Elevate Your Limited Company: Planning & Strategy
Good decision making means taking the right steps in the right direction.
As a small business it’s useful to have a clear view of your needs, values and drivers both personally and professionally. Equally, a solid business plan that is reviewed regularly allows you to stay in control of where your business is going and make the right decisions to ensure that you stay ahead of the competition and true to your values.
Create a plan
It’s a good idea to create a plan before you launch your business, and it may well be a requirement if you are looking for investment or funding. A plan provides an overview of what you are trying to achieve and how. It can be reviewed and updated regularly once you’re in operation. For example, it may form the basis of a 6-monthly strategy meeting where you look at your business performance and make decisions on the future.
Your plan will cover:
- Your idea and niche
- Your customer group
- Your operations – i.e. the kit you need to get started
- Your finances - a budget including any funding requirements
- Your business support network covering sales, accounting, marketing and HR. (This may well be a supportive pool of friends as you start out).
Identify your core needs, values and drivers
When making decisions, it's valuable to understand what you want both for your business and for yourself.
Ask yourself why you set up your own business. Was it to provide for your family, be your own boss, make a lot of money, have the flexibility to be with your children?
Create a one page summary of your mission and values. This is a great exercise in defining your business, who you are and how you behave. It can be something to share with your team and customers too.
Take time to recognise what your business needs to grow and balance this with your core values and your personal needs. Areas for focus and improvement could be:
- increasing sales (to new or existing customers)
- expanding your product range
- improving the quality of your service and offering
- reducing costs
- improving reporting
- creating a detailed budget
- improving cash management
- reducing debt
- becoming more sustainable
- creating an open, supportive team culture
A Strategy For Success
A business plan, a company mission statement and a clear view of your personal priorities provide useful anchors when you need to take stock and make important and often difficult decisions on where to take your business next.
Regularly revisiting what’s important to you within the business and outside of it can inform how you behave and set goals for the business and yourself and ultimately how your business grows and your experience within it.
If you would like help creating a business plan, looking at your strategy or revisiting your core passion and purpose for being in business, get in touch.
Book onto my Six Month Review Program Here.