Never outsource your business plan
by David Ronick
Want help with your business plan? Great. Want me to write it FOR you? Never. Here’s why:
- The most important part of writing the plan is doing the thinking behind it. A plan simply gives structure to that thinking.
- Business plans must be revised over and over. Since you’ll be the one updating the plan, you’ve got to know how it was developed in the first place.
- You will be the one pitching the business plan, so you’ve got to know it cold, including the reasoning behind each of your arguments. Hopefully you’ll be pitching to people who know your industry very well, and they are going to ask you some very tough questions, and challenge many of your points.
- You are the person developing the strategy for the business. You can’t outsource your strategy. And your business plan must reflect your own personal vision. It has to be made of your DNA.
- Your future is at stake. This is not the time to take a shortcut by having someone else do your homework.
- Every business plan is different. There are basic elements that are important for all plans, but every business has different challenges and resources, and they must be presented and pitched in different ways. There’s no such thing as a great business plan made by following a cookie-cutter template.
