A Business Plan is a powerful tool for consulting psychologists aspiring to start their own firm. It allows you to identify and target areas of strength and opportunity in your business value proposition while addressing and mitigating potential problems that your business may face.
Once developed, you can share your Business Plan with potential advisers, partners, and sources of funding. In fact, the Small Business Administration suggests that you keep your business plan current throughout the life of your consulting business.
For this assignment, you will develop a 1,000-word Business Plan detailing aspects of your business that you’ve identified in class.
Your Business Plan should include the following sections:
Executive Summary. Provide a concise overview of your business plan. Your goal is to interest the reader in wanting to read more about your company. While this section appears first, you will want to write it last, after you’ve completed the remaining sections of your plan. Include the following details of your consulting firm in your executive summary:
Business name and location
Core product and/or service offerings
Company vision and mission statements
Niche market
Core purpose of your plan (to set strategic priorities, secure investors/funding, etc.).
Company Description. Provide additional detail on your consulting firm, explaining your primary goals, who you are, and how you operate. The company description should feature:
Short- and long-term business goals
The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of your consulting company in addressing your business goals
The business model (or hybrid model) you will use for your consulting firm
Legal structure of your business (corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.)
Financial management structure of your business (accounting method, plans for bookeeping and managing the books – use of income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, capital expenditure budgets, and plans for fee structure)
Outline of your company’s organizational structure, including: owners, management team and board of directors
Profiles of your management team, including names, positions, primary responsibilities and bio sketch(es)
List of any advisors (board members, accountants, attorneys, etc.)
Service/Product Offerings.Clearly describe what you are selling, focusing on the benefits to your clients. This section should include:
The nature of your business and the needs you plan to satisfy—the features, benefits and advantages of your consulting services
An explanation of your consulting firm’s advantages over its competition
Research and development activities that may lead to new services or products
Marketing Plan.Demonstrate your plans to market to your target niche. Address how you plan to conduct market analysis research to better understand your market’s needs. Your marketing plan should include:
An industry description and outlook, including statistics (as appropriate). For example, is your target market growing, shrinking, level?
How you will market your consulting services (using Katcher’s 18 approaches)
A sketch of targeted customer segments, including both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets
An evaluation of your competitors, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses
The associations you will use to market your consulting services and how you plan to do so
Networking groups you will use
LinkedIn Groups that you will join to promote your consulting services
How you will use social media to promote your consulting services
Initial pricing and promotion estimates
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