Making a Business Plan + Free Downloable Template

Hello Moonbeams, 

Today I wanted to talk about how I am using my business plan.   I based this document on traditional business templates and tried to modify it to fit creatives a bit better. 

I have included a few hopefully helpful notes in the document itself so here I really want to talk about how I use it, but this is not necessary to read this post  to understand the template. 

Be honest

One thing I think it is helpful to keep in mind is to be totally comfortable with allowing this document to be personal and honest.  You do not need to show it to anyone, it can be just for you if you want it to be.  In mine, I am very open about where I am falling behind, and where I feel I am succeeding.  I write down any ideas I think are worth trying, and then I often break those ideas down and analyze why I think they will work.  This is just to help me avoid getting over excited about something and either A: Losing motivation, or B: Not thinking it through and losing a bunch of time and or money.

Know where you are at

Being super honest in this document also means knowing where you are at in your career and being open about that with yourself.  When I am filling out my own questions, I remind myself that I might not be quite as successful as so and so, but that I want to get there and I try to create actionable tasks I can do NOW to start working toward that goal.  These tasks might go toward a big dream, but they remain within my current powers, if that makes sense.   

It is not always personal.  

Comparing ourselves too much to others can be VERY toxic.  You will notice a few places in which I make mention of thinking about your competition.  I want to say that I truly KNOW there is enough business to go around.  I frequently attend shows with a fairly close circle of artists in a similar vein to me and I never feel like we are "stealing" each other's customers or audience.  Often, customers will even buy from several of us at a time.  When I think of competing, I try to think about how I can improve my own business to be on the level of others in my field.   When filling out answers about competition, I try to see my business as a science experiment that I am observing as an interested, but unemotionally attached party.  If you find this part to be uncomfortable to fill out, then skip it, and work instead on figuring out why you are feeling this way, because it is a valid feeling.  You can come back to it later.  

Revisit, edit, and update.

My business is (hopefully) always evolving and hopefully so am I.  So that means revisiting my document, and updating it with new ideas or details about what is working and what is not. There are some areas I still have not filled out with a whole lot of information because I am just not there yet which is perfectly fine.  Those areas are part of my future goal.  If you are just starting out, maybe focus on the areas relating to how you work.  Focus on what you can, and add to this document as you go on.  Trying to fill it all out at once can be overwhelming and could lead to feelings of burnout or discouragement so TAKE IT SLOW for the love of moons!  Trust me, you have the time, this is an ongoing journey and even the most successful artists are constantly experimenting to figure things out. 

So, in short, be honest, take your time, dream big, but create actionable tasks that work within your current powers, and revisit the document over time and update it.  You absolutely do not need to fill everything out at once.  And feel free to share your questions, feedback, or feelings about this with me! I would love to hear about it!

~Aria