Dream Big: Develop Your Business Plan Using a Narrative

ArchDaily.com picked up my friend and Entrepreneur Architect Linkedin Group member Bob Borson’s blog post today. If you haven’t read Bob’s writings, I recommend that you visit him at LifeofanArchitect.com. Leave him a comment and tell him we said “hi”.

Bob describes how he uses a narrative during the programming phase to learn what his clients want, both functionally as well as emotionally. At Fivecat Studio, we use a similar process using a questionnaire and other fun programming exercises to help guide our clients through the mine field of ideas in their heads. As Bob states in his post, this is “the most important step”.

Bob’s post also reminded me of how I finally developed and finished my business plan for Fivecat Studio. For years I had started and stopped and started and stopped as I attempted to craft a business plan worthy of the organization I had assembled in my head. In fact, I had no less than six separate incomplete documents in the “Business Plan” folder on my PC (I’ve switched over to Macs since then).

So, how did I break the pattern?

I wrote a narrative. I described, in detail, what my business would look like 10 years into the future. I basically described the vision I held in my head for so many years. I had a blast! For one, it’s lots of fun to dream big… with no limits. It was inspiring and helped me focus on what I really wanted to do and where I really wanted to go. It also helped with the development of the rest of my plan. Knowing where I ultimately wanted to end up, helped me develop my plan to get there.

Give it a try. Grab your laptop or a blank piece of paper and start… now! Imagine yourself 10 years from now. What are you doing? Where are you doing it? For whom? Let yourself go. Let your pencil flow. Set no limits and dream big. Your finished business plan is waiting.