What is a Business Plan and Why Do I Need One?One of the most important tools in any business is the business plan. It is the framework upon which all else is based. Without it you will probably be like the captain of a boat with no maps, no stars, and soon, no boat. I cannot overemphasize this: write a careful business plan and follow it. In general, businesses with a good business plan tend to succeed and those without one do not succeed. Even a poor plan is better than none at all. A business plan is a document which consists of a narrative and several financial worksheets. The plan describes in detail your plans for beginning and running your business, and it will serve as your calling card. It will help you to see your business as others see it. Every time you meet with a property manager about leasing space for your business or have a meeting with a potential investor it is your business plan that will introduce who you are and what your business is about. Some of the major points covered in your business plan include: - A general description of your business - The products or services you intend to offer - How you plan to market your products or services - Your financial plan Usually, a business plan is written to illustrate your vision for your business to others, and to help convince them to help you make your vision a reality. Your plan should communicate exactly what you are trying to achieve, where you see your business going, and how you intend to get it there. It must convince others that your business ideas can fly and that you have the capability to make it do so. The real value of a business plan lies in the process that we go through when we research and think about our business in a logical, systematic way. By going through the various stages of planning you will think things through thoroughly. If you're not certain of the facts, you will study and research further, and you will examine your ideas more critically. You will be forced to examine all of the many expenses involved in getting your business up and running. You will be more aware of the actual operation of your business in terms of monthly expenses, projected sales, and the number of sales needed to meet your obligations. The amount of time you will spend to write your plan will be made up a hundredfold because you will understand your business intimately and therefore minimize surprises later on. Before I purchased my first business my father-in-law suggested I write a business plan. He told me it was a must if I really intended to succeed. My father-in-law and I are great friends and I trust him so I took his advice. Writing that plan was a major pain but it was also one of the reasons I succeeded. I found the plan to be a dynamic thing which helped me to adjust to the road as I navigated my business. There was a point after about a year and a half that I felt we just were not where we should have been financially. I looked back to my original 4 year projection in the plan and found we were actually doing much better than the plan originally indicated we would be by that time. When you don't "feel" like your business is on track you can use your business plan as a benchmark against which you can compare your actual progress. Typically, a business plan is considered to be something a brand new start-up business requires. However, a business plan can be implemented at any stage of a business' development. Because of the research and planning that one must put into a business plan that has the ability to give you a very good idea of where your business is at any given time. Again, the real value of the business plan is in the process you go through to write the plan. Therefore, I don't recommend that you outsource the creation your business plan unless you intend to be with the writer at every stage of the process, in which case you are better off doing it yourself. To help get you started click on the link below and you will find a free business plan template for you to download. I hope you find it helpful.
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