Have a plan!

I can't promise you that the money making thoughts on this blog will be in order of importance, but this first one is undoubtedly number one, the one to rule them all:

Have a business plan!

This may sound very obvious and evident, but believe me, it isn't. I have seen lots of companies - real, off-line companies with full time employees, management and all the stuff - without business plans.

Now, it's not very difficult to imagine, how many business-bloggers, internet marketers and online enterpreneurs are out there without business plans.

Nearly most of them, I bet. Let's calculate with a nice 95%, which assumes that 5% of them have business plans (I guess it's a bit of an over-estimation, though). And let's compare it to the fact - okay, estimation - that about 95-99% of these internet-marketers, online enterpreneurs and business bloggers will never make money from their efforts. Not a dollar, ever. No matter which affiliate program they are in, or which advertising network they use, they will never reach the limit where they get paid. Rings any bells?

Of course I don't say that it is an unambiguous connection, but it is hard to ignore.

And, of course It doesn't mean that having a proper business plan will guarantee your success. But it is satisfying to know, that having a business plan is more than 95% of your competitors are doing for their success.

Okay, so why do you need a business plan?

Because otherwise everything you do or don't do will be incidental, incalculable and random. Because if you don't know what you want, you will never know what you should do to get it. If you don't know where you want to go, you'll never know which way to get there.

And what is this business plan, anyway?

Of course you have plans. But what makes a business plan different - or proper, as previously mentioned? It may sound cloudy and theoretical, but in fact it is rather specific and easy:

• A business plan is something that is written down. Surprisingly, this is the most important part. Without writing it down, a plan is only a dream, or if is more specific than a dream, it is still only a vision. It becomes a business plan the moment you write it down. You want to make money from it, so, for God's sake (and for your own), take the time, and write it down!
  
  
• A business plan states what you want to reach. The more specific it is, the better for you, but you have to know as precisely as possible: what you want from your business. And - remember - write it down! It will be very instructive to read next year.
  
  
• And a business plan describes what you have to do to reach your aim. Of course, I know... If you knew that, you wouldn't need any of these, but still, this is the part, that makes it really a plan. You have to have some thoughts on this (or, simply don't start a thing).
  

That's it for a startup. Naturally, the more sophisticated your business plan is, the more helpful it will be on the long run - and the more complicated it will be in the beginning. I will give you much more help on creating your business plan in details in my other posts later. But this is enough for today. Just think about it: think about your own business plan.

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