This post was written by Martin Povey who has his own marketing and business coaching company. He has worked with many entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises, looking at business strategy and creative solutions to build their business and achieve their goals.

If you're like me you simply want to do great work for great customers, earn an honest income and make your business more profitable.

The fact is that to achieve this you need to plan your work and work your plan. Without a well thought through plan your dreams can quickly turn into nightmares.

Your Business Building Plan is your road map, showing you the route to take, where it is you want to be and how you're going to get there and achieve your goals.

As an entrepreneur, independent professional or home or small business owner you know that being your own boss can be terrifically fulfilling, fun and even profitable - yet at the same time it can be extremely frustrating! Why is that?

Could it be because it seems that so often you're so busy "doing" that there's no time to focus on building your business. And because there's no overall business plan or marketing strategy in place, the result is a continuous cycle of "feast or famine".

There's plenty of business out there but you're so preoccupied with the current state of things that you're not looking at the future state. If you don't know where you're going then you're not going to get there!

Let's say that you decide to visit an old friend who lives a couple of days away. Would you simply wake up one morning, just take off, turn right at the end of your block, then drive for 48 hours hoping that you were going in the right direction, hoping that you've got enough gas and enough money and hoping that you wouldn't hit anything on the way through because you couldn't afford to fix it?

Of course you wouldn't. You'd carefully plan when you were going to leave, plan what route you were going to take, plan alternate routes, plan how much gas and how much money you would need, plan on when you would get there and plan on what you'll be doing when you arrive.

With your plan in place you wouldn't have the constant pressures or overwhelming worries about what and you should be doing next and when, where and why you're doing it. You'd arrive at the end of your journey stress free and ready to enjoy time with your friend.

Your Business Building Plan can help you deal with problems before they get out of control. It can simplify decision making and can help you identify, set and achieve goals.

Your business building plan needs be a carefully thought out document. It should outline exactly what your business is, how and where you will run it, how you are going to finance it and how much it has or will earn or lose.

It shows the risks and strengths of your business, describes the market, outlines your long term goals, and sets out the milestones you must reach.

It will simplify decision making, and it can help you identify, set and achieve goals. It will help organize and consolidate ideas so you can better promote your business.

Your business building plan needs to be a well thought out document to guide you in your day to day running of your business. Your plan will reflect your commitment and enthusiasm and with your main goal and other goals defined, it's much easier to set targets, timetables and budgets to achieve them.

A written plan will save you time, work and money; think of it as a security blanket for your business and your own peace of mind, so if you haven't written your plan yet - make it a business priority.