Steps to avoid wasting time with a poorly written business plan

Your business plan is the roadmap to the future of your organization. Unfortunately, many organizations have poor business plans that do not meet their needs. Many suffer from a lack of clarity, cohesion, and a demonstrated clear understanding of what they hope to do. These business plans can serve to address some short-term objective, but they do not serve as a resource that the organization needs for its continued success. Common mistakes in business plans include:

Poor demonstration of writing skills.

Lack of functionality

Unrealistic performance expectations

Unverifiable data

Unclear beliefs of the organization

Insufficient market data

Lack of recent data

Lack of industry, market, or competition research

Lack of primary counseling

Unrealistic financial statements or goals

Lack of or poor operating procedures

Venture capitalists and potential investors want and need to have a business plan that makes sense so they can invest their money in a project. While their initial emphasis might be on what the organization does, they will need to be able to envision the business as one that works and can ultimately realistically make money. A good business plan:

Shows in-depth knowledge of the industry.

Demonstrates a good understanding of organizational thinking.

Provides business clarity

It forces the leadership of the organization to think about all areas of the business.

Provides a good baseline for goal setting and measurement.

Define criteria for planning the next stage

Helps leadership understand organizational requirements.

Provide a rationale for starting or growing the organization.

Helps define a clear and compelling set of belief statements for the organization.

As your roadmap and ambassador for your organization, your business plan must clearly demonstrate the capabilities of your organization. While some business owners invest in developing the plan on their own, many times the business plan simply lacks the depth you need to meet the required objectives.