Featured Solopreneur Rob Place: “Write a Business Plan!”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of solopreneur:
Rob Place

Name of business and city:
Business Plan Local. It’s an online business, but I presently live in New York City with my beautiful wife Megan.

Web site addresses:
BusinessPlanLocal.com and Facebook.com/Businessplanlocal

Type of business:
Business Plan Local is a business plan writing company. I know, I know, there are so many of them out there! When I researched the industry, I realized that there were a lot of fierce competitors out there. But I also saw there were some real gaps in the competition, namely, the area where my passion and skills lie. Business Plan Local is the first online company specializing in business plans for local business.

When did you officially go into business?
“Officially” is a tough word to define. I’ve been helping people write business plans for years, yet had no online presence the whole time. But word of mouth only gets you so far, and I knew I wouldn’t be in New York forever, so I created the website that creates a unique brand and allows me to run it virtually.

Why did you start your own business?

I’d like to have a grand epiphany moment, but in reality, it’s been a very gradual transition. When serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa, I co-founded a nonprofit that fuels economic growth through microloans and job creation. Since getting my MBA in 2007, I’ve worked in an economic development organization coaching and training entrepreneurs on writing business plans, securing financing, and growing their business. I also served as a senior loan underwriter for local business loans. So this toolkit of skills along with my passion for small-business entrepreneurship was a great platform that I could build a business upon. The web site was launched last week and I’m ready to start promoting it.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
It’s kind of funny, but sometimes when you do something for a living, you do the opposite of what you tell people because you give yourself too much credit. Kind of like a mechanic doing oil changes all day but not doing it for his own car. Even though I’m smack dab in the middle of the business plan business, I tried “officially starting” my own business without a plan about nine months ago. Things didn’t go well for me.

Good thing for me, I knew fairly quickly that I was heading nowhere fast and realized I needed a plan. It took a compelling hypothesis of my niche and some research to understand the industry, the competitors, and the customers I wanted to target. Writing my own business plan for my business paved the way to where I am now: very confident that this will be a successful business.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
I took a practical approach on what activities I should do myself and which ones I should contract out. After writing my own business plan, my visual of what the brand would be was very clear and I was sure that I needed to do that myself. So I taught myself Illustrator and created all the art work, sketched out a basic wireframe of the website, and wrote some high-level content. Then I hired web design company KentonWebDesign.com to execute it. I then hired another great resource, copywriter Beth of SmartGreenMedia.com , to clean up my content and give it some oomph. I probably could have built my own web site and written all my content by myself, but it would have taken me eons longer and the quality would have suffered. Once I created a startup deadline for myself, I pulled the trigger and made it happen by hiring people to do what they do best and not try to do it all myself.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are doing to try to solve it?
Right now, it’s getting people to my web site. I’m reaching out to possible partners to create a referral program.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
To help 24 aspiring and existing businesses secure financing (through developing a business plan).

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
Unfortunately for consulting, the capacity of a service-based solopreneur’s can quickly overload when success is achieved. Rather than raising my prices to temper demand, I plan to expand beyond my own capacity by employing a staff of creative and virtual writers that can help me make more of an impact on local businesses across the country.

What are your main software programs?
MS Office and communications technology like Google Voice and Skype.

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Write a business plan, of course! Even solos need one to refine a niche, polish a unique brand, and develop a smart marketing campaign. Solos also need to be confident as it’s so easy to lose it when you’re working from home and you’re both making and executing the decisions. Self-doubt can be a solopreneur killer. To battle procrastination, create hard deadlines for yourself and stick to them.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
Of course! And a virtual solopreneur is even better.

What lifestyle choices have you had to make to stay in business?
I believe you have to be proactive here. I knew I valued family first and also wanted to be able to live in various parts of the country. With that being said, the online model works well for me. Technology allows me to be effective whether I live in the backcountry, on the ocean, or in the mountains.