Two lessons ago we talked about the importance of having a vision, which is basically the big picture of where you want to go. And in the previous lesson we talked about goals, which are the specific milestones along the way toward your vision.
So today we’re going to talk about plans, because you need to have a plan of action to hit your goals…
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
For examples of how to make a typical business plan, you can see:
– Small Business Association business plan info
– Traditional business plan sample
– Name of business
– Vision for the business
– Who is the target market?
– What will we sell? (be specific)
– What makes us different from the competition?
– Marketing strategies
– Goals for building and growing the business
– Plan of action to achieve goals
Action steps:
1) Make a business plan.
If you wish to use my template, you may download it here for free:
Click here to download the PDF file (do a right-click “save target as” to download it to your computer)
So now that you’ve got a plan, you’ll need to commit to it, and figure out how to stay motivated. I’ll be talking about those things in the next lesson.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.
Have a great day!
Thanks for the comments Jon 🙂
Since I don’t really know you, I can’t say whether you’re “qualified”, but I certainly don’t see any reason why you should not conduct Internet business in a third world country. The Internet is the great leveler of the playing field, and you can play at a global level no matter where you live.
Hi Eric
I posted awhile back and did not see it anywhere. When or where does it show up.Also, as we read these, are we all on the same lesson or are some people on later lessons? Also what does LOL mean.
Comments show up when me or my assistant have time to go through and approve them.
Some people are on different lessons.
LOL = laugh out loud 🙂
Hi Eric,
I like your business sheet. It will help me a lot as far as getting more focussed is concerned.
Regards
Butch
Hi Eric
It’s so easy to understand the plan.I never before met like this one.
Regards buren
Eric
Thanks for the PDF, your help is appreciated, it makes things so simple!
John
You know Eric, this lesson gave me a whole new perspective on organizing my thoughts and all the hows and not to’s of a business. Careful thought processing is something I like to do but never knew how to do it with business, thanks!
Eric, as often when I receive lots of info I get in confusion, one silly question (although someone said there aren’t silly questions …)
Do you see the Online Business Plan for each individual project (like the website linked to my name) or to the whole like having my society that has plenty of websites . I hope you understand what I mean
I think both. You need to have a plan for the overall business, as well as a plan for how each individual project is going to make money and contribute to that business.
I don’t create a full blown business plan for each website I launch, but I have a plan it, and understand how it fits into my bigger plan.
Hi Eric: How do you do it? How do you ignore the fact that here you have many people eating out of your hand and you do not pay attention to the fact that they could easily fall prey to your power of suggestion? It’s there, you just have to look at what you are doing with an objective mind. Kudos to you Eric!!
I still do not understand though why you chose to go with a service website, when there are so many items online you could have steered us toward to make money. I hope you truly understand just how badly I want to succeed online. I lost a ton of money with Storesonline and Herballife. Just a couple of my fool-hardy ventures. These people make it all sound so profitable but when you actually get into it, you are more or less left to fend for yourself. The ironic part is, I do not feel any anger or resentment toward these people. Water under the proverbial bridge so they say?
Is it possible to use what we are learning from you in the same way to build a product retail site? I believe it should be, right?
I am really enjoying your lessons and I am learning a lot that I did not know. Do you do any one-on-one?
Kind regards: Jim
Yes you could use the priciples from these lessons to build a product retail website, but we will be focusing specifically on building an information marketing business, wherein we sell information products. I am not offering any 1 on 1 consulting at this time.
Hello Eric,
I just bought Niche Blueprint 2. I want to make an online shop. Do I really need such a business plan for that? Do I need a company at all, for that?
Thank you in advance,
Arne
I recommend developing a business plan for any type of online business that you are starting.
I have not reviewed that product. But in general, if you’re going to follow a system then I would say follow their system and just do what they say to do.
As far as a “company”… that’s up to you. You can certainly run an online business as a sole proprietor. When choosing the classification of your business entitiy (Sole proprietor, LLC, etc) I would suggest talking to either a tax professional or business attorney. There may be tax benefits and liability protection with certain business structures.
Ok, I see… thank you very much again for your tips and recommendations. I think I will start with the shop first, and when everything is looking good, and I will have a constant income stream, I still can open a company, right?! (By the way, I am German)
NB2 is a step by step course, and there are great tools included. I’m very confident now, that I will succeed with this.
But there are also many other things that I am interested in, like CPA. But you have to get approved first, and I heard that it is not that easy to get approved by a CPA Network. So, I will start with the shop first, and will learn nearby other things.
Thank you Eric, and all the best,
Arne
Business Plan
Scott W Kelley Company
My Vision is to live in Northern Michigan in the summer where my children live and to live in Florida for the winter near my parents. I want to have a golf membership this year 2010 and play more golf. I want to be making 50,000 a month residually and have all my debt paid off in the next 5 years. I want to see money deposited into my bank account automatically and never to worry about owing anyone ever again. I will contribute to my community by creating jobs and donating to the local charities doing this by growing my business to exceed my needs. I want to be able to travel the world and take adventures with my daughter April and visit her in Africa and stay with her for a month or two.
The Target Market is anyone who bathes, takes showers, brushes their teeth, does laundry, uses a dish washer, and washes dishes, cleans the bathroom, cleans the kitchen, takes vitamins and who would like to make extra income.
We are selling green safe products for the home and body. We will be selling memberships to a consumer buying organization that rewards their member with discounts on products they use everyday, but safer and less expensive than the competitors.
What makes us different than the competition is we deliver a product that does not use harsh invasive ingredients that can harm our persons and environments. Because we have concentrated packaging we use less plastic which allows our prices to be lower than our competitors. Our products are purchased on line or by phone and delivered to your front door. Because of the membership we save a customer up to 15% when purchasing online from over 400 stores who we are partnered with. Not only that but when you join as a member and if you tell a friend you get rewarded with a check each month which can be used for anything they wish for just shopping, other wise known as Loyalty Dollars. Our competition does not do this at all and when a customer purchases one of their products, they might get a coupon for their next purchase. We are totally different than our competition.
Marketing Strategy
Attractive marketing campaign
By using Word Press Blog and Blogger I will write articles on all the different products as a review using testimonial to the products. We will also discuss health issues, concerns and solutions by using our product.
By creating these posts of information, one blog for the health and one blog for the business opportunity I will spin new articles to be submitted as fresh content to drive traffic to my sites. This method has proven over time to still work very well to promote and drive traffic to our sites. We will also be using RSS Feed, Blog commenting, Forum Posting and Press Releases.
Social Bookmarking will be utilized as also to share the articles that I have written.
PPC will become a future option as the business grows.
Goals at this time are set to drive traffic and write and publish articles. It takes about two weeks till they will get picked up and by Feb 28th I should be able to measure my progress and to improve. The goal is to have 8 new people in my organization by the 28th of Feb, 2010.
To achieve this I will have to write and submit everyday, and as I am new I can not over play my position by over submitting. Quality articles with good information with problems, solutions and testimonials will be the foundation of the content. This will assure the article will live on and produce quality traffic for many years. Building the foundations right now is crucial for establishing authorship and there is good reason to as articles may get picked up three times faster when there is credibility.
Eric, Just want to say thank you for helping me along. I have suggested this to many people. Hope they come here and get your lessons. Thanks again!
Thank you very much!
Eric, Thank you for these lessons I appreciate all the effort you have made to create them. You have taught me how important it is to let people know who you are and how you can serve them before you can expect them to do business with you on an ongoing basis. I look forward to your future emails that link to your future lessons. Thank you for your unique approach.
I wrote a business plan for an import export business and sent it to the SBA and they suggested I take a marketing class before they would get involved with the start up capital I needed mainly for advertising,like 75%,anyway I never followed through,allthough I have been trying to start an online business ever since that would not need all the thousands I don’t have to start,because I know I have the intelligence and the drive to succeed.
Hi Eric,
I’m so pleased that your tips get right to the basics and are so step by step with such detail. They are so helpful to us newbies. You lay it out so simple from the ground up.
This has been a great lesson once again. You have brought to our attention a basic but simple ingredient often overlooked. Most of us have heard of business plans but we don’t think about them when starting an online business. You have given me another great tip that will shape the way my business will be molded.
Thank you once again Eric.
Frank
PS. Eric I see that some of the post have a picture. How do you do that?
Thanks Eric for this it is very usful and i will follow those guide lines and new ideas.
I really appreciate what you are doing from the bottom of my heart!I paid money to get materials on internet marketing but to be sincere, it was only when i started following your tips that i became convinced about the whole thing. Your lessons are down to earth and easy to understand and you are a great teacher. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the MS Word option. Now I can save my multiple site/business plans individually–on the computer, each under it’s perspective title. Paper gets lost around here. 🙂
hi Eric thanks about your business plan
Business plan, Thank you so much, That’s great.
Eric you are so wonderful, I am a nigerian and will use this to tell alll the AFRICAN YOUTHS HERE AND EVRYWHERE,There are more than enough jobs online than SCAM……
Thanks Eric.
You get to the point, business plan is just what I need. I need to get organized to get things done.
Thank you so much for this information. It was very useful and sooo kind of you to provide it for free.
Thanks Eric, a real time saver and easy to pin up and use as a reminder of the goals! Which is as you planned?
Organized? This has been my downfall, I already knew this but this and your other lesson so far point it out. Thank You I’m beginning to feel able to grasp the material
I’m ready for the next lesson
Thanks so much eric , your lessons are just the brain sharpener I needed to make my own million dollar very soon D.V.
I am visualizing myself up there already , thanks again
Orginizational and time-management skills are very important when planning a successful business.
I think this old! novice needs a little more help.. I am still not able to get a pdf file set up or able to look at or down load. I have tried in lesson 15 to down load the business plan and not able to look at the plan it’s self. Can you help? I keep getting error message not able to up date adobie reader 9.0 what step am I not doing right to complete pdf file to a readable form and acceptmence of program update??
I’m afraid that would be a question for Adobe. I’m assuming you tried downloading the latest version at:
http://get.adobe.com/reader/
And they do have a support forum available here:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_reader_forums/adobe_reader
Great Stuff Eric Thanks
Dear Eric,
I have been going though the course and I thoroughly enjoy the way you coach. I just drafted my business plan for a new online business and I am filled with excitement. Thanks a ton!
Thanks so much eric, your work really is a great help to anyone. you’re a god’s grace, i’ll be applying them. I agree with you, “failure is not a bad thing, but you should try to succeed!”
Great post!
Hi Eric,
I am stuck on this lesson. I know that Internet Marketing is right for me because it suits my lifestyle goals and my vision (see previous lesson comments). I know that I can achieve exceptional income, even passive income in IM, I have a 25 year background in IT, I have done computer consulting, small business consulting, and built websites for companies. I never want to work for someone else, I want to work at home, and I want time freedom. IM offers all of that and is consistent with my vision.
At this point though, I don’t know what to sell as I don’t have a product. I want to find a niche(s) consistent with my interests (high end AV, music appreciation, technology, do-it-yourself, personal growth, health and wellness, small business, hockey) because I think that will keep me motivated.
I have no income coming in right now, so I want to press on with the lessons and hope that I will be able to find a product/niche as I complete the lessons. Do you think that is wise?
We’ll be covering niche selection as a part of the lessons 🙂
Hi Eric, I am not exactly sure what I will be marketing in either the short, or long terms, but I will give my attempt at creating my business plan that could involve any related products/services under the umbrella name I have chosen.
The Name Of My Business: Lloyd’s Marketing Solutions.
Vision For My Business: To create, and/or market products and services that will solve problems for consumers of my provided product/services…I know that is very broad as any product, or service is made to solve a particular problem, and I will narrow it down to a specific area when I chose the product/service aimed at that target market.
Who Is The Target Market?: That is not 100% concrete yet as I have to choose a niche area to market in.
What Will I Sell?: I am not sure what niche area at the moment, but it will most likely be in the form of a self help ebook on how to solve a problem, or construct a project in a step by step manner.
What Makes My Services Different From Competition?: I will strive to add best customer service available, and continuously refine, and update the products features for betterment of serving customers needs.
Marketing Strategies: If this is in relation to the methods of advertising, or getting the word out about my products/services, I plan on using “article marketing”, “blogs”, and “video marketing” and will add other venues as I find them.
Goals: Short term is to find the niche area to market in, research what people are looking for in that area to solve their own specific problems, and if there is a large amount of similar inquiries of questions on seeking help in that area, I will create, or affiliate the product/service that will fulfill their needs, than write articles, and blog posts linking back to my website where the actual product is found…I know this will need constant refining the way I have it written out here!!
Plan Of Action To Achieve Goals: Research the market on my niche choice when found, and look for consistent discussions on a certain area that has a lot of problems, but little, or no product choices on solving their dilemma, and than either create the product in need, or find a PLR product that could possibly be modified to solve their problems in the given area. I will create articles, and blogs and YT videos with links back to my website where they can purchase a given product for the need they are addressing.
Eric, I know this is my very first attempt at writing a business plan, and it is very rough. I will be modified, and update the plan over time, and let me know how it looks so far?…Don’t be afraid to criticize it as I need feedback for properly sequencing events to establish business in correct manner…Friends, Lloyd.
Hi Eric, I posted my plan here yesterday, and now it is gone…Friends, Lloyd.
Hi Lloyd, I just hadn’t moderated the comment yet. I think it’s a good plan to start with!
Hi Eric,
I posted my business plan on the wrong chapter, so here it is once more.
Kurt Mattsson
Vetegatan 5
SE-25374 Helsingborg
SWEDEN
Online Business Plan Basic Outline
Name of business:
Kurt EJ Mattsson___________________________________________________
Vision for the business:
Become the No One Thrustable Source of Reliable Independent Health Information
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Who is the target market? All those who strive for a long healthy life _____________________________________________________
What will we sell? (be specific)
The Best Available Information in Our Own Knowledge packaged hopefully with dropsell products from sources nearby to customers_________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What makes us different from the competition? The whole concept___________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Marketing strategies: Give away attractive products, build lists, sell value________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Goals for building and growing the business (specific events/milestones, including financial
goals, with deadlines):
Sell something before end of February, repeat what worked again, again, again!_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Plan of action to achieve goals:
Learn and act_________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Thank you Eric, I figured it was something along those lines. I just got back from my New Years vacation, and have to get caught up on the assignments. I was at a place that had no Internet service, and I don’t have a lap top at the moment to allow me to use wi-fi services if they were even available in the small, remote town in cold, and snowy northern Minnesota where I was visiting my aunt…Not much warmer here in southern Minnesota as well!!…But ready to jump start the New Year off towards my own online business success!!…Friends, Lloyd.
DOLA…Eric won’t do that….it doesn’t pay enuf! LOL
Eric, thank you for the wake up call that any money making online is a real business and should be treated as such. The PDF is great.
Are you really giving out 100 free video lessons?
Hello James,
Yes, Eric has already finished creating 80 of the lessons!