If you are reading this article, you probably did this yourself multiple times. You had these amazing ideas that sounded so promising at the time. You became hopeful and really believed that everything was about to change. Maybe you even started to do some research to see what you needed to do to make these business plans become a reality.
Time passed by, however, and things were not moving forward. You realized that starting something like this was extremely difficult. You also had bills to pay and couldn’t entirely focus on this new project. More time has passed, and this idea that once seemed perfect is now full of flaws in your mind.
Maybe you even moved on to the next perfect idea, that will eventually become just like the ones that you already discarded. Then, in the end, you decide that it is time to move on officially. Your perfect ideas are now in the trash can, and will never become a reality.
Tired of this happening to you and want to learn how to avoid throwing your ideas in the trash can? Here’s how you can do it in 5 simple steps.
1. Research the market
A market can be extraordinarily saturated or offer perfect gaps that you can fill with your project. To know what is the case of the market that you want to get in, you must do proper research. Know your main competition, how they work, what they do as far as marketing strategies go.
Learn what works for them and what doesn’t. Gather as much information as possible to prepare yourself. You don’t need to make mistakes to learn. There are a lot of other businesses that already made these mistakes for you. Being so, you can just gather as much knowledge as you can and apply this to your business plans.
This way, you will enter the game much more prepared and ready to go. This might also save you a lot of money and time, which are vital parts of starting a business. The research will also be able to guide you to a specific niche that might be ideal for you. Something where you can do something different and new. This will give you a head start against your competition and an excellent chance to survive.
2. Start Small, but Start
Many entrepreneurs spend a lot of time waiting for the perfect opportunity to start. Months pass by, and they realize this won’t happen. You don’t need to have everything complete and ready to go to start, you can begin with what you have. Big companies didn’t start with something huge, at least the majority of them.
They started small, just like you. Then, they built their business with time and hustle. Being so, you can follow this exact formula not to let your business plan end up in the trash can. Gather everything that you can, do your research, then start to get help. Once you have the basics to start, do it.
“Going into business without a business plan is like going on a mountain trek without a map or GPS support – you’ll eventually get lost and starve!”
Kevin J. Donaldson
3. Create a plan to get help
Networking is an essential part of starting a business. You might want to be able to have everything yourself to start, but this can quite difficult, depending on your situation. Being so, getting investors and other CEOs helping you might be what makes your business become something possible or not.
Create a business plan that translates into money and real change, something that people will need in their lives. Start your networking by using people that are linked or could benefit from your business plan, but of course, are not direct competitors. Make a list of the names that you think could be the right choice.
Gather their information and reach out to them one by one in order of priority. Start with your local targets; they will be most likely to help you when you are just starting.
Read Also: 7 reasons why having a mentor is important for your business
4. Set milestones with dates
Unless you have an action plan, your business plan will just be this, a business plan. Make it a reality. A great way of doing this is by creating milestones that you want to accomplish with your business. More importantly, set dates and deadlines for these milestones. This will help you stay on track and make everything more real.
Your business will never become something real unless you actually start to act like it is. As long as you consider your idea just an idea and something that might happen or not, the odds won’t be in your favor. To take this out of the paper, you need to be a bit more aggressive and start to focus on making it become a reality.
To do that, no better way than to simply create deadlines for yourself.
5. Focus on what matters
We have an article about focusing on what is actually vital to your business, and you can read by clicking here. However, basically, what you need to do is to focus on the tasks that are actually crucial and important. This needs to be a priority, even though you might feel tempted to do smaller tasks.
Don’t confuse, however, focusing on what matters and doing more significant tasks to only starting your business when you have a perfect scenario. For example, start your business small, to prevent significant losses and to avoid skipping steps. While you are doing it, wake up every day to focus on the tasks that will give your business a real chance of survival. Or at least, a good chance of not ending up in the trash can.
This video explains 10 business mistakes you should avoid when writing your business plan.
Key Take Away
Most of the business plans end up in the trash can. Due to a range of factors, people give up on what initially seemed like a great idea. This might have happened to you as well. However, the key to stopping this from happening is to research and most importantly, to actually put things into action.
A smaller action is better than no action at all. And as long as you treat your business plan just like an idea, it will never become something real. If you want your business plans to translate into an actual business, act like it is already the case.
Wrapping Up!
What part of this article resonated most with you and why? What challenges are you facing writing and executing your business plan? Share your ideas, tips, thoughts and experience below in the comments.
Let me know what you think by sharing your thoughts in the comments below, or if you have any questions or feedback, please ask away. I’m always reading the comments.
I took approximately 9.5 hours to produce this content for you, and I hope you found some value in it. Also, if this article was helpful to you, by all means, please share this post with your friends and family. If it has helped you, it will do for others too. Share the positivity and greatness!
