In the first webinar of this series, strategic business consultant Emma Mills-Sheffield shares expert advice to help you create a business plan to smash your 2023 goals.
How to create a rock solid business plan
Whether you’re a seasoned seller or are just starting out on your small business journey, a business plan is the foundation of everything.
You may already have one, or at least the beginnings of one - even if it’s just a few ideas floating around in your head. But wherever you’re at, if you’re able to formalise and optimise your plan, this can be the North Star to define what you stand for and how you run and grow your business.
To help you on your way, we recently hosted our first eBay Elevate webinar in partnership with Small Business Britain. To kick-off this brand new business support series, we were joined by strategic business consultant, Emma Mills-Sheffield, who explored the key ingredients to create a rock solid business plan.
If you missed it, fear not! You can watch the webinar on demand below. We’ve also summarised the key takeaways from the session in this blog post.
Goals, purpose, mission and vision: helping with strategic direction
Your goals, purpose, vision and mission can help to keep you on track. But defining this takes time and headspace. Once you've got some ideas of how this could look, jot them down in the template titled ‘Strategic Direction’.
What should go into a business plan?
It’s okay not to have a 50 page business plan. In fact, 67% of our webinar attendees said their plan was mostly in their head. However, if you’re able to put it in writing, this will save you a lot of time when it comes to applying for grants or loans. See some essentials you should try and include in this checklist.
Finding current and future opportunities
Growth is great. But it isn’t easy. Sometimes finding a profitable path forward requires looking back and being honest with yourself, by identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Once you’ve answered the above, you can start to think about where you can expand. The Ansoff Matrix (pictured below) is a great framework to help you identify growth opportunities, covering four key areas:
Understanding your finances, business, data and monitoring progress
When it comes to finances, a lot of people tend to shy away from conversations about money. But it doesn’t have to be scary. Breaking it down into more digestible pillars can help to give you a clear overview of your company’s finances.
Data too is a term that’s often bandied around in business speak. But it doesn’t necessarily refer to complex machine learning algorithms. Simply put, it’s looking into the analytics you have at your disposal and using this to inform your decisions.
Balancing life with business
Business plans are important, which is why we dedicated a whole webinar to them! But nothing will ever be as important as your health, wellbeing and relationships. So, whenever you’re thinking about the future and your business goals, remember to make sure you’re balancing your life and your business.
Getting clear on your value proposition
Your value proposition is arguably the most important element of your business plan. A value proposition tells potential customers why they should choose you rather than your competitors. It’s also incredibly helpful when you’re putting together a proposal, or submitting award entries. Ultimately, it makes the benefits of your business clear from the outset.
Define your value proposition in the template titled ‘Value proposition’.
The importance of having a back-up plan
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. Life and business move fast, and you never know when something is going to throw your roadmap off course. Having a back-up plan helps you be prepared for whatever might come your way, and gives you the flexibility to change your course of direction as needed.
Use our ‘Back-up plan’ template to help get you started.
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