Business Plans – Pros and Cons

"Business is creative. It's like painting. You start with a blank canvas. You can paint anything, anything, and there, right there, is your first problem. For every good painting you might turn out, there are a zillion bad paintings just aching to drip off your brush…" ~ Richard Branson, Business Stripped Bare

As all savvy business owners and entrepreneurs know and learn, starting and running a business is both an art and a science. While some businesses develop organically over time, others are planned in advance from top to bottom, start to finish.

For today’s post, we’re breaking down the pros and cons of business plans.

Let’s begin with the pros:

1. Crystalizes Your Business Vision & Forecasts the Future. Writing a business plan forces you to define your business’s mission and vision statements, which help you to forecast the future.

2. Helps with Obtaining Business Funding. A well written business plan is necessary for obtaining funding from a financial institution, should you as the business owner choose to do so.

3. Boosts Business Confidence. A well written business plan can create confidence in yourself, your business, and your team (if applicable) by helping you to effectively communicate your business vision, intentions, and values to others and demonstrate your commitment to your brand.

Now, the cons:

1. Lack of Flexibility. If you rigidly follow your business plan, such strict adherence to your business plan may prevent you from being flexible and adapting to any changing market conditions. Because this could be detrimental to your business interests, it is important to keep in mind that a business plan is subject to changing market conditions and may not always be executed in the exact fashion called for in the plan.

2. Underutilization. A business plan’s usefulness may be limited if it is made for one or only a few specific purposes, such as for obtaining funding for the business, and thus is underutilized. To avoid this, a good business plan should be include, even if as an exhibit, detailed action plans that, depending on the size of your business, are created and implemented through active discussion, participation, and collaboration among members, managers, and employees of the business.

3. No Guarantee of Business Success. Though a business plan can help reduce a business’s odds of failure, it does not guarantee success.

Thank you for reading today’s post. For additional information on how to create a customized business plan tailored to your business and industry and/or for information on DIY business plan templates we offer, you may contact Emilee at emilee@lawbyemilee.com or call us at 801-829-9135.

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