How to Form a Business Plan
The business plan is the defining document of your business. Called a living document because of its evolution in the use of your business, the initial formation of your business plan sets the stage for your company's success and milestone achievements. It is the business plan that tells you not only if you have been successful in your endeavors, but also how you will be success in business. The business plan is a combination of general business data, operational information, financial projections and market analysis. To properly form a business plan, you must write with ends and actions in mind. In business, the adage rings true--those who fail to plan have planned to fail.
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Instructions
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Analyze your business concept. Describe your business concept in a single sentence. Examine why you think that your business concept will succeed in another. Research facts, figures and various data to back up your assumptions. For example, if you decide that you will build all-access, handicap-accessible homes near a large military base, back up your assumption of success with statistics about the number of retired, especially wounded, veterans living in your geographic market.
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Research your target market. Beginning with your supporting data, analyze your typical customer down to describing a single, ideal customer. If you cater small birthday parties for children, ask yourself what kind of parents hire you. If it is a mid-30s single father who works 60 hours per week and cannot cook--or a mom who reads magazines full of coupons, is in her late 30s and reads gossip magazines at the newsstand but never purchases them--you have a different demographic at which to market. Understand who your average customer is, what his buying patterns are and what problems you solve for him with your business products and/or services.
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Define your operational objectives. Determine your business goals and what objectives must be completed to achieve them. If your goal is to start a novelist business, a primary goal may be to acquire a literary agent. Potential objectives would include compiling a list of potential literary agents, analyzing their current clients and requesting their guidelines for submission.
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Assess your business's finances. If your business is already operating, prepare a current balance sheet and a current profit or loss statement. If not, project your income and estimate your expenses and prepare hypothetical versions of these documents for planning.
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Prepare your executive summary. After completing your marketing and financial analysis, summarize your findings and your objectives in your executive summary. Your executive summary will contain the compelling set of paragraphs that outlines how and why your business will succeed.
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Tips & Warnings
It can be tempting to throw something together as quickly as possible, but this doesn't bode well for the future of your business. Instead, create blocks of tasks to complete in blocks of time to ensure a thorough job is done.
Don't make assumptions without supporting those assertions with facts.
