Business Plans Part 2

Based on the research used in my previous post, it’s clear that investors want a clear focused source of income. This is not only important for attracting investment partners, it’s also important for success. Spreading yourself too thin and not clearly defining your goals is a recipe for failure. The business plan I am currently writing is for Archetype Studios. It was important from the beginning for me to define how I was going to make money. I had to ask myself what kind of products and or services I will be providing and what are realistic prices to charge. It was then important to figure out who my customer base would be as well as my competition. The status quo does not like new competitors entering the marketplace and taking profits away from them. Strong competitors will use deep pockets to put new threats out of business and it was important for me to find a way to combat their efforts.

The most important parts of a business plan are the financial planning sections. Not only do you need to have realistic financial plans set in place, it’s also important to remember that investors want to know above all things that they will get their money back as well as turn a profit. If you don’t have plan for how your going to accomplish that, not only will investors lose faith in your promises, you most likely won’t be able to make it happen in the first place anyways. Money is one of the world’s most valuable resources and we have and we must be cautious on how we invest it. How you spend is much more important than how much you spend.

You need to not only communicate how you will be spending your startup cost but also how much you expect to make. These figures need to be realistic so do you research. Nothing would be more embarrassing than going to an investor and saying “Oops I actually need more” or “I charge way above industry standard and nobody wants to work with me so the business is failing”.

Good luck to everyone else and remember plan, plan, and execute.