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FreePreview: What is the Right-Brain Business Plan?

So just really quickly I'm going to go through the building blocks if you know what goes in a traditional plan and then we'll start talking about right brain business plan and some examples so the right bring business plan actually covers all of the sections that go into a traditional plan that we do it in a fun way, right? So there's business, vision and values that's kind of the overview business landscape is kind of like the market researcher competitive analysis, so we like to think of it as a landscape, and we're actually going to be using thiss fun huge blunder at play sheet of business landscape tomorrow to do that, getting the word out so we talked a little bit about people wanting to get clear on their marketing, so marketing plan getting the word out, managing the mullahs so the folks who are like I need to think about the finances, we will definitely do that corralling your creative co hearts so doing a business launching it running it is sometimes we need to have people hel...

ping us, you know, whether it be people that you hire as employees or people you outsource to or people who just are there for moral support eso you're not going in alone, and so we'll kind of talk about that as well, all right, and then action plan making it riel and then there's the whole thing about operations in the day to day and how you run your business and so that's also a piece of the plan and then in terms of a traditional plan, you have the executive summary, we like to call it hardy highlights, and that kind of brings up on home, and you have kind of a simple statement that kind of encompasses at all so that's kind of the lay of the land of a traditional plan but done in a right brain way, and we're going to cover certain pieces of that in this workshop, we're not going to cover all of that, but the right brain business plan, the fun way of looking at it. Here are some examples you're right rain business plan could look any way you want and actually that's how it came to be for for me was back in two thousand seven, I was doing a challenge called art every day month, and this happens every november, my dear friend leah pichon kalidas, who maybe is watching highly if you're watching, she runs this challenge at creative every day dot com, and each day in november you're supposed to do something creative, you know, whether it be art or cooking whatever it is, and I was playing with different mediums everyday like painting, drawing, sculpting and the last a couple days of the month and like we're coming toward the end of the year should maybe start thinking about my goals for the next year I need to do art anyway I love collage I love bookbinding so I found like this blank accordion book and then I did a collage on that my big vision and actually for the folks at home there's an example if you guys want to share the right brain business plan dot com slash example correct yes and there's a link there that says jen's right brain business plan examples through the years and that shows my first one and for you guys here I can show you in a little bit at the break and basically I did kind of that big vision of my business for the next couple of years and on the back side of it I put here you can see like the marketing plan, the calendar, the products and services kind of all these cards. So you guys will be kind of making one that looks similar to that and that became my road map for probably the next year and a half and the goals that I had outlined on there in terms like the number of clients that I wanted some of my marketing goals, what I wanted to make financially like I hit those within like a year and a half of making that and so I did that you know, at my kitchen table you know, like we're going to do going on a table on doing collage ing and it amazed me of how much manifested from doing that process and really just trusting my intuition I have no idea it was going to turn into a book turned into something where I have facilitators leading it around the world you're being here with you guys I was just participating in this art every day when the challenge doing something creative for myself right? So that's really why I'm saying trust your intuition you know, kind of keep going let things unfold because you never know what's gonna happen truly on the other thing I like to shares on that first a vision board that I did I did a little book on the vision board and that little book is on the cover of my real book kind of crazy but it works so you're right brain business plan can really look any way you want the folks here we're going to be using the right brain business plan kit so it will be in an accordion book format but you can see here that creative people have done all sorts of fun things so there's like this altered book here in this lunch pail from villa clark who's an artist kristen do this kind of fun coat hanger clip things where she's got words printed out there lauren brown steam to this fund plate mobile things so she caught paper plates and collage in it and hung it above her desk. We've got this bracelet here, which is really fun burglaries had a bracelet she just had like her seven key points for the year what's great about something like that is she would wear it, you know, out and about and people would be like what's that great entry point to be talking about her business pretty brilliant if you ask me and then anjali here it kind of did like some fun my mapping and drawing so here we're going to be using a certain format, although you guys can do it however you want, but you have the supplies to do the kit, but for folks at home, whatever inspires you have those there and do it however you'd like ok, so I kind of cover this already will be covering business vision values, landscape, getting the word out, managing the mullahs, growling your creative cohorts and action plan ok, so that's kind of the three days of what will be doing and um then we're going to go into the big vision stuff, but I want to pause here and see if you guys in studio have any questions about what we've covered so far and then to check in with the folks online I don't particularly have a question I just want to say I think your graphics in your presentation are just amazing thank you I really enjoy how you present your material and think you're not just talking about the right brain business plan, you're living it and all your work encompasses it so I just I'm just really admiring it pretty cool thank you and letting myself received that thank you, andi, I actually love that you're pointing there because I think that's a hallmark of being a right brain entrepreneur actually letting your creative, authentic self come out and all you do so I'm happy I can model that for you and I wouldn't have all this great stuff if I didn't crawl my creative cohorts to make it happen, right? So the lovely illustrations that you guys see here and in my book are majority from my dear friend kate prentice I don't know if kate's watching, but if you are kate hi kate so she's done all the illustrations on dh then you know I'll take pieces and do some of it. Some of the drawings on the web site is me, but it's kind of like I can't do this alone, you know, we've got this whole team here at creative life who helped put this production together you guys are showing up um so it truly is you know, bring corralling the creative courts to make it happen, and I'm really receiving that you're seeing me show up in this presentation, and I want that for you guys and whatever you're up to in your work in your brand so that people can engage with you it's like that create the storm stronger connection, right? Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. Cool. Was there something here way have left you have long way. Do you have some questions online? We have adrian far who's from england. So when writing a creative business plan, does this cause problems when presenting those ideas to non creative people like investors or bank managers? Yeah, and that's kind of what I was saying, like, if you are wanting investment or you want to get a loan or funding, you're probably not going to want to walk in and say hi, give me fifty thousand dollars, they will literally locking out of bank, right? So think of this process as a way to get your thoughts on paper so that they're clear to you. And then you probably are since I was talking about crawling your creative cohorts, and there are pieces of doing your business where you're going to need to bring in experts for people who think differently from you. You know you're probably going to need to be able to translate that somehow, but how great is it to have a starting place where you at least are clear and then you know rather than just going blank like not really having anything thought out trying to have a conversation with the banker that would be really hard so this is kind of the first step and then if you need tio get it translated, you know, until more formal plan we'll talk a little bit about that on sunday but basically it will help you get clear on your ideas and then, you know, depending on if you need the funding there probably certain things specific to your business but I would say find the right left brain people who understand you so for example it took me forever to find, you know, an accountant that he knows the stuff he's very left brain, but he appreciates my right brain nous and he doesn't make me feel bad, you know, like that I don't understand these I'm asking certain questions so it's about finding the right people tio on my bookkeeper's great, and it could be a great kind of communication tool to help people understand what you're doing in your business, so hopefully that answers the question that's great thank you so next question is from scott king in ocean city, maryland, who says there are a lot of buzz words that are out there but can someone simplify things for someone who knows absolutely nothing about business I guess is scott king what exactly is a business plan and what's the difference between a right brain and the left brain plan so maybe even stepping back for somebody who doesn't even understand what a business plan is okay, so business plan is basically it could be a document that outlines what your business is, what you provide how you're going to make money who your customers are and how you're gonna make that happen and it could even just be written on one sheet of paper um typically when you look at books about this is planning its really extensive and long lots of spreadsheets and that's what intimidates us so the right brain way is this is an example of a right brain business plan on kind of the big vision part which will be getting into shortly and then kind of the left brain details here of marketing plan um some financials were in here milestones products and services executive summary that kind of thing okay, so those air the pieces so the building blocks that I had talked about um are the pieces that go into the plan so hopefully that makes sense I don't know if any of you here can maybe articulated backs we covered it and I'm wondering maybe how you guys have integrated it into your thinking so it sounds like we're really getting crystal clear on a vision that we can layout in visual format and then once it's laid out we can translate it into more left brain world language if you need to if you might not necessary yeah caitlin I think what it does is it helps organize all your thoughts so that when you do reach those goals that you have in your head you could say I did it and I'm here what's the next thing you need to do so really just gives you that validation and helps you feel like ok, this is what I wanted to do and I got their great cool yeah yeah I was just going to say, you know, we often here if you're starting a business or you know, thinking about starting a business people often ask you like, do you have a business plan it's kind of that like default question you're supposed to have one it really is just to help you get clear about where you want it to go bottom line that's all it is but hey, why not do it in a fun way that inspires you? We have a great question here in the chat room, dave carpenter studio what if you don't know what to put in a business plan for example? I don't know how many clients I want or even what numbers to put with my goals so I just pull numbers kind of out of the air are you reading my mike's? We'll talk about that on day two on and I have actually a an approach for that. Yes, good awesome. Is there a good way to decide how to start and choose what works best for me? I have started several times, but I find myself and not being attracted to it before finishing, so maybe saying, like, I think they're probably referring to the plan, but in itself yeah, yeah, I would say, I don't really get hung up on the format or how you do it, it's just a matter of getting the thoughts on paper so again, it doesn't need to look perfect doesn't need to be the right way, right? That was one of our guiding principles there's no right or wrong way so that's what's stopping you just play with it, see how it goes, and as you start to build it, things will get more clear. Um, the other thing that I thought would be helpful and then if there are more questions, we could do that, but sometimes people ask me like, how many plans have you made? How often should you make them? I've actually made three different ones since two thousand seven on and those are shown on that example page, but basically I think it's been like every couple of years, right? So two thousand seven was the first one that I did and then I kind of you know, I use it as my guide post I kind of keep going back to it, you know, have a hit those have I not is this still on tracks that feeling right? And then once it feels complete, like I've outgrown this, I think I can move on to the next one and so I think I did the next one in two thousand nine and then then when the book was coming out in all that I did one, I think it was in two thousand eleven so then kind of every two years, but it could vary for you it's basically having it grow with you, right? So it's kind of this living, breathing document that you continue adding tio updating and then when you're ready to do a new one, you could make a new one. Ok, um and the other thing for those of you who have been in business for a while, you might still you know, it might still help you to do a business plan for your business, and you can also do it for a specific pieces of your business, right? So let's say you already have and actually a lot of you guys here have like, your overall business in place, but maybe there's a new product that you're wanting to do our new offering you can actually use this process that we're going through it actually hone in on one specific piece of your business, right? So you know, for me like I have my business but then maybe, you know, watching my new mentorship program or when I did licensing it kind of took myself through some of these same pieces I don't go through as extensively right? But I'm still kind of thinking along the same lines because you still need to know who's going to buy this how much is it going to cost? What do I need to do to make it happen? Right? So it kind of kind of be at the macro level for your whole business and then for a pieces of your bits sis and I also know some people have multiple businesses and they're like, do I do a different plan for each business? Like what do I do? It can be helpful just have the big vision be for overall, for your kind of how the business is fit together and then doing separate plans for each business because you might have different target markets for your different businesses, right? Like I think kathy j that might relate to you just based on little that I know in terms of, like, massage clients and then there's kind of that bacon crafty stuff which they might get massages. Tio there might be crossover, but they're probably different ways to market to them. Okay, so hopefully that's going giving you guys at home a little bit more context, tio, how to use this process. Okay. Yeah. Cathy, anything about the badge of honor? Yeah. So when this is more of an appreciation than a but that's one thing I worked hard on trading my engineering brain and normally think about, like, a bad being given to you. But I what I appreciate about that as I feel like that's, something I could give myself to, like, let that creativity shine through. And I just think you, like, summarize it so beautifully, like all of the things that it takes to put your heart into business was all an honor, that intuitive side. Thanks for that. You're very welcome. That really came from listening to what I'm hearing people say about how this resonates with them and how they're using it. So yeah.