Renegade Planner

Business Plans, Pitch Decks, Equity Crowdfunding Help

Want 5 Awesome Videos to Help Kickstart Your New Business?
Click here to gain an entrepreneurial edge — instantly.
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • Home
  • About
    • About Renegade Planner
    • In The Press
  • Work With Me
    • Business Planning & Coaching
    • Resources
    • Live Training
  • Success Stories
    • Portfolio
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Blog
Home › Business Plans › Why You Can’t Write a Business Plan in One Day

Why You Can’t Write a Business Plan in One Day

January 8, 2013 by Jessica Oman Leave a Comment

Financial Projections for a Business PlanIf you’re planning to start or grow a business in 2013, a good place to begin is to write a business plan. Some are tempted to write the whole plan in a day and just “get it over with”, while others labour for months to create a comprehensive plan. How do you know which approach makes the most sense for you and your company? The decision lies in who is going to read it.

There are many advocates of the one-page business plan, which you can probably put together in an hour or two. These tidy documents make great internal guides. You can post one up next to your desk and review it every day if you want, keeping track of your progress and making adjustments all the time. There’s much merit to these plans, but I hesitate to even label them as business plans – they just don’t contain enough information to help anyone understand, work in, or invest in your business.

It can take weeks or months to determine some of the most essential components of a business plan and answer questions like:

  • Who are my ideal clients?
  • How many potential customers exist for my product?
  • How many of them can I reasonably sell to, over what period of time?
  • How much will people pay for my product?
  • What will it cost to make my product?
  • How will I market my product?
  • How will I evaluate my marketing efforts?
  • When do I want to expand my business, and where or how?
And on…and on and on.
Occasionally prospects will ask us to write a business plan in an afternoon. But there are so many intricacies to running a business, that sometimes it takes a few days just to get on the same page as our clients and define the goals that we will work towards together. Developing a financial forecasting model – one that you can easily make changes to, and see what they do to your company’s bottom line – also takes time, because there are many assumptions to make about growth rates, sales volumes, operational expenses, and more.

 

(Are your eyes glazing over yet?)

So, you can’t write a business plan in one day. Wait, I take that back – you can, but your plan won’t help you get a loan, attract an investment or give you a useful way to benchmark your company’s progress and financial success.

And if you want someone else to give you money for your business idea, an afternoon of typing at your computer just isn’t going to cut it.

What’s your opinion on the one-page business plan?

This entry was posted in: Business Plans Tags: bank financing, business plan, Entrepreneur, finance, industry analysis, market analysis, one-page business plan, start-ups

FREE Essential Business Launch Checklist

These tips will help you build a business you love — even if you're starting with just $200.

Get it now

Your Ultimate Business Plan Workbook

DIY Business Planner ebook

Popular Posts

The 3 Most Important Steps to Take When Starting a Small Business

May 12, 2015

The ONE Big Priority that Will Make or Break You as an Entrepreneur

April 3, 2015

Renegade Planner – Business Plans for Non-Conformists

July 23, 2014

Work With Us

  • Business Planning & Coaching
  • Shop
  • Live Training
  • PNP + Start-Up Visa

Our Work

  • Portfolio
  • Testimonials

About

  • About Renegade Planner
  • In The Press
Jessica is a fantastic editor and an asset to any business.
Ben GlickmanVancouver
See All Testimonials
[Jessica] worked quickly and professionally to help me create a winning business plan for my Vancouver mobile street vending application. They made sure my application was complete, well-written and researched, and deli…
Nathalie GalinChouChou Crepes
See All Testimonials
Jessica was the primary content writer for our corporate website as well as a number of specialized reports we had written. She was always professional, knowledgeable, and ensured that we were happy with both the service…
Vern JurovichMacdonald Realty Westmar
See All Testimonials
I have found working with [Jessica] to be an experience in professionalism. [She took] an educated stance on all of the issues that we had, worked to mitigate them and improve the overall experience all the way through.…
Nick PetrieResidencity
See All Testimonials
Jessica was my answer to a business plan 911. My deadline was closing in, and the entire pagination went off track. [Her] team jumped in and finished off my plan, enhancing the work that was started. After working with…
P.H.Vancouver
See All Testimonials
Just wanted to say thank you again [for your editing help…it] was fantastic. There were specific sentences that I just didn’t know how to position and somehow you found those and changed them perfectly. You know how, whe…
Ale BrownKirke Consulting
See All Testimonials
Jessica and her crew of deft interpreters helped us understand our own vision and clearly shape it so that others could share it. Indeed, she was integral in our coming to be. With [Jessica’s] financials and clean concis…
Steve da CruzProprietorThe Parker
See All Testimonials
Jessica…was fantastic to work with. She was reliable and met the deadlines. I would recommend her services for your EMBA project or business writing.
Kerry BrockVancouver
See All Testimonials
I am very impressed with the editing quality that Jessica Oman offered me…She was the most attentive and talented writer I got help from. She listens very well, absorbing every point in your mind and choosing the right…
JLEmily Carr graduate
See All Testimonials
Jessica was very thorough and professional on this project and went above and beyond the call in researching the subject matter that we needed to have. I know she provided more than she bargained for originally and was a…
S.Y.Michigan
See All Testimonials

© Copyright 2019 Renegade Planner · All Rights Reserved. Design by Lisa Temes.

Tweet
FREE! 5-Part Business Plan Video Course
PLUS instant access to a Super Simple Business Planning template you can use to start creating your business plan TODAY. Sign up right now!
Your information will never be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
So you're starting a business, are you?
You're going to need a Kick-Ass Business Plan. This blog post will help - but I've got a 5-part video series that's even better. Sign up to get instant access, and a free simple outline too!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
Here's a Step-By-Step Checklist for Starting Your Business (it's FREE, it's one page, and it'll get you organized)
Introduce yourself and your program
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
Quit Procrasting and Write Your Business Plan
Kill that useless business plan template and use this 6-part framework instead (it's FREE)
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.