IMAGINE: You are so excited to take your idea from concept to an actual business but as you start to work on the many aspects you need to bring together to build a business you feel overwhelmed, lost and scared.

What if, you could stop, take a breath, and be assured that there is a proven framework to take your business idea of the ground in a authentic and sustainable way, that helps you gain clarity and confidence in the process.

The good news is, there is such a framework and you can follow these simple yet effective steps to grow your successful business:

As you start transforming your idea into an actual business you will encounter many setbacks, sleepless nights, and challenges along the way.

If you are too immersed in the day-to-day grind that you forget the bigger picture about WHY you started your business in the first place, and what it really means to you on a deeper level, you will start to feel the weight of the circumstances pull you down.

Moreover, it makes perfect business sense to define and keep your WHY at the forefront of your marketing initiatives and let your customers know about it so that they can get behind your mission. As Simon Sinek explains in his book “Start with why”:

 

” People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it.”

 

Your WHY, the reason you are in business in the first place is the most humanizing aspect of your business that is bound to create a lasting emotional connection with your target customers at a personal level especially when it aligns with their personal values and held beliefs. It is the differentiating factor that allows your customers to rally behind your brand and stand with you as you grow your company to success. It’s also a key motivator for your team to come together and strive for excellence.

This is the foundation of building an authentic business where your actions (the HOW) and results (the WHAT) are aligned with your beliefs (your WHY).

Regardless of your industry, target market, business size, and personal aspirations, you will want to know WHERE you are going, WHEN you expect to get there, HOW you will get there and WHAT products and services will you create.

All these moving parts of your business strategy need a place where they can come together and the best way to capture all of your thinking and market research is by including this knowledge in a Business Plan format.

Starting with your vision, mission, values to your financial, operational, marketing and sales plans everything that matters in your business should be reflected in a concise form in a “living” Business Plan that you can revisit and update as you go.

To get your idea off the ground you need to go through a thorough market research process and summarize your findings in your Business Plan. If this sounds like a daunting and expensive process know that there is a better way to do this that is cost-effective and with less stress.

As part of your market analysis, it’s helpful to do a SWOT analysis of your business idea to better understand the internal strengths and weaknesses of your future business as well as the opportunities and threats that currently exist in the market.

Once you go through the market research process and you feel confident about your business idea and how your company will be able to compete in your chosen market, it’s time to translate your business idea into a financial forecast.

Your financial plan is a key part of your Business Plan and should include estimates of startup costs, capital structure, overheads, cash flow, income, profit/loss and investment stages, usually projected over three to five years. Of course, these figures will be largely theoretical, but they need to be based on reality, so do your research. An accountant or business startup consultant will be able to help you.

Of course, these figures will be estimates, but they should be based on industry benchmarks, if you are not comfortable with financial statements and need some support, we can help.

Now that you are clear about your WHY and are well underway in bringing all the elements of your Business Plan together, it’s time to integrate and create a strategic brand that will breathe your idea into life.

From the name of your company to its logo, tagline, the colors and imagery you use, the website, marketing collateral, to your tone of voice, you want to create a consistent brand image in all the interactions you have with your target customers.

Your brand needs to reflect your values so that it can help you attract the right clientele and be internally consistent and coherent.

A branding strategist and designer can be instrumental in helping you translate all these intangible aspects into a holistic brand and brand collateral that attracts your ideal customers.

At StartupHQ, we work closely with the brand guidelines your brand strategist develops, so that your Business Plan perfectly integrates and reflects your brand. If you are not yet so far in this process, our talented Graphic Designers can help you create an initial text only logo and your business’s moodboard: a Pinterest style canvas for inspiration using photos, typography, graphics, that evokes a certain emotion and conveys a particular “mood” which reflects the brand of your future business.

This branding collateral will be applied to inform the color scheme, images, graphics and typography we use when writing and designing your Business Plan.