{"id":72028,"date":"2015-04-15T16:30:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T22:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=72028"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:30:38","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:30:38","slug":"2015-04-15-30-minute-real-estate-business-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2015-04-15-30-minute-real-estate-business-plan","title":{"rendered":"No Time to Write a Real Estate Business Plan? Here’s Your 30-Minute Solution."},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know the benefits of having a business plan, right?<\/p>\n

Business plans keep you on the right track. They help you raise capital. They put you and your team on the same page. They give you a deeper understanding of your market. They establish benchmarks, and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n

So why don’t you have one?<\/p>\n

If television has taught me anything, it’s that there are only two ways that business plans are ever written depending on how large your organization is.<\/p>\n

Big Business: Thirty-five lawyers, executives, and board members sitting around a giant mahogany table in a corner office, writing a 200-page business plan that no one will ever read.<\/em><\/p>\n

Start-Up: Two young entrepreneurs sitting in a booth at a run-down diner in New Jersey, drinking a cup of coffee at 3 a.m. and scribbling out a business plan on the closest available napkin.<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, folks… television lies.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t<\/strong> have to spend months authoring it as if you\u2019re developing a constitution, and it\u00a0doesn\u2019t<\/strong> need to be carelessly scratched onto a coffee-stained doily.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong> Think Your Business Plan is Flawless? Don\u2019t Forget This Key Element!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Below you’ll find\u00a0an easy way to create a thorough, yet flexible, business plan in less\u00a0time than the episode of “Vanilla Ice Goes Amish”<\/a> that you just finished.<\/em><\/p>\n

On a side note: Really, HGTV?!?! Vanilla Ice Goes Amish?!?! You’re better than that.<\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

Enter the Business Model Canvas<\/h2>\n

This mechanism is called the “Business Model Canvas<\/a>” and was initially proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his 2004 work named \u201cBusiness Model Ontology<\/a>.\u201d His particular method has gained enormous traction over the last few years and is proudly used by Fortune 500 companies, lean business start-ups, and MBA programs everywhere.<\/p>\n

For a quick and dirty overview, check out this awesome 2-minute YouTube video<\/a>\u00a0developed by the company Strategyzer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Full<\/a><\/p>\n

The Business Model Canvas simplifies the business plan into nine essential components:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Partners<\/li>\n
  2. Activities<\/li>\n
  3. Resources<\/li>\n
  4. Value Propositions<\/li>\n
  5. Customer Relationships<\/li>\n
  6. Channels<\/li>\n
  7. Customer Segments<\/li>\n
  8. Cost Structure<\/li>\n
  9. Revenue Streams<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    By filling out each of the above sections within the Business Model Canvas, it allows the author to easily see the big picture<\/strong>. Instead of becoming lost in the details of each individual function, one is able to see the full scope of their business with clarity.<\/p>\n

    Talk Real Estate to Me<\/h2>\n

    If you read the book\u00a0The E-Myth Revisited<\/a><\/em> by Michael Gerber, you’re probably pretty familiar with the concept of “working ON your business, not IN your business.”<\/p>\n

    Real estate is no different. Especially if you ever want to achieve scalability and a hands-off organization.<\/p>\n

    Related:<\/strong> The Four Word Business Plan to Build Your Real Estate Empire.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    Therefore, I’ve put together an “Example Buy & Hold Company” Business Model Canvas below. Feel free to use it as a guide when creating your own.<\/p>\n

    Example Buy & Hold Business\u00a0Model Canvas<\/h2>\n

    Red<\/span> – Applies to “Future Home Buyer” customer segment<\/p>\n

    Blue<\/span> –\u00a0Applies to “Renter” customer segment<\/p>\n

    Green<\/span> –\u00a0Applies to both customer segments<\/p>\n

    1. Partners<\/h3>\n

    \"Key<\/a><\/p>\n

    2. Activities<\/h3>\n

    \"Key<\/a><\/p>\n

    3. Resources<\/h3>\n

    \"Key<\/a><\/p>\n

    4. Value Propositions<\/h3>\n

    \"Value<\/a><\/p>\n

    5. Customer Relationships<\/h3>\n

    \"Customer<\/a><\/p>\n

    6. Channels<\/h3>\n

    \"Channels-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    7. Customer Segments<\/h3>\n

    \"customer_segments\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/h3>\n

    8. Cost Structure<\/h3>\n

    \"Cost<\/a><\/p>\n

    9. Revenue Streams<\/h3>\n

    \"Revenue<\/a><\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n

    Do you think the idea of the Business Model Canvas is awesome and you’re about to start right now? That’s\u00a0awesome.<\/p>\n

    Do you think it’s stupid and far too “start-up” for your business?\u00a0That’s\u00a0cool, too.<\/p>\n

    Regardless of whether or not you choose the BMC or even one of the Business Plans located in\u00a0the BiggerPockets FilePlace<\/a>, there is one thing that you’ll need to do.<\/p>\n

    Revisit it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A Business plan, no matter which version you choose, does no good sitting in a drawer. Review it on a monthly, if not weekly, basis and change it as you see fit.<\/p>\n

    Best of luck and happy planning!<\/p>\n

    Investors: Do you have a business plan written out? What key elements did you include?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Don’t forget to leave your comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We all know the benefits of having a business plan, right? Business plans keep you on the right track. They help you raise capital. They put you and your team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4192,"featured_media":72207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-business-management"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}