It'll take too much time away from my money making activities. I mean, I'm in this to
make money after all, why waste time writing down things I already have in my head about where I want to go with this?
As long as your business plan is only in your head, you should know that people change their minds all the time. And in doing so, can lose track of important details.
The very act of writing things down does 2 things:
1) It forces you to organize your thoughts in a logical order -- and by doing so you get to notice issues you may have glossed over in favor of the easier aspects. If, for example, you're over-the-moon with excitement on how easily money-making ideas are bubbling out from your mental factory, that's all well and good, but not at the expense of having actual financial management skills.
Ideas are great, but if you neglect vital aspects of your business for the parts that come easiest to you, you'll be setting yourself up for a world of trouble later down the line.
2) It frees up your focus to explore other avenues you may have not explored before --
a brainstorm, in other words.
No one knows everything. Once you write down what you know, you can solicit advice from people you trust, and experts who can help, to make up for your weak spots and inexperience in certain areas.
I only work part-time, my business is too small to need one.
If you treat your business, part-time or not, haphazardly, you'll need to accept all the results of your efforts. Inattention to details can come back to bite you, especially when it comes to money and taxes.
I don't write very well. Communication is an essential part of business. If you can't share your vision clearly with others, the resulting confusion and quite probable misinterpretation can have you shooting yourself in the foot despite your most earnest efforts. How do you deal?
- Practice
- Be shameless, in a good way. Forget your self. Step outside the "It's too embarrassing," or "I'm too stupid to do this...." thinking. Everyone starts out not knowing how to hold a pencil, much less write. The ones who get better are the ones who put in the time to make themselves better.
- Don't listen to the voices in your head that keep telling you you can't. These are just internalized judgments from other people from when you were young and impressionable. You're a different person now from the kid you were in English class, don't let that old image overlay your current abilities, or your capacity for change.
Who needs it? It's not as if I'm applying for a loan from a bank. You'll never need a loan, ever? Are you sure? Enough to bet the future of your business on this? Because that's what you'll be doing, in essence. The cliche about "never being too rich or too thin" can be applied with some caution here. While not having enough money can force you to be more inventive, running out of money when you could have foreseen the need for it through careful planning and scenario-gaming is reckless and foolish.
I don't want to stifle my creativity! If creativity is your be all and end-all, then it's more than likely what you're doing is, and will stay, a hobby. A business is a business, either you treat it as one, with all the planning and respect it deserves, or you don't. And specially if you work at home and plan on doing so for a long time, then treat your business with the focus and clarity it needs to succeed in supporting you.
5 Ways To Fail Without A Business Plan
Posted in eCommerce
