Business Plans Demystified

Credit: photo by the abundance machine

Chances are, if you have a small business, you've already written a business plan. If not, or if you need to hone your business plan, here are some tips and resources designed to help you on the road to writing the most effective and productive business plan possible.

The Basics

At its simplest, a written business plan is just a formal statement of the goals of your business and how you plan to implement those goals. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's pretty much the essence of a business plan.

Business plans do follow a set of guidelines for what type of information should be included and how it should be included. It's not that much of a big deal if you are writing a business plan for your own personal use - you might be able to be a little more free-wheeling, but if you are approaching a bank for financing or seeking out potential partners or investors you had better have things in tip-top shape. In short, a perfect analogy for the business plan is that it is like the resume for your business....and you know how important it is to have a good resume when job-hunting.

Unfortunately, I can't impart everything you need to know about how to write effective business plans in this article. I can, however, share some of the key elements of business plans as well as share resources where you can find out more about how to write a compelling and convincing business plan.

Key Element of a Business Plan – not all of these are applicable for every business plan

●     Statement of Purpose

●     Company Summary

●     Products & Services

●     Industry Background

●     Market/Customer Analysis

●     Competitor Analysis

●     Marketing & Sales Plan

●     Organization/Structure

●     Operations Plan

●     Management Summary

●     Financial Plan & Projections

●     Appendix

Resources

At Your Library

Gale Business Plans Handbook – multi-volume reference containing real business plans from a multitude of business sectors.

Small Business Reference Center– Online Database available via many public libraries by Ebsco Publishing

Online

Small Business Administration

Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Resources

Entrepreneur Magazine Business Plan Resources

I've really just touched the very tip of the iceberg here, but hopefully it's enough to get you started in the right direction.

Jen Wallace shares her indie life at IndieFixx where she writes about making, creating, cooking, learning, playing, loving, and pretty much anything else that strikes her fancy.She’s also a freelance writer who writes about everything from indie biz tips to the modern history of the American hemline.

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