Jeff H says:

“Honestly, unless you are going after investor money, I just don’t know whom you would need to prove anything to.”

Running an IT business, you would think we would have some 100 page detailed plan. We do not. I’ve never sought outside funding beyond what I can secure on my own merit. Do I have a plan? Yes. Is it written in great detail with some power point to go along with it? No.

If you do not have a plan, here is something that I do find useful. Create a vision, mission, strategy, and about us statements. These exercises help you put context to your business, which can be helpful in sales, marketing, and day to day discussions.

Vision: Future statement looking what you want to achieve.

Mission: The more short term way/method you are going to achieve your vision.

Strategy: The “how” you plan to implement your mission.

Who we are/What we do sell: 30 second, 90 second, 5 minute, 3 sentence, 1 paragraph, 1 page versions. This is simply useful to boil your business down to its core. Very useful to understand for implementing strategy.

Example:

Vision: There should be no hunger in my city.

Mission: Our mission is to end hunger by engaging local community leaders to setup soup kitchens backed by corporate donations.

Strategy: Identify key community leaders, focus on businesses that may have excess food (caterers, groceries, etc). ….

Who we are: We are a local organization that brings together business and community leaders to end hunger in our city.

The other thing I try to do is to take 5-10 minutes at least once a week. Pick an aspect of your business and write that business plan in your head. Go over the details, focus on needed resources, brain storm etc. This can be a very specific task, such as

How can I improve order processing?

or it can be broader

What’s the best marketing strategy?

Doing this weekly helps you thing strategically, which can be difficult if you are bogged down in day to day operations.

Sheena Edwards says:

I am so relieved to read this post and all the comments. I get the WOW no business plan comment quite often. I couldn’t agree more about only needing it for investors. But I often wondered if I was alone in my thinking. Thanks Sarah! love your blog.
Sheena http://www.lizzieloushoes.com