by the lovely Ms. Ella

No whining. Every single one of you needs a business plan. Whether you’re an artist planning to sell paintings or a crafty gal making original toothbrush holders, if you want to make a living working for yourself — you need a business plan.

It sounds scary, but it isn’t. A business plan is simply a map. It shows you the way from where you are today to where you want to be six months, a year or even 10 years from now. It is a tool to help you to focus on your short and long term goals; a business plan will get you thinking about what it takes to actually accomplish them. The plan will also force you to take a hard look at how you plan to make money with your skills.

If the idea of money makes you think you are "selling out" or "my art is fabulous and noncommercial, to hell with money," get used to either being poor or working full-time for the man and doing your art as a hobby. That sounds harsh, but everyone needs to make a living, and if you want to do it on your own terms, you need to figure out how to make your talents pay. A business plan will help you get your hands around that.

Now that you are hopefully convinced you need a business plan, here is what you’ll need to do. Open a word processing document and get to work. Your plan doesn’t need to be book size. It can be three pages long and still be an effective plan.

But every plan consists of three basic parts: an outline of your business, financial information and a marketing plan.

The outline is just that — a few brief paragraphs outlining your business identity and what art, product or service you want to sell. Also include several paragraphs explaining how you plan to start your business. For instance, are you just going to sell your paintings to dealers or are you planning to sew stuffed animals and sell them through your own online store? You can be basic here. This is just to get you thinking. Write a second page outlining where you would like to be in six months to one year. If you have a grand vision of what you want your company to be, write it down here. Make a list your short and long term goals. This will serve as your guide should you ever feel stuck in a rut.

Financial information is simply sitting down and coming up with a plan to make your art profitable. For instance, if you have a zine, this is the time to figure out if you want to make money by selling advertisements or through reader subscriptions, or both. You can use this section to brainstorm as well, and come up with some creative ways to generate extra money from your art.

If you like to get detailed, you could analyze your overhead: i.e. how much it costs you to live and produce your product, and then how much you need to sell and need to charge for each one to actually make a living. This can be quite the reality check, so it’s worth doing.

The last part is the marketing section. It’s pretty simple. Do a little soul-searching and ask, "Who am I making this for?" If you think your art appeals to 25-40 year old women who live in Albuquerque , then that is your market. Why do this? Because it helps you focus your promotional energy on getting your goods in front of the right people — people who may actually buy it.

Once you have a good idea of who you are selling to, the marketing plan needs to address how you plan to reach them. No, you don’t need a lot of money to promote; it can be as simple as "I know these people go to a particular Web site, so I will write an article for that site." Or maybe your customers visit an online chat room or forum. Join up and use it. This could also mean putting up posters in the right coffee shop. Promotion is important, and having at least a basic plan in place will coax you into getting off your butt to actually do some promoting.

Voila. You now have a business plan. Wasn’t that painless? Doesn’t it feel good to have a little bit of direction in your creative endeavor?

This plan is not set in stone, however, it’s a living, breathing document that can be updated and changed as circumstances change. And it’s a good idea to change it every 6 months or so, just to reflect where you have been and what you have learned.

If you’d like more guidance, visit the Small Business Administration Web site for step-by-step instructions or take on of the many fine books on the topic out of your local library. Your career will thank you for it.