There are a multitude of articles to praise the positive effects of the business plan, but on the contrary, there are also a multitude of articles to reject the business plan! Regardless of the time it takes you to complete your business plan, your business plan is subject to the vagaries of time and changes. Why ? For the simple reason that it is by definition impossible to predict how a new business will develop, if it will find its customers, how long it will take for it to become successful. You may therefore wonder whether it makes sense to spend time writing it.
The business plan: there is no easy case
You have already opened several clothing stores in different areas of Paris and you have the desire, given your success, to open stores in major French cities and therefore you use your business plan to model your new store and follow closely but you have forgotten that the clientele in the province is hardly identical to the Parisian clientele and that is where you run into a major obstacle.
In short, your business plan is already more or less bogus. But is that reason enough not to? The answer to this question is clearly “no” and for several reasons.
What does a business plan entail?
But let’s start by remembering what a business plan or business plan consists of? This is a document that explains in a structured way what the future entrepreneur wants to achieve, by when, with whom, with what resources, with a view to what results and how his project can be viable and profitable. In particular, the project leader describes his future activity, his products or services, his market, the risks they face and how he anticipates them, the main development stages he envisions, the profitability model, the team he will surround.
The business plan: 4 good reasons to execute it
Thus, by its very nature, the business plan makes it possible to achieve 4 objectives:
- the 1st objective is, for the entrepreneur, to verify the viability of his project by ensuring that every aspect that composes it (legal choices, financial resources, commercial strategy, industrial tools, communication media, human resources, etc.) has been the subject of in – in-depth reflection, that the risks have been measured and solutions have been found.
- the 2nd goal of the business plan is to make it possible to obtain the financial resources needed to start up and execute the project. Whether it is a loan to finance the purchase of equipment or the financing of a cash shift or the return of an investor in capital, it will be necessary to convince whoever has the money to put it in your company. to place. But you are far from alone. The requests are overwhelming. So bankers and investors can afford to make a selection based on their criteria: minimizing their risks and maximizing their profits. For this they want to know where you are going and you need detailed, reasoned, concrete and verifiable data to back it up, in order to get their support for your project. The business plan is used for this.
- the 3rd goal of the business plan is to convince your partners to trust you: a supplier, a service provider, an incubator that you want to integrate, etc. Everyone will want to know beforehand the seriousness of your project: so reassure them, show them your business plan. Your professionalism will be an important asset.
- the fourth objective of the business plan is to enable you to follow up on your project. Feel free to update it over time and as you progress. It will serve as your compass, pointing you in the direction to follow, to always be in control on board your ship.
Not making a business plan means taking the risk of making mistakes on multiple levels.
If you do not draw up a business plan, you therefore deprive yourself of the opportunity to verify more thoroughly the seriousness and viability of your project, to find the financial resources necessary for the realization of your project, to convince the partners to follow you , to have a monitoring tool for the execution of your project. Wouldn’t that be a shame?