If you want to succeed at starting and sustaining your dream, a small business, then you need to create a business plan.  If you don’t create a business plan to guide you on the journey of entrepreneurship, small business ownership or self-employment, your chances for success are drastically reduced.  If you need financing for your small business and try to attract it without a business plan you won’t get far.
 
A business plan is like a GPS for your business, for a certain period of time, usually three-five years.  But, like a good road trip, creating a business plan and launching and sustaining a small business is full of challenges and potential detours.  And, like the GPS, if you put in the wrong current location and final destination information, you won’t end up where you want to go. Just like you input accurate data into a GPS to get your desired result, you need to research, analyze and input a lot of accurate data into your business plan.  And therein lies the REAL benefit of developing a business plan, you will become a subject matter expert about what you are going to do and how you are going to do it!  The business planning process is a framework that will enable you to make solid, thoughtful decisions about the small business you want to launch, operate and sustain.  Like any good road trip it’s the journey not the destination.  When writing a business plan, its the process not the plan itself that will prove to be invaluable!  If you want to manifest your dream and start a small business, then you have to take the time to immerse yourself into creating a viable, realistic, useful business plan.  Once you go through the experience, learn the framework, and develop a business plan, you will be well-prepared for the next phase of your journey, owning and operating a sustainable small business.