The Coolest (And Smartest) Business Plan Out There

There is a wide selection of books on how to formulate the perfect business plan. Don’t waste your time reading them. Instead, you should be more bothered about questions that relate directly to your business.

Who wants your products/services?

Whether you’re going to be selling electronics or you’re thinking of opening a frozen yogurt café, you need to know your customers. Is there a demand for what you’re offering?

An important question that surprisingly recedes to the background as people go about trying to ‘set up’ their business.

If you’ve done your research and found out that there are certain individuals who could benefit from your business, then you’re on the right path.

Are you being sane or weird?

That’s one question that is bound to pop up if you’re thinking of something totally out of the way. Don’t be afraid of taking a leap, but just make sure the idea is not completely crazy!

Take Quirky.com for example. The members can come up with their own products, develop them and have them sold online. The site raked in $1.2 million in 2010.

You don’t always need to have a business idea that sounds watertight. Take a risk and try something out. It could be the next big thing to hit the commercial world.

How challenging (or easy) is production going to be?

Ask yourself this question well in advance because when orders start rolling in you don’t want to be on the backfoot. Make sure your production ideas are sound and you can get off to a flying start.

This is also a good time to address the question of the kind of people you need in order for production to take place. Don’t forget to think about the costs involved and how you’re going to recover it.

What kind of competition will your product/service be up against?

If it’s a niche field, you’ll have to make sure that you have something that none of the current offerings possess. This will be your trump card.

Keeping a tab on competition helps keep your feet on the ground and address issues related to product development and customer service.

At the end of the day, a business plan shouldn’t turn out to be an epic novel. It should address issues that will help kickstart your business in the right way. Business licenses, office space, etc. are factors that shouldn’t be the center of your business plan.

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Republished with Permission from Everything Small Business Journal – http://esbjournal.com.