As a small business owner and operator it can be easy to formulate the plan in your own head. That is one of the things I tend to do well, but then struggle mightily with when it comes to converting the thoughts to paper. I find it easier to explain than to write down.
As Shawna and I dream about expanding and growing, we talk through all the different scenarios and how we would approach building our future. For some reason writing this down becomes an overwhelming task. I often worry about how what I am writing will be interpreted, or if I am making sense. That's why I find it easier to do in person.
I will be honest, I have started writing a business plan over 20 times. There seems to be a huge amount of writers block that sets in as soon as I look at the monitor. Weirdly, that's the same way I felt about starting writing a blog this year. Once I actually started writing it got easier. Not so much with the business plan.
The complexity of a business plan is what makes it seem so overwhelming. Raising chickens, expanding the farm, and building coops is, easy. Accounting for the costs, developing a plan for moving additional product beyond our own farm stand, figuring out marketing, and on and on and on, is where I get lost. Don't get me wrong, I know these things, but for a business plan simply saying social media for marketing is not enough.
You have to start somewhere. This is where getting a rough outline is helpful, as it gives you something to build off of. The blank paper was incredibly overwhelming. Biting off a small part of the plan was, and is, simpler than attempting to write the whole thing at once. Echoing my blog from last week, baby steps in the right direction will eventually get you where you want to go.
The reason for having a business plan is that we want to expand, but convincing someone to invest in your dream is foolish if you cant even tell them what your plan for the dream is. Agriculture is an industry that has more people retiring than it has starting. Our desire is to build something that will last into the next generation.
If we are going to build that dream, it will begin with a plan. It might not be easy, but creating a plan is proven to improve the odds of achieving your dream dramatically. What is your dream, and do you have a plan to achieve it?
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