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Do you feel challenged?

You have set up your online business, and it had gone all guns blazing, but now things have cooled down, and you start to worry.

Alternatively, you are busier than ever, and it feels great to provide financially for the family. But it feels like you are working all the time. There is no time for family or fun.

Are you aware?

You might be under the impression (most people are) that having a business plan is something you compile for the bank or other potential investors to get funding. It is usually a 30-page document and is never looked at again after serving its purpose.

If this is what you think, you probably missed the opportunity to create the business you love.

Why would I want to do this?

You will achieve your goals and move your business in the direction you were heading in from the word go.

You will also sleep better.

IF YOU ARE YOU STILL NOT SURE? HAVE A READ BELOW.

IT Professional starts own business to spend time with his family.

Kris, 38 years old and married to Macie. They’ve got four children aged between two and ten.

Two years ago, shortly after the birth of their 4th child, Kris was made redundant. He decided to pursue his dream and set up his own business. A management consultancy as this was his area of expertise.

The goals were to have more flexible working hours, free up time for family activities help Macie out with the childcare and become financially independent.

Kris already identified a niche in the market by speaking to his employer’s clients. He had fantastic feedback and much interest. He had done his homework and was confident there is a market for this database he was building in his free time.

When the redundancy news came, the product was 90% complete. The severance package could sustain the business and the family for a year, without having to tap into their savings.

Month one of flying solo, Kris completed the database and done the testing, it was all systems go. Familywise, he could even help out with childcare.

Travelling to promote his product which included stands at the Dublin Tech Summit, London Tech Week and CES in Las Vegas took up a lot of time. From the leads, he landed three large contracts, but each required him to tailor-make the database to meet their needs.

The Issue:

Increased travelling and customisation of the database meant that Macie was a single parent again.

Kris tries to see all his prospects on a specific continent on the same trip. Macie finds it impossible to look after the finances of the business and raise four children.

As you know, stands at these international trade shows and the cost of getting there is not cheap. Their clients are slow to pay, and Macie is getting increasingly worried about their bank balances.

It looks like they’ll have to dig into their savings before the year is over unless a miracle happens. Macie started a spreadsheet monitoring the bank balances. Kris is exhausted when he returns from a business trip, and the money issues keep them both awake.

The Solution:

A cashflow set up and training for Macie on how to maintain it.
The credit terms on their customer agreements reviewed and future contracts were requesting a retainer in advance for additional changes and development work.
The current clients were contacted and asked to pay which two of them did the next day, and the third one the following week. As the business didn’t have much outstanding in the way of third-party suppliers, there was no need to negotiate terms.
They asked me if they would be able to afford to employ a full-time programmer to alleviate the workload from Kris, and we calculated that indeed they could.
They decided that Kris will arrange his business trip and workloads so that he won’t have to work every other weekend and, on that Saturday, will take over the childcare so Macie can go out and have some quality me-time.

E-commerce partners with different ideas wanted a mutually beneficial business plan.

Phil and Liam are married to twin sisters and are the directors of P&L Limited, a business selling stationery online. They have been in business for eight years and recently had to move to a bigger warehouse due to growth in the market.

70% of their sales goes through Amazon, but they also have a website where they sell directly to the public.

The Issue:

Recently on a family holiday in Spain, they discovered over a jug of sangria that they have different ideas for the future of the business.

Phil, aged 43, is keen to continue the business into retirement. They will be able to generate a healthy monthly income since they can use Amazon to fulfil the orders. All they need to do is source the products.

Liam is 53, and his idea is to build the business and sell it within ten years so they can retire. He wants to move to Portugal and play golf every day.

While on holiday, they had staff issues back at the business. Their general manager found one of the staff stealing, called her in for a disciplinary, she resigned on the spot.

The next day they had two more resignations. They now had a delay in getting the orders out due to shortage of hands.

The Solution:

To align their vision and goals, I had them complete a questionnaire independently. We set up a meeting where both spouses attended.
In small business, it often happens that even though life partners are not involved in the running of the company, they are still living it. That is why you get to add your personal and business goals to your plan.
We’ve drawn up a 2-page business plan with 90-day goals. We’re now meeting every quarter working towards aligning their goals and will set up a succession plan soon.
We met up a week later and developed a set of company values to communicate the culture in the business to all team members. It will also be useful for measuring performance and help avoid the recent incident.

A salon owner wants to step back and get a return on her investment.

Dee, 55 years old, married to Ben. They have a grown-up son Ben Jnr who works but still lives at home.

She is a fully qualified beautician and has owned the business for over 20 years. In 2014 she stood in the local council elections and got elected, subsequently, re-elected a few times.

Dee enjoys the role of councillor so much that she lost interest in the salon. Stepping back, she employed one full time and a part-time beautician. The latter to help out on weekends.

The Issue:

Dee is the face of the business. She no longer does the treatments herself, only occasionally pops in to pick up the cash takings to take to the bank. A lot of regular clients left.

Due to a drop in turnover, the part-time person got laid off, and now the full time lady was working longer hours to accommodate the clients. It was affecting her relationship with her partner.

Dee was now faced with the choice of either closing down or selling it. She can’t afford to let her 20 years of work go to waste. She requires an exit strategy that will allow her to recoup some of her investment.

The Solution:

Dee agreed, to recoup her investment, she needed to be involved in the business for at least the next 24 months. Rebuild a client base by getting some of the old clients back and win over some new ones.
We compiled a 2-page business plan with 3 90-day goals. We met every three months for the following year.
Her exit plan was to sell the business within the next two years. In the coming 12 months, we implemented a succession plan.
Dee recovered her investment and is now enjoying the fruits of her labour. She’s no longer responsible for a business and can focus on her duties as a councillor.