For some people, the brainstorming and creativity is the hardest part. For others, this next part will be hard: putting everything you’ve created into boxes. Getting real about business structure, marketing plans, pricing your product, and understanding the financial viability of your project.

Creating a business plan helps you compartmentalize and formalize the steps necessary for making your business a reality. The categories below will guide you through this week; they don’t all need to be filled out today. Some of the questions will be things you’ve already worked on last week, others will new this week. Fill in the sections as you’re comfortable.

Parent (Umbrella) Company Name

What is the name of your (future or existing) company, that will be registered and licensed?

Sub-Company “DBA” Names

Do you have several different product lines that each need separate “Doing Business As” (DBA) names?

Domain Names

We’ll look at website structure later. But for now, what domain names will you use in your company’s product line(s)? They may all redirect to the same website, or be separate sites. We’ll examine that later.

Describe Each of Your Companies

Mission Statement(s)

Initial Tours Offered

What are your initial offerings, that you plan to get off the ground first? Are they day tours, multi-day? What do they entail?

Seasonality

When will you offer these tours? What times of the year, and/or days of the week?

Future of the Company

What’s your vision? How big does this get? Is this a “side hustle” or a venture you’re serious about making full-time?

Your Customer: who are you serving?

What segment of the market are you entering? Luxury, budget, women’s travel, student, etc.

Type of Tour: Private? Public?