On Wednesday, April 14th during #StartupChats, we talked about Planning for Success and Writing Your Business Plan with Scotiabank.
We were joined by this incredible trio of experts;
Emily Foucault, CEO of ThinkHatch
Jenn Walker, Coach & Founder of Dive Heart First
Nicola Jones-Crossley, Business Development Manager for BC, Futurpreneur
First, we figured out what exactly a business plan is;
A1 1/3: This is a great place to start! EVERY business needs a business plan. Simply, a business plan outlines the goals for the business and the strategy you will use to meet these goals. #startupchats
— ThinkHatch (@ThinkHatchCA) April 14, 2021
A business plan is a document containing the goals of your business, and the strategy for attaining those goals. Think of a business plan as your marketing, financial and operational roadmap. #startupchats
— Jenn Walker (@DiveHeartFirst) April 14, 2021
A1: A Business Plan (BP) is a road map that clearly identifies how your business works & the opportunity for growth & scale. A good BP is written in a way that anyone can pick it up & understand what the business does #StartupChats @Futurpreneur @FuturpreneurBC @Startup_Canada https://t.co/z90KAH5iDq
— Nicola Jones-Crossley (she/her) (@n_jc_) April 14, 2021
We talked about the tools you can use to create your business plan;
Q3: Yes! We have the Scotiabank Business Plan Writer tool available here: https://t.co/zxFRpmOL6t and on https://t.co/D3mAHEdIx0. There are other online resources and tools to help guide you through the process. Be sure to work with a reputable source. #startupchats https://t.co/1EKLoIHS77
— Scotiabank (@scotiabank) April 14, 2021
A3 1/3: There are lots of resources online to help write a business plan. A great place to start is with your business mission, vision and key differentiator. #startupchats
— ThinkHatch (@ThinkHatchCA) April 14, 2021
And, what happens if you are unable to follow your business plan;
A7 If you can’t follow your business plan, my question would be why – & maybe it’s not the right plan. Or it could be pointing out faulty thinking, poor planning & executing… so many places to look to see what’s going amiss. #startupchats
— Kristine Carey (@KristineCarey) April 14, 2021
A7 Let’s be honest. As an entrepreneur, sometimes your best laid plans don’t work. Understand why and see if you need to scrap your plan, make major changes, or simply tweak something. #startupchats
— Suzanne Brown/Biz + Marketing Strategy (@OKsuziStrategy) April 14, 2021
A7: First, expect that you won’t be able to follow your business plan. Root into your WHY, your bigger mission, and purpose, and make decisions from that place and space. #StartupChats
— Jenn Walker (@DiveHeartFirst) April 14, 2021
If you want to see all of the topics we covered during this chat, you can see the whole transcript here.