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In this month's issue of Inspiri Art and Craft Business Magazine:

New at Inspiri

When I started my business, I put myself in a situation in which I was forced to write a business plan. I know myself well enough to know that it was the only way I'd get it done. Writing (and also updating) that plan was one of the best things I've done for my business.

This issues examines the benefits of writing a business plan and tips for getting started.

Sample Business Plan Outline
This sample business plan outline plan will provide a guideline to show the sections that are typically included in a business plan.

Executive Summary
The foundation of your craft business plan, it sums up the nature of the business. The executive summary should allow the reader to develop a basic understanding of your business.

The Company
This section provides basic information about the company including: company history if it's not a startup, evolution of the product or service concept, the current status of the company and future strategies.

Industry and Target Market Analysis
The target market analysis includes your assessment of your current target market and other customer groups that you may pursue, the competition and your marketing efforts. It provides evidence that your target market is interested in your product or service.

Strategic Opportunities and SWOT Analysis
This section describes ways in which your company is meaningfully different from competitors. It provides an honest assessment of your risks to help reduce potential threats to your business' success.

Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy
Here you'll explain how you will reach your customers and sell to them.

Operations
This section covers issues that are essential to the success of your business, provide a competitive advantage and/or help you to overcome a problem inherent in your business.

Management Team
This section can be crucial if you are applying for funding because many potential backers put a lot of weight on the quality of the team that is guiding the business. If your business plan will be use internally as a map to guide the development of the company, this section can provide you with an opportunity to honestly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals who are guiding your business.

Company Development and Business Milestones
In this section, you will indicate the milestones the business has achieved to date, your immediate and long term for the company and the strategies you will use to reach these goals.

Financial Plan
This section includes cash flow projections, profit and loss statements and balance sheets. There are standard formats for these reports, and it's generally inadvisable to deviate from the traditional accounting formats.

Business Research Resources
These business research resources will help you find business statistics and research to help you plan and develop your business effectively.

The Successful Business Plan Book Review
The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies by Rhonda Abrams is an extremely thorough and easy to understand guide to writing a business plan.

And now for something completely different...

The Beader's Guide to Color by Margie Deeb looks at color theory from a beader's perspective. The book includes fantastic examples of beadwork that will provide inspiration and encourage you to take your creations to the next level.

Feature Article

Benefits of Writing a Business Plan
Why I'm Happy I Was Forced to Write a Business Plan

However, I also felt certain that a good business plan would be very beneficial to my business. I have read a lot about people who have built successful businesses, and one thing that's pretty consistent is that many entrepreneurs say they regret that they did not create a business plan and understand more about business fundamentals before launching their companies.

Before I launched my business, I enrolled in a self employment program which (among other things) taught me how to write a business plan. I wasn't allowed to enter the next phase of the program until my completed business plan was approved, so I had no choice but to finish the plan.

How I have benefited from writing a business plan?

• The process of writing my business plan helped me to think about the focus and primary goals related to my business and develop strategies for reaching those goals. There are plenty of different ways to build a business, and different strategies will help you to reach those goals. Without well thought out goals and business strategies, you run the risk of wasting valuable time and financial resources on activities that do not help you to meet your business goals.

• Writing my business plan forced me to assess competitors and develop a better understanding of an industry which was very different from the industry I was coming from. I could see what my competitors did well and model business strategies on that. I could also see how they could do better and recognized market opportunities in those areas.
  

• In the process of writing my business plan, I created an appropriate year long timeline. Initially, my plan was to start selling at some of the large juried art shows. At the time when I was writing my initial business plan, I had never applied to juried art shows, so I was pretty naive about the whole process.

  I wasn't far into researching my business plan when I realized that I was launching the business at an awkward time. The deadline for applying to a lot of shows had passed, and it would be many months before I'd be able to participate in these shows. That realization allowed me to recognize a potential problem and turn it into a positive. That is, I realized I had a lot more time than I thought to develop my product and create great applications for juried shows.
  

• My business plan provides me with a guideline to see what objectives need to be accomplished each month. My plan is not collecting dust on a shelf. It is a well used document that sits on my desk. I refer to it often to determine what needs to be accomplished each month, to assess my progress and to maintain focus with the direction of the business.
  

• I developed a thorough budget and cash flow projections to assess the true costs involved in running my business. There are no surprises when expenses like booth fees or supplies come up because I've planned for those expenses well in advance.
  

• I developed a better understanding of my target customer, the size of the market, the percentage of the market I could reasonably expect to sell to and the annual profits I could reasonably expect from my specific type of business in my area.

I have not used my business plan to attract financial partners. When you read books about writing a business plan, the first reason they give for writing a plan is that it's required if you are going to approach banks or other financial backers.

I have funded my business entirely myself. I specifically chose a business that did not require more financial resources than I had myself, and I think it's likely that most people who are building a home craft business fund their businesses in the same way.

When you read that business plans are required if you want to attract financial partners, you may think it's not worth the time it takes to write a plan if you are not seeking financial backing. However, a business plan can also be a very useful internal document that you use to determine and map out the direction and focus of your business. In my opinion, it's very useful to develop this type of strategic plan for your business.

A well written business plan can give you direction, provide you with insight into the potential profitability of your business, help you to forecast your cash flow needs, help you to evaluate your competitors, provide you with a road map that guides your daily business decisions and help you to discover circumstances that present good business opportunities in your industry.

Online Craft Business Resource

Thanks for reading the Inspiri Art and Craft Business Magazine.