I just found this “mini outline” on why business plans matter to you the business owner on my hard drive and thought I’d share it with you.

1. Helps you clarify your business concept and think it through.

• It is a checklist that forces you to consider your business from all sides before you launch. It helps ensure you won’t forget things. (Think pre-flight checklists that pilots follow even if they’ve flown a thousand times.)

• It sharpens your thinking by laying out great questions for you to be asking yourself.

• Helps you identify the variables to watch, test, tweak, and pay close attention to.

• Helps you identify the key leverage points and priorities that will help you make better decisions where to invest your time, money, and other resources.

2. It makes it easier for you to get outside input on your business.

• It gives you a structured and organized way to “freeze” your business to let outside experts and advisors break analyze it and give you feedback. (Think frame by frame, multi-angle analysis of a sports game.)

3. It helps you raise money and get buy in.

• Investor capital.

• Key team member’s buy in.

• Other supporters.

4. It makes it easier to get into purposeful and directed action.

• It breaks things down into tangible, behavioral action steps with a clear timeline to produce them.

• It helps you decide what to let go of for now.