Rule of thumb: Without a Map, you WILL get lost.
And by Map I mean a well-conceived strategic plan, carefully vetted by your Mentors.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not a big fan of inch-thick business plans, especially early in the process.
But I am definitely a fan of a clearly articulated set of “rules to live by.” This where you lay out in a nicely organized fashion the bullet points that describe your Market, focus the power of your Magic, and communicate your Model, your Management system, and the way you handle the Money.
Begin with the Four Fundamental Factors Self-Check. That will get you started on the right track.
A simple guidebook will be incredibly useful, not just to you, but to everyone else in the company. They will read and use bullet points. They won’t read or use your version of The Encyclopedia Britannica. Later, when the time comes to prepare a big fat plan in order to raise serious money, you can just fill in the space between the bullets and re-order them a bit to fit the latest trendy format for formal plans. That’s not hard, just a task along the way to outside funding.
Search on "business plan." Starting with the Small Business Administration, you'll find a gold mine of free resources to assist you in the mapping process.
You can also buy my little book. It's not free, of course; but it's a good read at a fair price. At least I think so.
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