There are many reasons businesses fail. It could be that the idea didn´t work out, or that the business ran out of cash. But one reason has to do with poor planning. If you are launching an eLearning business, one important step is to develop an eLearning business plan. This plan will tell you, among other things, expenses, return on investment (ROI), forecast profits, and the most important point: which problem you are solving and who your customers are out there in the market.
An eLearning business is similar to any other business, but it has its own issues. For example, you sell very specialized knowledge and technology, kind of like a software business. But an eLearning business has visual elements in its products. And it aims to develop a product that can support learning. In services, consulting is the main source of revenue for many eLearning start-ups.
Working on an eLearning business plan
Don’t buy that business plan software just yet. If you are a one-man (or woman) show, you don’t need that kind of workhorse. You just need Google Docs or a plain spreadsheet and a word processor. A business plan does not need to be a long document with pretty pie charts and spreadsheets with numbers for the next five years.
It must contain a definition of the problem you are trying to solve with your products and services, and the market you are trying to help with your solutions. It must have the information of what you are planning for your enterprise for at least the next year. In terms of financials, you must break down expenses and cash flow by month. You need to outline the goals you expect to attain, and they need to be measurable, for example:
- number of contracts you expect to secure,
- number of customers you expect to serve and how much revenue will bring in,
- number of billable hours you would expect to invoice,
- number of students you expect to enroll in your online courses,
- and so on.
This also applies for your plan for your association, although in this case you would need a more detailed plan than the freelancer needs. In both cases it is important to lay out what your business will do, what your market is, how are you planning on marketing your services, and other details that will help your company achieve those goals.
One important detail that you need to lay out in this plan is exactly what you are selling. Is it a product? Is it a service? You just cannot say that you are selling eLearning, that is a very broad term. But you could say that you are selling an online course on time management, or that you are offering weekly paid webinars on three technical subjects such as energy savings, green buildings, and waste management.
If the market changes, you can change the plan (and maybe what you offer), but you need to have it ready, you never know when that venture funding could show up. Plus it will help your bosses at that association see the vision you have for the task they entrusted you with.
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