The Business Plan

When starting a business, you absolutely need to write a Business Plan. A business plan is the primary tool for success and for developing your concept or idea. Many people start a business without a business plan. They claim that they have everything in their head and don't need to write a business plan down. Most of these businesses failed within the first year.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a complete written plan describing your business and its products, how you'll build it, your market and customers, competition, the management team and other key personnel, and every facet from buying a pencil to choosing a location. It also includes the preparation of several financial statements and making financial calculations and projections critical to the start-up and on-going success of your business.

What is the purpose of writing a business plan?

There are three primary reasons to write a business plan, when you start your own business:

a) The process of putting a business plan together, including the thought put in before beginning to write it, forces you to take an objective, critical and unemotional look at your business project in its entirety. As you proceed from section to section, you are apt to find new ways to generate sales and increase profits.

b) The finished product, your business plan, is an operating tool which, properly used, will help you manage your business on a daily basis and work intelligently and in an informed manner towards its success.

c) The completed business plan is the means for communicating your ideas to others. It is particularly useful and is, in fact, the only acceptable tool for securing funding for your venture-whether it's a start-up or an on-going business.

• SWOT Analysis
• SWOT Matrix
• Business SWOT Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Business Plan Outline
• How to do an Income Statement?
• Period of Time on Statement of Income