Why is it important to write your business plan? A business plan is essentially a written description of your company’s future. It is a short document that describes how you intend to conduct your business, and what you intend to get out of it. If you simply jot down a piece of paper describing your company plan, you’ve just written a tentative plan, or at best the germ of one. A plan needs to be well-written, organized, and simple to understand. Let me give you a few tips on how to write your own business plan.
The first thing I’d like to talk to you about in your business plan introduction is what you intend to accomplish with your company. What are you hoping to achieve with it? Are you hoping to eventually become a nationwide home-based business? Or are you hoping to start out small and local?
Now onto the meat and potatoes of your plan, the executive summary. In your executive summary, you need to get clear on exactly what your company is. What are you? Is it a Home Based Business, Internet Based Business, or a Professional Services Company?
You should spend quite a bit of time on your executive summary discussing your target market. Why targeting your market? Do you know who your target market is? Is there a way to better understand your target market?
Now onto the next step in your outline, the company description. The company description should be a nice page that sums up everything that was discussed in the executive summary. If you didn’t cover what was discussed in the summary then you might want to add a little information about it here as well. If you aren’t sure about anything you might want to include notes.
The next topic that goes into your business plans is cash flow and funding requests. You discuss financing requests and how you will obtain them from your customers. This can include how you will obtain capital from investors, a loan from a bank, or other third-party sources such as venture capital firms.
The last topic to touch on in your business plan and is what is called your Key Personnel and Financial Statements. This section will go over how you will obtain the key personnel in your organization and what they will do for you. It will also discuss financial statements and what type of financial statements you will need to create to track the finances of your company. Remember, some investors might want to see financial statements before they decide to invest so be honest with them.
Writing your own business plans is something that is often overlooked by entrepreneurs and new businesses. Many people think that they can write their own business plans without expertise or experience. However, unless you are an expert on the industry you aren’t an expert in marketing and advertising to the appropriate investors. For these reasons alone you should consider working with a qualified and experienced business planning attorney.
The attorney should provide assistance when it comes to preparing and presenting your business plan and other documents to prospective investors. They can provide sound business advice and can answer questions that you might have about raising capital. Additionally, they can assist you in working with potential investors. They can show you how to format your presentation plan and can make you aware of any documents you need to send to the different investors.
There are many additional benefits when working with an attorney to prepare your business plan, including providing you with the benefit of legal support. Most entrepreneurs don’t feel comfortable writing their own legal documents and they don’t have the knowledge to present their case in an ethical and competent manner. Your attorney will have developed the skills and expertise necessary to explain the financial statements, the corporate organizational structure, and other important aspects of your business plan. You may not have the time to devote to this task on your own. Using professional services to prepare your documents allows you to focus on other aspects of your business.
In addition to preparing a business plan, you should use a qualified professional service to prepare a comprehensive competitive analysis for your company. Your competitive analysis will show you how you are competitive in the current marketplace and how you intend to remain competitive in the future. The analysis should include comparisons between your company and your competitors as well as an evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses as a business.
The legal documents you will need to incorporate in your business plan will include the executive summary, the business description, and the management team profile. The executive summary is designed to provide a short report to the board of directors. It is the first part of your business plan and it is an essential document that must be provided to investors before you proceed with funding. The executive summary will include information such as the nature of your business, the startup costs associated with it, and your anticipated profit and loss. The other documents required to incorporate in your plan are the business description and the management team profile.
When was the last time that you took the time to write your business plan? This might be something that you have never thought about, but it is important to understand why it is so important. A business plan is basically a written description of how you plan to operate your small business in the future. It is a document that tells the story of who you are and what you intend to do. If you jot a few paragraphs down on the back of an envelope describing your future business plan, you have just written a fairly accurate description, if not the best germ of a good plan.
Many lenders will ask for a completed business plan in order to make a loan commitment to you. If you can convince them that you have a realistic plan in place and that you are able to meet all of their demands, they may be willing to provide you with the money that you need. However, many people fail to convince lenders that they can meet the demands of the lenders. If your plan doesn’t include all of the necessary information that you have requested, there is no way that you will convince a lender that your business plan is anything more than a list of bullet points. In fact, most lenders would rather have someone create a completely realistic business plan than have someone use a list to describe a few things.
If you are looking for tips on how to write a business plan, there are many resources available online. There is even a great online seminar available that was created by one of the biggest investors in Home Base Businesses – Stewart Henderson. He walks you through exactly what he did to get funding for his company. If you want to learn how to write business plans, this is the resource that you want to check out!