The “Perfect” Business Plan for Creatives …

Today’s blog post is about how to write a business plan if your business revolves around creative services. And of course, why you need one that you will actually follow to achieve your goals!

A business plan is somewhat like a roadmap. It is a plan that maps out how you and your business will get from where you are to where you want to be. I have talked about setting goals in previous blog posts, and your business plan should dovetail with the goals you have set for your business and, ideally, for your life.

Why You Need a Business Plan …   

We are creatives. We create! We tend to be right-brain thinkers — although I have recently read that newer research indicates the left brain/right brain dichotomy is a myth. Let’s just say that some creative folks balk at the idea of plotting a linear path and then being expected to follow it. Such a plan can seem entirely too confining. If it is against your nature to make long-term plans, then you are probably not going to write or follow a business plan unless circumstances require you to do so.

I am the unicorn of the artistic crowd. While I am artistic and creativity-driven, I also love planning and keeping track of things and using systems to help with all of that. I am so lucky, I know!

Have you heard the expression, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else”? It is a book title, and I have also seen these words attributed to people other than the author of that book. The point is, what a true statement! It is all about setting goals, planning how to accomplish them and staying focused. Writing a business plan will help you focus like nothing else.

Designers, artists, writers and other creatives running a business based around their art must decide for themselves if they have a specific business goal they want or need to reach. If you have a destination in mind, someplace you want your business to take you — even just into the next year or two — then you need a goal and you need a plan. A business plan. Without mapping your path to reach your goal, it will take a lot longer to reach it, if you reach it at all. Here is another expression you may have heard: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” That sounds a bit harsh, but it is simply another way of saying you need a business plan.

Here are some possible reasons you, a creative professional running your own business, might need a business plan:

1. You want to reach specific financial goals. Perhaps you are saving to buy a home or rent a studio. How much money do you need for that? Add up the costs of everything you might need, and that will give you your financial goal, above and beyond what you require for basic living expenses. Do not forget to include related business expenses like the cost of insurance.

2. You want a loan from the bank, or you are seeking investors in your business. Even if you have a great credit rating, banks and investors will always want to see a business plan. They want to be sure you succeed so you can repay them. Their term for this process is “due diligence,” part of their risk management function. They are managing their risks. A business plan will help you manage your risks.

3. You want to reach a certain milestone. Perhaps you have a goal that is not based on amassing a specific amount of money. Write a best-selling novel within the next five years. Have your photographs published by a calendar company. Have one of your designs selected by an apparel company. Not all goals are financial end points. Your business plan will help you determine how you reach that milestone and also how you can support yourself financially while you work toward that.

If you have strong, realistic and meaningful goals that provide you with enough motivation, your business plan has a better chance of seeing you all the way to your goals. The business plan will help you stay focused on the end game.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Creative Services Business …

Where to start? Start by writing down everything you think of in relation to the following prompts. This is not the time to perfect and polish your plan. You want to collect any ideas that come during this process, so you are starting in brainstorming mode. If the document becomes too lengthy, you can always trim it later.

Mission Statement/Artist Statement: Most business plans start with the business’ mission statement. In a case like this where you are the business, you may call it an artist statement. Whatever you call it, describe what makes you and your art/product/service unique and what you hope to accomplish through your creative business.

Business Description: What will your business do? Will you create and sell? Publish? Teach? Describe the products or services you will offer and what your goals for the business are. What time frame will this business plan cover—6 months, 1 year, 5 years? If your goals are long-term, you may need to break them down into shorter-range goals, so you can assess your progress over time.

Marketing Plan: This is where it gets fun, at least for me. The marketing plan should be multi-faceted.

• Your brand – Here is where you can get creative, right? Yes! You will need a visual representation of your brand as well as a way to express it in words, which ties back to your mission statement or artist statement.
• Target markets – You need to think very concretely about your target markets. To whom will you be marketing and how will you reach them? Whom do you need to reach in order to be successful? If your goal is to teach, where will you find your students?
• Pricing – Whether you are selling songs you have written, poetry books or services such as graphic design, this is the time to think through how much you are going to charge. To some extent this will be based on how much money you need to make, but it is also dependent on what price the marketplace will support. Research your competition and what they are charging.
• Marketing strategy – How will you get the word out? How will you find customers or clients? Here are some ideas:
  • Website – If you are not familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) you will need to enroll someone who is … a virtual assistant, perhaps?
  • Blogging – Even if you do not like to write, blogging can build an audience for your work over time. Also, you can use blogging to build a network of like-minded souls. I can attest that blogging has contributed more to my graphic/web design and virtual assistant business than I ever imagined.
  • Emails to your mailing list, likely in the form of a newsletter. Set your publication schedule and stick to it consistently.
  • Social media – Which platforms will you use? It is better to start with one or two and branch out later. You need to maintain a consistent presence on each platform you launch.
  • Referrals – Can you get people to recommend your work? If you are providing a service instead of producing art, can you ask for reviews or referrals?
  • Advertising – Can you afford to pay for ads? Where will you place them? Only use advertising if you have reason to believe your target markets respond to it.

Financials: Looking back at your target markets and your pricing, what are your revenue sources? You need to predict your income and your expenses for the coming year and, theoretically, show a profit. If you predict it will take a few years to show a profit, you need to explain that. Your projected earnings should at least cover your business expenses and your living expenses unless you have another source of income. If you cannot earn enough from your art at first, and you will need a side job to pay the bills, include that here. If you have been in business for a year or more, you can include your prior year’s financials as evidence of what you can expect to earn.

Organization: Will you build a team, or do you already have one in place? Provide those details. If your business will be a one-woman/man show, will you hire virtual assistants to cover functions that you are weak on? Examples might be accounting or social media marketing.

Action Plan: Write out a series of “next steps” to take over time that will result in you reaching your short-term goals on the way to reaching longer-term goals. Literally, what do you need to do first once the business plan is completed? What do you need to do after that?

Where Do You Go From Here?

I hope I have not overwhelmed you. Clearly a business plan needs to include a lot of detailed information. Just because you are an artiste does not mean you do not need to plan. Writing it out requires you to think through the specifics in a way that you might not have done before. It also helps you focus on exactly what steps you need to take to make your business successful. If you have a mentor or a business coach, ask them to look over your business plan to confirm whether it is realistic. If you are working solo and do not need any loans or investors, it is possible that your mentor or coach will be the only person other than yourself to see the document.

Are you sputtering right now? Wait, I’ve done all this work and I may be the only person who will see it?! Trust me, it’s worth the work, every minute of it. A clear business plan will keep you focused and moving forward. Expect to look over it several times a year — even monthly, at first — to make sure you are staying on track. If you find you are spending a lot of time on actions that are not included in your business plan, take a step back. You will need to either revise your business plan to include these tasks, stop doing them or delegate them to a virtual assistant.

Expect to update or refresh your business plan at least once a year. Are you seeing that your pricing was off the mark, your target market includes demographics you had not anticipated, or new marketing techniques have come on the scene? It is much better to revise your written plan to include these unexpected developments rather than drift off and do whatever feels right creatively without documenting the shift in direction. To be meaningful, your business plan should reflect the realities of your business.

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