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Why Have a Business Plan?
Preparing a satisfactory business plan is a painful but essential exercise. The planning process forces managers or entrepreneurs to understand more clearly what they want to achieve, and how and when they can do it. Even if no external support is needed, a business plan can play a vital role in helping to avoid mistakes or recognize hidden opportunities. It is much easier to fold a sheet of paper than a business.
Source: www.planware.org
Business Plan Resources
What is a Business Plan?
A written business plan is a thoughtful analysis of a market and the business resources needed to serve that market. The plan helps you develop reasonable, realistic, strategies and acceptable levels of risk. The business plan identifies the facilities, equipment, personnel, suppliers and money required to operate the business.
The workshop "Start Your Business With a Winning Business Plan" is a comprehensive walk-through of the business planning an writing process. Attendance at this workshop is highly recommended.
What Should a Business Plan Do?
- Clarifies the business opportunities
- Identifies the risks
- Quantifies the rewards
- Develops the business strategies
- Defines the resources
- Establishes goals
- Guides your business decisions
- Attracts investors to the business
What Should a Business Plan Accomplish?
- Describes the specific competence that gives you superiority over your competitors
- Identifies the specific market niches where you will have the most success
- Identifies all assumptions used in your plan
- Realistic or even pessimistic forecasts of sales
- Identifies how and when ALL investors and loans will be repaid
- Identifies any milestones and the impact of meeting or missing those milestones in financial terms
- Presents a well balanced management team and reconciles any missing skills
- Considers the impact of competitors reactions to your strategies
- Identifies contingencies and allows for changes in estimates and strategies
- Relies on professional input within and outside your business; i.e, not just authored by one person
- Balances the risks against payoffs and considers payoff in all choices, i.e. as an investor would analyze
- Pricing that covers all costs, losses, theft, benefits, unforeseen events and inflation. Profit is the target!
Continue to page 2 of this business planning topic addressed "What Questions Should a Business Plan Answer?"
Check our "Ask SCORE' business article section where some of your questions regarding business start-up, planning, and investor funding may have already been asked and answered.
SCORE counselors will help you in planning and critiquing your business plan. Visit our small business counseling page for information. To schedule a counseling sessions, use the Contact Us form on this site.
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2009-2011 SCORE Chapter 574
Last Updated February 13, 2010