The questions you should be asked (or should have been) and the items that should be addressed prior to starting the business plan writing process. A different style, but I think the correct starting approach to tackling writing a business plan.

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3. NotYourGrandfather’s
BizPlanWriting
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The questions you need to answer
first and the attitude/understanding
that needs to be set PRIOR to
starting the business plan writing

4. Whycreate
thisclass?
Gap between ideation & formal plan
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Haven’t made the proper decisions
yet and have multi-personality
writing.

5. NotYourGrandfather’s
BizPlanWriting
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5
The questions you need to
answer first and the attitude that
needs to be set PRIOR to starting
the business plan writing
Beliefs
Attitudes
Decisions
Behavior
Habits
STANDARDS

6. What we’ll cover today:
• Asking the difficult questions
• Determine the WHY
• Determine the STORY
• Current standing in the Law of Diffusion
• Operating Agreement
• Core Value Proposition
• Solution to the Marketplace
• Product Market Fit
• Marketing & Brand
• Vibe, Style, Personality, Appeal, “Feelings”
• Customers
• The Team, org chart, org duties, delegations
• MONEY plus minus & valley of death
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What you are and What you are NOT.
• Formats, Layouts, Writing styles for business plans

7. My inspirations and references:
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• Simon Sinek, Start with WHY
• Seth Godin
• Jen Sincero, You are a Bad Ass at Making Money
• Marcus Lemonis
• Jim Collins, Good to Great
• Dave Ramsey, Entreleadership
• Tim Ferriss
• Mark Cuban
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Adam Grant
• Steve Jobs
• And who knows whoever else!

8. FIRST, hold on.
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• I’m not that smart.
• This will be valuable, no it isn’t an MBA.
• You shouldn’t consider this matter of fact and the 10
commandments. Question, challenge, derive own
opinion.
• YES, you can ask questions at any time.
• YES, I’ll be available after this to talk specifically or for
further explanation.
• YES, you can leave at any time.
• Simplify
• Concise and focused understanding
• Be authentically you. Make a ruckus. Diminish Fear.
GOALS for This Workshop & for YOU:

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Quick FAQ’s:
• Do I need a written business plan?
• Am I benefited by having a business plan?
• Will my plan change/evolve?
• If updating, how often should I update?
• Should I use a template?
• Who should I be writing the plan for?
• Should I have different variations?

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Differentiation
Your Why
Purpose
Secret Sauce
Wow Factor
Belief
Exercise 1

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Revolutionary, Evolutionary, New to market?

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Revolutionary, Evolutionary, New to market?

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Stage of your Industry and your Product
The Law of Diffusion
Do you need to educate
users? The marketplace?
Coworking space. Starbucks.
Curiosity is good. Confusion or
unanswered questions, BAD.
Favorite example: Wonderbread
Do you need to be first to market?

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Innovation or Novelty?

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What solution do you solve?
Better mousetrap? Innovation v. Novelty? Short game or long sustainability?
Cash Cow? Mine the gap?
Where do you fall in the food chain?

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Price, Convenience, Experience
Do you compete in all 3? 1?

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What is your value proposition?
Where in your processes do you add value (or the perception of value)
Creation of value. Visible to the consumer or not so visible?
Perception of value?
Removal of something that solves problem? Service Economy?
Old time economy.
Waste Management. Terminix. Tougas restoration.

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THE CUSTOMER
How do you connect, communicate, and exchange (conduct transaction) with your customer?
Relationship: Relational, nurturing… transactional.
Niche?
Do you know your perfect customer?
Do you know all the psychodemographics
The way the behave, communicate, make decisions.
Repeating? Subscribing? Upsell abilities?

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How do you make your customer feel?

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Proof of Concept? Validated?
Have you started the launch process?
MVP? Prototype? Version? PRE-SALES?
Define, Create, Validate, Build, Pitch.
Crowdfund? Kickstarter?
Favorite example: Daktronics

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People, Process, Product

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Passion with the know how (knowledge)

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Do you have Authority?

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The Team

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The Team
Partners?
Stakeholders?
Employees? FTE/PTE/Contract?
Coaches/consultants/mentors?
Duties
Responsabilites
Operating Agreement
Leadership
Vision
Delegation
Org Chart
Do you want to be the supervisor?

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The Team
Also,
Refer to Business Model Canvas.
Who is all involved to create/deliver your product/service
Key Partners?
Vendors?
Manufactures/Wholesalers?
Do you rely on anyone to a critical point?
Collaborations?
Outsource?

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EXIT PLAN
Know the expected life span and the route to close, sell, or handoff!

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Product Market Fit

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How deep is your valley of death?
How much time before significant sales?
Investment?
Bootstrap model?
Plus Minus game.

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What is your Profit Margin?
What does your Margin need to be?
COGS
Product v. service
Industry Standard?
Benchmarks?
Gross Profit
Net Profit
Fixed expenses
Variable Expense
Cost of operations
Labor
EBITA

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Time Frame
Sequence of events. Cadence. Priorities.

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Pricing

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Pricing

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Pricing
Know the anchor price and expected price of your
customer.
It is ok to have launch discounted pricing, make sure it is made
evident what standard and future pricing is.

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Marketing Plan
-Build a Brand.
-Be a story teller.
-Be a product a transactional OR
have personality and appeal to an audience.
-Create a platform. A vessel.
-Marketing is communication (verbal & non) and connection.

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The Celery Test
https://medium.com/@goestoes/the-celery-test-a-simple-framework-for-making-decisions-70115eafe8df

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Other areas to include:
Products/services
Operational Plan
Proprietaries / Intellectual Property
Product Development
EXIT STRATEGY
Licensees, permits, regulations, insurance, blah

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Sales. Serving a need. Serving the customer.
“Sales is the transfer of Enthusiasm.”
Know your Destination. KNOW your why.
BELIEVE. Eat, Breath, Live the Why.
Adjust the Plan, but stick to the why & convictions.
Overcommunicate.
Be Hungry.
Be a magnet. Law of Attraction. Value creating magnet!

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I Hope this wasn’t *too messy and was helpful!
Reach out anytime with questions, needing more explanation, or just to
drop a note: thad@realzeal.com or thadgiedd@gmail.com

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EXTRAS

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EXTRAS

65. TheVessel

66. A Business Dashboard
• What metrics can you measure and read to give you a status of your business?
KPI’s
Not just amount in bank account
• You want to make improvements to your business…
• Better production, better efficiency, better sales, less costs
• HOW ARE WE GOING TO MEASURE and TRACK?

67. • Sales revenue
• Customer loyalty and retention
• Churn rate
• Productivity ratios
• Size of gross margin
• Monthly profit and loss
• Overhead costs
• Variable cost percentage
• Inventory size
• Online conversions
• Sales growth
• Sales opportunities
• Sales target
• Product performance
• Sales per sales representative
• Marketing ROI
• Goal completion rate
• Cost per Lead
• Customer Loyalty and Retention
• Net Promoter Score
• Employee happiness & involvement
•Sales: Revenue vs. budget, new customers, renewal rate, upsold customers, sales force productivity,
time to acquire, cost to acquire, market share, customer lifetime value, wins vs. losses
•Marketing: Qualified prospects, qualified leads, click thru rates, conversion rates, cost per lead,
marketing ROI, website traffic, customer satisfaction, competitive rank, new followers
•Operations: Time to install, customer support tickets, time to resolve, employee retention, employee
productivity, plant/equipment productivity
•Development: Status against deadline, status against budget, bug resolution, team productivity,
recruiting efficiency
•Finance: Net cash vs. budget, burn rate, months of cash remaining, days receivables, days payables,
bank covenant ratio