Most AI-generated emails and posts I get begin with, “I hope this email finds you well…”
(That’s when I know to delete it!)
Especially when the sender neglected to review and edit the rest of it!
A more honest intro might be, “I’ll bet this email finds you overwhelmed out of your mind…!”
That would be a bit more interesting, but…
First, Let’s Take a Look at Our Current Situation:
(Source: Forbes)
- 99.9% of businesses across the US are small businesses
- Nearly half of all U.S. employees are employed by a small business
- Only 14% of jobs lost during the pandemic were recovered in 2023
- Millennials own just 7% of small businesses in the U.S.
- Labor is the #1 expense for businesses ~70%
- Advertising expense is just 1% of revenue on average
- 55% of businesses use social media.
- 1 million new small businesses opened last year
Here’s the BAD News…
(Updating the popular(?), previously held belief that “4 out of 5 business fail in the first 5 years.”)
- 20% of businesses fail in the First year (1 in 5!)
- 30% by the Second year
- 50% by year Five
- 42% Fail due to a lack of market demand
- 38% Run out of money
But the stat I want you remember is this:
From an SBA study of the businesses that failed…
60+% (about 2/3)… Had No Business Plan.
Is that surprising?
If you were an Orchestra Conductor, are you going walk out amongst your musicians, and teach each one of them how to play the tune or would you give them the sheet music and go back to directing how everybody plays together?
On a construction site where you’re the architect…
Do you expect each worker to walk up to you with a 2×4 or a pipe and ask, “Where does this go?” or
do you tell him, her or them, “Hey, there’s a blueprint over there. Go follow it and build this building?”
A movie director… Gotta script?
Your Business?
Do you keep your business ideas, strategy, goals and expectations up in your head
where you’re the only one who really knows what’s going on?
If you are, then…
You are the Bottleneck
And, “I’ll bet this post finds you overwhelmed out of your mind…!”
Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense if your people had a plan to work from,
so you didn’t have to answer Every. Single. Question…
Or most decisions had to go through you before anyone takes action?
In business you work from a Business Plan.
Unfortunately, many people seem to think that a business plan is only for startups.
I hear it over and over again, “We don’t need a business plan, we’re not a start up!”
(According to that SBA study, it wasn’t just 60+% of startups that failed, it was 60+% ALL businesses that failed!)
The truth is your business plan can work wonders for you from when you start your business
all the way through to when you sell it.
All the Help You Can Get Along the Way…
- Start-Up – Your blueprint and reality check for getting started the right way, minimize mistakes,
and “bootstrap” growth. Perfect for covering all the bases and coordinating your team.
- Raising Capital – Builds credibility and believability with a proven “catalog of answers” for Investors.
It’s the bridge between your thinking and theirs.
Shaves months off the time it takes to get the money you need.
- Non-Profit – Demonstrates to donors that you will maximize their “Return on Impact”
- Growing – Your roadmap for repeatable, scalable processes for organization, building teams,
and leading your people. Control the chaos before it starts and continue growing smoothly.
- Onboarding – What faster way is there to get new team members engaged and up-to-speed in your business?
- Struggling?!? – This sucks, but we’ve been there back when and our business plan pulled us out of the ditch!
This deal is easily within your reach and just may save your bacon.
- Recently Funded – Plan and put systems in place to make the most of the investment(s) in your company. Blowing it and going back to your investors for more may not go well.
- Deal with a Big Corp – Your sophisticated, winning proposal to management.
Builds credibility and proves you can deliver on a big deal.
(Business Power Tools started with a business plan for a friend to land a deal with Apple.
That evolved into our BizPlanBuilder and everything else.)
- Ongoing Strategic Planning – It’s good to regularly revisit your “first principles:” The Problem you solve,
your Customers, the Market, your Operation, your Team… What’s changed? What do you want to change?
Engages your team in a guided, collaborative process that motivates them and makes it work.
- Licensing – Your alternative to building a company is licensing your product / intellectual property to
an established company with the resources, distribution, and sales force. Paint a promising picture. Collect money.
- Sale – Builds your case for a profitable future upside and validates valuation.
Add the processes and systems that make it attractive to sell faster at a higher price.
- Succession – Everything your kids / new owners need to successfully continue what you started.
If you carry-back some of the financing, this is especially critical for you.
- All-of-the-Above – BizPlanBuilder is your growing, progressive catalog of everything about your business.
The data above from Forbes points out that 70% of our expenses are our people.
How much of their time (and your money) can you afford to throw away?
BizPlanBuilder® is the easiest-to-use researching, thinking, planning, modeling, and presentation
system to put in place today that saves time, energy, expense, and missed opportunities.
BizPlanBuilder Includes…
- Prescripted narrative with what to say and how to say it
- 5-Year Excel-based financial models
- Guided pitch deck template
- Intro letter templates to investors, lenders…
You can do it yourself (and with your team) using BizPlanBuilder.
Easier. Faster. Better.
It’s the hardest working reusable system to build your business.
And it’s the update and antidote to the FRΞΞ 1 Or 2-Page Business or Strategic Plans
There’s often a good reason they’re fr∈∈.
This is No Time to Fool Around With Empty “Click Bait!”
Get Your Goals, Direction, and Priorities Clear and Compelling
for Everyone Working With You Before it’s Too Late.
SEE BIZ PLAN BUILDER AND THE DEAL
And remember…
