Julie's Ocean Writing Consultancy

Is the value of your business plan in your business or is it in your plan? An interesting survey conducted by Palo Alto Software showed that businesses with a completed business plan were twice as likely to succeed as those that did not. That’s powerful, especially when you consider that the doors of just one-third of businesses started in any given year will still be open 10 years later.

Does a business plan = success?

On the other hand, you can also find a lot of support for not writing a business plan. About half of highly successful businesses were started and thrive quite nicely without one. What these statistics don’t show is the other side of the coin: the majority of businesses that failed did so without a written plan. In short, having a written plan doesn’t guarantee success, but not having one is a consistent characteristic of businesses that fail.

Your plan is a roadmap that will help you guide your business through the first five years of its existence, the period during which half of all startups fail. The real value in completing a written plan for your business may simply be the recognition of factors that will impact your business in the near future, and the commitment of basic survival strategies to paper.

Wanting a written plan is as far as many entrepreneurs get. The task either seems like it’s too big or that writing one will take too much time. In the absence of driving factors like financing, a business plan may seem more like an academic exercise than a necessity. That’s where a professional writer can help. Working with a writer can allow you to develop your business plan while still focusing your energy on your business. You also have the advantage of working with someone who has successfully completed business plans.

If you would like more information about working with a writer to complete your business plan, please contact me by email at eileen@juliesocean.com or call me at (734) 961-0408.

Photo Credit: Lavinia Marin, via FreeImages.com