Starting a small business is very much like embarking on a new and exciting journey. As we head towards our goal, we will have different experiences and face various challenges, but our sights are often firmly set on the end destination.
Would you set off on a major journey (perhaps a once in a lifetime journey) which was going to affect all aspects of you and your family's life, without a map? I hope not.
Yet, often we're happy to start and develop our businesses without having a map, or in the business world, a plan that tells us how to get there. Worse than that, though, often we don't even have a clear destination in mind.
Imagine that journey. You and your family investing time and money into a trip, but none of you know where you are going or how you are going to get there. What would happen? Well, I guess you'd probably head off in a random direction hoping to eventually get somewhere nice. Or perhaps you'd end up driving round and round in circles, getting increasingly frustrated before running out of fuel close to where you started.
If that sounds uncomfortable to you, I want to help you develop a planning habit. A clear and effective plan will contain a set of goals and targets, which will help you on your business journey towards your clearly defined end destination.
By Kate Pullen | Make for Business
Kate Pullen is an experienced business professional who escaped the corporate world to live the dream, which is to scale down, concentrate on what's important, and help others. Kate offers a range of business support services from her home in Spain, which she shares with her husband Ian, and a very full household of rescued cats and dogs with special needs.