How Does a Business Plan Outline Goals?

The Title Page

A business plan is created for the purpose of laying out business goals in an actionable form for investors, the owner, loan officers and others that will be involved in the business.
The title page is the first page of a business plan. It makes the business seem concrete and real. It states the name of the business and when it was started. This is a statement that your ideas are not just ideas, they are a business, which is the first step in completing goals.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is the next page of a business plan. It is a summery of the business' intent, a short description of the business' short and long-term goals, and how the company intends to reach these goals. The executive summary isn't intended to cover all of the finer points of the business plan. It should simply be a short summary of what is included and should be no longer than one page.

Table of Contents

The table of contents shows what will be included in the business plan, so that the company's goals and information can be found more easily by readers.

Outline of the Business Plan

The outline of the business plan covers what kind of business you are running, what you are trying to do with your business, how far you expect your business to grow and who your customers will be. It is written in sections and sub-sections so that the information is broken down into detailed parts.
The outline is intended to show investors, loan officers and others that you have throughly thought out the details of your business and that you have actionable goals. You know how you will reach your goals and have printed it out in black and white.

What is Included in the Outline

Some appropriate goals to list in a business outline are operations hours, first year sales, management of employees, financing, marketing strategies, how your products will be produced and what products or services will be offered.

Resources

• Example of a Business Plan