It’s a new year, and most of us are looking back at the old and forward to the new with anticipation and hope and… a plan? Well, maybe not, at least not the kind of concrete workable plan that is needed to achieve solid goals.
Truth is we didn’t really learn how to make plans when we were children, likely because our parents didn’t learn how either. When we were finally introduced to the idea, perhaps in college, it was anything but fun.
But planning should be fun, as easy as child’s play, and based on concepts we all learned in kindergarten. Do you remember learning the words who, what, when, where, why, how? Those words are all you need to write a plan for just about any project including a business plan.
So let’s start at the beginning with a couple of imaginary Who characters.
Who are Annie and her Mom? Annie is eight-years-old. Her mother has been a SAHM since Annie was born. Now she and her mother are going to start a little mother-daughter business together.Well, at least they are thinking about it.
What kind of a business? Mom has always wanted to have a little greeting card shop, but something more creative than what you might find in a mall. She wants to have lots of original hand-made cards and figures Annie can have her own section just for kids. Annie loves to draw and paint and is really quite good at it. Mom thinks that their special card shop should have a strong focus – so she’s going to narrow the theme and call it a Thank You Shop. That’s right – they’ll have only thank you cards for any reason you can imagine. Mom will buy beautiful and very special cards and make some, too. Annie will make cards that her school friends can buy to say “thank you” for gifts they get and for other special reasons. She knows that telling people thank you is very important. We all know how hard it is to say thank you, so maybe this is really a great idea.
Where will the shop be? They haven’t decided yet. Maybe at home in the beginning, and later in a real store. Or on the Internet. That’s still part of their brainstorming. So they are going to write down every idea they think of, no matter how crazy it sounds, and then later they'll decide.
When will their shop open? Well, they need time to make lots of cards, but a holiday would be a good goal for them. They think Mother’s Day might be a possible target date. Or if they need more time, there is Thanksgiving at the end of the year. Now that would make sense!
Wow, they have a lot of things to think about so they better write all those good ideas down! Annie learned how to make a mind map at school and so she’ll keep track of their ideas this way:
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How you keep track of your ideas doesn't have to be anything fancy. Her mom is going to use a three-ring school notebook labeled with sections called Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? She'll add her ideas to each section as Annie adds to her one-page mind map. At this point, they're still dreaming and gathering information in order to make good choices later.
What about you? Are you ready to plan something for the new year? Follow along with Annie and her mother over the next few days and see how much fun you can have in this all-important (but incredibly fun!) planning stage of any project. Starting a business really is kidstuff!
What kind of business would you plan if you dared? Come out and play with us – you might be surprised at the great ideas you have hidden in your imagination, ideas just waiting to appear on a clean sheet of paper.
6 comments:
Love this idea! Today school children do this often when planning projects and it becomes part of the process to hand it in with the completed project. Students and teachers can easily see how an idea evolves and finally presents itself.
This is a "think out of the box" way to start collecting ideas and thoughts about a new business and seeing how the parts interact to make the whole. Thanks Dani for bringing a plan to mind that all can use.
Great post to commence the new year, Dani. Thank you!
You have certainly inspired me with this post. Love the writing style and the simplicity of how you present the idea. My kids just read it too and are very excited to "plan". Thanks!
Dani, you have inspired me to start my "plan" for a long overdue, over thought out, kitchen remodel. My binder with blank sheets of paper are my start. Thanks!
It works for everything - even finding the perfect mate. LOL.
This is great!!! Thanks for posting! I remember using a similar method when I started my own stationery business, Mackie Mack, and will now use it in building our new "Kids Can" character education program in Mill Valley. This will be a perfect way to get our fifth graders inspired ...and organized in the right direction!
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