Building a sustainable business starts with a sustainable business plan. For this purpose, we have developed the QP Business Manifestation Canvas, or QP Canvas for short. Completing this QP Canvas is a process.
It starts quite simply, with a few puzzle pieces. The more puzzle pieces you have, the more solid your plan becomes. When all the fields of the QP Canvas have been completed, you have collected all the puzzle pieces. You will be amazed how all pieces come together to create the most beautiful puzzle it can be.
Start-up with a simple business plan
When I started my first business, I had to add a business plan to get the business registered. As I saw it, the business plan was just a formality that I didn’t have to spend much time and energy on. So very little effort was put into developing my first business plan. All in all, it was no more than 2 pages. 1 page of text and 1 page of figures. For me, that was good enough as long as the business was small and I was the only manager in the company.
Scale-up with a solid business plan
Things changed when I wanted to increase the impact of my business. I wanted to scale up, grow the team, and for that I needed a six-figure budget. I started making contacts and talking to private investors. The first thing they wanted to see was a solid business plan. Some made-up numbers that showed how incredibly profitable the company could be were not enough. They wanted to see a very detailed plan and a proven strategy. I had to show that the company did have growth and profit potential, even in the worst case scenario. Creating such a solid business plan was something else entirely. I had to research in advance how I would do things in different scenarios. It wasn’t just about the numbers. It wasn’t just about the product or service. It was about me and the purpose of my business. It was about my personal values and the values I wanted to incorporate into the DNA of the company. My pitch proved convincing and the investor made me a great financial offer. The team was so enthusiastic. Yet there was something in me that was hesitant to partner. Developing the business plan made it very clear to me what was right for the company and what was not. I realized that accepting the investor’s offer could be a good short-term solution. But I also realized that there would be a lot of value conflicts in the medium term. It was clear to me that this partnership would not be a good long-term strategy. So the deal was canceled. This experience taught me how important it is to choose the right partners and how a solid business canvas can help me make the right strategic decisions for sustainable growth.
Sustain-up with the QP Business Manifestation Canvas
If you have started-up and scaled-up a business with a purpose. Then you want this organization to last and continue making impact. You want to make your company sustainable and sustain-up your business. At this stage, your company’s DNA and values become so strong that it can exist without the founder. A critical impact has been reached, you might even call it a movement. It is increasingly likely that the business will last for a long time and make a difference to a growing group of people.
Start a sustainable business with the QP Canvas
The purpose of QuantumPreneur is to help purpose-driven businesses from start-up to scale-up to sustain-up. That’s why we developed the QP Business Manifestation Canvas. A tool that can help you develop your business plan from start-up to sustain-up. The time you invest in creating a detailed business plan will pay off several times over later. It will save you many mistakes and wrong choices. So it is definitely worth giving this the attention it deserves. Even if you are just starting out and have the ambition to grow.
Access the free online video training to get started.
Author:
Sandra De Milliano
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