Every business should, NO MUST, have a written business plan before being launched. Yes, every entrepreneur has heard this over and over again yet continues to believe that if (s)he just gets started doing business the business will create itself. WRONG!

You would not get in your car, start the engine and drive away for a long trip -- a trip that could last decades, or even generations -- without a roadmap of some kind. Well, a business plan is that roadmap.

As a business coach, working primarily with women entrepreneurs, I have witnessed too many women believe that because they have turned their passion into a business they can just keep doing what they are doing - slap a name on it, buy a url, create a website, print some business cards and voila -- a business is born!

This 'build it and they will come' scenario makes sense at the time, but in a few months the "new business" is really still a hobby.

In order for a small business to stand out in the crowd, there needs to be a niche (a target market) developed and a competitive plan. Every business has its competitors. Competition is good! If you don't have competition in your field, it might be there is no business for what you are doing.

Let's look at the coffee scenario:  Guess where Starbucks locates their new stores?

YOU GUESSED IT -- RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO DUNKIN DONUTS!

So let me ask you - if you were going to open up a small coffee shop say like a Marylou's - where would you rent space? You got it! As close to the competition as possible as that's where the customers are!

It order to stand out from the crowd as a small business you must know who your competitors are, differentiate yourself from them and then go out and win the business.

A well written business plan makes a case for who the target market is, where they can be found and why they will buy from you. If you can't make a business case for being the solution to the problem a niche market has --- in the long run --- you won't have a business.

If you need help in creating a business plan - ASK FOR IT -- there is help available at SCORE, the SBA - Small Business Administration, many state colleges and, of course, reach out to me at vicki@vickidonlan.com

Writing a business plan is the only way you can make sure you can stand out in the crowd of small business and come out ahead.