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Most businesses don’t create a plan for the upcoming year because it’s too daunting a task. Which is why I’m a big advocate of the one page business plan and why I am sharing our one page business plan template with all of you.
It’s based on a couple of assumptions. First — no business can tackle dozens of goals in a single year. It’s better to identify a small handful of goals and build a plan around accomplishing those.
Even if you only set a handful of goals, you can’t tackle them all at once. You need to prioritize them and then tackle one or two of them at a time.
Second — most business owners and leaders are a little myopic. They tend to focus on the area of the business that is either causing the most trouble or is the aspect of the business they enjoy the most. But they rarely give equal weight to all the different facets of the organization.
This one page business plan template takes care of both of these issues. First — it forces you to only set six goals. Not five and not 65. Then, it asks you to rank the goals in order of importance, so you can decide where to focus first.
But you don’t set any six goals. You set one goal per aspect of your business. The one page business plan forces you to create a well-rounded plan that takes into account:
- Leadership/Management
- Staffing
- Internal Systems
- Financial
- New Business
- Marketing
If you grow all these different aspects of your business together, your business remains stable and strong. The one page business plan template forces you to think about the organization holistically and allows you to lead its growth in a more balanced way.
Here’s what I like best about this template. It’s simple enough that you’ll actually do it. Download it (click here to download the one page business plan template) and get started!
Drew – I can certainly agree that what you propose far outweighs doing nothing, or worse spending alot of time doing a plan poorly. I am however cautious about tools from experts that provide business owners with a supported way to not do a proper job really planning for their business survival or growth. The need to research, learn, engage and empower ones team, and truly create a real business plan that is founded in quality information and focused on attainly realistic goals encompasses your template but goes further in creating a working document to drive real success. Just my thoughts – Curt
I’m not a big fan of elaborate business plans either. They’re too time consuming and often times cannot account for all of the variables that an entrepreneur will encounter along the way.
I always use a two question business plan:
1) What is the product?
2) What is the value proposition (competitive advantage)?
I started a coffee shop earlier this year using this format. The product line is somewhat obvious. I sell the same stuff as Starbucks does. My value proposition is downtime maximization. I wanted to provide people with a productive work environment. I attached iPads to the tables and setup free wireless printing.
As far as planning is considered: Any new business enhancements must strengthen my value proposition or make my product line better in some way. I use these two questions as a filter and an aid to help me make operational decisions.
It is well known that all trades, we say in my country, there is logic to assume each goal or challenge measurably to give short but firm steps … I completely agree with your article and hope to follow their advice to undertake a good company.