The culture of business planning in Ukraine is just beginning to emerge. There are many opinions about whether a business plan is needed for a business idea, and at what stage you need to draw it up. Notes of uncertainty in the business planning process adds the fact that our life is unpredictable and forecasts are often not carried out, and hence the conclusion that the business plan is not needed.

Experts of the company Quality guaranteed are convinced that drawing up a business plan for an existing company is even more necessary than for an imaginary business. What exactly does an entrepreneur lose without business planning?

• Business planning and future. The word planning is important here. Planning is always connected with the future, as well as about our presence in it. It turns out that if we do not plan, it means that we are not programming to see ourselves or our company in the future.
• Business planning and focus. The development of a business plan begins with a strategic focus that the manager has identified. If you do not define a strategy, then you are depriving a company of a goal, and therefore you do not have a development vector.
• Business planning and money. Financial planning of company revenues is one of the engines of motivation, both for a manager and for subordinates. The income plan determines the scale of the entrepreneur’s thinking. A realistic approach to drawing up a cost plan indicates the owner’s willingness to be responsible and to be honest with yourself. By not planning a company’s cash flow, you are depriving yourself of cash flow management, and consequently, your ability to influence the company’s profits.
• Business planning and team. For employees, having a business plan in a company is identified with its own development. The team clearly understands when the company has no business plan. At such an enterprise, the workers do not stay long, because they do not see their role in the future of the enterprise. Without planning the development of your employees, you are depriving yourself of a better and motivated team.
• Business planning and scope. Planning the scale of the enterprise, the owner determines the place of the company not only among competitors, but also at the global level. And there is no need to justify the fact that there are businesses that can be scaled and which cannot. There are many examples of successful business scaling. So, the issue of scaling depends only on the limited thinking of the entrepreneur himself. Without planning to scale the business, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to come up with a new business model of the enterprise.
• Business planning and partners. Effective involvement of partners and like-minded people is possible when you see a common goal and the possibilities of achieving it. With a different approach to business, without joint plans for the future and certain actions, the partnership is doomed. But a well-planned partnership with a clear plan of action, shared values and calculated for the long term will give an incredible synergistic effect. So, without planning a partnership, you are depriving yourself of a strong business environment, support and mutually beneficial collaborations.
• Business planning and vision. The basis of planning is the worldview, experience and values of the entrepreneur. Based on this, the business strategy of the company, its goals, mission and vision are built. Formation of the mission is the answer to the question – what and for whom are we doing. The formation of the vision is the answer to the question: where will the company be in 5-10 years. This is the basis for making decisions of the head of the company. Without planning the vision of the company, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to influence today’s actions on the future of your company.

I hope that we were able to convince you that we should not be afraid of an unknown future, because we ourselves influence what will happen. Yes, we cannot take control of the whole universe and calculate every detail for years to come. But determining the path makes it easier to keep your focus on it and look for opportunities.