How to Write a Business Plan

Every business needs a plan, especially if you want to borrow money from a bank or venture capitalist.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• power point skills
• microsoft excel skills

1. You first need to summarize your business. Put together an overview section, highlighting what your business does and some basic facts such as historical and projected revenue, profits, and the background of the management team or owners.

2. Next put together a brief overview of the market. How large is the market? What percentage of the market do you expect to capture?

3. Investors or banks will also want to know who your competitors are and how you are different. Are you following a proven path to make money or are you starting something completely new?

4. Next comes the numbers. You need to prepare an income statment, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement. If you don't know what these are, either hire an accountant, or read about how to file Chapter 11.

5. That's it! You've done it. Does your plan make money? If yes, you are on your way. If it doesn't go back to Step 1, or just start writing WeHows!

Tips & Warnings

• if you are having a hard time writing a business plan, you will have an even harder time running a business.