Simple Business Planning
Planning is an essential part of any business. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, there are three important parts of business planning: a business concept, understanding your marketplace and communicating your financial information. Also, a typical simple business plan runs 15 to 20 pages, but complex business plans can get up to 100 pages in in length. To create a simple business plan, organize your content into seven key components.
Other People Are Reading
-
Executive Summary
-
The executive summary of a business plan communicates what you hope to accomplish with your business. Keep it short and simple -- a half page or less, says Entrepreneur Magazine.
Business Description
-
Another part of simple business planning is the business description, which is a high-level look at how all of the different elements of your business fit together. Describe your business in detail and include factors that will make your business successful. Communicate your business structure, such as wholesale, retail, food service, manufacturing or service oriented.
-
Market Strategies
-
The first part of the market strategies section of a simple business plan should provide some basic research about your market. For example, include the size, structure, growth prospects, trends and sales potential of your marketplace. Describe your market share projections, your positioning in the market, and how you will price, distribute and promote your products and services.
Competitive Analysis
-
In the competitive analysis phase of business planning, identify your competitors and their product and service offerings; competitor market segments; strengths and weaknesses; and any barriers that may hinder you from entering the market. State each of your competitors' advantages in the market and include their contact information, such as address, phone number and website URL.
Design and Development Plan
-
The design and development planning phase includes product development, market development and organizational development. A simple way to accomplish this phase of your business plan is to develop a set of procedural tasks for each area of the development plan. For example, to develop a new food product for your restaurant, you would follow procedures, such as consulting with your chef, gathering ingredients, determining the optimal cooking method, testing the recipe, adding any additional ingredients and re-testing.
Operations and Management Plan
-
According to, the U.S. Small Business Administration, a simple but effective way to organize the operations and management structure of your company is to create an organizational chart with a narrative description. This section should also include background information about your business owners and key management personnel and strategies for hiring, training and retaining employees.
Financial Plan
-
The financial plan is one of the most difficult stages of business planning. To keep it simple, Entrepreneur Magazine says to include a few basic financial statements, including a cash flow statement, an income statement and a balance sheet.
-
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
