A business plan is very important for a start-up business. It explains the entrepreneur's vision and serves as your firm's resume. A business plan is needed for the following reasons.
There is a common misconception that a business plan is mainly used to raise money (capital) to start up the business. The sole purpose of a business plan is to help entrepreneurs gain a deeper insight of the opportunity they envision. A business plan helps the entrepreneur gain better understanding by raising critical questions, researching answers for those questions and then answering them.
Entrepreneurs may create two business plans if they choose to, a planning document for internal use and a marketing document for attracting outside investments. The information on both business plans is essentially the same, but the emphasis is somewhat different. For example, an internal document to guide the new business does not need to be detailed but the external business plan in most cases includes the biographies of the top management. This is because the business plan can serve as a marketing document,which will contain the background and experience of management as an important feature.
The tone of a business plan should be business-like and enthusiastic. It should be strong on fact to convince people to invest money or time in the new venture. A standard business plan should be about 40 pages in length, with good visual formatting, free of jargon and easy to understand.
Writing a business plan may seem overwhelming. However, there are simple ways to make the process more manageable as listed below.
Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks. - Paul "Bear" Bryant, football coach, University of Alabama's Crimson Tide.
Those who plan do better than those who do not plan even though they rarely stick to their plan. - Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister
Planning is like bringing the future into the present, so that you can do something about it now. So your business begins with the business plan.
Written by Mehifu Jaiyeola (Blogger, Entrepreneur, Writer, Training and development Professional) +2348034548195
- It helps you decide if a new business venture is worthwhile before making further commitments.
- To assist the management in goal-setting and long term planing
- To sell your idea to investors
- To clarify your business product to other companies with which it would be useful to partner with and sign a long term contract.
- To attract employees
There is a common misconception that a business plan is mainly used to raise money (capital) to start up the business. The sole purpose of a business plan is to help entrepreneurs gain a deeper insight of the opportunity they envision. A business plan helps the entrepreneur gain better understanding by raising critical questions, researching answers for those questions and then answering them.
Entrepreneurs may create two business plans if they choose to, a planning document for internal use and a marketing document for attracting outside investments. The information on both business plans is essentially the same, but the emphasis is somewhat different. For example, an internal document to guide the new business does not need to be detailed but the external business plan in most cases includes the biographies of the top management. This is because the business plan can serve as a marketing document,which will contain the background and experience of management as an important feature.
The tone of a business plan should be business-like and enthusiastic. It should be strong on fact to convince people to invest money or time in the new venture. A standard business plan should be about 40 pages in length, with good visual formatting, free of jargon and easy to understand.
Writing a business plan may seem overwhelming. However, there are simple ways to make the process more manageable as listed below.
- Title Page
- Table of Content
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Product/Service
- Market and Competition
- Marketing and Selling Strategy
- Operation Plan
- Management /Organization
- Financing
- Supporting Document.
Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks. - Paul "Bear" Bryant, football coach, University of Alabama's Crimson Tide.
Those who plan do better than those who do not plan even though they rarely stick to their plan. - Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister
Planning is like bringing the future into the present, so that you can do something about it now. So your business begins with the business plan.
Written by Mehifu Jaiyeola (Blogger, Entrepreneur, Writer, Training and development Professional) +2348034548195
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