Why Your Healthcare Startup Needs a Business Plan

The essence of why any entrepreneur requires a business plan is summed up in this quote by Benjamin Franklin who once said, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."

This assertion can further be illustrated by the following analogies which provide a clear understanding of what can happen if a process of planning has not been initiated - Imagine trying to build a car without an assembly manual. It is most likely that the car will fall apart long before the manufacturer has taken the car out on its first test drive. Or, imagine a builder constructing a building without a blueprint to ensure that his work of art is structurally sound. The building process will, no doubt, be a builders worst nightmare, or even more catastrophic, the structure will not live long before it crumbles to the ground.  

The same applies when starting a new business. If your manual or your blueprint for your business, in other words your business plan, is not properly mapped out, it is inevitable that you will fail to decipher whether your business will be strong from the start, plus you will leave too many things open to chance.

A business plan is your foundation, your go-to guide as you progress along the road to ultimate success. It is an important strategic tool which assists in placing focus on the specific steps required for business ideas to succeed. It also helps in achieving short-term and long-term objectives.

What then are some of the key reasons why you should develop your business plan for your healthcare business? Lets have a look –

• Make sound decisions and assess the feasibility of the business – Business plans help to define and focus your ideas and strategies. You are able to think through your financial planning, human resources, management, technology, value-addition for your service users.  
• Enable critical decision making pertaining to potential viability - An entrepreneur can gain insights into how good the venture is, the characteristics of the target market, the competitive landscape, as well as any adjustments needed to ensure the birth of a business with better prospects of
• Create better products and services - An in depth client analysis not only allows you to deliver what service users want, but also allows you to reach them in a more cost-effective way.
• Raise money for your business - Potential funders or investors prefer to back businesses that demonstrate an understanding of what they have set out to do. A mere concept document is inadequate.
• Determine your financial needs and decide if the business is worth starting – Through a business plan you can determine whether your business needs to raise capital, if so, how much, and what it will be used for. Financial forecasts, projections, estimates of start-up costs, break-even analysis, profit-and-loss forecast, and cash flow projections all assist in realigning your key assumptions.
• Establish milestones – Short and long term milestones that are important can be laid out clearly.
• Attract management team, employees, and partners – A business plan inspires top quality healthcare talent and potential partners and demonstrates that the idea is sound and stable.
• Position your brand – Your role in the marketplace becomes clear allowing you to succinctly describe your objectives and position the brand to stakeholders.
• Uncover new opportunities - Through the process you will come up with new ideas for marketing your product/service and running your business. It is coming up with these ideas and executing them which is often the difference between a business that fails and one that thrives.

 So, do not hesitate, put your thinking cap on and start creating that masterpiece!