Planning, Organizing and Managing a Small Business

Planning, Organizing and Managing a Small Business To become an

effective business owner-manager, you must look ahead. You must plan
for the future as best as you can. Planning is the process of setting
objectives (goals) and devising actions to achieve those objectives.

Planning could be one of the most difficult activities you will do. But, you
must do it because you must know where you are going and how to get
there.

Many small business owners neglect planning because their day-to-day

activities leave them little time, they fear the problems and weaknesses
planning may reveal, they lack knowledge of how to plan and they feel
that future changes cannot be planned for.

1. Strategic Planning :

Provides comprehensive long-term direction to help a business

accomplish its major goals and mission. Because our economic and
business climate is changing so rapidly, strategic planning is becoming
more and more difficult to do. However, it is still important to set down
some long-term goals for our business and ourselves. For example,
earning a college degree is a longterm goal (it can take four, five years or
longer to acquire a BA)

What could be some long-term goals for your business?

 How much revenue would you like your business to generate in 3-5
years?
 How many employees would you like to employ?
 How many customers would you like to be serving?

Write all you long-term goals down. Create a visual, like a collage, if you
are so inclined. Keep your mind’s eye on the goals.

2. SWOT Analysis

An effective tool to help you with your strategic planning is called a

SWOT Analysis. A SWOT analysis allows the business owner to identify the
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the business.

For example, the Strength of your business could be your experience

and education in your area of expertise. The Weakness of your business
could be inadequate financing. The Opportunity for your business could be
a lack of competition in your field. The Threat for your business could be
costly government regulations.

3. Your Mission Statement

The Mission Statement of a company defines the main purpose of an

organization. A Mission Statement defines the reason for the existence of
the business. A Mission Statement outlines what a company is right now;
it focuses on today and its purpose. A Mission Statement should be short,
clear, easy to understand and remember. You should be able to easily
state what your company’s purpose is, if you are asked.

4. Objectives

Objectives are short-term goals. They are specific, short-term

statements that detail how the business will accomplish the long-term
plans.

5. Operational Planning
Operational Planning sets policies, procedures and standards for
achieving the objectives.

6. Financial Planning
Take a class in basic accounting to obtain financing and review financial
statements.

7. Contingency Planning
Contingency planning is a “What If” plan or a back-up plan in case the
primary plans fail. how you deal with it.