You might be wondering: As a beginner, do I really need a business plan for a home-based business? The answer is YES. That’s why in this blog post, I am going to show you how easy it is to make a business plan for beginners, step-by-step.
A business plan is so important because it will help you find success with your business much faster than if you were to just throw noodles at the wall until you find something that works.
Additionally, I believe that crafting a business plan that reflects your personality type will give you a big advantage when growing your home-based business.
But, I know this can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve never created a business plan before. That’s why I have broken down the entire process, step by step for you.
If you follow each of the steps outlined in this post and do the homework, then by the end, you will have a full business plan that will help you launch and grow a successful business from home as an introverted entrepreneur!
Let’s jump right in.
What Is A Business Plan
Before we talk about how to make a business plan, let’s first go over what a business plan is. Knowing this will help you create an even better plan.
A business plan is a document that thoroughly outlines the goals and objectives of your business, as well as the strategies you will use to achieve those goals.
For example, if you have a goal to earn $3000 per month in 3 months, then your business plan will reverse engineer exactly what steps you will take to achieve that goal.
A business plan is also a helpful tool if you ever need to raise money for your business, whether that is through loans, investments, or grants. Banks don’t care if you run your business from home or if you have ten employees or zero employees. What they do care about is the potential profitability of your home business, and your business plan is what will demonstrate this for them.
What Do Business Plans Typically Include
Most business plans include:
- goals of the business
- the vision and values of the business
- information about the products or services that the business will sell
- information about your ideal customer
- a marketing strategy
- financial information including start-up costs, expenses, projected revenue, etc.
- and more
We will talk about each of these things in-depth and how they relate to your home-based business plan coming up later in this blog post.
Why You Need A Business Plan That Reflects Your Personality Type
There is a common misconception that running a business is the same, no matter what your personality type is. However, in my opinion, this could not be further from the truth.
If you are an introvert and want to succeed as a business owner, it is my strong belief that building a business plan that suits your personality style is one of the best things you can do to ensure you find success.
For example, how extroverts plan to market their products and services would be very different than how you might want to market your business as an introverted person.
Understanding your personality type and integrating that directly into your business plan can help you:
- formulate a clear roadmap that you can follow
- understand how you are comfortable marketing your business without draining your energy
- build a business model that suits your strengths
- find the right team members to help you with the tasks that drain you (if this is something you want to do)
- set goals and objectives that play to your strengths
As you can see, having a business plan that is tailored to your personality type is essential.
To learn more about how to thrive as an introverted entrepreneur, check out this blog post.
How To Make A Business Plan For Beginners (With Home Businesses)
Now that we have talked about what goes into a business plan as well as the importance of writing a business plan that suits your personality type, it’s time to learn what goes into actually making one.
As you follow the steps below, you will have a business plan ready to go in no time.
Step 1: Know Your Why
Before you even start thinking about your business goals or objectives, you need to know your why. This is the foundation your entire business will be built on, so it’s important to take the time to think about this.
Some questions you can ask yourself to help you figure out the why of your business are:
- What do I want my business to achieve?
- What change do I want to see in the world?
- How can I truly help my ideal clients and customers solve their challenges and problems?
Step 2: Define Your Ideal Customer
Next, it’s time to start thinking about who you are going to sell your products and services to. To define your ideal customer, answer the following questions:
- Who are they? (Demographics)
- What do they need/want?
- What are their pain points?
- How can my business help them?
- Where do they hang out online?
- What do they enjoy doing?
Answer each of these questions to make up a profile about your ideal customer. Having this information will be incredibly important when you are marketing, creating products, etc.
If you have more than one ideal client or customer, then consider creating a profile for each of them.
Step 3: Set Your Goals
The next step in writing your business plan is to set your goals.
Each of your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Some examples of SMART goals for a business are:
- Earn $3000 per month in 3 months
- Create and launch a new product by the end of the year
- Get 50 new email subscribers in 2 weeks
How far out you set goals is entirely up to you. Some business owners like to focus on the first year while others might set the next 5 years’ worth of business goals. The important thing is that you have a plan and you are constantly working towards your goals.
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Step 4: Cast The Vision & Set Company Core Values
After you have your goals set, it’s time to start thinking about the bigger picture. This is where you will cast the vision for your home business and set company core values.
Some questions you can ask yourself to help with this step are:
- What do I want my home business to look like in 5 years?
- What do I want my company culture to be like?
- Which values do I want my business to represent?
Doing this is so valuable because you can intertwine these things into every element of your home business including your marketing message, your customer service philosophy, etc.
This can also help your customers and clients establish the know, like, and trust factors with you and your business.
Step 5: Make A Finance Plan
Once you have your business goals and objectives in place, you’ve cast the long-term vision for your company, and you’ve identified who your ideal customers/clients are, it’s time to start thinking about the money.
To do this, you will need to:
- calculate your start-up costs
- project your income and expenses for the next year (or more)
- create a budget
All of this information will be put into your business plan so that you have a clear financial roadmap to follow.
This will be great information for your bookkeeper, your accountant, any potential team members, and even yourself. This is something the bank will also want to see if you will be applying for any business loans.
Step 6: Outline Your Products & Services
The next step is to outline the products and services that you will be selling or offering from your home-based business. To do this, answer the following questions:
- What are the products and/or services I want to sell?
- Which problem(s) does this product or service solve for my ideal clients/customers?
- What is the pricing strategy for my products/services?
- What are the features and benefits of my products/services?
- How will my product/service be delivered?
- How will I offer customer service for these products/services?
If some of these questions don’t apply to your business, feel free to skip over them.
Next, you will want to come up with a plan for the creation, set-up, etc. of your products or services.
For example, are these products you will be making yourself? How long does it take you to make the products? What is the profit opportunity between time spent and potential income?
Alternatively, do you need to have anything prepared for a service you will be offering? If yes, how long will it take you to get those things prepared?
Essentially, you want to have a good idea of what will be involved in the creation and delivery of your products/services so that you can plan accordingly.
Related Read: 90+ Etsy Shop Ideas That Will Sell Like Crazy
Step 7: Make A Marketing Plan
Now that you have your products and services all sorted out, it’s time to start thinking about how you are going to market them. This is an important step in the business planning process because “build it and they will come” is not a viable business plan. You need to be doing something to actively market your business.
There are so many ways that you can market your home-based business including:
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
- Building A Website
- Content Marketing (Blog, YouTube, Podcast, etc.)
- Attending Networking Events
- Farmers Markets, Craft Fairs, etc.
- Advertisements
- Promotions
When deciding how you want to market your business, you must keep your personality type in mind. You want to choose marketing efforts that play to your strengths and won’t drain your energy too much. (I’m talking to you, Introverts!)
However, you also need to think about where your ideal customers or clients are hanging out. If they are on Instagram, then you may want to consider how you can market on Instagram in a way that also matches your personality type. For example, if you are extremely shy, then you may not want to show your face on Instagram reels or stories. But could you use graphics, stock videos, etc. instead?
Don’t be afraid to get creative with how you will leverage your marketing efforts to match your introverted personality and your ideal clients.
Are you starting a blogging business from home and need to make a business plan?
This eBook & workbook combo from StrayCurls will help you create a business plan that is completely tailored to running a blog as part of your business strategy, and it only costs $14!
To learn more about this business plan workbook and eBook combo, go here!
Step 8: Crafting Your Elevator Pitch or I Help Statement
An elevator pitch or I help statement is a quick way to describe what you do and who you help. This is important because it’s the first thing people will hear about your business and you want to make sure it’s something that will pique their interest.
To craft your elevator pitch or I help statement, answer the following questions:
- What do I do?
- Who do I help?
- What are the main benefits my ideal clients/customers get from working with me?
Keep this statement short, sweet, and to the point. You want people to be able to understand what you do quickly so that they can decide if they are interested or not.
3 Common Mistakes Most People Make With Their Business Plan
Now that we’ve gone over all of the steps to make a business plan, let’s go over some of the most common mistakes people make so that you can avoid making them yourself.
Mistake #1 – Not Doing Enough Research
Making a business plan can feel a bit tedious, so you might find yourself trying to rush through the process. But, I want to encourage you to slow down and make sure you take the time to do proper research.
You should thoroughly research your competition, the industry, your ideal clients, etc.
Not doing this research can be detrimental to your business because you may make assumptions that aren’t accurate which can lead you down the wrong path. Slow down, do your research, and make sure that you are making informed decisions about your business which give you a better chance at success.
Mistake #2 – Inconsistency Within The Business Plan
This is a mistake that a lot of people make but don’t realize it. When creating your business plan, you want to make sure that your goals are consistent, your marketing efforts are consistent, and that everything lines up.
For example, in one section, you might say you will spend $500 on advertising. But then in the marketing section, you don’t include any plans for advertisements.
Make sure you look for any inconsistencies like this in your own home-based business plan.
Mistake #3 – Being unrealistic
A lot of people make the mistake of being unrealistic when creating their business plans. This can take many different forms such as setting unrealistic goals, not understanding the market, not understanding their skillset, etc.
It’s important to be realistic when setting goals and crafting your business plan as this will help ensure that you can achieve your goals and make your business successful.
Congrats, you’ve made it to the end. You now have everything you need to create an effective home-based or online business plan and it’s time to take action! Block out some time in your calendar this week or next to really sit down and go through each of the steps outlined in this blog post.
Once you are done, I am confident that you will have a really great business plan to help you build the foundation of a successful business.
Are you starting a blogging business from home and need to make a business plan?
This eBook & workbook combo from StrayCurls will help you create a business plan that is completely tailored to running a blog as part of your business strategy, and it only costs $14!
To learn more about this business plan workbook and eBook combo, go here!
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