Tweet

Should I buy a business plan online?

Guest post by: Marcus Tarrant

Article Overview: There are a number of things to consider when either engaging a consultant to build your business plan, or purchasing a business planning template. A primary reason for looking online for assistance is to reduce the cost associated with the development of a business plan.

Should I buy a business plan online?

Sites such as Elance offer the ability to post your specific business planning requirements online. Interested consultants then respond to your business plan enquiry, often providing a quotation for business planning services.

Selecting a consultant online

Consider the end objective of your business plan. Business plans are usually developed for a specific purpose, such as finding an investor, partner, loan provider or obtaining compliance certificates or government grants.

Ensure that your consultant is familiar with your specific target audience, and have experience in delivering successful outcomes to this audience. With the internet, it is possible to hire a consultant from anywhere in the world for your business plan. For some plans this can substantially reduce the cost of planning, without compromising your intended outcomes.

For specific purposes such as grant funding, a local business planning consultant may be able to better target your plan to the requirements, thereby improving the rate of success. However not all business planning requirements call on the need for a consultant. For some applications sophisticated and standardised templates can provide some structure and guidance to your planning process.

Selecting a template online

There are a variety of business planning templates available online. Both free templates and paid templates can offer some level of assistance with your business planning process. Whilst templates are often criticised for being overly simple, and too generic, for some business plans they can offer the appropriate level of assistance at an affordable price. If possible try to find a template that has been developed specifically for your purpose. Often banks will provide business planning templates for free to assist clients in structuring their plans to meet the core requirements of the loan.

The key issue iwth templates is that they are often quite general and do not assist you in clearly developing and structuring your business. They work to help you put words to your current strategy which may incorporate inconsistencies. They do not help with the business design process which is, in our view a core element of the business planning process.

Other approaches

Business Planning HQ.com has created a unique approach called “Question Led” business planning that offers you the benefits of using an expensive consultant for not much more than the cost of purchasing a template. To create this proven approach we have built hundreds of different business plans for clients in a wide range of industries. The audience for the business plan generally has a fixed series of questions about the business. Through experience we have managed to boil down hundreds of business plans and identify their key success criteria. Our clients are able to leverage this experience and simply build their plan by answering a simple series of questions in their own time.

Related Articles
  Why is a work at home business plan important?
  START YOUR BUSINESS CORRECTLY AND CONTINUE IT FOR YEARS
  Is Your Online Business Plan Current?
  How To Plan An Online Business Event
  Home Based Online Business - 3 Reasons Cause You to Fail
  How to Generate Money Online - Products and Services Type Businesses
  Successful Home Business Explained
  Starting A Successful Online Business
  How to Setup an Income Tax Payment Plan
  5 Easy Tips to Running Your Online Business
  Creating a Plan for Your Online Business
  How to Start Making Money Online
  Don’t know much about the internet, Can I be a Successful Entrepreneur?
  Effective Tips on Writing your Affiliate Home Business Plan
  Online Business Tips For Success
  Build a Cohesive Marketing Strategy to Create the Perfect Storm for Your Internet Biz
  Business Plan Software Reviews - What to Know Before You Buy
  Create Your Own Retirement Plan…
  It Takes Planning
  5 Tips which are Vital to Achieving Online Business Success

Article Tags: Business Plan, Business Planning, Business Strategy, Online Business Plan



Related Forum Posts
Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? - According to various government statistics, up to 80% of businesses will fail within their first five years of operation. That number is staggering to me. At the same time, when I look at most business owners, most of them do not have a business plan for where they want to go. When you ask entrepreneurs why they don’t have a business plan, most of them will say something like: “it’s too much work”, “I’m not trying to raise money”, “it’s all in my head already”, or “my business changes too often for a business plan to be worthwhile.” Sound familiar? Did you write a business plan for your company when you first started? Are you planning on doing it for your new business idea?
Re: Is A Business Plan A Waste Of Time? - A business plan is never a waste of time. A friend of mine was funded by the quality of his business plan. The banker looked at his business plan and concluded that he knows what he is doing.
Re: How long should a Business Plan be? - Hi Sally, The length of your business plan can very, really, on the type of business you are planning to open up. It also varies based on just how extensive you want to be with your plan. The more ideas you have, the longer the business plan will be. But if you want to just create an outline on the main points that you would like to focus on, then it is apparently shorter. But if you can go for the former, that would be better. THe more details you include, the more efficient it would be for you when it comes to executing them later on. However, it all boils down to your own preference and how you would like your business to be.
Re: A good business plan - Before starting any business their should be good business plan module which should be followed to achieve success in the industry. Your business plan should include most of the important concept like marketing, production, services etc, So following a strict business plan will help you to achieve your goals.
Is "Good" - Good Enough - I was just reading the thread about whether people need a business plan and this idea hit me. Someone commented that if you don't have a business plan and you're doing all right - then why spend the time or money. But, is doing good or doing all right - good enough? Maybe you're a business that is getting by and making the bills. What if, taking the time to really evaluate your business with a detailed business plan could help you see places to make some changes which could take your business to the next level? Would it be worth your time? I think it would definitely be worth the time. That could be because I've worked with a number of business owners who were "getting by", but once they committed to having someone evaluate the business - they saw a drastic increase in their revenue. So, why couldn't or wouldn't an entrepreneur do an evaluation to determine where the business is, where it isn't working and where it should be going? This could be done in a business plan format. Just some random thoughts. Shri


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.

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

Why SEO is important for your online success

RULE YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A SHINE STAR

How to Set Sales Goals that Work

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.