Business Plan

A good business plan is like a map: easy to follow, with clear paths and clearly marked destinations. All the routes that “take you there” should be clearly indicated. All the obstacles should be acknowledged. You don’t write a business plan to impress your potential sponsors. This is the biggest mistake novice entrepreneurs make, and this is one of the top ten reasons why new businesses fail. Don’t worry: it’s not difficult to create a clearly structured business plan. A simple search in Google for the keyword phrase “free business plan template” will reveal many sites which offer you free downloadable templates, often categorized per industry. Choose one, download it, print it out and give it enough consideration, because there’s a lot to learn from it. Note that the structure is pretty clear: any business plan starts with the executive letter – which is almost a business plan in miniature. Note how powerful that introduction is. It captures the attention of the reader, it challenges the reader to consider the business, it motivates. This executive summary encompasses all the main guiding lines of the business plan: business goals, management structure, and the highlights of the marketing plan. The typical business plan contains an executive summary, a business goals section, a management plan, a market research and analysis category, and then a marketing and operational plan and ends with the financial plan.

The best advice is that you write the executive summary at the end, meaning after you finish writing the complete business plan. Because only at the end of this time consuming effort you’ll clearly know what works and what really matters for your business. You’ll also be able to predict quite accurately what obstacles come in your way and how to wow your competitors. First, formulate your business goals: what are you going to sell? Do you know your market? Who are you going to target? What will make clients buy from you? What are your revenue expectations? Once you identify these questions, and their possible answers, you have to perform a market research to complete the business goals section. You cannot just write this section based on your guts. Don’t fool yourself. You are not the only one on the market. More experienced entrepreneurs will put you out of business in no time if you don’t conduct your trade in a realistic manner.

Choose carefully your management team. People are what make a business successful. Identify their strengths, acknowledge their weaknesses. Plan some training seminars if you have to. Don’t forget to write a honest self-assessment. After all, you are the brains behind the business and the potential investors expect the most from you.

Follow the guidelines of the business plan template – usually those who create such business plans are professionals who know their business.