Patrick Cavanaugh has 30 years+ running a successful painting business, and helping others improve their business, and raising the standards of painters everywhere.
Ask around, ask people why a business needs a plan. Chances are you will hear, "You need a business plan in case you need financing, and the bank wants one from you.
How about this? You need a business plan because you are involved in the creation of a business that will employ you and others for, hopefully, a long time.
People make better plans when they go on vacation than they do when they enter the adventure of their own business.
Carry it further, when you go on vacation you want to know where you are going. Unless it is your goal to just roam around, and in that case your vacation may not get you any further than the grocery store and the hardware store. Your business could possibly provide for you for anywhere from 20 to 50 years or more. And in this environment today regarding retirement, this business may provide for you long after you can work.
So why not have a direction? Why not have a game plan? Think about it. What are the short term goals that you want to achieve through this business? Long term? Profit? How much do you want to provide for the people that help to propel your company forward? How big? How much money do you want the company to create? Maybe your goal is to remain small and super profitable. Plan how you are going to do that.
Part of the business plan in the beginning is your vision, your dream. That is great. Did your dream include being your own boss? Did it include free time with your family. The point I am trying to make is that you don't have to be a General Motors or Toyota to have or need a business plan.
This small job, creating a business plan is likely to affect you and a lot of people for a long and profitable life.
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