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One of the main reasons for writing a business plan is to secure finance. The story you are telling has to be convincing. You might have a wonderful idea but if you're not able to describe your potential market, your customers, the growth prospects, your competitors, your competitive advantage, and the risks involved, to name just a few things, then your business is unlikely to get off the ground. Everything has to be credible.
Once you've written your plan, take it to a trusted accountant/business adviser for review and analysis. This is one of the things I learnt from delivering the course. There are excellent accountants around who have direct experience of working with many small businesses. They know what works and what doesn't and they will be able to identify the holes in your plan and help you to plug them.
So how is a business plan laid out?
The body of the plan can be divided into four distinct sections preceded by an Executive Summary. The four sections are:
1) Description of the business
2) Marketing
3) Finances
4) Management
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is the most important part of the plan because it may be the only
section that is read, and because it is usually the first
section to be read it must engage readers and excite them about the
potential of the business idea. It is a concise summary of the
business plan aimed primarily at attracting finance, so you will need to
concentrate on the factors that will make the business a
success. Explain why you see the need for this type of business and the
opportunity that it presents. You are the one with the vision.
You need to articulate your vision and include a mission statement
explaining how you are going to realise your vision. Set objectives
which
are SMART, that is:
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS
In this section you describe the business and how it is going to operate. Necessary items include:
MARKETING
The three main headings in this area are:
Even if you have a totally unique product or service, it is vital to conduct some form of market research to determine whether there is a need.If you have competitors, you should conduct a SWOT analysis of their operations. "SWOT" stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis of your own business would add further insight.
The success of your whole business could well depend on the marketing strategy. Do you need a website? What about a credit policy? Most important is the price you charge for your product or service.
Having made your decisions, you then outline all the actions required to reach your market, including timelines and total cost. Also consider how you will measure the success of each medium or campaign.
FINANCES
Many businesses fail in the first year because of a lack of funds. It's
so easy to believe that income will start arriving once you open the
doors, but it never works like that. It is well worth getting an
accountant to help you with the important elements here which are:
MANAGEMENT
Who is going to run the business when you want a holiday? What happens
if you fall sick?
How many hours per week will you have to work to make a living? Who is
going to do the day-to-day administration and bookkeeping?
When will you do more marketing if your time is taken up with daily
operations?
All of these are critical questions which you need to address. Perhaps the best question to have is, 'How am I going to handle too much business?'
The above represents a simple overview of the key elements of a
business plan. It gives you a flavour for what you need to do. Now is
the time
to delve further into the subject by looking at some business planning
websites where you will find samples and all the the relevant
information you need to start writing your business plan.
Click here to access these links.