others. Eventually, your experience and the data suggest viable strategies. And then you are ready to create your business plan.