Writing a Business Plan

A business plan... yuck! Quite seriously though, it could make or break your business within the first year. If you have never written one, not to worry. I have outlined what I feel are some of the nine most important sections to cover. I have taken different areas from different formats, combined a few, and expanded on a few to make what I feel is a good place to start. The following will help you organize the sections of your business plan. Please be direct and to the point. This document is initially for you however it could be used when applying for a loan with a bank.

Page 1. Cover Sheet - Name of Company with complete contact information.

Page 2. Purpose Statement - This is your Mission Statement. You should be able to memorize this and it should only take you 30 seconds to state.

Page 3 and beyond
Section 1: Table of Contents - A clearly presented road map of your business plan.

Section 2: Executive Summary - A few paragraphs that describe your business clearly. Who you are, who your client is, how you are different, why clients will choose your services, future growth, financial start-up requirements, how the monies will be obtained and the payback time table.

Section 3: Competition - Who is your competition and what trends, products, and services you will provide to allow for future growth.

Section 4: Marketing Analysis & Plan - Describe your typical client, where they come from geographically, how you will obtain your clients, your retention strategies for growth, and customer service and satisfaction plan. What is your marketing strategy, pricing structure, guarantee policies, growth timetable, presentation of services, total yearly marketing budget, marketing effectiveness plan. Show your understanding of media, web, direct (face-to-face), social (web 2.0), direct mail, and other marketing strategies and costs of each.

Section 5: Operational Profile - Describe your operational procedures along with research and development with regard to trends and market influence on your business. Also discuss how your business will respond to a weaker market. How will you deal with your competitors, legal matters, and employees. What will your response be and how will you make corrections. State what type of business insurance you will need and show your understanding of riders since you will be working at various locations.

Section 6: Financial - This is a very important part of your business plan. DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS SECTION. Banks will often only look at this section so hire someone to look over it or help you create this section of you are unable to do it on your own. You will need your capital equipment and supply list, a Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements (for next three years), details of your first year broken down into months and quarters for your second and third years. You will also need to project what your cash flow will be. Income and Expense. This should be an educated guess based on your research.

Section 7: Time Table - You will create a dated time table showing when each part of your plan will happen. This will include when your financing needs to happen, when specific marketing campaigns will commence, at what point will your business be up and running.

Section 8: Summary of Needed Capital - What specifically is the money you need to start your business being used for. If applying for a business loan, you are better off asking for just the monies needed for equipment rather than operating capital. Banks will rarely loan for this but are much more willing to loan for things they can sell if you default on your loan.

Section 9: Supporting Documents - Tax returns for the last three years, copy of business license, resume.

Now go write yourself a winning business plan!

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