There are many reasons why a business plan is a valuable tool when it comes to managing your business. Most fundamentally, it helps you ‘set your sail’ in the direction you want your business to go. Rather than drifting along aimlessly, being tugged this way and that by random currents and puffs of wind, a business plan helps you steer a predetermined course and stay on track.

A good starting point when thinking about the elements of your business plan is to carry out a SWOT analysis. What are your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats?

The strengths you identify will become the foundation for your competitive focus. Think of ways to exploit them as they will set you apart from your competition. For example, you may be particularly good with people: use this talent in the customer service aspects of your business to distinguish you from the competition. Similarly, by identifying weaknesses you can plan for ways to compensate for them.

The opportunities you identify become the cornerstones for your business development. What opportunities exist that you can exploit in the next twelve months to develop your business? The threats become the foundation for your contingency planning. By recognising threats before they become a reality, you will be better placed to implement contingency plans and ride out the storm.

Once armed with your SWOT inventory you can begin to refine your thinking in terms of coming up with an overall strategy for your business.

Finally, bear in mind that a business plan is just that, a plan, it’s not carved in stone. Be flexible and make changes as circumstances and priorities alter. Work with your plan and treat it as a living, breathing, organic part of your business.