12-Month “Simple” Business Plan 

The simplest business plan you’ll ever create for your business.

We focus on Revenue, Profit and employees for this exercise, as these are the baseline numbers for most businesses. The figures for this exercise don’t have to be exact and precise, they just have to be reasonable. 

Step 1. Goals―5 Years 

• What are your financial Goals for the business in 5 years’ time? 
• If you haven’t thought this far forward, you don’t know your “destination”. 
• Without a destination, how can you know if you heading in the right direction? 
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Step 2. Goals―3 Years 

To be on track for your 5-year Goals, where do you need to be in 3 years? 
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Step 3. Goals―12 Months 

To be on track for your 3 (and 5-year) Goals, where do you need to be in 12 months’ time? Come up with a reasonable figure based on your ambitions and the best information currently available. You need to start being more specific as the time frame is much shorter. 
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Step 4. Goals―9 Months 

To achieve your 12-month Goals, where do you need to be by 9 months? Consider the impact of seasonality and “momentum” and all other factors known at this time. 
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Step 5. Goals―6 Months 

To achieve your 9-month Goals, where do you need to be by 6 months? This is the half way point. What is realistic and achievable and will keep you firmly on track for achieving your 9- month figures? 
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Step 6. Goals―Where are we now? 

To achieve your 6-month Goals, where do you need to be in 90 days’ time? Take into account all known factors known at this time. How you start is all-important, so stretch yourself while being realistic. These figures need to be quite specific and remember there is only so much you can do in 3 months? 
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Step 7. Goals―Where are we now? 

This will give you an indication of how reasonable your plan is. Don’t be put off by setting your goals too high in the long run, just be realistic in the short term. After all, if you aim for the stars and reach the moon then you have still made a major leap forward. 
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