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The Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit: Blueprints

Dan Stein
IncBuilders Insights
2 min readJan 19, 2021

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“Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin.” — Robert Collier

In this week’s installment of the “The Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit,” we move to the third step toward launching a new product or service: blueprints.

You’ve probably heard that life is a journey. We are constantly learning as we go, making adjustments along the way. Some people prefer to take it day by day while others set long and short term goals to guide them.

Entrepreneurship tends to take a blended approach toward learning and adapting. A new business needs goals and a roadmap to guide it from inception to profitability. At the same time, it must remain flexible enough to adapt to changes in the marketplace — or new knowledge about what customers really want.

That’s where building a blueprint for your business begins. You’ve already validated your idea to show a need exists in the marketplace and that customers believe your product or service can satisfy it. You’ve consulted with experts who have skills in everything from development to finance that you’ll need to build and launch your product. Now, you are ready to set a roadmap defining your business’s goals, target customer base, marketing strategy, profit target, metrics measuring, and more.

This step is key in laying the path you will follow as you implement each step of your journey. While it is not set in stone, it will give you guidance and keep you on track to meet your goals. Respected templates for a business blueprint include:

Another key feature of blueprints is accountability. Setting deadline dates and sticking to them are critical to the success of your business. Hitting those goals ensures you are continually progressing.

In that spirit of achievement, remember to make your goals realistic and attainable. Ramp your goals to build momentum. If your goal is for your company to reach $1 million in profit two years from now, you need a path to get there. It may seem unreachable at first but by setting up smaller goals such as $500 the first month, $1,000 the second month, $2,000 the third month, etc … You set up smaller, more achievable markers.

Winning these small victories will give you confidence and a sense of accomplishment as you implement your blueprint and grow your business.

Previously on “The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit”: Retaining experts.

Next week: Picking your core team.

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Dan Stein
IncBuilders Insights

Dan Stein is a Marketing Specialist with IncBuilders helping entrepreneurs launch their start ups. He utilizes the power of the written word to stir action.