How to Create a Business Plan

The growth of your business in the long run will depend on the strength of your goals, vision, and strategies. This explains why your business plan has to be comprehensive as much as possible. Having a standard business plan has several benefits. Aside from clearly stating your business goals, you get to attract investors and potential partnerships. If you need help getting started with creating a business plan for your business, this article is for you. The article will take you step-by-step through creating a business plan:

Executive Summary

This is the first section other people see in your business plan. It includes basic information about your business, such as a mission statement, description of products or services, and your marketplace. Use an elevator pitch style in this section to grab the attention of investors and potential partners. It also includes highlights of what your business plan entails so you can save the writing to the last.

Company Description

Once you are done with the executive summary, the company description will follow. This section provides a detailed description of your company. This includes specific information like business name, address, key employees, consumers, and business structure (sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation). It is also advisable that you have a company history in the section. How did you start your business, and how has it evolved over the years?

Objective Statement

This is the section where you state your business goals. At this point, you need to carefully brainstorm your business goals. What are those goals you want to achieve in the short term and long term? It can be financial or profit goals. Also, if you want to attract investors, partners or you would like to secure funds for your business, you can state it in this section.

Services or Product Description

Once you are done establishing your business goals, the next step is to provide a detailed description of your products or services. How does your product/service work? What are your unique selling points? What is the pricing model? Who are your target customers? Answers to these questions must be included in this section. In addition, you can include your patents or trademarks in this section.

Market Research

New products/services are created to fill a specific gap in the market. This is the section where you let investors and lenders know what makes your offering unique. Who are your competitors, and how are you different from them? What is it that you are set to do that makes you better than your competitors? What are the risks in your market, and how are you prepared to mitigate these risks? In addition, how well do you understand opportunities in the market, and how do you plan to leverage them?

Marketing and Sales Plan

How do you plan to convince customers to buy your products or use your service? This section includes all the strategies you plan to use to promote your products/services and sell to targeted customers. In addition, it will include other information like pricing strategy, target market, sales channels, and advertising strategies.

Organization and Management

Let your reader know how you plan to structure your business and who will be in charge of the operation. You can state in this section whether you are forming a general or limited partnership, LLC, C or S partner, or a sole proprietor. In addition, use an organizational chart to explain the hierarchy in your business.

Financial Plan

A business plan is only complete with a financial plan. What you include here will depend on your business stage. If you are already in business and want to secure funding or attract investors, you can include your financials over the years. This will include your income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. However, if you are starting a new business, you can project a financial plan for the next 5 years.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that you don’t need to adhere completely to all the sections mentioned in this article. You can customize it based on your business needs. For example, you might decide to add a fund request section to your business plan if you are looking to secure a loan. Lastly, a business plan is an essential part of your business as it sets the ground for growth. It is a roadmap that will keep you focused on your business goals.