Nov 23

Step #3 – Creating A Business Plan.

Business plan is a document which aims to list and quantify all actions that need to be taken in order to pursue business goals.

It should be viewed as a valuable tool to help you ensure you achieve your goals. It is advisable for entrepreneurs to develop a business plan and refer to it regularly to keep the focus and evaluate progression towards the objectives.

In short, business planning is absolutely worth doing and should not be skipped.

What types of information go into the plan? My advice – anything that is practical. Keeping it simple is far better than creating a worded document that takes away your time and never gets used down the track. To help you create a business plan, please refer to the “Online Marketing Course For Young Entrepreneurs” which details key elements, such as SWOT analysis and marketing communications mix, to name a few.

Here are core elements that are most commonly found in business plans:

  • The summary of what you will be doing and what you hope to achieve
  • Product overview, market background and competition analysis
  • Business strengths and weaknesses, market opportunities and threats
  • Marketing analysis – market trends, customer requirements, segments and target customers
  • Product positioning and differentiation from competition
  • Sales and expenses forecast
  • Specific marketing programs, deadlines and estimated results.  


To ensure any marketing activity is quantifiable and objective-related, many business professionals use SMART – the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. This term is often used to set business goals and it equally works for achieving personal goals.

Explore the online course “Get It Done: Time Management Basics For Kids” where I introduce the process of SMART goal setting using study, learning to swim and play guitar examples.

You may find many business plan templates on the internet. One of my favourites is the template by the Australian Government which has everything you need for creating your first joint business plan with your child.
Created with