Writing A Business Plan

General Guidelines
Outline
10 Most Common Mistakes
Help Writing Your Business Plan
More Information, Templates, and Links

The very first step in starting a business is writing a basic business plan. This will help you focus on the decisions you must make as you steer your new business idea toward success.

General guidelines to follow:

• Make the business plan brief and to the point
  

• The business plan should be easy to read and understand
  

• Fit the plan to the stage of the company's development
  

• Have several qualified individuals evaluate the plan
  

• Consider the audience to which the plan is directed.

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Outline

COVER LETTER
1. Dollar amount requested
2. Terms and timing
3. Type and price of securities, if any


SUMMARY
1. Business description
    a.  Name of company
    b.  Location and plant description
    c.  Product or service
    d.  Market and competition
    e.  Management expertise
2. Business goals
3. Summary of financial needs and application of funds
4. Earnings projections and potential return to investors


MARKET ANALYSIS
1. Show evidence that the product is well researched and you have an 
understanding of what the customer wants.
2. Description of total market
3. Industry trends
4. Target market
5. Competition


PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
1. Description of product line or service
2. Proprietary position: patents, copy rights, & legal and technical 
aspects
3. Development timetable
4. Long term development strategy


MANUFACTURING PROCESS (if applicable)
1. Materials
2. Source of supply
3. Production methods

MARKETING STRATEGY
1. Overall strategy
2. Identify cost of marketing efforts
3. Pricing policy
4. Sales terms
5. Target market
6. Methods of selling, distributing, and servicing products


MANAGEMENT PLAN
1. Form of organization
2. Board of directors composition
3. Officers: organization chart and responsibilities
4. Resumes of key personnel
5. Staffing plan/ number of employees
6. Facilities plan/ planned capital improvements
7. Operating plan/ schedule for upcoming work for next 1 to 2 years


FINANCIAL DATA
1. Financial statements for previous 3 to 5 years (existing businesses)
2. Five year financial projections--first year by quarters and remaining 
by year
3. Explanation of projections (assumptions}
4. Key business ratios
5. Explanation of use and effect of new funds
6. Potential return to investors; in comparison to average return in the 
industry as a whole

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
1.Your resume,
2. Personal financial statements
3. Tax returns
4. Catalog pages for equipment purchases
5. Customer lists
6. Price sheets
7. Copies of pending contracts
8. Any valuable information that backs up claims you make in the 
plan.

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10 MOST COMMON MISTAKES FOUND IN BUSINESS 
PLANS

1. Too long. Reviewers of business plans look for concisely written 
plans in bullet form that do not read like term paper.

2. No competition indicated. In most cases, this is just not true. Too 
little competition may indicate there is no market for your product or 
service.

3. Unreasonable expectations and projections. Grandiose estimates 
regarding sales projections or money requested can be disastrous.

4. Financial assumptions do not match data in the financial 
statements.

5. Business does not provide a realistic exit plan for investors.

6. Founders fail to demonstrate that they have the necessary 
management skills to operate the business.

7. Unrealistic time line projections that the product/service can be 
produced in a reasonable time period.

8. Little business knowledge demonstrated.

9. Inadequate price/cost ratios.

10. The plan describes a product or manufacturing process with 
technical jargon only experts can understand.

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For more business plan information and templates check these sites.

SBA Business Plans

More Business Business Plans

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Want more help in writing your business plan? 

Sign up for the following seminar:
Writing a Winning Business Plan at the

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