Business Planning
The Value of Planning your Business
Starting your own business without a plan is much like going on a long journey without a map. Not very advisable!
So why is a business plan so important on your business journey:-
- It will give you confidence in why and how your business will succeed
- It will help you figure out the resources and investment you will need
- It will give you a plan of action of what you need to do and when
- It will help you raise investment to turn your idea into reality
A wide range of useful articles to help you plan your business can be found below...
Need some help?
Turning your ideas into realistic and viable plan is a huge and sometimes daunting task. You will need to break it the tasks down into manageable chunks.
Are you:-
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Feeling overwhelmed by your business plan
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Unclear about what to include in your business plan
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Needing to increase your knowledge to complete the business plan.
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Trying to raise investment with your business plan
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Wanting to turn your business plan into a plan of action
Business Coaching can help you through this process
Our Business Coach's can help you:
- Assess and breakdown the core components of your business to be researched and developed.
- Identify your strengths and weaknsses in relation to the skills and resources you will need for your business.
- Define your Business Partnership with your co-founder (s) and team to manage objectives, goals, roles and responsibilities and expected performance outputs and outcomes.
- Review your progress and time management, prioritise tasks, or regain direction and momentum.
- Help build the framework of the action plan, to connect and develop the essential elements, such as content, information, and budgets.
- Connect you to suitable contacts, from suppliers and customers to brand, marketing or PR consultants.
- Give you moral support. Setting up your very own business is exciting and exhilarating, yet lonely and frustrating at times.
Our coaching and training is provided on a chargeable basis, but we can access funding to provide free business support to certain groups of entrepreneurs who meet the eligibility of the funding provider. Please enquire to find out more.
Interested in Coaching Call 0845 452 4085 or email
Client Casestudy
Cath Conway, Founder of Unpackaged
Unpackaged- the better way for you to buy organic wholefoods and environmentally friendly products for your home.
Useful Business Planning Tools
A Guide to Writing a Business Plan by Scavenger
Useful Articles
Create an Action Plan
Get focussed by creating a plan of action of what you are going to do each month. This will enable you to clearly see how you are going to achieve your goals.
Work through the questions below so that you can create your monthly action plan. This will help keep your progress on track, which is very important, especially if it effects your cashflow and happiness.
Exploring New Ideas
Whether you are currently employed or looking to start your own business, developing and proposing your own ideas is a great way to develop yourself personally and professionally.
By having innovative ideas, you could implement a new project at work, set up your own voluntary organisation or even start your own business.
So, how do you find and develop your innovative idea?
Explore Social Enterprise
Social Enterprise is a business model set up to pursue a social or environmental mission, through the trade of services and products to the public, private, consumer or third sector.
Social Enterprises' distinct role within business and the community is value in the creation of a socially inclusive and sustainable community.
BERR defines a Social Enterprise as a business ‘with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximised profit for shareholders and owners'.
Social enterprises include local community enterprises, social firms and co-operatives and cover a variety of legal models.
The Government's vision is for social enterprise to strengthen an inclusive and growing economy. As such, social enterprises can aid the delivery of some of the Government's key policy objectives through:
- Driving up productivity and competitiveness
- Contributing to socially inclusive wealth creation
- Local regeneration
- Efficient methods of delivering and reforming public services
- Contribution towards an inclusive society and active citizenship
Key Market Sectors for Social Enterprise include:-
Food and Drink - Social Enterprises in this sector can be as diverse as a
community cafe, to manufacturing or selling fair-trade or organic products, to
running a hospitality venue. To find out
more check out sites including http://www.fairtrade.org.uk and
http://www.soilassociation.org.
Exploring Business Ideas
Whether you are currently employed or looking to start your own business, developing and proposing your own ideas is a great way to develop yourself personally and professionally.
By having innovative ideas, you could implement a new project at work, set up your own voluntary organisation or start your own business.
So, how do you find and develop your innovative idea?
Working through the questions below will help you assess your life and market trends to help you come up with the ultimate idea.
Looking Back to Move Forward
Moving into the New Year...Look back to move foward.
Review....
To plan your ambitions for the new year you may find it useful to spend some time reflecting on what happened in your life over the past year. Quite often we are looking at the next thing on our to do list, rather than reviewing what has happened so far, so it's worth spending a little time looking at what has happened in your life up to this point.
Reflect...
Lets look at the goals you set, your achievements and incompleted tasks. What worked and what didn't work? What did you enjoy and didn't you enjoy? What would you do the same, and what would you do differently?
Celebrate...
Take a little time to acknowledge and appreciate yourself for everything you've accomplished throughout the previous year.
Plan...
It's now time to create your personal action plan for the new year. We suggest spending about 30 minutes on the following questions to create your vision and strategy for the new year.
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What activities would you like to be doing?
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What skills would you like to be using?
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What impact would you like to make?
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Who would like to work with?
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What would you like to learn about?
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What values would you like to live out?
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What environment do you want to work in?
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What would success look like?
Need Help?
You might like to work through the process with one of our coaches. If so, then please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know which location you are in, and we'll get in touch with you.
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