Vision and Planning
Vision and Mission Statement
This is a short paragraph which describes what your business does. Not only does it help you to focus on what you are doing but is useful for explaining what you do to customers and staff. For example” We aim to provide an exceptional holiday experience for visitors who appreciate the natural environment.”
Business Plan
A business plan provides a blueprint for running the business and can provide benchmarks to check your progress against targets. There are plenty of sources of advice on writing a business plan and your bank may be the best place to start. The government website Business is Great https://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/ provides links to a number of different sources – some particularly suitable for start-up businesses e.g. The Start Up Donut with others for more established businesses. One of the easiest sites to use is HSBC https://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/ which includes a link to an interactive tool to create your own business plan.
The Business Plan doesn’t need to be long but it should include the following essential elements:
- Executive summary - This should be written last but goes on the first page. It must be written in simple language and sum up the overall plan.
- The Business - This explains what your main business offer is to customers and could include your Mission Statement as described above.
- Markets and Competitors - Describe who your current and potential customers are in terms of origin, characteristics and scale of the market. Include any market research you may have done to back this up. This section should also include an indication of who your main competitors are and their impact on your business.
- Sales and Marketing - This needs to explain how you attract customers, preferably a summary of your marketing plan. It should include your brand/image and the promotional tools such as your website, OTAs, the direct marketing you use or plan to use in future and how you will measure their effectiveness.
- Management - Outline here your skills and experience and those of your team and how you can manage all aspects of the business.
- Operations - This section is about the facilities that the business offers and how they will be operated
- Financial Forecasts - Cover the financial position of the business in this section – both current and forecast for the future. Ideally this should include profit and loss account, balance sheet and projected cash flow for the next three to four years. If the business requires funding here the amounts required should be outlined.
- SWOT Analysis - Take an objective view of how your business is doing with an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats it faces. It may be useful to bring in sympathetic outsiders or a consultant to support you with this.