You just hit the jackpot or you want to be independent, be your own boss. You decide to venture into running your own business.

Many individuals/entrepreneurs have started businesses that did not see the light of the day. Many go bankrupt as a result of channeling their life savings in a business that failed.

This is the first part of a number of post that looks to address this issue. Many businesses do not survive their first year, they wind up either due to lack of funds, mismanagement, or incompetency.

The question on everyone lips will be How do I run a business successfully?

In reference to @surpassinggoogle post here, I also say while many passionately work for others, you can own your business. See how you can run your own business successfully.

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In running a business successfully, the first step is composing a business plan. You don’t build a skyscraper without a building plan and expect it to last for ages.

Your business needs a solid foundation to stand on and that foundation is the business plan. You need a business plan for your business to stand the test of time and be successful.

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What is a business plan?

Source

A business plan is a written document that describes a business, its objectives, its strategies, the market it is in and its financial forecasts.Source

A business plan is a description of the business future, your plans for the business and how you intend to bring that plan to existence. It is how you intend to move from here to there in the next few years to come.

A business plan is a business blueprint. It shows the nature of the business, direction you want the business to go, the market research and financial forecast Source.

Writing a business plan is not hard or time consuming as many thought. Four to six pages that speaks about the main points of the business is okay.

The business plan addresses some questions for the start-up/business such as

• What problems in the society is the business going to solve?
• What is the solution the business is willing to proffer to this problem?
• Who are the customers they intend to serve. The upper class, middle class or the lower class
• What is the market size
• Who are the competitors
• What are the strengths, weakness and the risks involved. Source
  These are the questions that the business plan will answer.

There are numerous advantages in writing a business plan

• Helping in defining the business
• Help to determine if the business will make profit
• Help in estimating all financial costs
• Help to seek investors
• Help to understand the risks, competition e.t.c
  A business plan should be a thorough assessment of you and the resources available.

Scribbling down few numbers and thoughts on a jotter does not constitute a good business plan. It is not different from writing nothing.

Components of a good business plan

A good business plan contains the following

• executive summary
• mission statement
• business description
• business environment analysis
• SWOT analysis
• competitor analysis
• market analysis and plan
• operations plan
• management summary
• financial plan
• milestones Source

The components of a good business plan will be discussed in the next post.

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Let me know your thoughts in the comment box.