How to Create a Business Plan: The Key Steps

If you’re committed to turning your passion project into a profitable venture, you may want to consider building a business plan.

A business plan is a roadmap for your business. It helps you define your goals, strategies, and financial projections. It’s also essential if you’ll ever need to attract investors or secure funding.

Whether you have a small business on the side or a business that’s forecasted to make millions, a business plan can be a valuable tool.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, or if you’re already in business and want to take it to the next level, you should consider whether or not a business plan can benefit you.

In this article, I’m going to tell you exactly how to create a business plan that will support your company’s growth.

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I began following the FIRE movement nearly a decade ago. While I still have a journey ahead of me, FIRE has helped me substantially change my life in short order.

Since I started FIRE, I’ve paid off my student loans, maximized my income, learned to live below my means, and achieved many of my other financial goals.

While my journey is far from over, FIRE has helped me become more financially free. Between myself and my partner, we can afford to live off just one of our incomes.

When it comes to the FIRE movement, we still have plans for what we want to accomplish in the future, and in this article, I’m going to tell you exactly what we have planned for FIRE next.

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My stock market investing journey didn’t start with a bang.

I remember what it was like when I started my first 401K. There were so many options and I had NO idea what I was doing. I asked a supervisor for advice, but he couldn’t provide any.

Confused and overwhelmed, I did my best to make smart investing choices, but I couldn’t be sure. 

After that day, I committed to learning what I could about investing so that I could be better prepared in the future.

It’s been over a decade since then, and while I’m continuously advancing my knowledge of stock market investing, I’ve come a long way.

In this article, I’m going to tell you how I learned to make smarter investing choices, and how I invest my money today to add FIRE to my finances.

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Job skills are essential to build a solid career. It can take time and effort to acquire and build the skills you need, but continuous development is essential for long-term career success.

Throughout my career, I’ve obtained various job skills, but a few have served me more than others.

In this article, I’m going to tell you about the 10 most important job skills I’ve obtained in my career. I’ll tell you how those skills served me in my career, and how you can enhance your skill set in these areas.

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If you’ve been following the FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early), you probably already know that early retirement is a fundamental component.

When I first started pursuing FIRE with my partner, I had no plans to retire early. I figured I’d achieve financial freedom, but would likely continue working in my career for many years.

After my boys were born, my perspective changed. While I know that I won’t be ready to retire any time soon, it is something that I’m passionate about pursuing.

In this article, I’m going to tell you how I plan on getting to the “retire early” portion of the FIRE method. I’ll also tell you what I’ve achieved to date with FIRE, and what I have planned when I eventually choose to retire early.

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Negotiation skills are incredibly valuable, whether you’re negotiating a salary in a new job, or even deliberating with your partner about who’s taking the trash out.

If you’re looking to rev up your negotiation skills, then you likely intend to use them to deliberate with a potential new employer. However, your negotiation skills can serve you in many aspects of your life.

In today’s competitive job market, it’s more important than ever to have strong negotiation skills. Whether you’re negotiating your salary, benefits, or other terms of employment, you’ll want to come prepared.

In this article, I’ll share some simple ways you can use negotiation skills in your career, but in other ways as well. I’ll also tell you some of the key negotiation skills I’ve used to succeed in my interviews and in new hire conversations with employers.

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It wasn’t until I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad that I started to believe in the possibility of a FIRE lifestyle (financial independence, retire early).

It was as if a whole new world of possibility had suddenly opened itself up, though I was certainly skeptical of it, at least initially.

Like many others, I’d always believed that a fulfilling life meant a regular 9-5 job, a house with a white picket fence, and a herd of children. It didn’t occur to me before then that there were other ways to live. I’d always believed you had to work hard to earn a reasonable income.

It wouldn’t be until years later that I would begin pursuing a FIRE lifestyle. I wouldn’t even hear “FIRE” spoken as a financial freedom phrase until nearly a decade after I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

In this article, I’ll tell you how I began my journey to a FIRE lifestyle, some key lessons I learned along the way, and where the rest of my journey is headed.

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As I sat down in our tax accountant’s office, I looked down at the piece of paper I was holding in my hands. It was an important document that reflected what I’d paid in interest toward my student debt that year. 

I couldn’t believe the figure in front of my face, yet it was right there. 

In just one year, I’d paid roughly $3,000 of interest into my student loans. And that was only the interest for one year. It didn’t account for the amount I’d paid into the principal balances, or what my husband had paid into his student loans either. 

That $3,000 was all I was allowed to write off on our taxes.

I had just paid what accounted for a nice cruise vacation into my student debt interest, and it didn’t even help lower the balance. I would have rathered spent the money on that vacation instead, but here I was, holding the piece of paper that proved I’d done otherwise. 

That money was gone, wasted.

I shook my head before I handed the document over to the accountant.

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After I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, I feared I’d never be able to build a successful career, and it was a dream that greatly mattered to me.

After my diagnosis, it was hard to face the reality that I would likely live with a chronic illness for the rest of my life.

While I didn’t give up on my dreams, I knew that my plans would need to shift, at least to some degree.

When I was young I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. I went to college with that intent and by the time I graduated, I’d become quite familiar with astronaut requirements.

The requirements were strict and incredibly difficult to overcome, even for someone in perfect health, so I knew my chances of becoming an astronaut were essentially 0.

However, I knew I could still become a scientist, and I dreamed of building a successful career and making a difference through science.

As you’ll soon learn, my career didn’t go exactly as planned, and I never foresaw making a shift like I would eventually make, but I did manage to build a successful career. In this article, I’m going to tell you exactly what I did to build my career while managing Crohn’s disease.

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Investing 101 Introduction: A Pathway to Financial Freedom

It’s tough to balance a chronic illness with life demands, but somehow life finds a way.

(I know, I know. That was a terrible place for a classic Jurassic Park quote, but somehow it’s still fitting.)

In reality, you’re a warrior: a chronic illness warrior. Somehow, you do it all, and you and I know that life is tough even WITHOUT having to balance a chronic illness.

I get it, the last thing on your mind is probably your investing strategy. You have 1,000 doctor’s appointments, and you can’t quite remember when you last took your meds…

Speaking of which, I forgot to take mine. Hang on…

Where were we? Ah, yeah…

Your chronic illness takes a beating on you, and sometimes it’s incessant and unending. Sometimes your dreams feel impossible, especially when simply getting out of bed feels like you completed a marathon.

Yes, there are days when it’s a struggle, and there will be days when you feel like giving up. It’s totally understandable, and you absolutely deserve grace. 

You also deserve success, and success doesn’t get handed to any of us. You have to fight for it.

What does this have to do with investing 101, you might wonder? Keep reading on and you’ll find out.

In this investing 101 article, I’m going to provide you with 5 tips you can use to build a successful investing strategy, even as you balance the demands of your chronic illness.

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