Why does a small business need a business plan?

… 

It’s just that…

It seems like a lot of work. Especially for a small business. 

To spend all this time writing out a detailed plan for the next five years when you can’t even predict the next 5 months, let alone stop working for 2 weeks to complete a plan that will live at the bottom of a drawer forever after. 

Is it really that important?

It’s all about the verb

Perhaps you don’t need to have a business plan. 

But you do need to create a business plan. 

For a small business that’s not raising money, the action matters more than the thing. 

Planning, not plan

A business starts as an idea. And even as you work at it every day, it is just an idea that turns into reality with each action you take. 

Writing a business plan forces you to articulate that idea and move it from your head, into reality. 

It can be a back of the napkin plan, it can be written by hand in your favorite journal, and it can even be a series of bullet points. So long as you are using full sentences. 

Planning your business means explaining to the world – and to yourself – its reason for existing. 

What next

Not sure if you are business planning enough? Schedule a 30-minute call to review what you have and what more you might need.