Inksight: Why You Should Write a Business Plan

Dear Pennies & Pens, 

In this post, Inksight: Why You Should Write A Business Plan, I talk about why having a business plan is important and how to write one. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on rewriting my business plan. My biggest goal for 2020 is to make my business profitable so I can work for myself full time. 

As I’ve been working on my own business plan, I realized how important it is to have one. Hence why I wanted to share insight and tips on how to write a business plan. As a Creative Entrepreneur (blogger, stylist, photographer, etc), writing a business plan may seem like a daunting and unnecessary task but it’s crucial to creating a successful and profitable business.

Below, I talk about writing a business plan and the elements it should include. I also shot a short video reiterating my points. So whether you’re a reader or a watcher, there’s some ink for you in this post! 

Why You Should Write A Business Plan

Pennies & Pens, you should write a business plan because it helps you get organized and streamline your ideas. A business plan helps you strategize so you can create a profitable business. 

Your business plan doesn’t need to be formal or long. In fact, limit it to 1-2 pages because if you write a 15 page business plan, you have to remember all that shit. And who has time for that? Nobody, says Sweet Brown. To make it easier for you, I am going to include the elements of a simple 1-2 page business plan for creative entrepreneurs. 

What to include in your business plan 

As far as the elements of your business plan, keep it simple! All you need are the basics, nothing fancy like an executive summary, financial analysis, or even a competitive analysis. What you need is a simple action plan that will help you execute effectively. 

• Business name: Before you write one sentence of your business plan, you need to name the business! The business name should be unique, original and easy to say/remember. 

• Business description: The business description should be just that, a description of the business and the products and/or services it offers. If you’d like you can break it down into “Who we are”, “what we do”, “the team”, “how you create your products or provide your services”, “mission statement”, and “target audience”. 

• Business tools: Use your business plan to decide which tools you will use to manage the day to day operations of your creative business. Decide which platform you’ll use to send emails, edit photos, create content, etc. Business tools include physical tools like The Passion Planner or The Content Planner and digital tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, and VSCO. 

• Communication tools: Decide which communication tools you’ll use to communicate with clients and customers. Will you use phone, text, email or some type of software like Zoom, Paltalk or Bonsai? It’s also good to decide when you’ll be available to clients and customers. Set business hours and only work during those hours to give yourself breaks. 

• Sales strategy: Your sales strategy should be an action plan in which you outline ideas that you can execute to make your business profitable. Keep it simple and have fun with this part! Yes, you should take it seriously but you should also see this as an opportunity to be creative. So see it as a fun challenge. Think about the product(s) and/or services your business offer and brainstorm ways to sell more. Maybe you can be a vendor at local events, send at least 5 emails per week to potential clients, create a media kit for your blog, etc. There’s all sorts of ways to make money in 2020 so get creative! 

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.