Having a side hustle is a great way of supplementing your income. It also gives you the ability to control your affairs, which can be very satisfying. But it will be futile for your side hustle if you do not write a business plan to guide you in running it. Writing a business plan is the best way of creating a successful business by planning how your passion will play out and enabling you to turn it into a logical and sustainable reality. You get to delve into your market, competition, growth, and how you will pay the bills. It is thus advisable that you have a proper business plan to map out your vision for it to turn into a success story. According to Excellentbusinessplans.com, a business plan increases the chance of growth by 30%.
In the United States, about 543,000 new enterprises start every year. However, only 7 out of 10 remain in business in the first two years. After five years, five out of ten enterprises are still operating. Interestingly, in the enterprises that manage to survive for five years, about 70 percent of them follow a strategic business plan.
To come up with the best plan, you need to:
Have a broader scope of thought
Anything you try to earn money, be it a hobby, a side hustle, or a passion, is a business that requires insight. As you write your business plan, you need to think about where you want it to be by the next five years, the level of growth you want to see in it, and the kind of service or goods you wish to offer. Offeringtree.com said these don’t have to be point-specific but will expound your mind and form the basis for your start-up.
Set a realistic timeline
Most of the time, we want to be in the field doing what we love, but success demands that you have a reputation and a client base before making full-time commitments. In drafting your business plan, setting a timeline will be helpful when your business is going through murky waters. It provides you with a basis for reflection and stress reduction while also helping you to stay off unrealistic expectations.
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Research
You should conduct thorough research on the market you want to delve into by looking at what other enterprises providing a similar service or product are charging for it and what you do not like about their offering or business activities. Being opinionated will help you develop a deeper understanding of what you intend to offer. Airtable.com says it is also vital to stay ahead of your competitors by looking into your business’s trends and requirements.
Providing your services
Once you conduct your market research and spot gaps, you should be confident in deciding what to offer, where to offer it, and when to provide it, which will help your business establish and blossom quickly. You can now incorporate the place that you find ideal for your business to flourish in your business plan.
Price setting
In the opinion of Offeringtree.com, the prices you set for your services should be determined by a couple of factors. These factors include their worth to your client and yourself and what price will be possible and realistic. In your business plan, you should also make sure not to undercharge, or your business will go under faster than it came into existence.
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Marketing
A marketing strategy will help boost your business, so it should take a good amount of space in your business plan. However, Amanda McKinney says that it is not imperative that you hire a marketing expert or a consultant to create a suitable business structure. However, there are things you should take into consideration as you write a business plan. This can include building a website, branding and choosing the business name, establishing influence on social media, designing email addresses, determining who your consumers will be and where you are most likely to find them, and establishing networks with other businesses and potential clients to garner support.
You should also map out ways that will help you to manage the flow of money in and out of your business and establish frequent reality checks to ensure your business is running as you had set it to operate. A business plan will enable you to keep alive the dreams and aspirations you set out to achieve when establishing the start-up.
