How To Write A Simple Business Plan in Less Than 2 Hours.
Business Plans are terrifying. They are full of numbers, fancy projections, and shiny pie charts. To be completely honest, most small businesses don’t even have a business plan. The reason? It is just too daunting of a task. Take it from me, I didn’t create a business plan until my business was 3 years old for these exact reasons. Also, to be quite honest, business plans are often packed with a whole list of things that you just don’t need to even be worrying about in the early stages of establishing or growing your business. Keep reading to find out all you need to know.
Here’s the thing. You need to spend less time stressing out about a plan, and more time getting to work. At Models of Impact, we use our Models of Impact Canvas (below), which is an adaptation of several tools out on the market (especially the Business Model Canvas), to draft business plan drafts in less than 2 hours.
Our approach is designed to work for individuals, for-profit businesses, and even non-profit organizations. The approach is informed by best-practices, and by our experience at verynice where we have helped bring hundreds of brands and ideas to market for our incredible clientele. I call any business plan a “draft” because any business plan should be re-visited regularly.
The secret-sauce behind our own approach to drafting business plans are just 13 critical questions you need to ask yourself. This is all you need to get things going. Use this process as an opportunity to think about what you are currently doing in a more organized manner, and/or to think about where you might want to see your initiative in the near future.
Don’t over-think it. It is alright for your business plan to change. In fact, I guarantee it will. Unless you are some sort of psychic… which would be awesome.
IMPACT MODEL: An impact model is a method that allows you to operate sustainably and effectively while simultaneously maximizing impact on your own lives, the lives of your team, and/or the community you hope to serve. To define your impact model, answer the following: What kind of impact do you want to make as a business/organization (social impact, personal impact, local/community impact, environmental impact, etc.)? How do you measure your impact?
VALUE PROPOSITION: Your value proposition is the single thing that makes you stand out from the rest of your competition. If you’ve been around for a while, you might have a good sense of this, but if you are just starting out, this can take some time to validate. Take a stab at answering the following: What makes your organization and offer unique? Who else is in the space you are tackling, and why are you better?
PARTNERS: Partners are groups or individuals external to your day-to-day operations (AKA not your staff or shareholders) who can help you make things happen. Sure, when you’re just starting out you might not have had the opportunity to meet the right partners yet. This takes time, but think big when tackling these: Who do you work with to create positive impact for your business, and for the world at large? Who won’t you work with? Who are your clients, funders, and networks?
PRODUCTS/SERVICES: Often times, an entrepreneur will have put a lot of thought into their key offering without even thinking about writing a business plan. What are you creating? How do you ensure your product or service works well, and creates the impact you are hoping to achieve?
TALENT/OPERATIONAL MODEL: The talent and operational model is a method that allows your business or organization to maintain a comfortable workload and steady bandwidth to deliver on their promise. Who does the work, and how do you find them? What will your organization chart and cost structure need to look like to live up to your impact model and value proposition?
REVENUE MODEL: Your revenue model is the method your business or organization uses to earn revenue from the target market. Basically, this is the part no one really likes talking about, but it is a necessary evil. How is your work funded? How can it be creatively financed?
How To Apply This Thinking To Larger Operations And Established Businesses
A common misconception is that a business plan drafting exercise like this is only useful for small startups and solo-entrepreneurs at the very early stages of launching their business or organization. The fact is, this kind of exercise is helpful for all shapes and sizes. If you are part of a larger “established” organization, consider leveraging this exercise when launching a new division, program, or product. Bonus points if you engage your team in that process — they have a lot to contribute!
Giving credit where credit is due: Many of you have likely seen the original Business Model Generation project which aims to allow entrepreneurs to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot their business model through a unique “canvas” format. Through a collaborative effort at the LEAP symposium in 2013, a 3 day intensive workshop held at Art Center College of Design, a small group of industry leaders in the space of social impact worked together to co-design a more specific version of the Business Model Canvas that is designed for organizations and businesses that have social impact at the core of their vision. That initial version of the tool was co-created by Matthew Manos of verynice, Jocelyn Wyatt of IDEO.org, Bob McKinnon of GALEWiLL Design, Elaine Asal of Gensler, Nathalie Destandau of Tomorrow Partners, and Zach Hendershot of CauseLabs. 2 years after that symposium, in 2015, the team at Models of Impact took it one step further by attempting to make the tool/process even more simple and wide-reaching. The result of that journey is the canvas that we just told you all about…. you know, up there ^
*Insert Sales Pitch (because we have to, right?): The key to being able to use this canvas in the most efficient way possible is to have a strong understanding of the revenue models and models of impact that exist in the space you hope to operate or grow within. We welcome you to reach out to us (info@verynice.co) for help with that so that we can keep writing awesome blog posts like this *blogger pats self on shoulder, shamelessly*
