Businesses of every type, including nursing businesses, need a business plan. Don’t think you can skip by on this important step when you start your business because you offer a service instead of a physical product. Every business can benefit from a business plan.

There are 3 steps you should focus on:

Step 1: Focus

When you create a business plan you need to focus on the reasons for the business:

• Who do you want to serve?
• What service or product do you want to provide?
• When do you want to start?
• What kind of lifestyle do you want your business to provide?
• Why do you want to start such an endeavor?
• How will you meld all these things together to create a prosperous business?

These may be some of the primary reasons why you’re going into business and they should always be at the forefront of your mind when making decisions.

Make your own list of reasons specific to why you’re going into business. Try to list as many reasons as possible. This list will help push you through the tough days of business.

Something else to focus on is your big dream. This is your overall goal with the business; financial and long-term plans.

For example:

• How much money do you want to make over the next 5 years?
• Do you want to sell multiple products or have several locations?

Everyone’s big dream will be different, but make sure you write your big dreams down as part of your plan.

Step 2: A Plan

Think of your business plan as a mountain. Your mission statement is at the base of the mountain while your big dream is at the peak of the mountain. Everything in between is what you need to plan to strive for and these steps should also be incorporated into a business plan.

• What products do you want to create?
• How often do you want to produce a new product or service?
• How can you implement some passive income or affiliate income into your business?
• Are there any speaking engagements or online summit opportunities that will expand your reach and your followers?
• What can you add to your sales funnel for those not yet ready to commit to your business?

Step 3: Action Steps

This is the part where your planning steps are broken down into smaller, actionable steps. Instead of just saying “I want to write a book,” break the process down further.

How much time can you dedicate each day to writing? Do you want to self-publish or find a publisher?

You’ll also need to hire an editor and someone to design the cover. These are actionable steps that can easily be crossed off your to-do list once completed.

Don’t be thrown off or discouraged here. You don’t need to plan 5 years’ worth of action steps at one time. The idea is to plan a year at a time, keeping your focus in mind, so that the action steps become a pathway or a blueprint to your big dreams.

If this seems like a daunting task, I’ve created a business plan you can use to start planning out your nursing business. You can get it here.