Im trying to start my own virtual assistant business in new zealand. i am finding it very difficult to write my business plan, i would have written about 3 of them and then deleted them. its hard writing it for yourself. any help or tips would be much appreciated. even a hand would be greatly appreciated.

Sam

Hi Sam

Have you checked out all the information on this forum about business planning yet? There is a lot available. Good luck,

Michele

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Michele Flynn

Sam,

There are many great threads on this here at the forum. However, looking at it from a different perspective may help. Your plan should be a guide to get your business up and running. It is designed to help you have a plan for opening your doors. So instead of concentrating on it being perfect make it about planning to get your business into action. Try answering these questions:

1. Business Name - Does it integrate your services? Brand? Is it easy to remember? And keep in mind that you will need to consider your web presence as well.

2. Vision - Where would you like to be in 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 5 years. Think of the long road and how you will get there.

3. Mission Statement - What is overall philosophy and business definition. What makes you stand out from all the others.

4. Goals - Expand on your vision. What are your quantifiable goals? Set specific goals so that you have an action plan to keep you moving right along. Do you want 3 clients 6 months after your launch? Monthly profit of $xx.xx? Keep in mind that they need to be attainable.

5. SWOT - Define your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This will help you to define your service offerings, determine your competition, build on your weakness or offering you need to improve on and take advantage of opportunities that are presenting itself. This will help you formulate a clear action plan for time to come.

6. Market Plan or Action Plan - What will your strategies be? Are you going to rely on face to face networking, social media or a combination of the two? Who will you target your efforts to. Are you going to have a newsletter, give-aways, etc. and how often.

7. Financial plan - How much money will you need to run your business? Even if you are not going for outside financing you will need to know how much money you will need to keep your doors open. If you have what you need to open then gear it toward what you would like to add in the future.

8. Evaluation - How are you going to measure whether you are on track? Are you going to have a checklist to keep you on task? How will you celebrate your accomplishments and regroup if you get behind.

I hope that this helps you formulate a plan to get your business open and become a successful VA. Best of luck to you.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I agree that business plans are stressful but it will prove to be a success once you are up and running. Have you taken a look on SBA.Gov. They have sample business plans as well as business plan templates that you can use. Hope this helps!

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Charlene Bey
All Bey Bookkeeping, LLC