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Developing A Business Plan - Quick Overview

Written by: Joe Dager

Article Overview: Putting together a business plan forces you to take an objective and critical look at your business idea. Even more, the finished product is an operational tool that will help move your business toward success.

Developing A Business Plan - Quick Overview

A business plan should be neat, not fancy, and should include:

Cover Page: List the business name, address, mailing address, telephone number and the name of the owner(s). Identify your primary goals and

objectives.

Business Description: Include an accurate and concise description of the business.

A. What is the principal activity? Be specific. Give product or service descriptions.

B. How will the business be started?

C. Why will it succeed? Promote your idea.

D. What experience do you bring to the business?

Reference: One Page Business Plan

Marketing is the core of your business. Carefully think about these questions:

A. Can you market your business from home?

B. Who and what is your market?

C. What pricing and sales terms are you planning?

D. How will you be competitive?

Reference: Duct Tape Marketing

The Financial Plan

Money is what fuels all businesses. With a little planning you'll find that you can avoid most financial difficulties.

When you're drawing up a financial plan, don't worry about using estimates. The process of thinking through these questions helps develop your business skills and leads to solid financial planning.

Start-up Costs: To estimate your start-up costs, include all initial expenses such as fees, licenses, permits, telephone deposit, tools, office equipment

and promotional expenses. Business experts say you should not expect a profit for the first eight to 10 months, so be sure to give yourself enough cushion.

Projecting Operating Expenses: Include salaries, utilities, office supplies, loan payments, taxes, legal services and insurance premiums. Don't forget to

include your normal living expenses.

Projecting Income: It is essential you know how to estimate your sales on a daily and monthly basis. From the sales estimates, you can develop projected

income statements, breakeven points and cash flow statements. Use your marketing research to estimate initial sales volume.

Cash Flow: Cash pays your bills, not profits. Even though your assets may look great on the balance sheet, if your cash is tied up in receivables or equipment, your business is technically insolvent. Or to put it in layman's terms, you're broke.

Start-up Consultant: Business901

Make a list of all anticipated expenses and projected income for each week and month. If you see a cash flow crisis developing, cut back on everything but the necessities.Remember, preparation is the foundation of success. Talk to home-based business people, join a home-based professional association or "moonlight" at a similar business. Learn how to use business resources to strengthen your home-based business. Success doesn't just happen, you have to make it happen

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  Business Plans 101: Part 1
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Article Tags: business idea, developing a business plan, finished product, operational tool



Related Forum Posts
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
2007 Goals - 1. Web site complete, fully operational 2. Revenue stream from both individual and corporate 3. Business Plan complete 4. Full marketing strategy complete and implemented
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? - Business Plan or generally work plan (to do list) improves the quality of my work at least 4 times. I have seen the positive results of planning and focus in my online business. And I know from my past experience how uneficient your business can be when you are not doing planning. So I agree that there is a relationship between entrepreneur success and planning.


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