The Do-Good Business Plan Template for: Coaches, Therapists and Counselors / 1
The Do-Good Business Plan Template for:
Coaches, Therapists and Counselors
Presented by:
Contents
Background
What makes me great at what I do
Vision
Mission
Values
My Message to the World and How I’ll Communicate It
MY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN
Objectives and Priorities This Year
People Plan – Personal Development
Sustainability and Growth – A Financial Plan
Risks and Opportunities – A Plan B!
My SWOT Analysis
How I will know that I am DOING GOOD in the World
The Action Plan
Background
Guidance: In this section, you’ll want to outline what you know about the field within which you are working. Try and compose a little story to tell people what you know about the need for your service in the environment you are working. You can write it as if you are telling someone else about your field of work. Here are some questions to try and cover for this section.
- What need are you serving? Why is this important to the world right now?
- Is the field growing or shrinking? Is the need for your service likely to grow or decline over the next 5-10 years? (Do a bit of research!)
- What kind of geographic boundaries will you have? What is your reach and what is the potential for your business in terms of numbers?
- What is the profile of your most likely clients? Is it men, women, children? What are their ages? What do you know about this group of people? How will your service address their needs?
What makes me great at what I do
Guidance: This is the place to outline your personal qualifications, training and education that will support you in serving your clients. Also list here any soft skills, personal philosophies or beliefs you have that will help you serve your clients. What makes you awesome? What gifts do you have that will allow you to serve this group of people in a unique way? What do you know you do best??
Vision
Guidance: This is the place to really dream big! Imagine you were wildly successful, that you had unlimited resources, and there were no barriers whatsoever. What would you accomplish? What would the world look like in 5 years if you could do anything at all to help your clients? Remember! A vision is something that just gets you moving in the right direction. It will help you decide to take one track rather than another. It may be so ambitious that you never actually get there, but it will serve you by laying out your direction of travel. A good vision is inspiring, focuses on serving the world, and is very ambitious. It is often the ideal result, and is bigger than just what you (or your business) can deliver alone.
Try and develop a Vision of the world as you would like it if you could serve every single person who needs your services. Capture what the world would be like if you could do this in 3-5 sentences.
Your Vision Checklist:
- Does it excite you?
- Does it tell the world about the good you want to do?
- Is it bigger than you? (In other words, is it more than you can do alone?)
- Is it simple?
- Is it clear?
- Is it about what you can give? (not about what you’ll get)
Mission
Guidance: People often confuse the Vision and Mission, but they serve two distinct functions. The Vision captures how you want the world to change for others. Your Mission is about your purpose and your part in changing it. For example:
Vision– A world where every person is living and working to their full potential. (The result of your good works and possibly those of other like-minded people.)
Mission – Helping people discover their career potential and supporting them in making changes to bring this potential into the world.(Your role in delivering the vision. What you’ll do to help bring about this change in the world.)
Capture here how you’ll serve people, and what your role in delivering the Vision will be. This again is usually a sentence or two.
Your Mission checklist:
- Does it tell the world about your purpose, or the purpose of the business? (these may be the same thing for you.)
- Is it clear and simple?
- Will it help keep you focused on the right things?
- Does it link in well with your Vision and tell people your part in delivering it?
Values
Guidance: Your personal values will guide you in completing this section, but they will be slightly different, so don’t just copy them here. Company Values are critical for a do-good business! They will guide your decisions and tell the world how you will interact with people. Below is a list of values that are common in business. Choose up to ten (or add your own) and compose a sentence or two for each telling the world how this value will guide your business and help you achieve you Vision and Mission.
Integrity / Teamwork / Partnership / HonestyCommunication / Respect / Safety / Attitude
Customer Service / Trustworthy / Diversity / Individuality
Creativity / Growth / Achievement / Competence
Accountability / Community / Community / Quality
Commitment to Success / Ethical / Legal / Professionalism
Fairness / Responsibility / Consistency / Empowerment
Fun / Risk-taking / Efficiency / Balance
Loyalty / Optimism / Reliable / Inspiring
My Message to the World and How I’ll Communicate It
Guidance: You have an important message for the world (your vision and mission), so it’s essential that you give some thought as to how you’ll communicate this to others. Instead of “marketing” your services, think of it as “sharing your message.” If you have a Do-Good business, you already know that what you can offer the world is of value, and that the world needs you. This is the place to capture how best to communicate to those that need you most how you’ll help them. Use the template below to structure your thinking and develop a plan to take your message into the world!
MY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN
Who needs to hear my message? -OR-What groups do I need to serve most? / What do they need to hear from me? / What is the best way to find and communicate with them? / When will you communicate with them? How often? / How will you know if they have heard your message?
Try to divide your audience into groups – men, divorced women, single mothers, etc. There may be several groups but they will need you to communicate slightly different messages to them. / What need do they have? What problem can you solve for them? / Where are they? Do they communicate online? In person? Workshops, teleseminars, etc.? / Will you reach out to them daily? Hold workshops once a month? Send out a weekly newsletter? / If this works, how will you know they have heard you? What will success look like?
Objectives and Priorities This Year
Guidance: Now that you have some clarity about the big picture of your business and your message to the world, it’s time to break your activities down into achievable steps. In this section, think about 3-5 objectives or priorities that you can focus on THIS YEAR to help take you a few steps closer to your vision. Keep them somewhat high level and try to make these SMART:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timebound
For example, a SMART objective might be:
To develop two or three packages of services and materials to support single, child-free women in discovering their life’s purpose, and launch these online by August 2012.
This is specific in that it tells you what you want to do and who it will serve. You can measure the number of packages and services, and it has a deadline.
Only you will know if this is realistic or achievable – there are too many variables there for me to guess! Use your own judgment and weigh these up against one another once you have 3-5 objectives to determine if they are achievable. For example, is it realistic to have this completed over the summer if you have your kids home from school and are planning a long family vacation? Don’t be too ambitious, but challenge yourself!
Your objectives and priorities checklist:
- Did you limit it to 3-5 things?
- Are your objectives SMART?
- Do they support your Vision and fit in with your Mission?
- Are you clear how your values will support you in delivering these things?
- Are your activities spread out across the year? Have you checked the timing of them against personal commitments and known patterns in your business?
- Are all your activities in your Communication Plan accounted for?
- Does it feel exciting to see what you could accomplish in the next year?!
People Plan – Personal Development
Guidance: In any business, it is important not to neglect the life-blood of the organization – the people! As a solo-entrepreneur or lone entity business owner, you are your business. So it’s important that you continue to develop your own knowledge, skills and expertise by investing in your personal development. Capture here what you’ll do to develop yourself over the next year, including anything you need to learn to deliver the objectives you have developed. Include also any professional development that is required for professional certifications and qualifications. Use the template below to help guide you.
Area of Development Needed / What I will do / When I will do it / Cost of this development(Both in terms of time and money)
Example: Website design, leadership skills, accounting / Attend a course, read a book, talk to someone and get tips / By the end of July / 2 days time; $125
Next, (and this is important!) summarize how this personal development will help you serve your clients better. How will investing this time, energy and resource into yourself help you deliver your objectives and mission better?
Sustainability and Growth – A Financial Plan
Guidance: This is the section many of us get anxious about, but it isn’t as scary as it sounds! Having an idea of what you need to make in terms of income to continue to share your gifts with the world and help change it is essential to delivering your Vision. And in this day and age, any business that is not growing is dying. There is no standing still! So this is where we’ll capture how you’ll sustain your financial viability, and how you’ll grow your business.
Use the worksheet below to help you determine your financial needs and then capture your estimation of how the activities you have in your Communication Plan and Objectives/Priorities will help grow your income over the next year. (If this is Year 1 of your business, it may be that these investments will not increase your income this year, but you can simply make general projections for year 2, 3, etc.)
My Financial Planning Worksheet
My financial year will run from ______to ______.
Note: Most companies choose to have a financial year that runs according to the tax year of the country in which you are based for ease of tax preparation. But you may wish to have your financial year by calendar year (starting in Jan and ending in Dec) or you can choose any other 12 month period that suits you.
First half of the year: / Second half of the year:My weekly working hours will be: (number of total hours)
Of these, I expect to spend ___ hours working directly with paying clients:
My hourly rate will be:
This will generate ____ weekly/monthly gross income:
This will generate _____ net income:
(To calculate, find out what taxes you will be liable for and subtract these from your gross income above)
Other net income I can expect from other activities
(workshops, products, etc.)
Total income for six months:
Of this, I expect to reinvest ______into business development or personal development activities:
Of the remainder, I expect to invest ______into marketing activities (workshops, business cards, meetings, website, etc.)
Costs for equipment, office space, materials:
Services from other professionals:
(Accountants, web designers, etc. Eventually, you’ll want to include yourself here! You will need to earn a salary at some point, right?)
Any other costs expected:
(if you’re just staring up, there may be additional start up costs)
Total costs for six months:
Profit/Loss:
(Subtract total income – total costs)
TOTAL ANNUAL EXPECTED PROFIT/LOSS
(Add each six month column above)
The above worksheet is a very simplified version of a profit/loss ledger. Consult your accountant or bookkeeper for advice on developing a more detailed financial planning document. There are plenty of software options available on the market that can help you develop more detailed financial plans, which can help you monitor and track your costs closely. These are definitely worth the investment!
Risks and Opportunities – A Plan B!
Guidance: It’s a good idea to spend just a bit of time thinking about what might not quite go to plan over the year so that if we can watch out for them or take corrective action, it will limit the damage. This is called risk management.
Likewise, it’s a good time to think about any opportunities that we haven’t thought about yet so that we don’t miss any good ideas along the way.
Use the tool below to think about all the things that could go wrong, and to plan how you’ll deal with these things. (This is called a SWOT Analysis.) Think too about what could go really, really right in terms of new opportunities for your business. How will you react to these things?
My SWOT Analysis
Strengths of my business(List here anything you can think of that makes your business a sure-thing! Include what you know about yourself!) / Weaknesses of my business
(What isn’t quite the way you’d like it to be yet? What is missing? Include what you know about yourself!)
Opportunities for my business
(List here any potential opportunities for you to do really well.) / Threats to my business
(List here anything you think might not go to plan – such as objectives or goals you’re not too sure about yet.)
The biggest OPPORTUNITIES for my business are:
Of these, only the ones listed below fit with my priorities and goals THIS YEAR:
I’ll respond to these by:
The biggest THREATS to my business are:
Of these, the ones below are most likely to affect me THIS YEAR:
I’ll respond to these threats and avoid them by:
How I will know that I am DOING GOOD in the World
Guidance: All these actions and activities will be worthless if you don’t know how to measure the good you’re doing by undertaking them. In this section, capture how you will manage your business and monitor your success. What will tell you that the things you’re doing are working to bring your message to the world and helping you achieve your Vision and Mission? Focus these on what you’ll look for THIS YEAR. You may want to have up to 10 of these, or you can simply find one for each of your objectives/goals/priorities. For example:
Objective: To develop two or three packages of services and materials to support single, child-free women in discovering their life’s purpose, and launch these online by August 2012.
Measures:
- “Life Purpose” Packages launched by 1 Aug 2012.
- 10 Clients enrolled each month between August and December. (Or $x income generated from packages each month.)
- Good feedback from clients. One testimonial gathered each month for the website.
Measures of Success: / When this will be measured:
(Try to have measures throughout the year)
Important:
Also capture how often you’ll review this Business Plan. It is essential that you don’t do all this great work and the let it gather dust on a shelf somewhere. Your business plan will be “LIVE” and will need to reviewed and updated at least every quarter.
Turning Stones Coaching (The Do-Good Business Plan Template for: Coaches, Therapists and Counselors / 1
The Action Plan
Guidance: This is the most flexible part of your Business Plan. It is the part that you will use to help stay focused, keep you from being overwhelmed, and make sure that you stay on track with your plans. Use the template below to help break down your objectives and goals into manageable chunks so that you can get started on putting this plan into action NOW! There may be some things you don’t know yet. That’s okay! Just capture when you WILL know and what you’ll do to find out. Plan to “replan.” Once you know more, you can plan more. Come back to this action plan at least every few months to check in on your progress.