Do You Have a Plan B?

Soap Box Rants

By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan
President, Chair & CEO, of PETAL et al.

There is a misconception among startup businesses and nonprofits that you don’t need a Business Plan. But a Business Plan is very important and you should put forth an effort to just do it.

I’ve met several people that made up their business plans as they went along. Some were successful and many weren’t. The Business Plan is not just a document you take to a bank to get a loan; it is a roadmap to reaching your goal and achieving successful outcomes. It helps you to think out the process before executing.

I remember my first Business Plan. It included a marketing plan and a financial statement. The financial statement alone can be a challenge. Not only do you have to figure out how much money you need, you have to determine what you need, how much of it, how important it is to have it now, and what will you do to gain returns on what has been invested and gain a profit as well.

Do you really need a 12,000 square foot space to get started or can you achieve the same results with a shared space using 500 square feet? Do you need staff on hand daily or can you hire a freelancer as you go along or contract the job out? Should you lease equipment or should you buy your own?

As for marketing, will you rely on radio stations, blogs, newspapers, magazines, promotional events, word of mouth, etc, and how much will it cost you in time and/or money? Social networks and emailing friends and their friends may not be enough. How will you apprise the public of who you are?

When you think about some of the most successful startups, they provided some type of service coupled with their product for free. You can get a free Google email that includes YouTube and other Google services, but premium services cost. You will pay for the premium stuff because you enjoyed the free stuff without a hitch. A trust in the product and vendor has been developed.

There are other software products available that don’t charge you unless you are making money off the product, so learning to use it or develop with it is free. It makes sense to me.

So if you have a business idea, I suggest you include a “freemium” that people can use or enjoy to keep you on their mind. If you don’t have a physical product to give away, offer a service or training workshop. That’s the trend right now. Free education. If you are an accountant, show people how to file simple tax forms for free. When the job gets complicated, they will be glad to come pay you for your services. When you come across as money-hungry and trying to make a killing when you start out, it will turn people away.

Like Kevin says on the TV show Shark Tank, “Don’t be greedy!” I have personally had people approach me about doing jobs after I did a free training. People like to know how to do things, but once they do, often they find they don’t want to spend the time doing it. When you give people things for free, many people want to give back. They get excited when you share with them.

There was a woman I used to often pass by in the downtown area who appeared down on her luck and stood on the corner with her very young daughter giving away a pencil with a piece of ribbon she had tied around it with a note saying ‘thank you’ for your donation. Unlike other people who asked for money on the street, she wanted to give something back. People noticed she had the pencils when they dropped money in her cup, but they did not always take a pencil when she offered it. Some would rather keep going and others would say ‘save it for someone else,’ as to not exhaust her supply of pencils. They were happy to help because she wanted to give them something in return. It also gave her daughter a feeling of pride, because from the look of things she felt like they were entrepreneurs, and guess what? They were. They probably have a store by now.

So plan your business, and if you have an existing startup that is moving slow, incorporate some fire power into your plan or create a plan B. Unless you have a simple cut and dry business like selling water or pencils, etc. you’d better have a plan with punch to reach the finish line. What are you willing to give away so that you may receive? Where are you going with your company? How will you get there, and what is the minimum it will cost?

Pamela Bratcher-McMillan is a technology Expert and President, Chair & CEO, of PETAL et al. She is also a weekly columnist for CopyLine Magazine