The Plan:Creating the Blueprint for Running a High Flying Business

By Adeolu Adegbemi

How do you create certainty out of uncertainty? How do you take the leap of faith in the pursuit of your business idea without sinking? How do you create a blueprint for charting a certain course to success in business? This is what “The Plan” is about; a step-by-step guide to creating the business of your dreams; a business that is bound to succeed.
80% of start-up businesses fail to fulfill the desire of those who started them. The key reason for this is a lack of accurate, cutting-edge business planning. 90% out of the businesses that fail can be traceable to either weak planning or no planning at all. Businesses do not succeed on their own. A thorough understanding of what you are going into, and not just what you intend to sell is vital to the survival of that business.
This book will show you the way.
Writing a failure-proof business plan
Managing uncertainties in business
Techniques for creating winning products
Best-in-class product development strategies
How to conduct an easy, cheap and effective market research
How to profile your customers
How to use scenario planning to prepare your business for the future

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adeolu Adegbemi
• Release date: Aug 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311075451

Book preview

Title

THE PLAN

Creating the Blueprint for Running a High Flying Business

By

Adeolu Adegbemi

Copyright 2014

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hardwork of this author.

Dedication

This work is dedicated to all the generals of business in embryo. The world of corporations awaits your arrival.

Table of Contents

Title

Dedication

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1: Introducing Business Planning

Chapter 2: Why Have a Business Plan?

Chapter 3: Background Tips and Pre-drafting Preparation

Chapter 4: Business Feasibility Study

Chapter 5: The Executive Summary

Chapter 6: General Company Description

Chapter 7: Products and Services

Chapter 8: Market and Marketing Plan

Chapter 9: Operations Plan

Chapter 10: Management and Organization

Chapter 11: Financial Plan: What the Numbers can tell you

Chapter 12: Understanding your Audience

Appendix I: Scenario Creation

Appendix II: Product Development

Appendix III: Marketing Plan Basics

Appendix IV: Market Research

Appendix V: Value Configuration Analysis

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I’d like to start by thanking all my teachers and mentors, specifically Ethan Rasiel whose works taught me the pride of the consulting profession, James Collins whose works taught me that business is more than a means but a mission. Thank you to all those who have worked hard to make the consulting profession beautiful.

I’d like to thank my Dad, Patrick, who taught me to live and my mom, Florence, who inspired me to believe that excellence is my birthright. To Doyin, Dayo, Ronke and Deola, who believe in me and have stood by me.

Thank you to Olamide, without you the world would be colorless.

To all those who have contributed to the success of this work, to Adedapo Adesiyan, a fine man to the core, Phillip Ikathua, my editor.

Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to the Lord who makes all things possible.

Preface

Eight out of ten start-ups fail within the first five years of their operation. Akin Oyebode, Head SME Banking, StanbicIBTC Bank

Many entrepreneurs are looking for fire brigade methods to business success. But there is no such thing as cheap and easy success. Business is demanding. Over-optimism does not guarantee success. Most of those who fail, fail before starting, because they failed to prepare adequately.

This book is prepared in a stepwise manner with each step building on the next. Some of the steps may appear difficult and demanding while some will appear too simple to deserve much thought. Business plan must be precise and concise; therefore, it must include both the difficult and the simple.

Business has many complexities. As they say, if something is so simple, then everybody would be doing it. Business does not survive with assumptions, you must have facts. Business requires meticulous planning, exhaustive anticipation, precise calculation of possible occurrences, and concise design of a strategy strong enough to keep the business up, running and thriving.

In order to take advantage of both the challenges and the opportunities of business, taking an objective view is a critical factor. That is not to say that all the challenges and opportunities that businesses face can be anticipated, for even the best of entrepreneurs have not been able to do that. But it does mean that if you prepare your business plan well, you should be able to anticipate correctly close to 85% of the challenges and opportunities. The business plan will also deliberately make provision for factors that are beyond your control, and which can affect your business like recession, and acts of God.

Business plan spells out how you intend to manipulate the resources you have or can access to achieve your business goals and how you can minimize threats to your profitability. You will be able to conduct your business with more confidence if you have a plan. There would be no doubt, as to where and why you are spending precious resources in your day-to-day work.

Behind every great business success, there must be a great audacious plan. Scrap the dream of a business that will help you to merely get by. Business should be a mission, a dream bigger than you. Every great business starts small. Apple started in the abandoned garage of Steve Jobs’ parents. The business you start small is not under any law to remain small. It can be great. But if it will, then you need to have the mind-set of great entrepreneurs. They are experimental perfectionists. That means they take risks and they do not take their risks lightly. If they would dip their heads under water, then it would be all the way and with a life jacket. That life jacket in business is a business plan.

Chapter 1: Introducing Business Planning

Of the primary functions of management, planning is the most important. Plan your work and work your plan. Grant Hooker

You are the manager of your business, and your primary duty is to see flawless execution of a well researched, well thought out plan. Eugene Kleiner said writing a business plan forces you into disciplined thinking, if you do an intellectually honest job. An idea may sound great, but when you put down all the details and numbers, it may fall apart.

Business planning is the anatomy of every successful business. The present business climate does not give so much regard to carrying out business on hunches or gut feelings. If you depend on hunches, you might get a hunchback and a lean bank account. Moreover, if you depend on gut feeling, you might end up finding the business in the gutter. The business environment is so competitive, full of uncertainties and complexities, so there is the need for a sound plan to navigate the turbulence without sinking.

Most entrepreneurs experience adrenaline rush at the beginning of their business. They have this wild idea that what they need is money, so they run after it. How wrong they are! One great quote from a Deutsche Bank ad reads; ideas are the real capital, the rest is just money. What you need is a sound plan that is capable of taking you through to your destination.

A plan is the description of the actions to be taken to achieve a goal. It could be an intention, an arrangement, or a map. It could also be a tactic, or a strategy. It is simply the outline of what you want to do. It answers the why question of business. A plan walks through the business before ever starting it. Certainly, you can analyze a football match when you are sitting outside the pitch than when you are actually playing. So a plan gives you the needed perspective, and the all-important analyst view, of the business world, and intimates you with the dynamics of the market you are entering.

Plan is limited in that it cannot substitute for experience through active participation in the market you are entering. It may not be able to accurately take into account the turbulence in the market, or appropriately quantify the chaos level of the future.

Additionally, we need to remind ourselves of the meaning of business. Business is anything you do that is capable of continuously solving a problem and at the same time continuously making you a profit. Put in another way, business is the creation of a solution to a significant human problem/need in exchange for value (money) from the beneficiaries of the solution on a continual basis. A venture cannot be termed a business if it is not capable of having continuous demand.

A business that adds value either gives people more of what they want or less of what they don’t want.

A business plan is the documented intention and systematic arrangement of a particular business venture. It is both the map and the history of the business in advance. It is a map, to tell the way to the future. That future is not just in creating a product but also in creating satisfaction and profit in terms of your desired outcome or ROI (Return on Investment). It is a history, to show what story you want your business to tell in the future.

A business plan is also a document showing these details in a technical and systematic manner. It is technical because it has a standard format, and it is systematic because it is always custom-designed and custom-made for every business. No two companies can have the same business plan. It is the genetic code of every business; the very substance that distinguishes it from all other businesses.

It gives you confidence as you walk and work in the market. You know you have a backbone, you know you have a goal, you know your strategy to achieving that goal, and you know when things are working according to plan. You will be well prepared to deal with uncertainties.

Different Views to Business Planning

Business plans take many forms depending on the approach and focus of the businessperson. Some of them