Let me ask you a question. When you jump in your car or on your bike, do you do so without any idea of where you’re going? Nope? Didn’t think so.

Unless you just felt like taking your car out for a spin or getting lost on a bike ride, I’d say you would almost always know a rough route of where you’re going, how long it will take and what you’ll do once you get there.

So it blows me away that people do not have a road map for their business. A business plan is quite simply a great investment of your time. I hear excuses flying at me from left, right and centre such as:

“I just don’t have time”, “I have too much work to do”, “I’ll do it someday”, “It seems like too much work and too complicated”, “I have no idea where to start”, “I don’t need a business plan, I’m making money already.”

I’d also like to let you know that contrary to what people may tell you, your business plan does not have to be a book. It can be just one page and still work wonders.

Getting Clarity in Your Business Model and Path to Profit

There are many ways to do this and you need to do what works for you. But make sure you take action and actually write it out. You need a clear picture in your head of where you’re heading. Writing down what you’ve been carrying around in your head makes it so much more tangible and instantly clarifying.

Each year I intend to make my progress bigger and better – both personally and professionally, and I do this in just one hour or less (granted I do lots of thinking before hand, and then it’s simply translating these thoughts onto paper).

Make sure you take 30-60 minutes to get that 1 pager written up – it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s a good start!

The One Page Business Plan

This week I want you to complete a simple 1 page business plan. Here’s how it works, each point below is one section:

Write out your mission – a sentence that gets your fired up on why you do what you do

State your 5 main BHAGS – Big Hairy Audacious Goals (make them SMART goals too – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound)

Write down 5 strategies to achieve those BHAGs

After that, write down one figure – your total annual budget

Then write your annual income projection

Write out your Income Projections and very brief explanations of what makes up your revenue streams (this is how you get the figure for No 5.)

Follow this with a section on Future income projection – all those things you really want to achieve that are part of your bigger vision

State your total projected costs and expenses and follow with a brief explanation, e.g $8,000 pa (rent), $9,000 (contractors), $700 (phone) etc

State your personal credentials (degrees, awards etc) to remind yourself why you’re `worth it’

Finally, state your 2-3 areas of personal growth and skills you want to invest in this year such as coaching or courses

Surprisingly, this all fits on one page – it’s meant to a snapshot you can refer to every week to ensure you’re on track. Along with it goes a 2-3 page Strategy and Tactics document where I take my goals and strategies and flesh them out further into tangible tactics to take place each month.

This is one of my favorite steps I take with my clients. I’d be happy to help you with it too.