The Roadmap to Success

The previous article talked about starting your venture by writing a comprehensive business plan. You have spent hours writing countless drafts, running projections, doing SWOT on every angle, and came up with a theoretical financial statement.

The first reader of your Business Plan should be you. Criticize your own plan and write up solutions for all foreseeable weak points and challenges. The conclusion should be one of two things. Traditional ROI within 3-5 years or the modern (at least) 1000% growth within the same period.

If your business plan does not fall under either of those categories, it is time to go back to the proverbial drawing board. ROI is something most of you should already know, make sure to adjust for depreciation and then compare with projected savings and inflationary indexes. Write a comment below if you have questions about this.

Start-ups should be a Hypergrowth company

A new business venture normally has a low capitalization and asset value. It is easier for a one million business to double with a year than a 40 billion dollar company to grow 100% in the same timeframe.

Modern entrepreneurs, angel investors, and (some) venture capitalists know and understand that siphoning off money off a profitable start-up is an act of killing a golden goose. Profitable start-ups should concentrate on perfecting their core-business while attempting to scale. Both activities are resource consuming and every cent matter in this critical stage.

Profit sharing is the end-goal of all business, but doing it too early jeopardizes the future and weakens its competitive potential. The bigger your company, the larger the stage it plays. It follows that competition is also fiercer.

Refusing to play on a larger stage will invite stagnation. Just because you decided to stay in your small profitable corner, it doesn't mean it will be profitable forever. Big players have a habit of invading small niches and new players also appear in overwhelming numbers around profitable niches.

Copycat entrepreneurs are experts in finding profitable niches. They operate a start-up in a hypergrowth industry. Then do exactly (hence the name) what industry leaders do, and then cash-in and close when the industry saturates. It is a valid business model. It's best not to harbor ill-will (and waste your precious time) against these people.

Prepare your plan to focus on growth. Detailed steps will be discussed in later articles. Your business plan should look like its ready to grow money on trees. After all, entrepreneurs use their talent and resources for financial independence and are not moonlight hobbyist.

Businesses shouldn't just replace your day job income. Replacing your current employment with a business with no growth potential is only worth it if you're going to do something you love. It is called "Buying a job." You will still need to go to work daily to put food on the table, but the work you do is your choice.

So if you're doing it for the money -be honest most business people do, make sure your theoretical paper shows amazing potential for growth.