Practical Entrepreneurship: the Business Plan basics
Remember when I started a Patreon? Yeah, me either.
It was a short lived, half assed attempt to monetize my online work and not stray from my “don’t work for free” mantra, which is a story for another day. And although I love Patreon and think it’s an incredible way to support creative people, it certainly didn’t manifest in the way I hoped it would. Add that to the laundry list of things I’ve tried that “failed” or fizzled out over the past decade…Etsy crocheter, Instagram thrifted closet sale person, ethical fashion influencer, multiple almost-coffee shops owner, parenting magazine writer (Hi, Romper, where you can find all the soul-sucking articles I wrote for them that were pure click-bait but also got me some pretty cool opportunities), social media manager, and more. If you need proof that your “calling” evolves over time, look no further than yours truly.
I don’t regret all the things I’ve tried and abandoned. In fact, I’m grateful that I gave them a shot and learned what roles I do and don’t thrive in. That’s part of being adventurous, brave, and finding your lane. I don’t consider them failures as much as I see them as opportunities to learn and apply those skills to my current passion. And who decided that something you don’t do indefinitely is a “failure” anyway? They’re wrong.
Back to Patreon. One of my goals with that (since disabled) account, was to empower hopeful business owners to chase their dreams both online and in a brick and mortar format…something I’m still passionate about, just not as concerned about monetizing as I was before.
So I thought I’d rehash some of my short-lived content there. For free for the people, because gatekeeping is something I’m excited to leave in the past.
I created Simple's business plan years before I actually opened the shop, at the request of potential investors who eventually played zero role in getting Simple off the ground (there’s no such thing as false hope, I’ve sense learned…it all plays a part). As I began taking more actionable steps towards making the shop a reality, I referred back to this plan, to make sure each decision I was making was aligned with our "executive statement". Naturally, I had no idea how to write a business plan when I started drafting. I Googled a template and adapted it as I went. It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't perfect.
Looking back on my plan nearly 3.5 years into operation, I'm blown away by how much did (and how much didn't) go according to this business plan.
I say that because as helpful as creating a business plan is, it will only get you so far. You won't be able to plan out your business in it's entirety. Many things won't go according to plan. You'll make a lot of it up as you go. And, according to plan or not, things will work out just as they are supposed to, one step at a time.
But, aside from the messiness of it all, having a business plan is incredibly helpful, especially for yourself as a new entrepreneur to narrow in on what exactly your business is and what you want to accomplish with it. It's also helpful to plan out the financial aspects of your business before you begin taking steps to enact them, so you know how best to budget and pitch to investors if you decide to go that route. This was the most intimidating part for me, so forcing myself to sit down and create spreadsheets and determine just how much each piece of equipment and each license we'd need would cost us was extremely helpful.
Remember...I'm not a business coach. I don't have a business degree. I'm just a serial entrepreneur sharing tidbits of my own journey and what has (and what hasn't) worked for me. I'd love to delve more deeply into this topic and I hope that sharing this template (that should be simple to view and download to make it your own via the link below) is the first step in having business-y questions answered in this space whether you're planning to open a physical shop, launch an online business, more professionally engage online, or do anything else that requires a business plan.
Click here to download the full customizable Business Plan Template with editable fields. If nothing else, I hope learning from my preliminary plan will be helpful as you make your own moves, coffee related or not! You’ve got this, my friends.
