MODULE 3 BUSINESS PLANNING

Competences to which this Module is addressed to:

Every business needs planning, no matter if it is a start-up or a long established company.

Planning is a key part of management and governance – it is a process for creating, testing, refining and developing ideas in order to meet specific goals. The goals and aims of any enterprise need to be set, the steps toward the goals need to be planned, as well as the criteria for monitoring your success.

Plans/business plans/strategies are all different words to express the same concept: “creating an organised structure to decide what needs to be done and how to do it”.

A business plan is a document that helps you to manage your plans and:

  • is a written document that defines the goals and objectives of your business and describes how you will attain those goals.
  • is worth your considerable investment of time, effort, and energy.
  • sets objectives, defines budgets, engages partners, and anticipates problems before they occur.

The ability to draw up a business plan for your business/venture, which refers to LEVEL 2 (Intermediate) of ArtEn project framework, helps control your degree of accountability and reduce time-wasting indecision by deciding clear business goals and objectives and assessing your own business to see what the chances are that it will actually achieve those ends.

 

Core competences graph

Primary learning goals

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • Develop an enterprising approach to review, solve problems, visualise plan and develop sustainable projects
  • Outline the key steps in the business planning process starting form the “Idea Design Process”
  • Understand and identify the essential elements of the “Creative Project Canvas”, which is the Business Model Canvas specifically adapted to help Artists and Creatives develop their creative entrepreneurial skills and abilities
  • Develop the key component parts of the “Creative Project Canvas”

Specific learning goals

At the end of this module, you will know how to:

  • set your project’s goal/s, evaluate time and resources available
  • use your skills and competences
  • get reviews, building a portfolio and marketing your skills
  • develop a methodology for future work
  • prospect and predict transfer and re-contextualise skills, knowledge and experience

Business planning and key tools

Business planning is about setting a clear plan of where you and your business are going and how to achieve goals. It also involves regular monitoring to make sure you are on track.

Business plan helpsyouto graph

One of the crucial processes in business planning is surely determined by your ability to outline the specifics of your own business through the "what, where, why, how" approach, which is briefly explained in the table below:

what where why how

Surely, you have already heard of the Business Model Canvas, which is a strategic management and lean startup template for developing new or documenting existing business models. Starting from this strategic tool, in this module we present and explain the very innovative Creative Project Canvas, which is a visual framework that helps artists and creatives to plan SUSTAINABLE projects, where sustainability not necessarily refers to long-term economic profits but to solid foundations you need to establish for your professional human projects. It has been developed within “Break In The Desk” EU project by Materahub and the project partnership (www.creativeprojectcanvas.com - www.breakinthedesk.eu ). 

In the first place, though, before making your business idea real through the Creative Project Canvas, your creative idea needs time to be developed, tested and evaluated. The Idea Design Process will help you defining and detailing your idea, because it is a key tool to analyse strengths and weaknesses and feasibility of your idea according to who you are and the context where you would like to realise it.

This module will help

The very essential contents/Learning Objectives

► The Work (Play) Book is a comprehensive guide providing you with all useful and smart tools to complete a personal Creative Project Canvas.
WPB_EN_2016 (pdf)

► 3 examples of Business Model Canvas developed for: 

- Onliline platfrom wedding planning
- Netflix
- Digital music store

► What is a Business Plan?

► Work of Art: Business Plan Essentials

► How To Write a Business Plan To Start Your Own Business

The main chapters

PARTNERS