Tweet

Keys To A Powerful Business Plan

Written by: Ellisa Brenneman

Article Overview: Whether you are planning to start a brand-new business, expand an existing company, or get financing for a business venture, you will need to write a business plan. There’s no way around this unless you have a dead rich uncle who just left you his two-car garage full of thousand dollar bills.

Keys To A Powerful Business Plan

Whether you are planning to start a brand-new business, expand an existing company, or get financing for a business venture, you will need to write a business plan. There's no way around this unless you have a dead rich uncle who just left you his two-car garage full of thousand dollar bills.

Although writing a business plan can be a lengthy, intimidating project, it doesn't have to be the end of days regarding getting your project in order. There are key components for what to include in a successful business plan and if you can check these off of your list at the end, then you've done your job right.

Your business plan needs to demonstrate that you have thoroughly considered all aspects of running your business. To that end, the standard business plan has nine major sections, covering everything from your business's mission statement to a detailed financial analysis.

Each of these sections needs to be sure to carry their own weight and stand on their own regardless of the differences in content or length. Honestly, if an investor wants to skip ahead in your plan and not read, say, the market analysis and get straight to your management summary, the sections should be complete enough that they shouldn't feel like they needed to read 20 pages of content ahead of their desired goal.

Another note regarding business plan construction is the Executive Summary. Many times, this section can double as your pitch document if constructed properly. Its content should be highlights of some of the data and points made in the plan proper, but still be a single narrative that explains the project as a whole. Also, if you can include a financial overview section after the Executive Summary, that will go a long way to help it function independently.

Remember that you're also going to need to actually speak to the content of your business plan. Learn it inside and out. Investors might quiz you on it or want to know more about a particular piece of market or financial information. In some cases, leaving little bit of a prompt in a section will allow for you to make your presentation to create a dialogue between you and the investor because they'd like to talk more about that section.

Also, the document is not there to do the job of speaking about the project for you. The business plan serves the purpose of either getting your foot in the door by enticing the possible investor or being the leave-behind document that will help answer questions after you've departed from the presentation. Nowhere in those duties does it actually do the job of securing financing without your ability to speak to it and the project as a whole. For this reason, it's always good to do practice presentations with another partner taking the role of the investor and having them pick apart your plan and presentation. Criticism is not designed to hurt you, but rather to help you improve.

Financials should be done by a professional or at least be proofed by one. There's no guarantee that your numbers will be perfect, but they should at least be accurate. Also, keep in mind that they're forecasting so that they should be conservative and growing at a rate that is realistic. Don't expect to hit the numbers out of the park in the first year. A professional financial consultant can help you massage what are essentially fictional numbers into a presentable projection that will make an investor interested without skeptical.

Last but never least, never fall in love with your plan. Always be interested in continuing to evolve it and rewrite it. The plan is never actually finished even after you've secured investment. Also, getting defensive about the content or the presentation won't serve anyone, so always be open for suggestions how to improve it even if they're harsh. The idea is to take in as much input as possible and fold that into a semi-final product.

Business plans shouldn't be daunting as an aspect of seeking capital, but the process is by no means easy. Seek as much help as possible, remember to follow guidelines of structure and style, and never let the content be something you can't speak to or aren't willing to change.

Related Articles
  7 Keys to B2B Social Media Success
  Reminders Put Your Keys in Your Fridge
  Sales Prospecting Techniques
  3 Keys to Increased Sales
  Find New Customers releases “7 Keys to B2B Marketing Success” - a new free "cheat sheet"

Article Tags: angel investors, business plan, business plan consultant, business plan consultants, business plan service, business plan services, business plan writer, business plan writers, business plans, custom business plan, custom business plans, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurs, ethos 360, ethos 360 solutions, ethos business solutions, ethos360, ethos360com, small business plans, venture capital, wwwethos360com



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
Re: How do you back up your computer? - I am a backup-olic. I use several Disk-On-Keys and I also back up on a DVD.
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.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Handle the “I Am Not Interested” Objection

Are You Fulfilled

How to Improve Your Time Management

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.