Sarah Lakhani Consulting

Where Brand and Business Come Together This is the space where ambitious women come to bring clarity to their ideas, structure to their growth, and meaning to the businesses they’re building.

business plan

Decision Making: Your Greatest Asset

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Decision making is one of the hardest things that you, as a business owner and founder will have to do.  Hands down.  Why?  Because it always feels so permanent.  In this article, I’m going to cover three types of decisions: (1) Your overall business proposition (2) Your business direction and (3) Your mindset. 

Why Decisions Matter

Before we explore the three types of decisions, let’s take a moment to examine why this is an important topic.  Whether you’re in corporate or running your own business, whether you’re a small, medium, large or global business, the same reason applies.  Trying to move a business forward without being able to make decisions is highly unlikely to happen.  Basically, you just can’t move forward if you’re unable to make decisions.  

If you think about places you’ve worked at where your boss, manager or the president of the company were unable to make decisions, I’m sure you’ll find that the people within the teams reporting into them were always confused about what the right thing to do was, always doing something then changing course, and always busy working but producing a low result for the business.  And here’s the thing – it’s not the team’s fault.  Unless everyone knows what they’re meant to be working towards, it’s just always going to be this way.  Sometimes, the results can still be great – because of luck.  But most of the time, they just won’t be.    

The Impact of Decisions

So now what about the decisions you need to make (and could be struggling with) in your business?  How do they affect your business?  Whether you’re a solopreneur or have a team, not making the decisions you need to make will invariably slow you down by either stopping work from progressing or progressing it in multiple directions.  If you don’t have a team, this could manifest as doing and re-doing work such as changing your business purpose, your target audience or your services.  It could also result in changing your priorities every time you think you’ve made that decision, and therefore impacting the activities you’re currently focused on.  Eventually, this will lead to burnout and more than that – to that undesirable feeling of failure.  And if you have a team and are unable to make business decisions to guide them, you will cause them to spend their time in ways that won’t result in the ROI you need to make their hire a good investment.  But it wouldn’t be their fault!

How to make decisions

Decision making is a difficult skill.  It’s scary.  It feels permanent.  It feels like all eyes are on you, and any error in your decision will make you as the leader look bad.  But actually, none of that is true.  The first thing to know about making decisions is that any decision is better than no decision.  So even if you do make a decision that doesn’t produce the outcome you want, it’s still better than not having made that decision in the first place.  Why?  Because now you know that the direction you went in wasn’t the best for your business.  If you hadn’t made a decision, you wouldn’t know that.  You wouldn’t know anything, in fact.  Secondly, having made a decision also helps you and your team feel better because you have clarity.  You know what you’re working on.  You know what direction you’re heading in.  You know what you need to do and why you’re doing it.  Lastly, it demonstrates strong leadership skills.  One of the things people look up to leaders for is their ability to make decisions.  As a business owner, you need to be able to own that space within your business.  To help you, let’s look at three major types of decisions business owners need to make.

Decision Making Scenario #1: Your Business Proposition

In this scenario, the type of decision you’re making impacts the business at a fundamental level.  What is your business?  Who do you serve and how do you serve them?  What are your products and services?  How do they get delivered?  How do you make money?  Essentially, this is figuring out your business model.  Perhaps you have a ton of ideas about how you want to serve your customers.  Or perhaps you don’t.  Maybe you know exactly who your customers are.  But then again, maybe you don’t.  At the early stages of your business or when you’re going through a major change, pivot or adding a new line of products/services, you’ll find yourself in this scenario.  There are several decisions that need to be made here, but altogether, they’re your business model.  Most people I work with come to me with this piece of their business unanswered and we work on it together.  

To be able to make a decision on this, there are three major components that need to be considered: what your customers want and need, what your competitors currently provide and what you can do to stand out in the market.  Once you’ve collected the information across these areas, you’ll be in a position to create some options for your business model, and then pick the one that resonates most with you.  Don’t just go for the easy one, or the one that feels safest.  Go for the one that excites you – the one that gives you butterflies in your stomach and goosebumps on your skin.

Decision Making Scenario #2: Your Business Direction

This decision is the output of the earlier decision (on your business proposition or your business model).  Once you’ve decided what you want to do, you need to figure out how you’re going to get there.  This is where a business plan or a roadmap will come into play.  Knowing where you want to go and what you want to do is a prerequisite.  If you’re not sure about that, then figure that out first.  Once you have that, you can start crafting your plan or roadmap.

The way I like to do this is to break down my goal into 5 strategic areas: Sales, marketing, product, operations and finance.  I then identify what I need across each of those and then break that down into smaller goals.  Once that’s done, I can see the roadmap more clearly and it becomes easier to map out the step by step actions I need to take to make it all happen.  I follow this structure with my clients.  We first get their business model clarified – who they serve, how they serve them, how they deliver the products/services that serve them and how they make money doing that.  And then depending on their strengths, their preferences and what feels good – expansive, stretching but still in line with their values – we identify the steps required to get there, starting from the goals and working backwards.  

Decision Making Scenario #3: Your Mindset

This last decision is the most powerful one.  In order to get anything done in your business, whether it’s deciding to make an investment or deciding that you will fill up your program or sell out your stock, it all starts with the decision.  Why?  Because what you set your mind to is what you’ll eventually manifest in your physical reality.  This isn’t something we grew up realizing, nor is it something we’re taught in our corporate careers.  But the world of entrepreneurship is abundant with this knowledge.  And here’s how it plays out:  If you decide that you will get something, you will unconsciously act and do the things required to make that a reality.  It may seem farfetched, but it’s not.  You will show up, deliver, add value, work towards, and anything else to make that decision come true – if you truly believe it.  But when you don’t make that decision, it leads to an inconsistent set of actions on your behalf.  You just won’t show up in the same way.  

So how can you decide and change your mindset?  It takes practice.  It takes being understanding and curious as to why your mindset isn’t decisive or positive.  You can explore why you choose to see things in a negative or inconclusive manner.  And then, you absolutely need to practice making those decisions.  Decide that you will post on social media today.  Decide that you will meet a perfect client.  Decide that your content is being devoured by all your ideal customers.  Decide that your product will land in front of your target audience.  Decide those things first and see the magic happen.

Decision Making and You

In the end, only you can take control and start making decisions.  Eventually, you might be able to outsource some of these decisions, but when you’re in the early stages of starting and growing your business, it’s important that you shape it the way you want it to be.  Start small, make decisions that are easy, and then grow from there.  And with each decision, you want to ask yourself:  Does this excite me?  Does it give me butterflies in my stomach?  Does it scare me a little but also get me really pumped?  Does it give me goosebumps?  Remember, the direction you’ll head in with your business is dependent on these decisions.  And so you want your decisions to be expansive and push you without causing you to burn out.  You’ve got this. 

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What is a Business Plan?

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You’ve got your business idea.  It might even already be an up and running business.  But you’ve reached a point where you realize one of the following:

  1. You (and your team) are spending time on so many things.  In fact, you’re very busy.  But you’re not really getting any closer to where you want to be… 
  2. Your business doesn’t seem to have direction.  Or actually, your business has a new direction every day!  It’s getting confusing, frustrating and very tiring for yourself and your team.
  3. You just don’t know where to start.  You know where you want to be, and you can articulate that well, and paint that future picture in such a way that everyone you speak to gets excited about it, too.  But how do you get there? 

If any of the above scenarios resonate with you, then there’s one thing you need: a business plan.  

And by the time you get to the end of this article, you’ll understand exactly what a business plan is, and hopefully be one step closer to creating one!

Key takeaways

Everyone needs a business plan.

A business plan is a document that outlines what your business will produce or deliver, and how it will do it.  

You can also develop a second, more detailed, part to your business plan which provides you with an action plan outlining all the steps you need to take to get you from where you are today to where you want to be.

Most entrepreneurs struggle with getting their businesses set up successfully because:

  1. They haven’t thought through all the strategic elements of their business, so their business idea may not necessarily be competitive, or even something that customers need (and will purchase).  
  2. There is so much to do that they get overwhelmed and do nothing. 
  3. They start working on and spending time on things that aren’t necessarily going to get them to where they want to be.  This is when people are busy but not smart about what they’re busy doing.  It happens a lot, and it’s discouraging, to say the least, when you’ve spent your days working, working, and working some more, but your goals are still so far away.  

This is why spending time up-front to think through your idea and create a business plan will go a long way in ensuring your success!

What is a business plan?

Business Plan Definition: A business plan is a document that outlines what your business will produce or deliver (also known as what “value” it will provide), and how it will fulfill that goal.  

I like to think of business plans as two parts.  You will always need the first part, whether for yourself or for pitching to investors or potential business partners.  But the second part is what proves to be extremely useful when you’re feeling either stuck or overwhelmed – i.e., when you just don’t know where to start, or when you’re so busy but not getting anywhere.    

The basics of what a business plan is: 

You will always need to make sure that your business plan clarifies your thinking, outlines your medium-high level plans for your business, and, if needed, can be used if you’re looking for investors or partners.  I’ve outlined what needs to be included in a business plan below.  

The extra part in a business plan that really helps you towards making your dream a success: 

I’ve found that a business plan which also goes into detail with all the little steps – the action items – that you will need to accomplish to get to your end goal is something that almost ALL entrepreneurs need.  It gives you clarity on what you should be working on, how you’re actually going to make things happen, and provides you with a clear roadmap that you can cross items off (or add items to) as you go along.  And we all know crossing items off a list gives you that much needed accomplishment boost every now and again, doesn’t it?   

So to summarize, a business plan always covers the medium to high level plans for your business (i.e. what you want to accomplish, why it’s a great idea and how you’ll do it).  But, if you’re like most people, you’ll want to take it a step further and break down the “how” into action items that you can use to make sure that everything you (and your team, if you have one) are working on is getting you closer to that goal you want to achieve.  

What does a business plan include?

A business plan includes several important pieces of information, such as your business objective, your product/service description, a market analysis, a clear idea of who you’ll be targeting (your Ideal Customer Avatar) and your plans and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) across some strategic pillars: Sales, Marketing, Product Development, Financials, People/Team, Operations.  Lastly, your business plan should include an assessment of potential risks, and what you could do should any of them arise.  

In short, your business plan should give someone reading it a really good idea of what you do (or want to do), why you think it would work, and how you’re going to make it all happen.  

Now that we know what a business plan is and what it includes, let’s look at why you might need one.

Why do you need a business plan?

There are two reasons why you need a business plan.  

The first reason is to help you get clarity on your business and your strategy.  This will help you articulate what your business will deliver, why it’s a great business idea, what your position within the market will be, what your competitive advantage and USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) are, and how you will deliver that product or service across several areas such as Sales, Marketing, Product, Operations, Financial and People (your strategic pillars – which may be a little different from these, depending on your specific business needs).   

A business plan is also absolutely needed if you’re planning to go to investors for funding or are looking for someone to partner up with.  This is the one document investors or VCs will expect – across the board.  So if you’re planning on getting funding, it’s time to start working on your business plan!  

But, business plans are also needed to give you clarity.  And when I say you, I mean you, specifically!  So even if you’re planning on being a solopreneur, and you don’t need any funding, it’s always a really good idea to put a business plan together so that you can get really clear on your business proposition.  

And that clarity will prove to be useful across so many of your business areas such as your sales strategies, marketing strategies and copy, business operations and setup, supplier and partner choices, and more.  By going through the business planning process, you’ll get really clear on what your business will deliver, to whom, and why it’s a great idea.  

By going through this process, you’ll uncover risks you might have missed, opportunities you hadn’t seen, and get visibility into exactly what you need to do to achieve your goal.  

And lastly, when you take your business plan a step further and create a detailed action plan out of it, you will be mapping out all the action items that need to be done to get you from today to your end goal.  You’ll be able to view which action items are a priority, which ones are dependent on other action items, and which activities you spend time on today that don’t contribute to your goal at all. 

How to write a business plan

It may seem complex at first, but trust me on this – a good template and thoughtful prompts, probing questions and experienced guidance will make it easier.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll even find it fun!

Action: Write your business plan

If you haven’t yet written a business plan and would like the clarity that it brings, there’s no time like the present to get started!  My suggestion is to create the outline first, then start filling the sections in with the information you already know.  You can then research, think, decide and refine as needed.  Good luck!

If this topic is something that interests you, you’re going to want to sign up to my free Strategy & Business Planning webinar.  It’s going to be a live webinar in which I’ll explain the differences between strategy and business planning and take you through both.  This webinar will equip you with the foundation you need to set your business up for success so you definitely don’t want to miss it.