Business planning helps you creating a viable and well constructed Business Plan which is essential for you to really get to grips with starting a new business.
This course is a detailed walk through business planning and how you can create an effective and powerful plan for yourself and for potential investors. However, the real strength of the business plan is to help you get your head around the complexities of your proposal and to see if it will make you enough money to live on!
Business Planning – Step one in your journey to being the ‘boss’! A great experience and a real achievement; as the song says……
‘I did it my way!’
In the course, we will help you with methods to to test your idea, reveal how to communicate things about your business and yourself as well as assess the market, the competition and the potential marketing approach which will best lead to success.
Each lesson in the course has a key points assessment and at the end of the course there is a quiz to ‘hammer home’ what you’ve learnt and to highlight lessons you may wish to repeat or points on which you might want to get help.
Don’t think that you need some sort of qualification or professional help to do you business planning – you probably don’t! Even if you do need help, starting your own plan will allow you to assess the complexities and identify the specific questions where help is needed.
Remember that Banks and many other suppliers provide business planning support and we cover some of those choices at the end of the course.
- Before starting this course you must complete the required prerequisite course: Starting your business
Services Family
Please enrol into the Service Family membership group to access this course.
Getting Started
I’d like to start my own business; how hard can it be to turn my idea into a successful business?
Effective and comprehensive business planning is an essential tool for your company’s success and for obtaining funding for the business.
How much will I need to earn as a self-employed person?
Only you know what you want to do but starting a business doesn’t need to be a unique idea.
The Business Plan
You should explain your visions an purpose along with some key planning objectives.
When it boils down, your business is about you! What do I need to say about me?
Describe your products and servicing in simple terms. This will help set the strap lines for your marketing and sales pitch.
There is no substitute for engaging with your potential customers and finding out if you have a market – fortunately there are several tools readily available to help you do that engagement.
So, I know what my business will do and the market opportunity but how much will it cost to get going? How long will it take to become profitable and pay off all my start-up costs- sunk funds?
Will my business face strong competition and how will I deal with that? What are my strengths and weaknesses?
Business plans usually include a marketing plan, which explains how sales objectives will be achieved.
How am I going to reach out to my customers? How do I convince potential customers to buy from me?
It is important to engage and treat your customers in the right way. The ‘right way’ depends on what your products or services are but some aspects remain constant.
Every business starts with an idea of how much it can sell. We look at all the costs of running a business, the pricing of products and services and working out how much money you could make.
You should always have a back-up plan in case things don’t happen as you expect.
We’ve asked several people what are their tips for business planning and starting your business.
Check your understanding
This is a short quiz to check what you’ve learnt on this course.