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    How do I financially plan for new opportunities?

    You never know when opportunity will come knocking, so it’s essential to always be prepared for the next one. Although some opportunities may be in the form of speaking at an event or collaborating with a competitor, others can be more costly to find and then capitalise on. So that you never let an opportunity pass you by, it’s key to be financially ready at a moment’s notice.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Developing a new product or service

    Effort : High
    Impact : High
    Creating a new product or service for your business and not sure where to start? Follow our five-step action plan.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Planning cash flow during a period of growth

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium
    Financial planning is crucial during periods of growth. Our five-step plan will help you manage finances and take advantage of the opportunity.

    Action plan

    Using research to understand the business landscape

    Effort : Low
    Impact : Medium
    This action plan looks at how business leaders can use different types of research to build a better understanding of the business landscape.

    Action plan

    Building a network from scratch

    Effort : High
    Impact : High
    Building a network is about making valuable contacts who can provide guidance during critical moments. Our action plan will show you where to start.

    Action plan

    Developing a recruitment process for scale

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium
    Improving your recruitment process increases the quality of your hires. It’s a crucial part of scaling. Here’s how to get started.

    Action plan

    Filling the skill gaps in your business

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium

    Factors outside of your control, such as changing consumer habits, development of new technologies or particular regulations, mean it's important to stay abreast of the skills your business has and doesn't have as it looks towards the future. While working this out might sound intimidating, it will allow you to focus on the skills that have the greatest potential to help your business in the short term.

    Guide

    An introduction to financially planning for new opportunities

    Having a new opportunity can be tantalising, but how do you get your finances in shape? Our guide will show you how to understand the impact on your business.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that's available

    How to write a finance section

    How to write a finance section

    Key in any business plan is the finance section, but writing this part is easier said than done. Inc’s guide has plenty of tips and tricks to help you get started.

    Start financial planning

    Start financial planning

    This free financial planning template from Bplans depicts all the different elements required for a successful financial section.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Martin Bysh, Huboo

    Real business story

    Your story, not your timing, is key to securing funding

    Young companies will often need to have a compelling story if investment to scale and grow is to be secured, as Huboo has demonstrated..
    Nikolay Piriankov, Taylor and Hart

    Real business story

    Sales targets motivate staff and help businesses reach full potential

    Sales targets are helping London-based jewellery business Taylor & Hart motivate staff and succeed in a highly competitive market..
    Afsaneh Parvizi-Wayne, Freda

    Real business story

    Learn from competitors to avoid mistakes and spot opportunities

    Learning from competitors is vital to avoiding mistakes and identifying gaps in the market for Freda, an ethical sanitary product business..

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments?

    Leadership & Strategy

    How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs?

    People & Team

    How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I run a better appraisals process? How should I performance manage my staff? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How can I keep my best members of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How can I reduce employee turnover?

    Planning

    How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to scale up my business? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I know when to invest in my business? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals? How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business?

    Sales & Growth

    How can we develop new products and services? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I build a network to support my business? How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How can I identify new customers to target? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth? How do I benchmark my business against competitors?
    All