A Fledgling Business Plan

The creation of my business plan has begun! I'm kind of enjoying the process of drafting a formal business plan; that's something I didn't do when I started my bricks-and-mortar practice. Obviously I did a good deal of planning and had strategies formulated for generating business, but I never reduced those theories and ideas to written form. I'm finding it to be a beneficial process and will likely generate a business plan for my law practice as a whole when I get some free time. (haha, like that's going to happen).

There's lots of information to include in a typical business plan, so it's going to take a little longer to draft than I had first anticipated. After the jump, I'll give you a few excerpts from my current draft and my thoughts on the important elements of a business plan.

I started drafting my business plan by addressing some of the general concepts behind a VLO. Most of what I've written in the business plan so far is related in some way to stuff we've discussed on this blog. You can get a feel for that from this excerpt: 

"One major factor that is a competitive edge for Cutting Edge VLO its status as the first of its kind in Northwest Iowa. Reputation matters in a small community. Being the first to do something will make Cutting Edge VLO a leader in the community and the region.

"Another strength for the VLO is the flexibility it provides. In a farm community, many of the potential clients for the VLO are limited to certain times of the year during which they are available. Providing access to a legal advisor on a flexible schedule will appeal to many whose schedule might otherwise be restrictive.

"An additional strength of the VLO is the size of the potential client base. By providing legal services through a client portal, we can bring the law office into the clients’ homes. They work in an environment that is comfortable to them and on a schedule that is comfortable to them. Furthermore, being online, a VLO is by definition accessible to more than just a local population. The entire states of both Iowa and Missouri become possible sources of clients."

And that is about as far as I've gotten. There's a lot more to do yet as far as a business plan is concerned. The portion that I expect will pose the biggest challenge for me is the marketing plan. There's a lot to think about when it comes to marketing online, including things like search engine optimization and online advertising. I've always thought that internet advertising was a bit like the World War II strategy of "carpet bombing." You know: drop enough explosive devices, and eventually you'll blow up something important. I hope I find out that it's not that random (or expensive!).

Once the business plan is finished, I'll scrub it of sensitive information, post it on some document-sharing website and leave a link here. That way, you can all go check it out.