Creating a Business Strategy

Are you planning to start a business? Thinking of making the big leap from the corporate world and start your own business by offering either products or services to your target market. Or maybe you are currently running your own business for quite some time but you feel like it’s not yet scalable for the next level of growth.

With that, we should establish your business plan so you will have a roadmap in growing your startup or even your current business status.

In the past 3 years, we observed that there’s a lot of growth in the business sector. With that, let’s define a business plan first. A business plan roadmap for small or big companies will itemize the products, services, income, leadership, sales and operations model.

Here are aspects that will be established as to why it is important to have a business plan that can help you gain trust from investors too:

A.?????Structured Planning – writing out your plans in detailed will help the management and the team to lay down the ideas which will translate to the ground work of the company. This is crucial because if the day-to-day operations is established, it will help the company in reaching it’s quarterly, semi-annual and annual goals.

B.?????Competitive Research – before coming up with your projections and strategies, the team will collaborate with ideas, do detailed research about the industry of your business, competitors, and SWOT analysis. This will help the management and the team to be effective in executing the plans.

C.??????Recruitment & Talent Acquisition – in growing your business, it is directly connected with hiring the right talents. Hiring people will be a big chunk in the companies’ budget but it is also a way to build the credibility of the organization. Your company plan and vision will also be the factor to motivate the talents in joining you.

D.?????Product and services – each industry has specific products that can help the business in scaling up. If you are a start up or even a seasoned company, product focus will help you align your efforts and financial resources towards delivering a set of solutions to your consumers.

E.??????Customer satisfaction – if you have a strong product focus, this supports your understanding of the customers needs and preferences. With this, you can develop high quality products/services which can lead to brand trust and long-term growth.

F.??????Innovation and growth – companies with product focus will invest more in innovation. We learned from top companies that if we don’t innovate, our sustainability will be affected. Since disruption is constant in today’s business environment, organization should always take into consideration the emerging technologies that can spur growth.

G.?????Effective Leadership style

1.??????Vision & Purpose – a strong leaders will help them team by articulating a vision for the future of the company. It provides a sense of purpose inspiring employees to work towards a common goal.

2.??????Leading by example – setting a positive example by demonstrating values, work ethic and behaviors

3.??????Effective communication – this is one of the most important aspect of leadership, having this skill will help the teams to be united despite of the differences so that the company can achieve a common goal on a much faster scale.

4.??????Empowerment – by delegating authority and responsibilities to the right people will help your business in growing with the right foundation. If you’re a leader, you need to establish the flexibility of decision per department to avoid bottleneck in operations.

5.??????Coaching & personal development – organizations should invest in growth & development of the team members. Having this culture of giving constructive feedback and mentorship helps employees in improving their skills & capabilities contributing to the advancement of the company.

6.??????Decision making & problem solving – taking well informed decisions will affect if the business plan will be achieved or not, as a leader you need to weigh the pros and cons that will effect the relevant stakeholders.

H.?????Specific & Measurable goals – establishing clear & measurable goals will help the team to be realistic and time bound which allows to track the progress and evaluate the success of your business.

I.????????Financial Projections – in every business plan, financial projections are very important. These includes the cash flow statements, profit & loss statements to also create a day to day strategy for the business. This will include an annual, semi annual and quarterly projection that can be evaluated as needed. This will help the team assess if the operations and sales teams are effective in what was planned early on.

J.???????Risk Management – identifying the potential risks that your business will face for the short and long term will help the company to achieve sustainability. If you’re a start-up this is an aspect that you should always consider. There are big companies who overlooked risk management which caused them to collapse.

At the end of the day, all of these aspects will be achieved together with the whole team. No matter where you start, always remember that small progress will contribute to the bigger picture. Keep on pressing on towards your goals, keep on learning and be part of a business community so you have people who will stand with you in the process.

Karlo Biglang-awa is a Fintech Leader, Financial Planner who helped Filipinos in managing & growing their finances for the next generation.