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    Don’t Kid Yourself – You Need a Business Plan

    Starting your own business in today’s market is a challenging venture – myriads of fierce competitors, customers with a short attention span, and a sea of available information, products and services. Yes, you need to get to the top, and yes, it is possible. However, don’t kid yourself into thinking that all it takes is originality. Of course, it won’t do you any harm, but you’ll need to take every aspect into consideration, anticipate potential problems and predict possible solutions. The best way to achieve this is to develop a strong business plan to guide you every step of the way.

    Company image and objectives

    Answering the questions who you are and where you’re going is an important step towards defining your business and presenting it to the public. You need to have a clear vision of your company, the values it represents and the objectives it strives for. A well-developed business plan should help you clarify your business purpose and direction, and achieve your business objectives.

    Market research

    Once you’ve decided to start your own company, you need to conduct thorough market research in order to discover the most important trends and changes in your industry. If you already have a certain product or service in mind, you should find out whether there’s a demand on the market for it first, and then proceed with your venture. Your business plan will help you gain a deeper understanding of your market and make you think about how you’ll fit into it. While doing market research, opt for additional facilities and tools that can reduce your workload and improve your understanding of your business industry. Kano Model is one such tool that can provide data about features like interactive whiteboarding, emoji reactions, text chats, file sharing, integration of Outlook, Gmail, etc. These can help you improve attractive features and performance on your company website.

    Competitive analysis

    Another important aspect of having a business plan is a competitive analysis. You need to research your competition, discover their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the problems they’ve encountered. In addition, a competitive analysis can help you gain insight into possible advantages you can have over them. By analysing their position on the market, you can learn from their mistakes and avoid making them.

    Customer analysis

    Entering the business world entails selling a certain product and/or service to a particular target audience, and the only way to do this successfully is to know your customers. Having a business plan can help you outline your customers’ demographic and psychological profiles, as well as their interests and needs. You simply have to know who will buy your product and why. This way, you’ll know how to sell it to them and gain their loyalty.

    Marketing plan

    Promoting your business and product entails more than just running a commercial on TV. You need to define your marketing strategies, means to reach out to your customers, and which marketing channels will help you achieve that. Once you’ve done your customer analysis, you’ll have a clear image of your target audience, and, depending on their characteristics and preferences, you’ll be able to develop appropriate marketing strategies. Another important item to define in your business plan is your advertising budget that will greatly influence your options and decisions.

    Recruitment and management plan

    Managing your staff shouldn’t be something done on the go – as a business owner, you need to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it in order to gain your employees’ respect and loyalty. The truth is that good management requires having specific objectives for your employees that will make an impression of organisation and structure.When hiring new employees, you need to ask yourself the question how they will help your business expand and improve. In addition, your business plan should inspire them and motivate them to join your team.

    Financial plan

    Financial aspect of your business is one of the most important items that needs to be carefully considered and outlined in your business plan. It goes without saying that starting a business is quite an investment, and you’ll probably need to apply for a loan. Your business plan will be one of the factors that will greatly influence a lenders decision when deciding whether or not to approve your loan. Apart from listing your balance sheet, cash flow, and realistic financial projections, you can also define what kind of a loan you need. For example, when applying for ALC Commercial loans, you can choose among commercial loans and self-employed ones, as well as other banking alternatives. The bottom line is that you need to demonstrate that you know your business, the industry and your financial needs, and a business plan will help you achieve that.

    To maximise your chances of success and minimise exposure to possible risks, you need to develop a solid business plan that will help you stay on track. Once you’ve outlined all the steps, all you need to do is follow them.