 Well hello and welcome to this video. Have you ever wondered exactly how to get an artist's business plan created? Not just what goes into it, but actually how to get it done in the fastest possible time. In my previous videos, which I'll link below this one, I've shared exactly the seven steps of what goes into a business plan and I will do a quick recap in a moment, but in this video I really want to break down step by step exactly how to get fully prepared so that you can put your plan together quickly and easily. Now having an artist's business plan really does make the difference between failure and success. And I'm sure you've heard that quote, if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. And just in case this all seems super overwhelming, I've got a brand new freebie for you. Yes, a PDF download, the ultimate artist's business plan checklist. I think you're going to love it. It's 20 boxes that you can take as you work your way down. What needs to go into the perfect business plan so that you can go on and really make a good living from your art. Well hello and welcome or welcome back to my channel. My name is Sophie and I help artists just like you to build a profitable business doing what you love. And if you want more tips and tricks on how to build that profitable business then you're in the right place because this channel shares all things art business related. So don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell to get notified every time I post a new video. So here's a quick reminder of my seven step business plan. There's a link up here to the video where you can watch it into more depth. But just as a reminder in case you're saying I have watched that video Sophie, we've got things like the big picture that's all your vision and mission and purpose where you're going. Then you've got your products and services. What are you going to be selling and at what price? Then we look at of course your audience that vital research things like exciting things like the SWAT analysis. Filling that out by the way is going to enable you to be able to move swiftly into a new way of running the business. If something like a pandemic would have come along so you're always staying flexible in the head of the game. Then step five is business model then we've got step six which is all about marketing and sales and of course step seven is the finances. So like I say maybe when you've watched this video check out the full seven steps. And of course we need to remember that doing an artist business plan is 80% preparation and 20% putting it together. So that's the bits that go in it. Now we want to look at that 20% that vital 20% of how are you actually going to put it together. Because I've run workshops in the past where we spend all day kind of workshopping the plan and getting a lot of it done. And everyone confidently says I'm going to go home and finish that Sophie. And I just know unfortunately that the percentage of people who ever finish a business plan is really really small. And I'd love you to be part of increasing that percentage. Let's have more and more artists completing the plan. Because when you have a plan to work off you know what you're doing month by month week by week. And you're not losing hours of time scratching your head working out what you should be doing. And most importantly don't forget to get that checklist because that's going to help you. That's something you can print off and you can work longer. Yep I've done that. I've done that. I've done that. And of course by signing up to the checklist you will be put onto my email list from which you can unsubscribe anytime. But there's a sequence of emails that follow up that just give you a little bit more learning and points to specific videos that will help you as well in the different areas of the business plan. And I just need to let you know as well. Super excited. We do actually have a course that will walk you through all of those seven steps and kind of hold your hand to help you to complete that business plan. So look out for details. Either get on the waiting list or if the doors are open the information is below this video. Ok so now we've looked at the preparation, the checklist, the seven steps, what you need to do. Now let's get practical. Now let's talk about the really important part. That is, well ok that's great. I know what I need to put in the plan. I've got a template. Maybe I'm even doing the course. But now I need to actually get it done. So here's some top tips, suggestions and simple steps you can follow to get it done. So step one I'm going to recommend that you allocate two days to research and one day to getting the plan done. And you might be going oh my god Sophie that's a huge amount of time. But I can promise you that if you simply block out the time you will get the tasks done. There's nothing worse than saying ok I need to do this. I'll fill in what I can now and I'll research later. Just allocate the time because you're going to use it anyway. Allocate the time, really dive into it. Two days for research, one day for then infilling all the information that you've gathered. So step two of course is to do that research. So you need to be looking at things like the pricing. And don't forget we've got videos, the six steps for pricing that's up here and again links below this video. So if you're struggling with pricing and what you should be doing then you can research some element of research in that six steps. You want to do things like that. What about audience? You're going to need to do some research and discoveries to work out who that target audience. If you've done the research then that's a huge amount of it done, that's the 80% right. And again links below this video to my target audience videos that you can find out exactly who they are as well there. What about demands? You need to do some research to find out if there's actually demand for your product or service that you'd like to sell. Competitors, part of building a business plan of course is looking around and seeing what your competitors are doing, your direct competitors, your indirect competitors. So that's part of the research as well. So you're going to need a giant mug of tea to do this research. Or maybe even a coffee, or maybe something else. Then there's a lovely swath analysis, that's your strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. There's an element of research and thinking there as well, perhaps specifically in terms of working out what your opportunities and threats might be. That might be a case of really scratching your head and really doing some research to find out exactly what those might be because a major part of your plan is going to be plugging those gaps. Because when you've worked out what your threats are and what your weaknesses are, for example, you'll be able to make sure that you don't stumble over those in the future. Then there's areas like your USP, your unique selling proposition. How do you do that? Well again we've got information on that, not here on the channel at the moment, but specifically in the course, build your artist business plan course, walks into exactly how to find out what makes you different. How can you stand out in a crowded marketplace? You can also do this again as part of your competitor analysis. So once you've done all the research areas, and those are just some of the ones I wanted to highlight, once you've got your checklist you'll have spotted a few others, you can go, ha, okay I can get that done. So you've allocated the time, you've got the research done, you've spent your two days, you've gathered lots of bits of paper and maybe some spreadsheets and information altogether, let's move on to step number three. Step number three, you're going to gather all your financials, so that might be getting out previous receipts, getting out previous tax returns, your spreadsheet, your cash flow forecast, your profit and loss, all the things that you need in order to be able to do your numbers properly in the business plan. Step number four, I love me some planners, so don't forget to print off your planners, things like an annual planner, maybe printed off quite large, quarters planner, that's a vital part of the business plan itself, and then things like monthly planners and maybe even weekly planners. You're doing a whole planning session, not just the business plan, but you want to translate that into easy things that you can put up in your working space so you always know exactly what you're doing at any one time. Step five, you want to be ready to make quick and clear decisions. I can't stress this enough. You can get lost down the rabbit hole of research, the rabbit hole of business planning and never actually get to the end. So you want to determine and make a deal with yourself that you're going to make quick decisions. So when it comes to, okay, I've done the pricing, that's it, I'm going to charge that. What are my key products? Okay, I'm just going to choose those and move on. Remember, the big thing here about business planning is it's not set in stone, right? You're writing it down as a working document that you can use ongoing. So you can always come back every quarter or halfway through the year and make some alterations because you'll have some data by then. You'll know what you're doing. You'll know what you love doing. You know what's going to sell well, what you'd like to do more of or less of. So just make the decisions, put the information in the plan and move on. So okay, step six on plan day, the day you have allocated. You want to make sure there are no distractions, all right? Switch off anything and everything. The only thing you want open are all the information and all the research and all those bits of paper that you've gathered for the plan. So gather it all together, then switch everything off. The phone goes on silent, all the notifications. Just turn them off or turn your phone over. Then I recommend also working in blocks of one or two hours because it's only so long that your brain can stay focused, right? So you say, okay, I'm going to put a timer on for two hours. I've got my mug of coffee. I've got the information. I've got my plan. Bang, bang, bang. I'm going to start from the top. Then take a break. Go and stretch your legs, get some fresh air. Go down the road, round the block, whatever you need to do. Come back in. Go again. Maybe two hours or one hour this time. And then break again. Then make sure you break for lunch, some exercise, jumping up and down, bit of a boogie, bit of a dance, some music. And then you move on to the next bit. And here's the most important thing is you need to get to the end. You really, really have got to say to yourself, I need to complete this, right? You're going to complete it in the quickest, fastest way. Make a decision, move on. Do the writing, move on. You'll be so proud of yourself when you have completed the plan. All right, the last step or tip or whatever you want to call it, number seven, just work down the sections as quickly as you can. So here how I like to do it. I like to start at the beginning and I like to infill the bits that I already know. Yes, key products of this. Yes, prices of that. Turnovers of that. Great. Yep, here's my audience. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Anything I'm not sure of immediately. I'm going to leave and then I'm going to go back. And then I go back to the top, gather my research in. Go, oh, okay. Yes, that research is there. Now I'm going to add that bit, add that bit, add that bit. It's kind of like a process of a painting, all right? You're just going to start by that overall sketch a bit everywhere and maybe you're then going to put some layers in and then some more layers. And then only then are you going to work into the details. It's the same with your plan. Get all the basics in, infill the basics. You start to feel good. You've got something in all seven areas. Then go back in, do some layers. Bit more detail in there, bit more detail in there, bit more detail. And then just push yourself from that final hour to go and go into the detail. And then, of course, celebrate. It's massive. You've done it. You have written a complete business plan. And this is something that loads and loads and loads of your fellow artists will never do, all right? And you have set yourself above a lot of other people. You have set yourself up for success. I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited for you and I'm so excited for your business that you can create now. Now, like I said, if you need any help, we have some resources. Don't forget to watch the other videos that will pad out a little bit of what I've been talking about. All the links are below this video. And grab yourself my free checklist because why wouldn't you, all right? You've got something to work down as you go. Now, if you're really serious, you're really ready and you're really committed to do the plan in depth and you're saying, you know what? I don't want to watch the extra videos. I don't want to have to work at how to do it on my own. I just want you to walk me through all those seven steps and all the things I need to do. Then the Build Your Artist Business Plan is going to be the course for you. Check out the link below this video because I think we have a little special offer for you watching here today. I'm super excited to have the doors open to that course again. It's our foundational course. From there, everything can spring. So like I say, if you're somebody who just wants to get it done, get it done quickly, not have to look around, be just guided through each of those seven steps, end up with a completed plan, then this simple short course will be the one for you. And we look forward to having you join us on the course as well. And if you've loved this video and you're all about the business planning, don't forget to give me a thumbs up. Leave me a helpful comment below as well, what bit of the video really inspired you, where you are with your business plan and if you need any help, don't forget to give us a shout out as well. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you on the next one.