Do you already have a Business Plan? 6 basic questions you need to answer
“Long-term planning is not about making future decisions, but about the future of present decisions.”
Business plan has always seemed like an intimidating term to me. It feels like just thinking about making a business plan implies hours of work, information we don’t have, specialized knowledge (in finance, marketing, etc.) we also don’t have, and demands the creation of a complex and lengthy document.
Do you identify with that? Has it happened to you?
And the thing is, when we look for information and templates online, or when we've seen examples or worked with models in courses and conferences, they tend to be complicated and long formats.
In my view, those complex formats apply (and are essential) for medium and large businesses. When there are many partners, when businesses and markets are complex, when there are investors. But when we talk about microenterprises, very small businesses we run with few resources—where we’re often the only partners, or it’s a very small group of people—these formats are not always the most practical.
And faced with the fear or the enormity of the task, most of the time we prefer to go without a plan. We come up with many excuses and justify our lack of a plan: “I have it all in my head,” “I know what I want to do,” “No one’s going to read it.”
But you know what? A plan is essential for progress and success. And I say this emphatically—it is not optional.
Why do we need a plan?
Because almost any activity we do, if we want it to turn out well, requires some type of planning.
A plan is a “systematic model of a public or private action, developed in advance to direct and channel it,” a “document in which the details to carry out a project are briefly specified.” Essentially, a summary that contains all the steps and resources we need to complete something we’ve set out to do.
When we organize a party, for example, we make a guest list, decide on the food and drinks we’ll offer, the music, the time, the place. The more details we plan in advance, the higher the chances everything goes smoothly.
When we go on a trip, we set the dates, book tickets or transportation, analyze routes, look for accommodation, define the places we want to visit, set a budget, decide what clothes to bring—and if we’re visiting someone, we sometimes even decide what gifts to take. If we leave things to chance, we may not have time to see everything we wanted, spend more than expected, or waste time because we didn’t arrange proper transportation.
If we take the trouble to plan personal activities, then all the more reason we should take the time and effort to plan our business ventures.
What happens if we don’t have one?
If we don’t have a plan, we end up being pushed toward destinations we didn’t choose—or worse, we don’t move at all. The plan lays out a strategic path for our idea to become reality.
A business plan helps us organize the ideas we already have in our heads. Business plans are not improvised. Everything you're going to put in your business plan, I’m sure you already have—clearly, in one way or another—in your mind. When we’re developing our business ideas, we usually have a fairly clear path intuitively.
But as long as we don’t write it down and give it structure, it’s very difficult to visualize how to implement it. And we can’t track achievements, failures, or opportunities for adjustments and changes either.
The Essential Business Plan
But a business plan for microenterprises should not be intimidating or complex. It should be a simple, straightforward, and above all, useful document.
A document that gets stored in a drawer and only reviewed once a year is completely useless. A plan, to be useful, must be a living and dynamic tool. Something we review often, use as a reference, and adapt as things change.
This time, I dedicated myself to researching various Business Plan templates, and based on the common points among them, I designed a format that I believe is simple and basic enough for the specific needs of micro and small entrepreneurs. A format that is not intimidating, doesn’t ask for information you don’t have, and won’t take you many hours to complete.
The 6 Basic Questions of the Essential Business Plan
Among the reference documents I found, there were 10-step formats, 5-step formats, 7-step formats—a lot of variety. The integration of these documents led me to define a format I’ve called Essential Business Plan, which should answer 6 basic questions:
Why? – Problem I solve, mission, vision, values.
What? – My product/service, my competitive advantage.
For whom? – My target audience.
Where? – My market, my competition.
How? – Pricing, distribution, and marketing strategies.
With what? – Financial, human, and technological resources.
Download the simple template I’ve prepared to create your Essential Business Plan using the buttons below, with the minimum and basic information you need to get started. Later, as your operation grows and develops, you can make it more complex if you wish. Also, download the Tutorial to work through it.
Download the Essential Business Plan Format
Download the Tutorial to Work on Your Essential Business Plan
Be patient.
A plan is not created in a single session. Generally, you start with drafts and little by little you review, edit, remove, and add things.