Making your business plan work for you

Anyone who has got anywhere near setting up their own business has probably read a tonne of advice about writing a business plan. I wrote one a few months ago and took it to a meeting with my accountant, during which she asked, “Did you write this for me or for your own benefit?”

It was a good question.

A good business plan must out in cold reality of your idea and attaches figures to it. I’m talking hard cash. An business idea is just a business idea unless you task it to make money for you, and it must be enough money to provide you with a decent living, otherwise it’s probably better described as a “hobby plan” or a “weekend plan”. The business plan I wrote told me that, yes, I can make you money, but not until 2012 at the very earliest.

That’s good to know. Better not walk out of the day job yet.

I also rigged it so it was realistic - a useful attribute for a business plan to have.

The plan is also far-reaching. I know I can’t just walk into being amongst the best wedding photographers in London without years or experience, training, practice - and a modicum of good luck. If you plan for that kind of upward curve, you can climb it.

I don’t fiddle with my business plan every day - I haven’t read it for over six months, but I know it’s there and I know what its primary objectives are. In the meantime, I learn as I go.

SEO, marketing, advertising, web site development, equipment, sole proprietorship, tax, business banking, insurance, training, time management, pricing strategies and accountancy.

If you’ve done it right, you might find you’re on track.

It’s mid-2010, I’m in the middle of my apprenticeship as a wedding photographer based in Lewisham, South East London (who is actually shooting weddings in Scotland, Croydon and Kent). I reckon that’s in there somewhere on page five.

To answer my accountant’s question, I wrote the business plan for me, knowing it could be read by someone “who knows” at any time. Not a bad strategy to have.

Good sites that have helped me in business planning:

• Business Link



• Starting your business (HSBC)



• Teneric Business Forums



• Grover’s Photographer Recession Survival Tactics