Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
More Uses for Your Business Plan

More Uses for Your Business Plan

You have invested a lot of time and energy on writing a business plan just to get a loan or to attract an investor. What do you do when you get the money or, worse, should you be turned down?

Do you just file it away? That's like investing in a boat that remains parked in your driveway after its inaugural voyage.

Instead of filing it away or leaving it on a shelf to gather dust, why not capture more return on your investment? To gain a clearer perspective, convert your investment of time and energy into a dollar amount. Then, you'll think twice before filing your business plan away.

Ways to capitalize on your investment

Expand the marketing section for an ongoing planning document, or for periodic reviews, or for revising marketing strategies. The historical data, projections, competition surveys and analyses are valuable bases for updating the data into a working framework. The material is a convenient reference for when you are asked to make an oral presentation, to write an article, to provide background data for ad copy or for other promotional activities.

Save the various sections as templates for any number of purposes. Some of these can be used for decision-making, for analyzing proposals and new ventures, or for dispensing with those time-consuming 'dream/someday' projects.

Use some excerpts for such Human Resource Management activities as: orienting and training a new associate, or as a preparation for a staff promotion.

All your grueling work on the financial data can form the foundation for financial controls and reviews, budget-actual sheets and as background for trend projections. Your original documents serve as benchmarks and as reminders of your progress for your bankers.

You will not have to start out from scratch should you have a similar need to re-apply for funds, tender an invitation to a partner, or supply data for the experts should you consider 'going public.' The evidence of before-and-after progress is helpful as a contribution to a 'for sale' proposal, or for a sudden and urgent offer to buy. Plans for expansion, mergers, spin-offs, or cooperative alliances can start with your collected data.

Your business plan, with its appendices, is a convenient repository for company data and records, equipment details, floor plans, measurements, maps, contact details for legal and accounting consultants, general historical information, industry descriptions including your historical SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the past, current and future at the time of its writing.

Create in-house displays of your mission statement, the organizational chart or the photographs and biographical sketches of your benefactors and supporters.

Don't have a business plan in your files? Begin preparing portions today as an investment for that day when you will need one. It's quite probable that when that need arises you will be too pre-occupied to devote the required time and energy on an appropriate plan.

Now, you have a greater incentive to do a more thorough business plan today, knowing it is going to serve several useful purposes in the future.

About The Author

Gerry McRae added practical wisdom to his college and univeristy courses by owning and operating small businesses. That wisdom is now online at http://www.unclemaxsays.com.

eco-friendly cleaning service Buffalo Grove ..

In The News:

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

More Uses for Your Business Plan

Strategic Planning