We all want to make money, that’s a fact. And for many of us, starting a business always seems like the obvious thing to do! The question is, where to start, and how to make sure that the idea is worth investing in?
Although that might sound boring (not to say painful), working on a simple business plan is one way to do just that – understand, test your idea on paper, and see whether the business you have in mind is desirable, feasible, and viable in the medium and long-term.
The point is not to spend a fortune on it, however. Nor is it to spend ages working on a pdf document nobody will care about at that stage.
No!
The point is to use a business plan writing exercise as an excuse to do some basic business planning, to see what makes sense and what doesn’t.
Some spend time playing business with apps on their phone, why not do the same with a business plan after all?
Now, the question, of course, is how to work on building a business plan easily when you’re not sure where to start and what the expectations are.
If that’s a question you’re asking yourself about, then perhaps investing a little bit of money – we mean, a couple of hundreds, not more! – into a business planning course is the way forward!
In theory, a business plan course can help you carve out your own path in the world of business. In practice, however, mastering the logic behind business plan writing is the best way ever to ask yourself the right question – aka, those that will make you money down the road.
So, in this article, we will share with you some tips on how to use a business plan course to make money easily and efficiently.
Oh yeah.
First, we’ll show you how writing your business plan will help you ensure that your products meet your customer needs so you can sell as high as possible. Cheaper is never the option, right?
Second, we’ll talk about how the exercise helps entrepreneurs just like you refine their positioning (and therefore their pitch!).
Third, we’ll see how all this helps create a winning marketing strategy.
And finally, we’ll talk about how all these steps can help build your financial projections in a smart way (that brings money into your pocket)
Shameless plug: this article is part of a series of articles on how to write a business plan and aims at giving you hints on how to do just that!
We make about eighty percent of our content free to entrepreneurs and small business owners just like you – that even includes a free online business plan template with a free mini-course, by the way.
If you need more, however, then our Business Plan Builder is the business plan course you need to start making money and boost your earning potential!
That being said, let’s go back to our topic of the day: How can a business plan course help you make money a lot more easily. Beware, the four tips you are about to read will change the way you deal with doing business!
Before you start, know what you are looking for
Before you start committing time and efforts to whatever you have in mind, it’s always interesting to take a moment to think about what exactly you are looking for, and what success would look like at the end of the journey.
For instance? Well, let’s see.
Do you want to start a business that’s going to pay you a stable salary every month for years?
Or do you want a job that can generate cash so you can pay yourself heavy dividends?
Do you want to start a business that will keep you busy?
Or perhaps a business that can generate a passive income, so you can do whatever you want while the system works for you?
These questions are important, because the answers you’ll provide will condition the type of business you need to start, and they will also tell you how deep you should go into the business plan exercise if you want to get something out of it.
If your goal is to test desirability and viability, then a brief business plan exercise should be enough, but if your idea is to raise money, then you’ll likely need a lot more elbow grease.
In the end, what matters is what you want to obtain, so start there. Set your end goal and stick with it. The rest will follow.
Build your business around that end goal, and plan what needs to be done to achieve your results
Once you have this figured out, it is extremely important to think in terms of planning.
Why do we say that?
Because starting a business without a (basic!) business plan is pretty much like stepping in a car without a direction, and without the keys needed to unlock the engine’s potential. You can always try, that’s for sure!
But you are likely to go anywhere? Nope.
So? Well, that’s where writing a business plan typically becomes interesting.
Wait a moment, though. The point here is not just to come up with a business plan pdf document nobody cares about, it is to think genuinely about 1) what business you have in mind and 2) what plan needs to be implemented to turn the idea into cash reality.
Not sure how to plan? That’s what business plan courses are for
In reality, chances are that you aren’t too comfortable with the method needed to start your business planning work – otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be here, right?
If that’s the case, then a business plan course is probably one of the most efficient and valuable investments you could make.
One main reason for this is that understanding the method behind the business plan exercise is essential if you don’t want to spend ages on it (without the slightest chance to succeed, let’s be honest).
Another major reason why you should be investing in a business plan course – and by that we mean our Business Plan Builder, of course – is that a business plan if made the right way is a real money-making tool.
And we’ll now give you four examples to illustrate our point.
A business plan course will show you how to sell at the best price
First of all, a business plan course will make you money by giving you ways to figure out how to sell at the best price.
One of the cornerstones of any business is the ability to sell your product at a price that covers your costs and makes you a profit. If you can’t sell at a price that covers your costs, you won’t have a business for long.
Makes sense?
Great! But you have to think deeper than that.
Imagine what would happen if your business became so unique that it gave you ways to sell better than “well enough to cover your costs”? What if you could just decide on the price you want to get, just because there is no competition?
Sounds good, hm?
To that extent, knowing how to price your product correctly is an essential skill that all entrepreneurs need to develop. And going through the business planning phase is a good way to get all the numbers and storytelling needed to make your price as high as possible.
Learn how to identify your target customer
One way to do that is to learn how to identify your target customer – which typically is one of the must-have component of your business plan.
Look, it’s simple! One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make is assuming that their product will appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case!
If you try to sell your product to everyone, you’ll end up selling to no one.
No one has the time or money to buy something that they don’t need or that they don’t know how to use. You need to know who your customers are and what they need your products to do for them.
For example, if you sell a product that helps people with back pain, you need to sell that product to doctors. Doctors don’t have the time to go and search for products that might help their patients. They need a product that they can easily and quickly prescribe.
Doctors don’t want to go and read a ton of reviews; they just want to know what works.
To start making money fast, you need to identify your target customer from the start, understand what they need your product to do, and then sell to them directly. And a business plan course will help you to do that!
Get feedback from potential users
It’s one thing to identify your target customers and another thing to know exactly what they want.
You can make all the assumptions you want and fill in the blanks with your own ideas, but that doesn’t mean that your product will sell to your customers. Instead, you need to get feedback directly from your customers.
You can do this during your business plan course while writing your business plan because their opinions will give you super efficient storytelling tips you’ll be able to use to sell!
Ask customers what they want your products to do for them. Ask them how they would use your products and why. Ask them what other products they use and why. Feedback from your customers can make a huge difference in your product’s success.
It will make you identify your market, refine your positioning, and sharpen your pitch!
It is also super important to know what market you are targeting – you won’t be able to place ads or communicate otherwise, right?
Your market is the group of people that buy and use your products. Your market is made up of customers, but it is also made of competitors – with whom you have to play whether you like it or not.
Your customers are the people that actually buy your product. They are willing to spend a certain amount depending on the value you provide them – so your job is to know what they expect!
Your competitors are the companies that make and sell similar products to yours. They can be cheaper, or more expensive, hence knowing where they/you stand will give you a way to set your pricing, storytelling and pitch in a convincing way.
Knowing your market can help you refine your product’s positioning – understand, the way you differentiate your product from your competitors’ – which is key is your goal is to make money sooner than later!
Use your business plan brainstorming to make yourself unique
Some people make a lot of money because they don’t have any competition and they know it.
Sometimes, there simply isn’t anyone selling what they sell, which gives them a way to sell at the price they want – provided of course that they have the right marketing strategy in place (more on this in a minute).
Usually, though, every market has competitors. Hence, the stake is to find a way to show that you are the only one selling the thing you are selling. There might be others, said differently, but if your offering makes them irrelevant then you have an avenue to make money.
You can do this during your business plan course by:
- Conducting a competitive analysis
- Examining their products, their pricing, how they advertise, their brand reputation, and more. –
- Thinking about your unique selling point
- Thinking about the vision you have for your business
- Coming up with a pricing strategy that makes you competitive
- Again, coming up with brutal storytelling
The business plan course will give you a framework to play with, really – that will make a big difference!
Investing in a business plan course will help you sharpen your pitch!
You’ve identified your market, refined your product’s positioning, and know your competitors. Now, it’s time to put all that information together and create your pitch.
A pitch is a summary of your business that explains your product and its value to customers. It tells potential customers what your product does and why they should buy it.
There are many different ways to pitch your product including elevator pitches, mission statements, and value propositions. And again, working on a business plan will give you a way to sharpen that.
It will show you how to create a winning marketing strategy
Second major point, investing in a business plan course will help you make money faster by helping you to establish a winning marketing strategy – which clearly should be your center of attention.
While your go-to-market strategy is the strategy you need to be ready for business, your marketing strategy is the process of getting customers to buy your product.
There are many different ways to market your product and increase sales, if you think about it. Hence, the business plan writing exercise will help you see what makes sense (or not) and to set what should be a priority (or not).
Your marketing plan would include advertising, public relations, and digital marketing – which should help you clarify your cost of acquisition and your investment capacity.
The Business Plan builder will get you through that process – are you ready to start making money?
And it will teach you how to build your finances so as to bring money in your pocket
Throughout your business plan course, you’ll learn how to refine your product and how to research your market, competitors, and customer needs. You’ll also create a product positioning strategy and a winning marketing strategy that pay.
Then, it’ll be time to put all that knowledge together and create your financial projections.
Financial projections management is typically seen as a walking nightmare by small business owners, because getting the logic behind the financial method is complex (if you have a workable framework to start with, that is).
Still, financial planning is the best way to plan for the future of your company.
Establish if the business is financially viable (or not)
First, it’s a way for you to see how much money you need to start your business, where you can get that money, and how long it will take you to make that money back!
If your business idea isn’t viable, then going through the financial part of the business plan writing logic will make things very visible.
The tables will show you when you’ll need to get more money in the bank, which will then give you a way to think about either bringing in investors or move on to the next idea.
Figure out how to talk to investors, bankers and partners
Speaking of bringing money in, going through the Impactified Business Plan Builder Course will also give you everything you need to start talking to potential investors and bankers.
One, the course includes a video lesson dedicated to explaining how investors and bankers think (hint: they are very different beasts) which will help you understand how to (adapt your) pitch when you speak to one or the other.
Two, investors speak in terms of business valuation and have very precise expectations that you need to meet absolutely. Again, the business plan course will make all that discussion easy for you and will give you tools to understand how your business might be worth and how much you could reasonably raise.
Good news: The financial tables are a lot easier to build than you think
Good news though, although most people see the financial part of writing a business plan as a scary nightmare, coming up with the numbers and financial projections is a lot easier than you think.
Especially if you can put your hand on an automated spreadsheet designed to give you all the boxes you need to fill AND to teach you the full logic behind the financial tables, easy as 1, 2, 3!
The Impactified Business Plan Builder gives you access to that type of automated financial table. We give you all the topics you need to consider if you want to build your financial projections efficiently. All you have to do is follow the guide and fill some boxes – you have no excuse!
So, can you use a business plan course to make money?
Time to wrap things up! Business plan training isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s a critical part of your success – especially is your goal is to start making money sooner than later. To that extent, using a business plan course to make money is a smart idea!
By the end of your business plan course, you should be armed with the knowledge and skills to build a successful business. And, well, the Impactified Business Plan Builder is THE online business plan course to do just that. It includes
- The working tools you’ll need to build your business plan step by step
- The automated tables you’ll need to come up with numbers that make sense, easy as 1, 2, 3
- Two designer-made templates you’ll be able to customize any way you want
- And two hours of video by an experienced business coach (our business plan course hero), to make sure you get everything right
If you are looking for a complete business plan course free of worries, note that it is currently available for a ridiculous price and will get you to understand and come up with successful business planning results right after enrollment!
From there, you’ll then be able to build an actionable roadmap for getting your own business running and making the impact that you want to make in the world. The only question left is this one: what are you waiting for?
