It is imperative that owners and managers of any business take time to focus and plan the strategic direction of the business and set key objectives to achieve the overall ambition.

The starting point should be to ascertain what your goals as a business owner are ie:

• Serial entrepreneurship
• Growing a family business to pass onto future generations
• Creating a lifestyle business
• Building the business for eventual sale

Preparing a strategic business plan is one of the most important aspects of starting a new business. Your plan should provide a thorough examination of the way in which the business will commence and develop. It should describe the business, product or service, market, mode of operation, management and staff, capital requirements and projected financial results.

Having a business plan will help you to clarify your thinking, set clear objectives and record how finances and profitability will be monitored and reported on.