What's stopping you from building your business?

• I have a great business idea, but don’t know what to do next.
• I’m secretly terrified to take the next step; what if my business fails?
• I’ve been trying to start my business for years, but I just can’t make it happen.
• I’d love to leave my job and do my business full time – how do I grow it big enough?
• I want to run my business, but how do I do it and still run a household with kids?
• I’ve been on the internet, business seminars and courses and all I have is a book full of notes, and still nowhere nearer to starting my business.
• Everyone keeps on giving me advice, and it just leaves me feeling overwhelmed.

Why 85% of businesses fail...

Setting up and running a business is not easy; making it a success is even harder; if it was as easy as some people think, then everybody would be doing it and the failure rate for start-up businesses in the UK would not be a conservative 85%.

The lockdowns and restrictions we faced during 2020/21 exposed a lot of businesses who were unable to benefit from the various Government loans or grants, because they either did not have a viable business plan to present or did not keep sufficient business records to validate their claim. How do you avoid all of this mess and create a business that doesn’t keep you awake at night worrying?

My business plan saved my family in 2020

I’ve always shouted from the mountain tops about the power of having a good business plan. Having a working business plan, has always served me well; but in 2020 when the lockdowns came my conviction would be put to the test. At the beginning of March we were launching a new arm of the business; everything was going great; I had a meeting with team members, stakeholders and investors and we were set to achieve some tremendous growth; everything was in place. A few weeks later everything abruptly stopped; every avenue I had, every source of income I had was blocked by the fact that 99% of the places we did business were shut, and our movements were severely restricted.

I initially panicked, not knowing which way to turn; but I quickly did what I had now learned to do; I went back to my business plan for strategy and guidance. I flipped up my laptop and studied my plans for the upcoming years, hoping to find some inspiration.

As I read through the Business Description, I was frustrated by all the things I was reading about; things that should have been happening for me but were not, because of all the restrictions in place. Then I got to the Future Goals section; and there under 2023 was the heading ‘Rescue Haringey’. I looked through the notes I had made and there was a clear plan outlined of how I was going to team up with other service providers in Haringey and work to support medium, small and micro businesses.

It was easy to map out a plan; so much of the marketing; customer profiles; and strategy had already been done; I just had to tweak the program and revamp the proposal from helping businesses to survive their first year to helping businesses survive the Covid-19 lockdowns.

I put together a proposal, made a pitch to Haringey Council and managed to secure two five figure contracts. Lockdowns were not looking too bleak after all.

Not only did this give me the platform to secure several other private contracts; I personally helped 100+ businesses and entrepreneurs to weather the storm and survive the lockdowns.

Ok, but in 2024, there are so many alternatives
to a business plan, right?

I love disruption, and some of the biggest disruptors have created incredible businesses. But nowadays I’m seeing all sorts of gimmicky alternatives, to a traditional business plan. They claim to provide cutting edge, new and quicker ways; mostly seeking to validate themselves by rubbishing a comprehensive plan as an outdated relic.

I see more and more ‘experts’ telling people ‘you don’t need a business plan’. With all sorts of alternatives popping up – telling you a one page business plan or a mind map is all you need to steer your ship to success.

But I have to challenge that belief. The alternatives may well have a place in beginning to get your ideas out of your head, but they fall short on doing much else.

Trust me; show me any successful business owner who says that they only have a one page businesses plan or a mind map and I am willing to bet that they will have copious notes in a book, in a document, on a spreadsheet or somewhere with much more detail that cannot be held on a single piece of paper. And you can go through those notes, documents or spreadsheets and you’ll find all the necessary information for a sound business plan. And if they haven’t got it; someone in the organisation has. You just can’t build a multimillion-pound business with a single sheet of paper.

A business plan is not just a document you create and discard; it should be a living document that guides, grows and scales with your business. It should be your blueprint that clarifies your goals, outlines your actionable steps and with our help you can do this in a 30-day time frame.

Don’t leave your business to chance; you either let things happen by default or you make it happen by design. Only one of these ways, utilises a comprehensive business plan.