Abhishek
A business model is the blueprint on which your business plans are built. It is not something that exists in the real world, but is rather a description of how you intend to operate your business. As such it is a very important document for any business planning to be successful. But what if you don’t know how to create such a plan?
Don’t worry, as with all areas of life there are good and bad ways to approach the question of how to develop a business model. To help you think through your options, I’ve broken down the different stages of business models into categories. Within these categories, there are sub-categories, and within each sub-category, there are more detailed plans of how to approach each individual stage. Once you have a clear understanding of each stage, you can start developing your business strategies.
Understanding The Existing Market
You may be very excited about starting a new company…and so you would want to know how to create a business model, right? Unfortunately, creating a business model for a new company can be much more difficult than creating one for an existing company. Even though you are starting a completely new company, you still need to understand how existing companies work…so that you can adapt your own company plans to fit. As a simple example, if you are beginning your journey as a YouTuber, you would find out that many use YouTubeStorm to boost their metrics and get ahead of the competition. The same strategy is used by businesses to market their products (as part of their content marketing strategy).
Business Purpose
How to develop a business model begins with having a clearly defined business purpose. The reason why you are starting your business in the first place should be obvious to you. It should be a company that can profit from a particular market or niche. By identifying your business purposes, you’ll be better able to determine how to develop a business model that will meet your needs. However, even though you already have a clearly defined company purpose, this doesn’t mean that your business model needs to be laid out in stone…or concrete.
Structure
Most business plans are not “stone” by any means…they are just plans. As long as they are well-written and carefully structured, business plans can serve as guides for every step of the business development process…even when that step is not entirely clear in your head. When I say “step,” I don’t mean “step forward.” I mean that every step along the way, from “thinking up the idea” to “figuring out how to get it into the real world” needs to be carefully planned out, monitored, and adjusted.
Customers
Developing a business model takes effort…and, at the same time, it does not need to be done alone. In fact, you probably don’t need a business plan at all if your company has no customers! A business without customers does not have a business model! Customers are what keep a business going. So, if you have no customers…what’s stopping your company from succeeding?
Goals
Every good business plan should provide a baseline “what” you are trying to accomplish, as well as an understanding of what “we” expect to see as a result of the “how.” There are no perfect businesses, but there are business models. The purpose of a business plan is to provide direction so that all the steps that lead up to the final result can be accurately monitored and calculated. As an entrepreneur, you already understand the importance of this…you’ve probably heard the old saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Without proper planning, no business will thrive.
But you probably also know that business models need to change over time. As your business model changes, you will need to re-plan your business in order to remain competitive in today’s market. What will you do with your business model once it no longer fits your needs? Do you continue to use the same business model? There are no perfect business plans, but if you take the time to craft one that answers to those three questions, you are likely on your way to creating the structure and framework you need to succeed.
