Would You Like To Creat Your Own Business Plan?

When you run a business, be it online or offline , you need two levels of functioning.

One is the level at which you pay a lot of attention to details (micro-level) and the other is the level at which you try to look at the business as a whole (macro-level).

The micro-level is important, but it is disparate and time-consuming.

As an entrepreneur, you need to give higher priority to the macro-level because you do not want to miss the wood for the trees .

Why don't you focus on the woods and try to make it big? Allow us to pay attention to the minute details .

Creating a Business Plan

A good plan is like a map, helping you to find the best path to achieving your goals. Setting business goals helps you to use your time and resources more effectively. By planning ahead you are more likely to be able to take advantage of business opportunities and anticipate problems. You will also need a business plan to raise finance.

Your business plan should involve developing:

• business goals
• a management plan
• a marketing plan
• an operating plan
• a financial plan

A simple start-up plan includes a summary, mission statement, keys to success, market analysis, and breakeven analysis. This kind of plan is good for deciding whether the business is worth pursuing or not.

Keys to Better Business Plans:

• Use a business plan to set concrete goals, responsibilities, and deadlines to guide your business.
• A good business plan assigns tasks to people or departments and sets milestones and deadlines for tracking implementation.
• A practical business plan includes 10 parts implementation for every one part strategy.
• As part of the implementation of a business plan, it should provide a forum for regular review and course corrections.

Contents of a typical business plan :

• Executive Summary
• Business Goals
• Management Plan
• Market Research and Analysis
• Marketing Plan
• Operational Plan
• Financial Plan
• Action Plan

How to Start Your Business Plan

Before you start your business plan it is useful to do some background preparation. This includes:

• getting advice on business planning and checking available templates and tools that can help you develop your plan
• Collecting and analyzing information. Sources include:

o Small business service providers

o Market research providers

o Accountants and banks

o Industry associations

o Business peers

o Competitors

Formulating Your Business Goals

Your business goals should provide a clear picture of the business you will be in over the next years, covering:

• What products and services you are going to sell;
• The customer groups and their requirements you will be targeting;
• The basis of your future success. What will make customers buy from you rather than your competitors?
• What business returns you are aiming to achieve.

Finalize your business goals after completing your market research.

Management Plan

It should cover how your business will be structured and run and what management capabilities will be developed. It could also cover any legal matters in relation to structure, intellectual property rights, licensing and contractual matters, e.g. with suppliers. Business structure provides more information on alternative business structures like internal and external information.

Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan needs to identify:

Your product/service offering

What are you offering to your customers? What is its likely lifecycle? Are there substitutes available in the market? Will it meet your customers' needs?

• Your market

Its size, geographic location, demographics and trends

• Your customers

Who are they? What, why, where and how often do they buy?

• Your competitors

Who are they? How do they compete on price, services, quality?

Your marketing plan needs to cover the strategies you will put in place to capture and keep customers. This includes how you will make your product/service available; how you will promote them and build your business image (including networking) and your pricing policies.

Operational Plan

You will need to make decisions on a range of operational issues, including:

People: Will you employ or use contract staff? If so, how will you manage them? What other expertise will you need?

Processes: What systems and procedures should you put in place? What production output and methods will you use?

Suppliers: Who should they be? The cost and quantity of supplies!

Equipment/technology: What equipment and IT requirements do you have? What skills will you need to maintain or upgrade these?

Premises: Will you purchase or lease property or work from home?

Reporting: What is the most suitable reporting system to put in place to allow you to monitor your performance?

Financial Plan

Your financial plan needs to cover:

• How much money you need to start the business
• Financial analysis - projected profit and loss over the next one to two years
• Cash flow analysis - projected cash in and out on a monthly basis so that you can check whether you will be able to pay your bills
• balance sheet
• Sources of finance - who will lend you money and how much will you need
• What your business break-even point is, i.e. what level of production is needed to cover all your costs?

Action Plan

This should set out specific tasks that need to be undertaken to implement your business plan, with clear priorities, timeframes and who will be responsible.

Business Plan Do’s and Don'ts:

Do’s:

• Keep updating your plan to meet changing situations.
• Use business planning templates and tools to be sure you cover everything.
• Refer to your action plan as a living guide.

Don'ts:

• Be unrealistic about what you can achieve or base your projections on wishful thinking.
• Underestimate the challenges in growing a business .
• Be afraid to ask for help.