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How to Create a Business Plan

Guest post by: Carrie Langstroth

Article Overview: A business plan is one which is going to tell you if your business idea is viable or not. It takes into account many aspects of setting up and running a business. A business plan is one which gives you direction and ensures you stay on the chosen path.

How to Create a Business Plan

Business plans are for those who plan to go in to business or are in a business already. Starting a new business also needs planning, time management, scheduling and organizing to make it a success. Business plans are made so that there is some direction to your work and you don't go "off track"; get bogged down with details that can wait etc.

A business plan gives you a plan of action that you can use to meet your requirements. Creating a business plan involves a lot of points that must be factored in. There are some things that are common to almost all business plans like projecting cash flow, marketing plans etc. But each business is different and so is each business plan. What suits one may not suit the other. There is no master plan that one can use. A good business plan is like a good outfit that highlights your best features.

Before you create a business plan you have to plan the plan. The plan has to take in to account your goals and objectives, where you want to be, say, 3 years from now, what steps have you thought of to get to that goal etc. This is more so if you are starting a new business. There are many decisions to be made like your business strategy down to the color of the paper. You will be accountable to the business plan you present so you have to be very clear about what your plan is going to say and how.

Basically there are four types of plans, the mini plan, the electronic plan, the working plan and the presentation plan. Each has their own pros and cons. Key issues have to be addressed in all types of plans and these would consist of

• A business concept,
• Specific financing needs,
• A marketing plan and
• Important financial statements, especially regarding cash flow, income projection and balance sheet.

Your business plan would depend on the type of business you have decided to do. You have to consider issues like

• Is there going to be a partner or investor?
• Any employees?
• Your own role... hands-on manager or just supervisory
• Financing... what kind?
• Is your product a niche market product or a broad spectrum service?
• Are you considering expansion?

These are some issues; there are others which would depend on your individual requirement. Your plan also has to tell you what you intend the plan to do like

• Is the plan going to help you raise money?
• Will it help bring in talented employees?
• Will it double as a presentation plan which you show to suppliers or prospective clients?

After these issues are addressed one will get an idea whether the business venture you have decided on is going to be viable or not. It is not unknown for a business to end at the planning stage because the assumptions were not up to the mark.

Related Articles
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  How much Planning is enough - Use Lean and Standardize
  How to fix sputtering marketing
  Who Should Review Your Business Plan?
  Forward Planning

Article Tags: business idea, how to create a business plan
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
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