Hi Reader!

You don’t need a traditional, formal, stuffy business plan.

However, I do think that creating a rough guide that helps you make business decisions is critical for every single creative business.

This rough guide is technically a business plan (but not one stuffed with B.S. and numbers).

A business plan is important because it helps you set a goal or destination.

And as Alice learned, if you don't have a destination in mind, any path will get you there. You will get somewhere, but it might not be where you want to be.

By sitting down and creating a rough sketch of where you want to go, you're more likely to get to that destination. And you won't have to backtrack to end up where you want to be.

That’s why your task this week is to create a simple business plan.

Are you going to create the perfect business plan? Absolutely not.

Because here’s the secret, there's no such thing as the perfect business plan.

If you're brand new in business, you're going to think about it like the underpainting of a canvas. You are going to use big brushstrokes and put in rough blocking about where you think you want to go.

As you move along in business, you might be adding more fine details. Or you might decide to pivot because you learn that your original plan doesn't fit.

Those are all okay. You have permission to change your mind. You can and should change when you realize that it might not be the thing you wanted.

So you're not going to worry about creating a very detailed perfect plan.

You started creating this plan by answering last week’s question, “What is success?” Because that’s your destination, and now you just have to flush out your sketch.

In my book, Legal Roadmap for your Creative Business, I help you create a one-sheet business plan by answering 10 questions:

• Who do you serve?
• What products or services will you offer?
• How will they find you?
• What makes you unique?
• What revenue streams will you use?
• What will it cost for you to deliver your products or services to your customers or clients?
• What do you want your business and life to look like?
• How do you define success?
• How will you measure your progress?
• Who will you collaborate with?

The goal should be to create a plan that will help you make business decisions.

I want you to be able to use it to decide,

“Is this opportunity or this idea something that's going to help me get closer to my version of success? Or is it going to take me farther away from where I want to go?”

And if the answer isn’t that it’ll help you get closer to your version of success, then you get to skip it. You get a pass. You don't have to do something because an expert says you should do it. You should only do those things that help you get closer to where you want to go.

It’s also important to remember that no one is going to know perfectly what his/her business will look like in a year, even if you’ve been in business for a while.

What you do is start moving toward what you've written down in your plan. And if you end up hating it, if you end up realizing it's taking you in the wrong direction, then change it.

That's all we're doing here. Come up with your best guess and if it doesn't work, tweak and try again.

👉 Your action item: Create a simple business plan that you can use to guide your decisions.

As I said last week, the reason I think these are legal tasks is because ANY business project is a waste of time, money, energy, and effort if it won’t get you towards your goals. Your business plan is a permission slip to let go of some of those shoulds that you've been told you need to do.

Did you complete this task? Come share your thoughts about creating a simple business plan on LinkedIn or Facebook.

I'll be sitting at my computer until about 9:30 AM Pacific and I'd love to know if you run into any roadblocks in completing this week's task. (And if you are reading this after then, please reply! I'll get back to you ASAP.)

Chat soon,

P.S. One of my goals this year is to provide more resources for you to take action. (Because there's already SO much information available.)

That's why this year, I'm hosting a series of four-week challenges where you accomplish one legal project.

And I want your input on which one we should host first.

(Members of the artist's Courtyard, this is the same poll I sent you on Monday, so if you voted in that email, your vote is already entered here.)

7 20-minute quarterly legal tasks you can do in Q1

As I said, this year is all about helping you take action! This is why, this week’s blog post outlines the 3-6 tasks your business should tackle in Q1.

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Other things on my radar...

• We’ve got several events coming up! There’s the every Friday Rundown, the brand new Stuck-to-Done session on January 29th to help you with those lingering to-dos, and our Legal Q&A session on February 12th.
• This article contains a great rundown of common trademark scams. (Similar scams happen to LLCs too.) If you get one of these fishy notices, members of the artist’s Courtyard can post them in the News Feed and get my feedback on whether they seem legit or not!

Got a question you want to ask the community? Share it in the News Feed.

❤️ Easy to understand legal resources should be available to every creative, regardless of their financial situation. If one of my resources has helped you and you would like to say “thank you”, you can make a contribution here. ❤️