Business Plan - Mission and Objectives

So got the executive summary, we've talked about all those specific issues. Then the next thing we're gonna be looking at is gonna be what's the mission, what's the goal, what's the big idea, what sets you apart, what's the thing that makes you a little bit different from everybody else. So in this case, they're saying this architecture firm is going to offer a new type of digital interactive media for the client and for the builder. So they're talking about saying, all right we're gonna be totally new school. We're gonna be all over the newest trends of digital media, and that's gonna be our big calling card.

So they're sort of laying claim, that's our mission is to be on top of it. Once you say that, then other elements of the business plan should back that up. So for example, in a later section you might include numbers for sending people to conferences to keep up on the latest technology or constantly hiring new interns to sort of constantly get a new blood of new information about all the new products that are out and the new programs that are being used.

So if you say that's your mission, then the rest of the document should back that mission up. And then after you've said what your mission is, there should be a little bit of discussion about why that's useful. So in this case they're saying, with this new form of media, the client doesn't have to know anything about architectural graphics or terminology to have a clear understanding of what the end result will look like. So they're saying we're gonna do lots and lots of rendering. All of our design processes will be rendered so that the clients when they're making their decisions can see it's not just about understanding floor plans and elevations but about being able to see what the decisions they're making are really gonna be like.

So this is saying, here's our mission, here's why it's important. So you're filling out, you're having a sort of a big idea, and then filling out that information about why this is a good idea. And then in this case they also then continue on to talk about how that's useful to the builder as well as to other people in this process. So they're trying to sort of make sure that this mission seems meaningful and not just kind of a cool thing to do, but they're sort of laying the groundwork for what's gonna happen later in this business plan and saying this is why this idea, this mission, this niche, is important.

So then after the mission, we get to a couple of next phases here, and typically that would be objectives, which is similar to mission but a little bit different. So objectives are the ways of saying, all right, we have a mission, we have an idea about what we wanna do, here's what our objectives are in order to do that.

So maybe there's an idea about how much financial gain you'll be able to have, and that would be important because in order to be that mission, in order to really fulfill in this case this sort of high-tech desire, you're probably gonna have to have a lotta new computers constantly, you're gonna have to have new programs, you're gonna be thinking about these things, you need to have new young talent all the time. So in order to be able to do that mission, the objective is really you're gonna have to have a certain amount of income coming in in order for that to be really believable.

And then they're also talking about here about market areas, what they can do with their three-dimensional construction documents. So they're talking about we wanna be able to do this stuff in order to be able to meet the mission that we just talked about. So our objectives are sort of a subset of the mission. Now interestingly this particular template has this idea of keys to success. That's actually kind of a funny terminology. It's a little different, I've never actually seen that before. But it's an interesting one and I kinda like it because what it says is, you know there's objectives, but there's also ways of thinking about the objectives.

And so the keys to success are about another way of thinking about how do we meet that mission. So it's not just what are our objectives, but sort of a way of saying, well this will work if, and then that's gonna be useful information to have sat down and gone through. Because the point of the business plan partly is to get all the numbers, all the ducks in a row, make sure the performers work, all of that kinda stuff. But it's also partly for you and your partner or whoever is part of the decision-making process to actually sit down and have a conversation.

And when the two of you sit down or the five of you or the 10 of you sit down and say, well okay what is our mission? Well our mission is to really dive deep into community work, or our mission is to be always right on trend with the newest interior layout trends, or to know about all the new equipment for kitchens and things like that. Or maybe we're about efficiency, and we'll be really great for doing manufacturing buildings because we're so good at being efficient.

Or maybe it's all about sustainability, or maybe our mission is, but you see there could be any of those different topics, but now we're having a conversation and the people who are part of that decision-making have to decide well what are we really doing. What is our mission? And then what are those objectives that are gonna get us to that mission? And what would make it plausible? What are the keys to the success of this as a venture? So you're it's forcing that conversation.

It's really amazingly easy. This happens all the time where people will be working together for some architecture firm and they'll say, hey we should start our own firm. And then they'll go off and they'll start the firm and they'll get everything up and running, but they will never have actually had a conversation about what it is they're really meaning to do. Are they trying to be avant garde? Are they trying to be a company that makes money? Are they trying to be at the forefront of what gets printed in the local paper? Like what's the point of what they're trying to do?

And if they haven't had that conversation, well you can be pretty much guaranteed that a year, two years, three years down the road, there's gonna be a lotta friction, there's gonna be a lot of head banging that's gonna go on because they didn't go through the logical process of coming up with a regular business plan that forces that conversation so you can have everybody on the same page using this document, this tool, to keep moving forward.

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