Business Plan or Wishlist?
January 4, 2010
Well it’s 2010 and we all make our resolutions to make a real go of our businesses so we sit and evaluate and re-evaluate our ideas and decide to make some sort of a plan of how we intend to pursue or aspirations or goals.
Planning is not the general strong area for most creative types but still we try to put together some sort of document or mental note of what we intend to achieve. The problem I have found is that we do not really plan but we dream and try and plan a route to a dream rather than a realistic goal.
Now I am not gonna tell you that you cannot achieve your dreams but if you are penniless and you intend to record a multiplatinum selling album, you must be the most talented sales person on earth, the luckiest person on earth or deluded.
One of the themes you have found we at Croydon Music harp on about is the minute you intend to make money from your music, then you are operating as a business, and to operate as a business you need to have a number of investments in your business to name a few; time, effort, knowledge and financial. Now i realise most of you have immense amounts of time to invest in your business, but if that is all you have you are not going to grow a successful business.
Ok back to business planning.
First of all what is a business plan?
You can go online and find various definitions that all centre around the same thing so I’ve picked a simple one I like.
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.
The reason I like this definition is because it states that you have to explain the reasons you believe your goals are attainable. Unfortunately most artists believe they are destined for greatness because they have seen someone on television living the lifestyle you want. Talent is important in any business activity but it is not the sole reason a business will succeed, if that were so many of the world’s biggest starts would not be so successful.
So what is the difference between a Wishlist and a Business plan?
The main difference is that a wishlist is aspirational but a business plan is based on fact and figures. You can sit at a computer and knock up a wishlist from the top of your head, but a business plan you will have to do some research and prove (as much as possible) the reasons you will be able to achieve your goals. An important difference is that you will have to cost your plan, which is generally an area that gives creatives the creeps.
There are many different types of business plan ranging from a personal plan for you to follow to plans to attract investment, the latter you will have to do a lot of research and work to prove yourself an acceptable gamble, (which is what you are to someone who may invest in you).
If you are intending on putting together a business plan it is important you research your market and don’t say you will do things you have no way of doing just to make your plan look impressive, because you will have to prove your plan. I always start with four simple questions and if you can answer these questions properly you will have the basis of a good plan.
What do you intend on doing?
How long will it take to achieve it?
How much will it cost to achieve it?
and most important to a business person
How much will you make from achieving your goal?
