1. BUSINESS PLAN-w/out one, you are all over the place with no direction. It removes the "overwhelming" and makes everything managable and breaks things down into parts 'n pieces.

It puts EVERYTHING on paper and makes you map it out in priority order.

To put it in perspective, it's like going on a trip.

You know where you are going (or planning to go), but without the map to get you there, you are all over the place, wasting time driving out of the way and missing turns along the way. A good, detailed business plan is the roadmap to success for your business.

There are multitudes of places to get outlines for free... online, SCORE, etc.

It gives you a place to put all those ideas (good/bad/any and all) onto paper for pondering, prioritizing, deleting, expanding on, etc.

Mine is a never-ending work in progress and any good one should be... you get your basics on paper, but keep tweaking it at every turn along your "trip" so that you find tune your "drive" and arrive at your destination in the most efficient way possible, but while making the stops along the way you need to make!

Best wishes on your journey!

And oh, nos. 2-+ are all BUSINESS PLAN, until that's done... once it is, that will map out your 2+ lists! :D