From Plan to First Customer

The Goal

By the end of this chapter you will have turned your plan into action: a 30-day action plan, a small pilot with real customers, a weekly routine to review results, and a clear rule for when to continue, change course or stop. You will also know the basic formal steps for registering a business.

Understand: plans don’t sell — actions do

Many good plans die in a drawer. The reason is rarely a bad idea. It is usually that the first step was too big, too vague or kept being postponed.

The answer is to start small, concrete and soon:

• Small: a pilot with a few customers, not a launch for the whole county.
• Concrete: “Visit three groups on Tuesday”, not “do marketing”.
• Soon: the first action this week, not “when everything is ready”. It will never be fully ready.