Many small business owners lack a strategic plan for their business, usually for one of two reasons: either they think that strategic planning is what big companies do therefore, it’s not for them or they don’t understand the advantages of having a strategic plan in place.

However, without an overall strategy, a business lacks the direction it needs to be successful. Businesses may set financial goals, client acquisition goals, or any number of goals, but unless these goals are placed within the framework of a larger strategy, they lose their impact. It can be very easy to go off on tangents whilst pursuing individual goals and by the time the end of the year rolls around, you are miles off course from where you hoped you’d be.

Strategic planning for a small business doesn’t need to be difficult or time consuming, but your plan does need to identify what you want to accomplish and how you intend to achieve those goals.

If you want to start developing...