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Business Planning

"Planning The Leads To Funding"

By BeautyPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
2

What's a business plan anyways?

A business plan explains what a business does, how it plans on making money, and why other people should care.

Business plans can also help you keep track of why you created your business in the first place. Having data, goals, and a clear vision all in one place can help you make important decisions later on.

A business plan will not only help you establish what specific steps need to be taken to start your company, but also to effectively promote your success. If you are a new business owner who intends to seek funding, your business plan should provide insight about the resources needed to reach your goals. Keep in mind that consumers won't be your only audience. Investors will also use your business plan to make their decisions related to funding.

~ A business plan offers a clear way to track progress as your company grows. ~

Your business plan should contain the 10 most important components:

Executive Summary

Business Description

Market Analysis & Strategy

Marketing & Sales Plan

Competitive analysis

Management & Organization Description

Products & Services Description

Operating Plan

Financial Projection & Needs

Exhibits & Appendices

Why is each component important?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The executive summary should tell the reader what the company is and why it will be successful. This section generally contains the following:

-Mission statement

-Product or service description

-Basic info about company's leadership & employees

-Location

-High level growth plans

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

This is where you will want to go in detail about problems your business solves. Be very specific and list consumers, organizations, or businesses your company plans to serve. You can also explain the competitive advantages that will make your business a success.

MARKET ANALYSIS & STRATEGY

No matter what type of business you decide to start, you should have a good understanding of your industry outlook & target market. Learn what other successful competitors are doing and why it works. Then you would look trends and themes to pin point how you can do it better.

SALES PLAN & COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

This section is where you'll describe how you will attract and retain customers or clients. Keep in mind that there is no single way to go about marketing, but your strategy does need to evolve. Your marketing strategy should change and grow with your business to fit your unique needs.

MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION

This section is where you will describe the legal structure. You should state if intend or have incorporated your business as an S Corporation, C Corporation, Limited Liability Company, or Sole Proprietorship. Here is where you will also talk about how the company will be structured, and how each person's unique experience will contribute to the success of your business.

QUICK TIP!

Use an organizational chart to show who is in charge of what in the company.

PRODUCT OR SERVICE DESCRIPTION

Describe what service or product is being offered. Be descriptive about how it benefits your customers and share if you're doing research and development in your industry. You will also want to share any plans you have for intellectual property such as copy right or patent filing.

OPERATING PLAN

An operating plan is a detailed work plan that outlines in detail how you will reach a specific goal or outcome. Most operating plans identify:

WHO in the company will manage each stage or step of the operating plan.

WHAT specifically the company needs to do to reach the outlined goals.

WHEN each specific task needs to be completed in order to achieve a favorable outcome.

HOW the company will use resources like time, money, and labor to reach set goals.

QUICK TIP!

Most owners use their operating plan and sort of an action plan to complete each goal set.

FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS

Your goal in this section is to convince the reader that your business is stable and will be a financial success. Provide a prospective financial outlook for the next 5 years. Include projected income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and capital expenditure budgets.

QUICK TIP!

*If you're already established include statements from the last 3-5 years.

*If you have any other collateral you could put against a loan be sure to list it in this section.

*For new businesses; Be even more specific when completing your financial projections & it's usually best to use graphs & charts to tell the financial story of your business in this section.

-Use quarterly or even monthly projections.

*If you plan to seek funding be sure that your funding requests match your projections.

EXHIBITS & APPENDICES

This is the last section of your business plan that should include any extra information or documents to support the details included in your plan. You will also want to include any other materials or documents that may have or will be requested.

common items to include:

-Credit History

-Resume

-Pictures

-Letters of reference

-Licenses

-Permits

-Patents

-Legal documents & other contracts

*jdaltonservices.com will be updated with funding resources soon; keep checking for updates*

WHY DOES THE BUSINESS EXIST?

Since the first section of a business plan explains exactly what the business does, take time before starting to create a step by step plan for each goal. Opening a restaurant? Creating a travel agency?

Be clear about what you do and make sure you are knowledgeable of your industry. Again, consumers will not be your only audience. Your business plan will play a major part when lenders are deciding to partner with you.

Write down on paper why you started your business.

What makes you passionate about this business?

How did you get started?

A few sentences about your story can go a long way in convincing someone to invest in your vision, but to start off you can use these same ideas to draft your entire plan before even getting started.

What is your vision for your business?

What is your target market?

How will you fund your business?

How will you structure your business?

These are questions you can answer to start off that will help you to be clear on which direction you are going in.

Think about how you will make it happen.

It's unrealistic to think you can provide services or products without the right resources, so give yourself the best head start and start gathering ideas for funding now! It's never to soon to start looking for funding sources.

Make a list of all the resources you have: locations, workers, physical supplies, and previous investments etc. that way you have a good place to start from when it's time to think about what resources you may need to acquire.

Let your business plan prove that you’ve thought through every step of the process and know how to get the job done!

Think about the things you need? New locations ? Do you plan on hiring employees? Provide as many details as possible.

After listing the expected expenses, focus on the exciting stuff: profits.

How much do you expect your business to earn by the end of the year? And how can your investors benefit from your success?

Every business plan should end with a clear statement about why your business is worth investing in & the main way to do this is showing your expectations for the future.

How will your business expand in five years, or ten? How big can it grow? Be realistic, but also hopeful. The last section is the place to lay out your vision and really put emphasis on why the chance to be part of your business is a "can’t miss" opportunity.

Once you've answered all of these questions about your business & have created data charts, gathered all of your supporting documents, pictures etc., there you have it!

YOU ARE NOW READY TO PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER FOR YOUR BUSINESS PLAN!

Bring it all together!

Think about how you’ll present your business plan & what works best for you.

QUICK TIP!

Be prepared to answer questions about your business plan & share your passion!

Sometimes business plans are sent through email, and other times they’re shared in a meeting. Either way, get familiar with every part of it.

& In the future, keep in mind that you can always come back to your business plan to make more decisions and to help you keep track of your progress or where you started.

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About the Creator

Beauty

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