The Strategic Plan: Your Road Map To Excellence (Part 1 – Your Vision)

Strategic plans are not just for Fortune 500 companies. Everyone needs one; startups included. Starting a business can be overwhelming and strategic plans are intended to help ease that process. However, many times they add to the confusion because startups try to create a plan fit for a big business (present company included) instead of a realistic plan tailored to the needs of the startup. I just re-vamped my plan to match the aspirations of my grass-roots company. My plan now solely focuses on reaching jowanna inc’s target market while still keeping in mind that I don’t have the resources to have the same scope of my corporate big brothers. The next few blogs will walk you through building a strategic plan, which will make building your business plan less confusing. There are five elements of a strategic plan: vision, mission, goals, strategies and tactics. This blog covers the start of a strategic plan— the vision.

Think of your vision as your “I have a dream” speech. Your vision needs to be something your small business is striving to be. As a startup, a vision three years out is sufficient.

Here are problems with an out-of-scope vision:

• If a vision is longer than a three-year span, it can be overwhelming. This is common when the corporate doers of the world start their own company. We can be a bit snobbish, overzealous and high reaching. Do not be discouraged if your vision looks more like one of the many goals that your previous employer may have had for a fiscal quarter (if you are lucky).

• A vision for a shorter period can do quite a few things, including: (1) setting unrealistic expectations and (2) getting a near-sighted view, which means you will be setting yourself up to be in a reactive mode with no clear direction.

Let’s create our “I have a dream” speech. Here is mine:

I have a dream that in three years, jowanna inc™ will be generating at least $350,000 per year and will be known as the firm aspiring entrepreneurs turn to in order to implement their startup with a solid foundation. I have a dream these startups will stay with jowanna inc to grow profitably in a controlled and sustainable manner.

Now we will “inc” it up:

By 2013, jowanna inc™ aspires to be a company known as THE firm aspiring entrepreneurs turn to in order to successfully plan and implement their startup and the firm those companies stay with in order to grow profitably in a controlled and sustainable manner.

I want you to take notice how my vision statement is not tangible. It is high-reaching and celestial sounding and gathers inspirational feelings from within. Don’t be surprised if you refine your statement from time to time.

So just to review, the elements of a strategic plan:

• The vision is the carrot on the stick that moves as you get closer to it.

• The mission is what you will do to grab the carrot.

• The goals are how close you plan to get to the carrot now.

• The strategies are the high-level plans on covering the distance you set in your goals.

• The tactics are the detailed steps you will implement to carry out each strategy.

Sometimes startups have a hard time diving into a business plan. While a strategic plan does not eliminate the need for a business plan, it will set focus to your plan and allow you to DO while you complete your plan. Like a business plan, you should update your strategic plan each year. Our next blog will cover the mission section of the strategic plan. Until then, please take the time to try your hand at preparing a vision statement. Join my Facebook fan page and ask me any questions you may have about you vision statement. Remember, a strategic plan is a tool for motivation and helping mind your business!

About the Author

Jowanna Parris-Daley owns and operates jowanna inc™, a small business consulting company that offers business plan writing, website design and technology consulting services for startup businesses.

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