I recall a few years ago when I was registering a company name for myself, that I was told to talk to a small business development service offered by our local college.

They gave me a form to fill out.  It was to create a business plan.

Mine was simple.  I wanted to help people with their advertising and marketing decision making process, which I had been doing already.  I just needed a company set up so that I could take some of the extra payment I was receiving, outside of my regular employment and put it somewhere.10-steven-lewis used

You really should have some kind of plan and you can make it as simple or fancy as you desire. Just be sure you include all the basics such as the known expenses including marketing and advertising and how you are going to fund those expenses.  You can talk to someone other than me to get a complete list.

But I want to ask you a more important question.

Why and What?

Why are you doing this and what is your motivation?

In years past, I’ve had coworkers come to me with all kinds of online schemes ideas and when I asked them the Why and What, they said they wanted to make lots of money and not have to work hard.

Wrong answer in my book.

If your only reason for doing what you do is to make money as fast as possible with very little work, you will be tempted to focus only on what you get, and turn a blind side to what your customers get.  That’s bad.  If you are that type of person, I probably won’t do business with you.

The opposite is the person who thinks money is evil and wants to run a business but has no concept of what it takes to cover expenses and the like.  That person needs a dose of reality and a mentor, coach or adviser to help them with the business side.

Here’s what the ideal business plan should really focus in on:

What I like to do that others will pay for, that I can earn money from that is a good use of my time.

Like to cook?  Good, you could be a chef and run a catering service or restaurant.

Like to clean?  Great, there are plenty of people who will pay for cleaning services for their business or home.

Like to ________?  Fantastic, as long as there are people who will pay you to _________.

Start with your passion, your idea, your dream.  And I’m not talking about that dream where you retire at 25  with unlimited wealth.

If you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can direct you to an organization that can help you move to the next step.

It’s not me, it’s a future client of mine.

P.S.  What happened to my own company?   It’s still there if I need it.  But I decided to earn my living working for WOWO and Federated Media including our Federated Digital Solutions division.  The advice and consulting I was charging for is usually free, because that is how I work.

My goal has always been the same, help others make wise decisions about their marketing and advertising.