Business Milestones and Development

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

Consider and indicate in your craft business plan the following:

Long term goals

• Where do you see your business in one, five or ten years? Your long term business and personal goals will inform your daily business operation.
  
• What type of business do you intend to develop? Is your plan to develop a business that is (among other things) an industry innovator, a quality leader or perhaps a niche leader? Clarifying those goals will help you to make effective business decisions.

Growth strategy

• How do you intend to grow your business?
  
• Will you increase the marketing of your current product?
  
• Perhaps you'll diversify by adding new products or services.
  
• Do you intend to refocus you company by changing the basic nature of the business in order to respond to changing circumstances?
  
• Outline the strategies you intend to use to grow your company. Thinking through these strategies will help you to focus you efforts and will inform your business decisions.

Business Milestones Achieved

• List the milestones that you've achieved to date. These may include securing financing, completing product design, securing a strategic partnership etc.
  
• Describing the milestones you've achieved shows a level of commitment to the company and a seriousness of purpose that helps to build your credibility.

Future Business Milestones

• Note the goals and milestones you intend to reach over the next several years.
  
• This list will provide you and potential investors with an idea of what you intend to accomplish within a given time frame.
  
• Ensure that your milestones are expressed as concrete and measurable objectives with a timeline. Quantify your objectives whenever possible.
  
• Indicate the critical tasks and decisions that must happen to make your plan work.
  
• Break down your critical tasks month by month for the first year. This process provides you with a road map to guide your actions throughout the year and a way to measure your accomplishments.

This section tells you and potential investors what business milestones you've accomplished to date and what you intend to accomplish in the future. It's so easy to become bogged down in the day to day responsibilities of running a business, and this section can be a very useful tool to help you to step back a bit and determine your bigger goals and assess your progress toward those goals.

Additional Resources
Business plan outline with links to further information about each section
The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies by Rhonda Abrams book review