Business Planning – Kipling
Wisdom from over 100 years ago – 5W&H
I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew): Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who. (Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child, 1902)
What are we going to do?
Why are we going to do it?
When are we going to do it?
How are we going to do it?
Where will we do it?
Who will do it?
The most important of these questions is Why?
Writing and Evaluating Business Plans
There are plenty of business plan templates available to help you but if your business plan answers these six questions for each of your key objectives then you won’t go far wrong. Remember that bad news is much easier to believe than good news, so, when you talk about what you are going to do, explain why you are going to succeed and provide the evidence. If you can’t do that then provide the logic, the reasoning, why you will succeed.