Most people consider a business plan as only something a large or formal business needs today, but it isn’t! Anyone in business for themselves and, in reality, many working folk wanting to develop their careers should consider a business plan of their own.

Most only feel a business plan is needed when going into business with someone, or going to the bank to raise finance for a business. This is so untrue because, when all is said and done, a simple business plan is nothing more than a plan or reaffirmation of what you intend doing to achieve your goals in a business.

Business plans need not be a complicated document that only your accountant or a business administrator can put together. It should rather be an outline of what kind of business you want to create and how you plan to create it. If one thinks about that statement, then you will most likely agree that this could really apply to almost anyone’s life too.

However, let’s stick with creating a business plan for any small business and then consider applying it to other areas of your life. A typical business plan would consist of a basic skeleton that could be used as the outline to any other type of plan, such as your own ‘career plan’ and would cover these main points:

1. A summary of your potential business, which could be broken down into the following areas: its objectives, its mission and what will make up its main elements to succeed.

2. A company summary – what you have achieved or know you can offer.

3. Your services or products.

4. Analysis of the potential market in summary form.

5. A summary of your strategy and how you intend to implement it.

6. Management summary – your skills and those involved with you in implementing the plan.

7. Financial Plan – what will be needed in the way of capital to put all this into practice.

Now all you have to do is add the meat to that skeleton and you have a working business plan. Once you have created your business plan then you will be able to go over it in detail and see if, or where, your main weaknesses lie in the plan. If you are not an expert in any of the fields covered above, then talk to someone who knows about that area. For example, discuss the financials with an accountant and the people involved in the financial side of your life.

Once you have the business plan and you (and all the important players) are happy with it, then all you have to do is break down the plan into smaller achievable bits and implement those bits. If you refer to your business plan on a regular basis and continually check you are achieving your targets, then you should reach your goal.

However, if you are not achieving your targets and goals along the way then it is time to revisit the plan and see where you are coming up short - or if you must ‘re-plan’ or call in help on a certain point or in a weak area. This is where your business plan becomes your lifeline. If you need additional capital for example, it is easier going to a bank with an existing business plan and explaining why you need additional funding. You also should then be in a position to show them what you are going to do to solve this problem so that it does not happen in the future.

If you look at the basic outline of the business plan we have given you here, then you will see this could be applied to all kinds of situations in your life - like career plans and goals - and not only as a basic business plan.