This post is for the overworked business owner or manager spending 60 hours a week or more on the business struggling to maximize their time, attend to customers, manage staff, juggle email and calendars, maintain their social media presence, and somehow keep the business on track towards their long-term goals.
If you run a business or manage a department you might already be a business planning believer, yet short on time the time for planning. However, if you’re on the fence about taking 30 minutes for business planning and need some convincing, check out our previous post on “10 Reasons to Have a Business Plan” #BizPlan.
The purpose of today’s post is to introduce you to a handy business planning tool I’m quite fond of – complements of Jim Horan’s Book – “The One Page Business Plan” #OPBP.
ONE PAGE? You ask. REALLY?
Yeah, this isn’t the bankable business plan you show your banker for that working capital loan you’ve been dreaming about. The One Page Business Plan (OPBP) is a fantastic business planning tool for “in-house” strategic planning that anyone with thirty minutes, a clear head, and a cup of coffee can figure out.
This “in-house” strategic plan is a great working document you can use as your roadmap to success taking just 30 minutes or less to update regularly throughout the year. It’s the same “plan-as-you-go” approach, that Tim Berry talks about in his book, “Plan As You Go”.
So as soon as you have that coffee ready, let’s get crackin’…
First, download the WORD template from the One Page Business Plan website.
Now that you have the file open, your task is to fill in the following five boxes: Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Plans.
1. VISION (5 Minutes): Close your eyes for a minute and envision the big picture of what you want your business to look like in 2-3 years. Got it? Now describe what you saw contextually in 1-3 sentences. You might consider describing the stage of business you want to be at, your customers, the industry you serve, number of employees, locations, and sales revenue. Think of this as the light at the end of the tunnel (in 2-3 years).
2. MISSION (5 Minutes): Take a moment to think about why you do what you do. Now distill this thought down into a one line sound bite that describes the purpose behind your business. For this exercise, think of “mission” as the compass that guides and informs your business decisions whenever you come to a crossroad that might take you off-course.
3. OBJECTIVES (5 Minutes): Now think about your top five or so goals you want and need to achieve within the next 12 months. As you put these down on the page, make sure you’ve got SMART goals – meaning: (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based). Don’t wimp out on this and put down “Improve sales”. If that’s your goal, add the percentage you’re shooting for and when you plan to hit that goal like, “Improve sales 15% by end of 3rd QTR”.
4. STRATEGIES (7 Minutes): Look back at your vision with the end in mind, AND consider your 12 month goals as the stepping stones to get you there. Now think about what strategies (in general) you’ll need to use to achieve this year’s goals. You might even have more than one strategy for each. For example, if your goal is to diversify your revenue by obtaining a public sector contract this year, you might add “Research government contracting process” as one of your strategies. Again, these are general strategies not specific actions steps – that’s next.
5. PLANS (7 Minutes): Now that you have your road map figured out for the next 12 months, think through what specific plans you need to achieve your goals using the strategies above. This is a great place to add specific time-lines and outcomes for accountability. Going with the example above, you might make plans to: (1) complete research for local public sector contracting opportunities by mid-month; (2) download RFP by end of the month; (3) prepare and respond to RFP by middle of next month.
Congratulations! Your One Page Business Plan is complete and you still have one minute to spare. Why not take the next 60 seconds to schedule a follow-up meeting with yourself for next month. By taking just 30 minutes a month to update your Objectives, Strategies and Plans, you business will stay on-track with the end in mind. You might also consider inviting a friend or colleague to join you as an accountability partner to help keep each other on plan and moving forward.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT-
Now that you have your plan, you might really want to consider adding some financial projections with the numbers you need to get you there. For templates, check out the Score Template Gallery. Estimated time – about 60 minutes to develop a 12 month sales forecast and P&L.
