When should you launch your business plan?

[FishBowl]

Hi all,

Matt from Sharabang Music is one of 3 start-up businesses to feature on business reality website http://www.inafishbowl.com.

Matt, along with the other entrepreneurs, posts blogs, videos and tweets about his business as it happens. When a blog brings up an interesting question or topic, I post it to forums like this so that we can get advice for the entrepreneurs but also because the topics tend to be quite general and the discussion may help other businesses too.

Matt's latest blog post is centred around the idea of a business plan - how much of it do you launch at once?

http://www.inafishbowl.co.uk/sharabang/2010/03/how-much-of-my-business-plan-do-i.html

Like many other entrepreneurs, Matt's got so many ideas. But when should he launch his business? When he has added all of his ideas and has everything in place? Or should he launch now and add to the business as he goes?

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts?

 

[startinbusiness]

when he is well-prepared..

and for me, that means having gathered all the necessary things in need..

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Ideally the answers to this question should already be in the business plan. Timing is everything and preparation is key...but there comes a point where you need to get the ball rolling. A business plan that is too finely tuned can become unflexible and falters when something unexpected throws up obstacles (and it always does!)

 

[the king]

Confused by the title; one doesn't usually launch a business plan - unless it is a template?

As LTT intimated, if you wait until everything is right and perfect you'd miss Godot, but seriously the business that is currently passing by will go to someone else while you're waiting, however it's no good offering a service for which you are unprepared. Take a view, start small, expand to fill and diversify as and when you are able.

The business plan is a working document - primarily for the owner to collect their strategic thoughts identify resources and document how they intend to impliment their operation. But that's all it is - a plan; circumstances change, so periodically re-visit and amend where necesary.

 

[FishBowl]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. Sorry about the confusing title!

I think essentially what Matt is suffering from could be described maybe as over-enthusiasm for his business - what I mean by this is that he has so many ideas bouncing around and he just needs to pin them down into one solid business plan, but when he tries to do so, more ideas come up!

From what you're all saying, am I correct in thinking he just needs to finalise the basics of his business and then build on it as he goes? I do agree that waiting just leaves the door open for competitors to take his business.

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone. Sorry about the confusing title!

I think essentially what Matt is suffering from could be described maybe as over-enthusiasm for his business - what I mean by this is that he has so many ideas bouncing around and he just needs to pin them down into one solid business plan, but when he tries to do so, more ideas come up!

From what you're all saying, am I correct in thinking he just needs to finalise the basics of his business and then build on it as he goes? I do agree that waiting just leaves the door open for competitors to take his business.

Absolutely, there will never be a perfect business plan, you simply cannot cater for every eventuality. You prepare as much as you can, have clear objectives of what you want and a clear plan as to how you will achieve it.

But ultimately you must pick the plan you are happiest with and get on with it. Things can be reviewed and tweaked at a later date.

 

[SusanBryant]

Hi There,

In my experience, the best thing that can be done in terms of a business plan is a SWOT analysis. Once Matt knows his strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats he will be better able to construct a business plan accordingly.

Hope that helps!

 

[FishBowl]

Susan - I've never heard that before, but I like it Thanks for all the feedback.

I understand exactly what you are all saying - I too thought it made sense for Matt to get the ball rolling asap and let his business change and develop as time goes on and as he has more ideas.

But then I thought some more. What Matt is doing is, in its simplest form, a band management company. But he is trying to do it in a way that has not been done before, and all of his ideas make his company stand out. One of his current ideas could be his USP in terms of branding and marketing the business, but then what if a new idea turns out to be the driving force of the business - will his marketing efforts from before this new idea be wasted? Can a new business market itself properly without a solid, set in stone USP and plan?

 

[oldeagleeye]

It is obvious to me that neither you OP or Matt have eveer seen as business plan because it addresses the viability of a particular business venture and not dozens of random ideas. I would suggest then that Matt take one idea as an example and build a business plan around it.

That in fact will save him a great deal of grief and wasted time. Funding for example is extremely difficult to come by if not impossible for a frirst time entrepreneur. There is no point his coming up with a great idea for a new type of electric car which would take millions to develope.

I now see from the latest post that you say that Matt wants to be in the band management business and ask if it is possible to start without a business plan. Of course it is but it would be pretty pointless unless he knows what the competition is like and what they are offering - and of course the profit margins.

All this would be covered in the business plan and BTW as 'the king' stated no business plan is carved in stone. It's a list of objectives and obstacles to be overcome and those change all the time and need to be updated. The basics however give a good idea as to performance and set out the timeline. This applies to cash flow forecasts too. A good one should have at least 2 colums every month. Project figures & Actual.

As for USP. That is different. In today's highly competitive world across all business sectors without at least 1 USP you might as well forget starting your own business.

The bottom line in all this is that from what I gather anyway most first time entrepreneurs are under the impression that the reason for putting together a business plan is just to please the bank manager. It isn't. As other members have said it is a working document setting out your aims and objectives and how you intend to met them given the market that you are in.

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Susan - I've never heard that before, but I like it Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm a little surprised that this is the first time you have come across SWOT analysis. It isn't the be all and end all but it is an extremely important and useful tool...the starting point for any business plan. You need to know where you are coming from before you start looking at where you are going and a SWOT analysis will tell you this.

If you haven't heard of SWOT then you probably haven't heard of SMART either. I'm not such a big fan of the layout of SMART but it is a very popular and respected model. SMART objectives will help you form the 'action' part of your plan, they provide a frame of reference so you can measure if your activities are contributing towards your overal goals.

 

[FishBowl]

Thank you for all of your advice everyone. I shall pass it on to Matt who can also be followed on Twitter @fishbowlone.

 

[ally_1988]

Launch a business plan? Huh :S

A Business Plans main purpose is to assess an business idea's feasibility and viability. Although it tries to be as accurate as possible, at the end of the day it mainly consists of assumptions.

A Business Plan is definitely useful, but some people seem to take it far too seriously. Once your company is up and running, it's already out of date! Your never going to get it just right. It's there as a guide and a measure against your initial vision, but also needs to be updated and changed as the business progresses.

 

[FishBowl]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your feedback, which I passed onto Matt and which he has taken on board. He has now decided to launch with his business plan as is and add anything else as he goes along:

http://www.inafishbowl.co.uk/sharabang/2010/03/almost-therei-think.html

Thanks again everyone