To be successful over the long haul, every one-person business needs to do some planning. The more organized the planning - the better the choices you will make. It is not necessary for you to have a full-blown business plan, like the ones used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the start-up and growth of businesses with a lot of employees. For the one-person business a simple business plan will suffice.

1. Do You Really Need A Business Plan?

Some businesses will, admittingly, fare just fine without a business plan. The importance of doing a business plan is the process in and of itself. It's not because experts say you have to do it or a bank says you have to do it, though that may be one way to use it. The reason to do a business plan is that the very process of going through a series of questions about your business will force you to audit the current situation and think about the future - to think strategically.

2. Calculate Your Net Worth

One of the most powerful steps you can take to understand your financial condition is to calculate your net worth. If our economic life is about the accumulation of wealth (as economists say it is), then to understand our economic life we need to understand our wealth - where it comes from, what forms it takes, and how much of it is available for us to use in starting and running a one-person business. A healthy net worth is one where your incoming funds exceed your debts owed.

3. Keep Accurate Records

One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is keep accurate records of your costs and expenses, as well as what revenues you bring in. In the event of a dispute over what expenses you were able to write off, for example, you would be able to back that up instantly with receipts and records.