When you read most of the literature about starting an online business, the conventional wisdom is always to begin by writing a business plan. You hear the advice that you must have a business plan to ensure success so many times that it can begin to feel like an unarguable truth about beginning your own company; however, the truth is that a business plan won’t keep your company from failing. In fact, all too often, people invest too much time in their business plans and wind up missing other important steps in the planning process.
Here are three things that you should consider instead of investing your time in a traditional business plan:
Attracting the right people
A business plan will spell out steps that will be taken during a company’s first year of business, but often, these steps are abandoned within the first few months of opening. When this occurs, business owners find themselves at a loss of how to move forward “off the plan.” If you spend time finding a team of individuals that complement your skills and strengths and compensate for your weaknesses, you’ll be in the best position to shape your strategy for success on the fly.
Aiming for a speedy entry
Business moves at a much faster pace than ever before, and the window of opportunity opens and closes quickly. Writing a business plan requires you to spend time analyzing an industry and making conjecture about its potential growth, and all of these features are liable to change very quickly as a result of today’s rapid movements in the online business world. If you’re not careful, you can miss the chance to seize the opportunity for marketing your product or service. Your goal should be to complete the steps necessary to get your virtual doors open as quickly as possible.
Developing a vision
A business plan maps out a strategy for success, but it can be very difficult to create a sound strategy until you are fully in the marketplace. Instead, you should invest your time and energy into developing a vision, an image of the way your company will be and how you wish for it to be in the future. With a guiding vision that you can share with your talented people, you’ll be able to develop fluid strategies to meet your goals in the short and long-term.
Be sure to solicit the opinion of an online business broker or other online experts to ensure that the market you are looking to get into has long term potential and growth opportunities.
