Benefits of Having a Business Plan

New business owners often ask, “Why do I need a business plan?”, especially when they see the time necessary to write one. Well, let’s put it this way. Do you want a successful business? Because, writing a well-thought-out and organized business plan dramatically increases your odds of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Running or starting a business without a business plan is like walking through the dark without a flashlight. You can probably go a long way using just your senses and relying on basic instincts. But operating in such a manner leaves you wide open to the risk that something will get in your way (like a competitor) and you probably won’t see it until it is too late. And just imagine all of the opportunities that are just waiting to be grasped – but without a flashlight, ah sorry – business plan, how will you see and take advantage of them?

The benefits of having a business plan include:

• Helping you to clarify your vision and deciding whether or not to forge ahead with the idea.

• Determining if your product and/or service has a sufficient market to support it and whether or not it will be profitable.

• Providing an estimate of your start-up costs and how much you’ll need to invest or finance.

• Convincing investors and lenders to fund your business.

• Defining your target market (who your customers are or will be) and how to best reach them through strategic marketing actions or expanding market coverage or reach.

• Establishing or reevaluating your competitive position within the marketplace, by conducting a thorough analysis of the competition (finding out where your competitor’s weaknesses are and how you can take advantage of them).

• Defining corporate objectives and programs to achieve those objectives.

• Helping your business make money from the start by developing effective operational strategies.

• Understanding the risks involved and anticipating potential problems so you that can solve them before they become disasters.

• Setting a value on a business for sale or for legal purposes.

How to Write Business Plan

There are many free and premium templates. BPlans.com offers both free and premium templates which you can peruse to give you a more specific sample based on business type.  Seagate Web Solutions professionals can write a business plan for your new business or revamp your business plan to reflect new business growth, get loans or angel investors.

A 30,000 ft. view of a plan is that the contents are as follows:

• Executive Summary     A description of the business, product offering and audience.  This is a positive summary of your business where anyone reading the summary will understand precisely what your company is and who it sells to.  Should be 2.5 paragraphs in length.
• Mission
  • Keys to Success
• Corporate Summary     Another descriptive paragraph, however, this one should contain information about the product, how it will provide or distribute the product, to whom and how it will focus its marketing efforts.  Keep it to 2 paragraphs maximum.
  • Company Ownership    Who owns the company in what percentages.
  • Start Up Summary     Start up costs, funding and expenses .  Basically, include all information, even use a chart or two, to layout the money necessary to start-up and run the business.
  • Strategy and Implementation Summary    
• Competitive Edge     What other companies are similar and what makes yours different.
• Personnel Plan     Will there be any staff, count, roles and cost.
• Financial Plan     Assets, liabilities, capital, planned investment from each partner, and break-even analysis.
• Projected Performance    Proforma’s

As an entrepreneur, a business plan is a must as it will highlight the pros and cons of your business idea and potentially save you time and money – not to mention keep you focused.  If you’re considering starting your own home based business, or just want to earn some extra cash, consider all the options and chose something you have some experience in.  Sites like Layoff Recovery have some great ideas on ways to make money and earning extra cash.  There’s no point reinventing the wheel. Take a look to get some ideas and links to proven resources to launch your own business. These resources will make your business plan more substantial and believable – there is no way to do it well all yourself.