Your New Business Needs to Start With a Strong Action Plan

The dream of creating a new business can become a nightmare if you don't take the proper steps at the beginning. Too many promising businesses end up closing their doors because their owners embarked on entrepreneurship without a strong action plan to guide them.

What is an action plan? It's a map that tells you where you are starting and where you want to go and lays out your route to get there. This can make everything run much more smoothly for you, your employees, and your customers, especially in the uncertainty of your first year.

Here is what you need to do to create a robust action plan for your business:

Visualize Your Path

Your business vision is where you start, but you need a concrete path to bring that vision to reality. Otherwise, you are likely to be unfocused and your business will flounder. Start with specific goals for your first twelve months and list out the steps to reach those goals.

Put it in Writing

Don't just think through your plans and keep them in your head or talk them out with your team. A physical document helps you solidify your thinking and gives you a reference point as you move forward. This document does not have to consist of mere words, either. A mind map or flowchart can be equally effective if you are more of a visual thinker.

Set Measurable Goals

A strong action plan specifies clear goals, not vague ones, and describes them in measurable terms. A measurable goal includes concrete numbers, such as how much income or how many clients you want to have by a particular date. That provides a yardstick by which to check your progress.

Break Down Big Projects into Smaller Ones

Huge projects can defeat you before you take the first step by appearing to be overwhelming and impossible. Avoid this in your action plan by breaking down large projects into smaller ones. Instead of "open my shop," for example, you could list out: find a realtor, locate space, design layout of shop, choose a contractor, etc. If necessary, each of those steps can be broken down still further.

Delegate Tasks

Just because it's your dream, doesn't mean you have to do every piece of it on your own. Enlist partners, employees, and even online resources to help you follow through on your plan. As you create your action plan, label the pieces that you will delegate out. The label can be the name of the specific person you have in mind, or simply a position like "office manager" or "virtual assistant" that you will fill when the time comes. This will also make hiring for those positions easier because you will already know the specific duties and skills involved.

Create Timelines

Not only do you need an overall timeline of where you want to be next month, next quarter, or next year, you need to set target dates within the larger timeline. Each major task, and sometimes individual steps for that task, needs its own schedule. This will help you organize your time effectively.

Once you have made your action plan, make sure you use it! Don't just tuck it in a notebook, stash it on your computer, or hang it on the wall. Refer to your plan weekly and even daily, to make sure you are on track, and to plan out your next steps. 

If the plan proves to be unwieldy or overly ambitious and you are having a hard time following through, change it. Break down steps further and set more short-term goals. While your action plan gives you guidance and a path to follow, it is not etched in stone. It is a tool to serve you. As you apply the plan in the real world, you can change it up to make it work more effectively.

Once your new business gets going, it is easy to get swept away by the many things you must do, and the many people clamoring for your attention. Losing focus can be deadly in the crucial first year of operation. Starting with a strong action plan, and maintaining discipline by sticking to it, will maximize your chances of success.