Most entrepreneurs don't start with a plan.
They may have a rough idea of where they
want to go, but few have a full roadmap for
how to get there. Still, entrepreneurs tell
themselves and everyone around them they
know exactly what they're doing. “We are right
on track,” “Everything is going as planned,”
and “We couldn’t be better,” are common
phrases heard in the startup world. But it's a
lie. And you know what? It's okay not to have
a plan and for many, they may still find
success. Recent research published in the
book Hearts, Smarts, Guts and Luck found
that 70 percent of successful founders did not
start with a business plan.
When I started my company AWeber, an
email-software marketng company, more than
15 years ago, it just sort of happened. I was
in sales at the time and realized that
following up with prospects through
automated emails increased sales and
reduced labor costs. I developed software to
do this for my colleagues and myself. I soon
found out others were willing to pay for it.
That's how and why I launched. An extensive
plan for my business didn't come until much
later.
So for those who have no roadmap (but keep
telling people they are on track), here is a few
tips to help get you started.
Think about the 'who' not the
'how.' Business plans force us to think about
“how” we'll get to our end goal. But it's more
effective early on to think about who you're
selling to. You may have a general idea of
what a potential customer should look like
but take it a step further. Literally come up
with a picture of what your ideal customer
looks like. If you're artistic you can sketch
something out but a stock photo can also do
the trick. Take the time to write down as
much about your ideal customer as you can
including their name, interests, wants and
needs. Put the picture in as many places as
possible so that you can consider them every
time you make a business decision.
Be ready to change faster than Superman in
a phone booth. Inevitably when building a
business, you'll have to respond to
unexpected crises at any given moment. It
would be a lot easier to do if you had a red
cape and super powers. But without that
advantage, you'll just have to adapt quickly.
The truth is, even if you have a “plan,” it may
not be worth much in six months or six
minutes. Instead of a business plan, think
about developing a series of micro-plans.
These should not be as forward looking or
detailed as typical business plan, a page or
two covering a few months will do. It will at
least give you a starting point and make it
much easier to adjust and iterate on.
See the future, write it down. Guess what?
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't have formal
business plans when they started Microsoft
and Apple. What they did have was a vision
for where the products would go. Your vision
doesn't have to be as world-changing as
“putting a computer on every desk in every
home” or “a computer for the rest of us.”
What matters more than the content of these
visions is that they are very specific and
simple to understand. Create a vision that
meets these two requirements then make sure
you write it down and keep it somewhere
visible.
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