Liberation Healing Seattle

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Business Plan 101: Start Here - Why You Need A Business Plan

Canh Tran

Why Is a Business Plan Important?

  • A blueprint/map/guide/foundation of your business

    • What you do and services you provide

    • Your financial goals

    • Your business expenses

    • Identify and explore your strengths and value

    • Tells you where to find your ideal client

    • How you can help them

    • Your vision for your business

  • If you don’t have a foundation of where you want to go, you’ll just do a little bit of everything and get lost and confused

    • This is why many therapists feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed 

      • They’ll create a Psychology Today profile, a 2-3 page website, tell their friends and family, and post on local social media therapist groups they’ve opened a business…yet no one comes

    • When you have a map, you have a better plan on where to get to your final destination (rather than driving around aimlessly)

  • Feel more confident 

    • When you know your value, strengths and how you can help clients, you’ll feel more empowered to run a business including

      • Setting boundaries

      • Setting a fee

      • Saying no to opportunities that don’t align with your vision, goals, and values

      • Focus on serving who you want to serve

  • Help you avoid costly mistakes 

    • You’ll have your finances and accounting down in writing

    • You’ll know how much you need to make every month to make a profit

    • You understand deadlines for quarterly taxes and save monthly

Business Plan Tips

  • Don’t open and grow a business alone

    • Ask for help

    • Find a colleague to be an accountability partner

  • Refer back to this plan anytime you feel overwhelmed and unsure what to do next 

  • This is a living document

    • It will be edited over and over again 

  • There’s no wrong way to write a business plan 

    • If you can’t devote hours to it, write up a general outline with bullet points

    • Even if you don’t finish your business plan in depth, have a general idea of each area 

  • There’s generally 2 types of business plans

    • Lean startup business plan

      • Short and sweet (1 page)

    • Traditional business plan

      • Long, detailed and in depth (more than 1 page)

Resources