One of the first steps in creating your own business is writing a business plan. A business plan is a written outline that analyzes and describes all aspects of your business venture, from the initial vision, to the people, to the economic viability of your idea, to sales and marketing, to the possible sources of funding. You must be detailed and take adequate time to create your business plan since potential investors and lenders will be judging your business venture based on your business plan. This web page gives you resources and advice on how to write a business plan.
A great business plan should contain these elements:
Description of the Vision and Overview of the Business. Where does your business idea come from? Why will it work? What market demands will be feeding your business?
The People on Your Team. Detail the people you are working with, their credentials, their business experience; explain how they are going to help the business succeed.
Economic Aspects of the Business Idea. Evaluate the profitability of the idea, estimate operating expenses, cash flow, create profit and loss forecasts, determine assets, liabilities and net worth.
Potential Sources of Financing. Provide up-to-date sources and possible sources. How much will you need? For how long? What is the time-table?
Sales & Marketing Plans. Who is your target market? How are you going to market to them? Describe your planned sales & marketing structure.
The Future Plan. Where do you plan to be in one year, five years, ten years? Will you be expanding? Where do you see your future growth?
If you want to learn how to write business plan, I highly recommend these outstanding books:
How to Write a Business Plan: 7th Editon. This popular book will show you how to write the business plan and loan package necessary to finance your business and make it work. It now provides a CD-ROM with spreadsheets that help you determine and forecast cash flow, financial statements, sales revenue, and profit and loss. It also provides three sample business plans you can modify for your own use.
If you like someone else’s business plan you may want to rewrite the whole thing, in this regard, some online tools may help you, the paraphrase tool will guide you to change the text and avoid plagiarism, you can visit this URL and see how this rephraser works for you.
Writing a Convincing Business Plan. This guide includes tips on creating a financing proposal, describing the business’s operations and goals, forecasting markets and sales, creating marketing and operating plans, obtaining financing from primary and secondary sources, and much more.
