A New BEGINNING: PLANNING FOR EXPANSION
Congratulations! You have completed your NxLeveL® Business Plan. Now that you’re familiar with the business planning process, you can utilize these powerful tools again and again as your business grows and prospers.
There are several questions to ask at this point, including how you feel about the plan, whether the timing is right to continue with the project, and how your family feels about implementing the plan. In this final session, we ask you to consider your business future, including managing business growth.
Growth Planning Worksheet
Successful entrepreneurs distinguish themselves by their ability to plan for expansion. They identify trends that are likely to affect their business environment. They plan for their financial needs and begin laying the groundwork for additional financing long before they need it. They create management controls to sustain performance, utilize budgets to safeguard cash, and identify the staff they’ll need in order to grow safely.
1.	Do you expect to pursue horizontal growth (increase sales of an existing product within an existing market) or vertical growth (offering a new product or seek out a new market for an existing product)? Name the growth strategy you favor (building market share, demand innovation, strategic acquisition, going international, etc.). Why is this the best option for your business?
Growth Planning Worksheet—continued
2.	In light of your answer above and the things you’ve learned in this session, do you need to update your business plan to add or improve your growth plans? If so, what sections need to be updated? If not, when will you revisit this question?
3.	Explain the role of innovation in your plans for continued expansion. How will current and future innovations drive growth at your business? How will you create a culture of innovation at your business and use it to grow consistently?
Barriers and Pitfalls Worksheet
If you intend to move forward with your business idea, there will be barriers and pitfalls along the way. Thinking about these problems before you move forward will help you overcome them.
1.	What are the biggest barriers and pitfalls you expect to face in the first year of business? What about your second and third years?
2.	What will you do to overcome or manage these problems?
The NxLeveL® PROJECT Plan
Any small business can benefit from utilizing project management tools to guide and measure progress toward important goals. The NxLeveL® Project Plan is a simple project management tool that will help you accomplish the next steps in growing your business.
List the projects you need to complete:
Next, prioritize them, add them to the NxLeveL® Project Plan on the next page, and fill in the missing information. (You can enlarge this page with a photocopier, or else create your own version on a computer.)
Note that effective project management provides data that will help you to improve your planning skills (e.g., by identifying bad assumptions, variances, and so on).
Ideally, your Project Plan should be posted where all team members can see it. You can update it every week or two as necessary to reflect changes (with the exception of the cost and time estimates, which must stay the same so that they can be compared with actual results).

The NxLeveL® PROJECT Plan

Project | Team leader / Team | Resources needed | Estimated costs | + / - | Success indicators | Next steps | Timeline (in weeks) | + / -