Most people think business planning starts with a business plan - but actually starting the business plan should only commence after quite a lot of preparation beforehand.
My view of the business planning process is something like this (of course it's different for different people in different situations...)
- Vague idea for a product or business
- Decision not to let it drift off but to consider it as a real possibility
- Passive research - letting the idea 'settle' in your mind, chatting to friends and noting anything you can compare it against that you come across
- Initial judgment - if still interested leads to
- Initial active research - which should lead to a pretty big list of questions
- Initial research on questions raised
- Secondary judgment on the idea - if the idea is still viable it leads to:
- Tertiary research - following up any issues raised during 7. above
- Tertiary judgment - deciding whether the idea is good enough to start business planning - if the idea is strong enough then start the business plan document
- First draft of the business plan ... etc
Most people think business planning starts with a business plan - but actually starting the business plan should only commence after quite a lot of preparation beforehand.
