A business plan that survives contact with reality

A useful business plan answers four questions: who is this for, what changes for them, how the money works, and what could break it.

Write the customer section first and write it narrowly. 'Small businesses' is not a customer. 'Family-owned trade contractors with three to twelve employees who bid on municipal work' is a customer.

Build the numbers from the bottom up. Start with one unit of work — one client, one project, one product — and know its true cost including your time. Multiply only after that number is honest.

Name the three assumptions the plan depends on. Then write what evidence would prove each one wrong. This single page separates a plan from a wish.

Revisit the document quarterly. A plan that is never revised was never a plan.