What is a Mind Map?
A mind map is a visual tool that helps you organize your thoughts, brainstorm ideas, or plan a project. It consists of a central topic and branches that radiate from it, each representing a subtopic or related concept. You can use colors, icons, images, or keywords to make your mind map more memorable and engaging.
Mind maps are great for:
- Taking notes in a lecture or meeting
- Studying for an exam or test
- Generating creative solutions for a problem
- Planning a presentation or report
- Exploring your interests or goals
- Giving a visual structure to your business and goals.
Why are Mind Maps so Popular?
Mind maps are a great way to organize your thoughts, brainstorm ideas, and visualize information. They are so popular because they are easy to create, fun to use, and effective for learning and communication. Here are some of the benefits of mind maps:
– They help you see the big picture and the details at the same time.
– They stimulate your creativity and imagination by using colors, images, and symbols.
– They improve your memory and recall by using keywords and associations.
– They enhance your understanding and comprehension by showing connections and relationships.
– They save you time and energy by simplifying complex information.
How I make Mind Maps for my Businesses
If you want to start using mind maps, you can follow these simple steps.
– Start with a central topic or question in the middle of the page.
– Add branches for the main subtopics or categories around the central topic.
– Add sub-branches for the details or examples under each subtopic.
– Use colors, images, and symbols to make your mind map more attractive and memorable.
– Review and revise your mind map as needed.
This is how I put together a mind map and here is one I have put together for my websites. I now use mind maps rather than putting together business plans. The reason I do this is twofold.
Firstly it can be put on one sheet of paper or one “slide” and secondly it is easy to interpret. Gone are the days of putting together business plans that could stretch over 100 pages of boring script.
A Mind map does not cover the financial aspects of a company, or at least not how I use it.
The Basic Old-Style Business Plan.
The Basic Business Plan. (As explained by A.I)If you’re thinking of starting a business, you might have heard of traditional business plans. These are detailed documents that outline your business idea, market analysis, financial projections, and more. But what are the main points covered with traditional business plans? Here are some of the most common ones:-
Executive summary: This is a brief overview of your business, its goals, and why it will succeed. It should capture the attention of potential investors or lenders and make them want to read more.
Business Description: This is where you describe your business in more detail, including its legal structure, location, history, and mission statement. You should also explain what problem your business solves and what makes it unique from competitors.
Market analysis: This is where you show that you have done your research on the industry, the market, and the customers you want to serve. You should include data on the size, trends, and growth potential of your market, as well as your target market segment, customer profile, and competitive analysis.
Marketing and sales plan: This is where you outline how you will attract and retain customers, as well as how you will sell your products or services. You should include your marketing strategy, sales channels, pricing, promotion, and distribution methods.
Financial plan: This is where you provide the numbers that back up your business idea. You should include your income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and break-even analysis. You should also include your funding needs and sources, as well as any assumptions or risks that might affect your financial projections.
Appendix: This is where you attach any additional documents that support your business plan, such as resumes, licenses, permits, contracts, or references. These would quite often run in excess of 100 pages with accompanying graphs, swot analysis and the sweat of sleepless nights stained on the pages.
Source. Stephen Hey, Wealthy Affiliates.
Draw Up a Draft Version.
Before I start to get into the “fun stuff” of creating my mind map, I like to brainstorm what I am going to put on my “map”.
Doing this will save you time and focus you on the task at hand. I like writing it out first on a whiteboard, but you can do it just as easily on a sheet of paper. Anything that gets you to start thinking about the task you are doing.
Yes, it is rough but it gives me an idea of what I want to cover in my “On-Line mind Map”. Here I have put together a draft of what I want to cover and the basic layout that I want to work with.
My five websites are under either my business or lifestyle headings. These are then dissected into the products and services I sell for each niche. Then how I promote and where I sell them.
As an example, my ‘Kool Affiliates” “product” is “Wealthy Affiliate” and that is promoted via “Linkedin” and/or “Quora” along with various Facebook groups. most importantly I can see everything at a glance and I can also add any “Affiliate Links” here.
My business is at my fingertips. A true digital nomad, ‘let your fingers do the walking”.
Here is what I came up with.
This is what my business as a “Mind Map” looks like. Obviously, I will not show all my business connections and affiliations as they are private and confidential.
Making a Mind Map with Canva.
Here is my video about putting together a “Mind Map” with Canva. It is very easy to do and even just doing the process of making a mind map will consolidate a lot of ideas that you may have had about your business.
To give a brief description of my “mind map”, you have the main “My Website” heading leading into, “Business’ and “Lifestyle.”
They then flow into my website headings; “VietnamESL”, “Kool Affiliates”, “A.I Tech Warriors”, “Gardening-Guru” and the “Lazy Athlete”
Under that, you can see the products and services that I promote, followed by the social media platforms or other ways I promote (for example; Email marketing or Pay Per Click.)
Final Thoughts.
Getting a good overview of your business is important on your road to success. It used to be a very onerous task having to put together a comprehensive business plan. And even though A.I (Artificial Intelligence) has made things a lot easier, if you are a sole trader it still sucks.
Looking at a lot of new businesses, especially “Drop Shipping” and “Affiliate Marketing”, I believe there are not many people putting together a business plan. I hope by using this tool (Mind Maps) you can get a good overview of your business and utilize it to drive your online business to success.
Regards
Steve Hey.
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