How to Start Your Own Business – Lesson One

Reasons to create a Business Plan:

We all know that the South African job market is volatile at the moment.  So what are your options if you can’t find a job?

If you have a good idea for a start-up, why not start your own business? There are a number of reasons why this would be a good venture for you. The main reason being that you will have a job that earns you an income.It is also a good way for you to be your own boss as you will be responsible for the business and its success. It is also a way for you to relieve the unemployment issues in South Africa, because once your business starts making a profit and you need an additional employee, you can always find this promising candidate by using Job Mail free job vacancy ads for employers.

In order to get started you will need to write your own Business Plan. So what exactly is a Business Plan? A Business Plan is a living and breathing blueprint for your business. This plan helps you to navigate and manage your business. At the same time you are also helping potential investors, partners, lenders and others venture capitalists (makes money available for start-ups)to understand your business strategy and what your vision for success is.

A Business Plan is never quite finished. Business plans are always getting revised, reviewed and built upon. It’s actually very important to your business’ future. It helps you keep your ship headed in the right direction without losing sight of your long-term destination -especially when it comes to online businesses. You need to research and keep updated on new technological developments; otherwise you might lose market share to your competitors.

Reasons to Write a Business Plan: If you are starting a business, writing a business plan should be the first crucial step. A business plan can help you describe your product or service, detail your marketing strategy and lay out sales forecasts (including the cash flow projection). This is very helpful if you want to track your profits. Putting a business plan in writing will breed a healthy business planning process and will encourage you to revisit it  on a regular basis for updates, and revisions.

If you are looking for outside investment or a loan, a business plan is essential. A lender is more likely to loan you money if you have produced a business plan that is properly laid out. A potential investor will also want to read your business plan before providing any form of funding. They will also try to poke holes in your plan and quiz you about things that might not have been addressed in it. For the purpose of financing, you might want to add sections to your business plan (including background and historical information) about thebusiness and a description of the management team that is leading the organisation.

We hope this post was useful to you and assists you in finding the reasons why you should start your own business sometime in the future.  In the next coming weeks we will be sharing more insights into: how to draft a business plan; how you can attract venture capitalists to your business; where else you can go for funding; once your business plan has been approved where you go from here; and finally how to find the right people to work for you using Job Mail.

If you have any questions regarding the reasons to draft a Business Plan please leave your messages on the Blog comment stream and the Job Mail Team will be sure to get back to you soon.