Quite a few years ago a couple of also-self-employed friends recommended I use "The One Page Business Plan" by Jim Horan to write my first business plan. I did and found it so incredibly user-friendly that I have recommended it to even more people.
His basic theory is that most of us don't need that muscular weighty paper-intensive traditional business plan. In fact, he posits that for most of us, the traditional business plan is a roadblock. So he's crafted a biz plan that is, literally, one page long. His book (now re-issued as The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur) has worksheets and exercises to walk you through creating the one-pager. I used it in 2002 to write my first business plan. Took me 2 days. I've continued to use it every year to update my business plan.
And my business plan really is one page, taped to the wall above my laptop so I can look at it every day if I want to.
That's a useful and practical book! Here are some of my favorite quotes from it:
There is no right, wrong, or perfect business plan. Your business will always be evolving. So will your plan. It will also get better with time. Business plans don't have to be long to be good.
The most important reason to have a business plan is to clarify your thinking, regardless of the size of your company. Is it possible to have too much clarity or focus?
You have everything you need to draft the [business] plan in your head.
Business planning concepts are not difficult. You already understand all of them.
A business plan brings out the best and worst in most business professionals. It facilitates creative and analytical thinking, problem solving, communications, interfunctional sharing, and teamwork. It generates hope and enthusiasm about the future. It also brings out procrastination, frustration, differences of opinions, and possibly anger. It is not a benign process. But when done well, the process is very valuable and has its own sense of satisfaction. Your business will be stronger.
The business plan is, in effect, our modeling tool. It provides the sketch, the vision, the road map for our ideas. In many ways, it's just like the composer's first few chords; the musician gets to hear it and so do others. The business plan works the same way. You get to see your ideas in writing and so do others.
Have you considered that Queen Isabella of Spain was one of the most powerful and important venture capitalists of all time?
Mission statements are also about commitments and promises. Ask yourself, "What is your company committed to providing your customers or constituencies?" Under what circumstances would you refund your customer's money and apologize for not providing what was promised? What would you be willing to do to make amends with a dissatisfied customer? The answers to these questions may help you understand why your business exists.
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