Even though you are a solopreneur, it's important to treat your business like a business. You probably handle most, if not all, of the tasks for operating your business. Still, it is helpful to have an operations plan, even a simple one that you can lay out on a single page.
This plan will help you stay organized in handling all the day to day tasks of your business. It could help you identify tasks or projects that would be viable for outsourcing or delegating in some other way. Most importantly, it will help you tremendously as your business grows and you may begin to take on additional staff members.
Here is a simple outline for a one page operations plan that you can put together in just part of one day. You might even be able to do it in as little as 30 minutes. This outline is a general template, which you can use as is or modify to customize it for your specific business.
General:
Include hours of operation and other information that does not fit into any other categories.
Facilities & Equipment:
As a solopreneur, you may be operating your business out of your home. However you might require facilities for events, so include general information about how you will fill that need. Also include general information about the equipment you need for your business and it's maintenance.
Materials & Production:
If you have a physical product, discuss how you will acquire it. If you are producing the product yourself, explain the materials you need, where you get those materials and on what terms, as well as the production process itself.
Inventory:
Explain briefly how you will track the inventory of your product and/or services. For example, if you have an online store, this is where you would explain what services you are using to handle this.
Organization Chart with Key Roles & Responsibilities:
This section will make up the bulk of the operations plan. An organization chart is optional, although it is a good way to organize this information. Include all aspects of the business such as customer service, accounts payable, accounts receivable and sales. Also include any external relationships you have with other companies you are outsourcing to or partnering with.
Training:
Discuss skills and competencies that are required. Outline a broad training plan for any areas that need to be handled.
Again, this template is a general guideline to get you started with an operations plan. It may have triggered some things you haven't given much thought. It will certainly help you organize the things you need to deal with an a daily basis. Take a little time and put together a basic, one page operations plan for your business.
Jen Kunkel
Extraordinary Life & Business Designer
Connect For Success
http://www.jenkunkel.com
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