If you plan to open a business banking account, your bank will probably ask you for a ‘Business Plan’ in order that they can see that you are serious about your business that you have considered where it will be in a year’s time – and how it will grow over the coming twelve months.  If you want some money from the Bank, they will definitely want one – but even if you have the finance behind you, or start up costs are minimal, it still makes sound business sense to plan ahead. 

 

Business plans need not be complicated, scary documents!

 

Here are the basic questions that a business plan should answer:

How long or in depth your plan is will depend on many factors, but we shall take a simple example and follow the questions through.

 

What am I selling?

Indian Head Massage

 

Am I qualified to sell it?

Yes.  I hold a VTCT Diploma in IHM

 

Who will buy it?

People who may need to relax, or feel stressed, or have upper body muscle tension.

 

How much will it cost me?

Cost of training

Cost of insurance

Cost of any Health and Safety issues/certificates

Cost of professional membership fees

Cost of uniform

Cost of massage oils and equipment

Cost of towels and sundries

Cost of business literature

Cost of utilities – Telephone, broadband, light, heat etc.,

Cost of my time

Cost of booking space at public shows and events

Cost of travel to and from clients

Cost of decorating therapy room at home

Cost of renting therapy room elsewhere

Miscellaneous costs (always include a contingency!)

 

How much will I sell it for?

You need to consider your local market – how much are others charging, what will the market stand?  You also need to be sure you are valuing yourself and not under pricing.  People know that you ‘get what you pay for’ If you offer something which seems cheap, they may think it is not worth having.

 

Where will I sell it?

Will you be selling from home?  Do you have a ‘therapy room’?  Are you renting space from someone else, for example a local beauty salon or complementary health practice?  Will you be traveling to the homes of your clients?  Will you attend shows, holistic fairs, pamper evenings etc.?

 

How will I sell it?

In other words, how will you market yourself and your services – advertising, leaflets, promotional offers, for further information please visit the page on ‘Finding Customers’

 

How much do I need to sell?

You need to calculate – properly – how many treatments you need to do in order to a) break even and b) make a profit.  How much profit you need – and therefore how many you need to sell, depends on your personal circumstances.

 

Who else is selling it?

Have you researched your competition…look at professional membership lists (The Federation of Holistic Therapists for example publish a list of ‘Therapists in your area’ on their site), in the Yellow Pages, online directories, beauty salons, complementary health clinics etc.

 

What are the risks?

You must consider your own health and safety – for example going into clients homes, allowing them into yours, driving, what happens if you are ill and cannot work etc.

You must also consider the financial risks – Have you invested money which you cannot afford to lose, how fast do you need it paid back?  What happens if the business is not successful?

How can you minimise those risks?

 

How is my product different from the competition?

This should be a part of your marketing strategy – finding that little (or large) something to make you stand out from the crowd, something extra offered, or special promotions, further qualifications, added experience etc.,

This is sometimes referred to as the ‘USP’ which means ‘Unique Selling Point’

 

How many do I think it will sell over the coming year?

Most people tend to throw up their hands at this point and say ‘How on earth am I supposed to know that?’  But if you have planned things properly and done your homework and research, then you will know how much you need to sell in the first year, in order to break even and in order to make that all important profit.  So armed with that knowledge, and knowing what your plans to promote the product are (!), you should be able to forecast what you would like to sell – realistically of course.  You can then forecast how you see the business growing month by month, from day one.

Remember that these are forecasts – you can then put in how much you have actually sold and compare the two, adjusting the forecast figures if required.  This is actually a very useful exercise which can help to motivate you to promote yourself more if the figures are not what you would have hoped.

 

In addition to the planning process, you can also set yourself targets and goals.

 

These can be daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or even long term, here are my targets and goals for my sister site www.pennymoon.co.uk as of today, 31^st August 2006:

 

I do not always succeed in implementing these targets and goals, after all, this is real life and things happen – but without targets, you can lose sight of your main goals and dreams. We need structure in order that we can see where we are going, where we are now in relation to that, learn from the mistakes of the past and how to make our dreams come true.