Writing A Business Plan

Writing A Business Plan
While a business plan is in general useful from the
standpoint of being organized and efficient its most useful
purpose is as a vehicle for obtaining investment dollars.
An outstanding executive summary is an absolutely essential
element in winning investment dollars from venture capital:
venture catalyst, and/or individual investor angels. The
executive summary is a description of your brilliant plan
and you want to do justice to it. You can either write the
executive summary first or last in building the plan, but
consider writing it roughly first and then giving it
polishing touches afterward. Areas that need to be covered
include: Mission statement & company description,
management, completion, target customers, product /
service, marketing plans, and financial considerations.
The mission statement and company description are often
combined in the writing of a business plan because on the
one hand the mission statement discussed the general
philosophy, goals, and purpose of the business while the
description lays out the current specific strategies and
objectives. The mission statement can be fairly lengthy and
is an excellent opportunity to display the writer's dreams
and vision of a targeted niche business.

Most often the first examined part of a business plan is
that presenting the management team. Depending on the
investor and the business being considered, the management
will be examined on their history and proclivities and
talents in appropriate germane areas. Make it precisely
clear how each person's background and business experience
qualifies them for his place on the team. The duties and
responsibilities if each member of management should be
laid out is sufficient detail to avoid ambiguity and
minimize overlapping assignments. Brief resumes are helpful.

In order to determine precisely who its competition is, a
fledgling business will have to determine exactly what it
is offering that makes it distinctive and stand out from
among all others. Using Internet search engines for key
word searches can be extremely informative. (Google, Yahoo,
Alta Vista and Hotbot are examples.)

Understanding one's target customers is essential. It needs
to be made clear in the business plan that you know and can
describe your customer and target market. You need to know
his or her likes, dislikes and expectations. Also you need
to demonstrate that you have a product or service that
they will purchase. Market research will be the basis for
the information in this part of your business plan. And in
this area one needs to consider not only the current
market, but trends as well.

What is the benefit or your product or service? Will it
make the customer happy or fill a need? Does is sound like
fun or is it unique? These are some of the questions that
need to be asked in this section of the business plan
construction. Market research will be required in this
section also in order to establish whether the target
customer experience from start to finish can shed light on
the applicability of the product or service. Demonstrable
background knowledge of the product or service should be
obvious.

The business plan is not complete without marketing plans.
Here is a partial list of not to be overlooked avenues:
trade shows, print articles, mailing list (postal &
internet), newsletters, ads (print and Internet) and
exchanging web site links. According to the Small Business
Administration: "Advertising and promotions...Are the
lifeline of a business and should be treated as such."

Regarding financial considerations the Small Business
Administration has this to say: "To effectively manages
your finances, plan a sound, realistic budget by
determining the actual amount of money needed to open your
business (start-up costs) and the amount needed to keep it
open (operating costs). The first step to building a sound
financial plan is to devise a start-up budget." In order to
estimate sales, profits and costs look to trade
associations, your local bank or the reference section of
your local library.

Writing a business plan requires considerable time and
effort. It is not for someone who want to jump-start a
business. Very small business can be started without the
formal written plan, but any business will benefit by at
least mentally completing the above steps.

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