Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. [Warren Buffet]

Yikes, the dreaded ‘business plan’… every business owner is told they should do one, but how many actually do?

If you Google ‘Business Plan Template’, you get smashed with a stack of 50+ page documents requiring you to ‘articulate your goals and vision for the business’, ‘perform a ‘SWOT’ analysis to critically analyse the businesses’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’, ‘develop strategies across all areas of the business to achieve your desired goals’, and the list goes on…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-business plan, in fact, I am a true believer. But if the thought of preparing one is so off-putting that it leads to having no plan at all, then there’s got to be a better way.

So how about a one-page plan which outlines where the business is now, where you want it to be and how you are going to get it there? By performing such a simple yet valuable exercise you have just created a business plan. Agreed, not as comprehensive as the 50+ page version, but certainly better than no plan at all.

Tip: See our template for the ‘One Page Plan’ then sit down and complete it. You might be surprised with what you come up with.