The ULTIMATE Business Plan…
Instead of just thinking about your business goals - think your business goals and personal goals together…
How to 10x the chance for a successful business plan…
If you have been in business for any period of time, you would have seen or heard an accountant or consultant say “You need to have a business plan! Your business will not grow without a business plan.” Sound familiar? And at some stage in our business journey we have probably succumbed and engaged a consultant to help us write our Business Plan. The big question is what did you do with it once it was written? My guess it either went into a desk drawer, never to be looked at again, or it went into the “round filing cabinet!” Am I right?
A business plan with punch
In my opinion a business plan is never implemented because it focuses solely on the business, and completely ignores any personal ambitions. It is a 1 – 5 year plan on where you want the business to be and how you are going to get there. It is numbers, ratios, conversions, blah, blah, blah. It is a boring document with no emotion behind it. But here is the thing, it doesn’t have to be a boring document. It could be a document that you review constantly, full of emotion and purpose.
Add in your Bucket List:
· What are the things that get you excited?
· What are the things that you want to achieve in life?
· All the big things and all the small things, what are they?
Do you want to climb Mount Everest?
Do you want to go to Machu Pichu?
Do you want to learn to play the guitar?
Whatever they are, these bucket list items are what needs to be integrated into your business plan. It is these items that start to give the numbers meaning. You are trying to increase sales so you and your family can go on overseas holidays. You are trying to increase gross profit so you can purchase that dream fishing boat. You are trying to improve your cash flow so you can start making regular contributions to your favourite charity. You want the business to become less reliant on you so you only need to work 4 days a week so you can spend more time with your family.
Tell me what sounds better and more interesting? I want to increase my sales by 30% in the next twelve months. I want to increase my sales by 30% so I can take my family skiing in Austria. I could be crazy, but the second sentence sounds way more exciting to me.
The Bucket List Business Plan
And so it begins. I believe the most important aspect of a business plan is to first work out what is on your bucket list. And don’t be shy with this. Put some big outlandish dreams on there. Once you have worked this part out we can then focus on your business. Where does your business sit today and how well is it place to allow you to tick things off your bucket list. Then we can start working on where the business needs to improve and strategies on how to improve it. And always the focus will be on “Will these strategies improve the business and allow me to tick things off my bucket list?”
The bucket list business plan, by combining personal with business, will give you the greatest chance of success. The bucket list business plan will stay out of the drawer and the “round filing cabinet” and up on the wall where it is visible every day.
Or do you need help with your business plan/bucket list? Review of your business? Planning for your future?
David Patterson - Director The Bucket list Accountant
