If you want to take your passion or side hustle into a full-time job, you need to create a profitable business plan.
While there are thousands of ways to make a full-time living, there are some fundamentals you should bear in mind when creating one. Not every business or business plan is made equal, but there are things you need to bear in mind when planning to make your business work for you!
Let’s get into it, and discuss how you can start creating a profitable business plan.
1: Maximise the number of income streams
An income stream is simply a way your business is generating money. For example, a hairdresser might be offering hair cuts, but also providing online courses. This alone provides them with 2 income streams.
Why should you have more than one income stream?
Simply put, diversifying where your money comes from ensures that you will generate a consistent stream of money. If your plan has 3 different streams, and 1 of them (for whatever reason) stops being effective, you still have 2 other streams that bring you money.
We recommend every business plan has at least 3 streams of income. While you should focus on growing and building the one stream that brings the most money, don’t forget about working on other streams that help bring income.
While we can’t go into detail, Reseau has more than 4 income streams. This helped us get through the COVID-19 pandemic, and allowed us to ensure we don’t collapse under pressure.
2: Don’t invest too much too early
Time and time again we see business owners invest thousands into tools that they simply don’t need yet.
While a social media manager is a great investment, it might not be necessary for brand new dentistry that hasn’t got an office yet!
You have to plan your expenses carefully, ensuring you don’t overspend. When we began operation, we didn’t invest in any new servers until we landed our first client!
Before investing, ask yourself; “how long can I go on without investing in this?”. If the answer is more than a month; hang on!
3: Plan ahead
It’s hard to run a business if all your income streams will be gone by 3 months. That’s why planning ahead, even for 3 months ahead, is crucial in keeping your business afloat.
As well as ensuring things don’t go wrong, it’s also a great way to prepare for expansion, investments, or potential big events.
We recommend creating monthly plans, 3-month plans, half-year plans, and yearly plans. This gives us constant targets and goals to strive for, as well as giving us a purpose to work towards!
Plan ahead, adapt over time, and work with the changing landscape of business. This will guarantee longevity and profitability!
Conclusion: create a profitable business plan
In conclusion, creating a business plan for your company is crucial to keep things moving in the right direction. Without it, and without the 3 important pillars we mentioned, you might be working towards failure!
What do you think? Do you have a business plan? Let us know in the comments below!