Many women are so confused by the words – “Business Plan”. What is it? Who do I show it to? Do I really need it? What is it really going to do for me?

A business plan is a written blueprint for your business. It describes a summary of what your business is about and it’s goals. It also outlines how your business will function. The term “business plan” was first developed by bankers who wanted a detailed report of how a business would result in profits before they would make a decision on lending money. Today, no business banker will even entertain a business loan application without a business plan.

In a nutshell, the answer is yes, you really do need a business plan if you really want to build a solid foundation under your home-based business.

I guess the reason so many women procrastinate in doing a business plan is because they think they have to come up with some imaginary figures and statistics about their business which is of course very scary for anyone. This type of plan is known as an Executive Business Plan. This plan is shown to banks, SBA and other lenders who you may apply to for a substantial loan. Usually, this type of business plan must show a 3-5 year projection of how much money your business would make if they should lend you a specific sum of money. Although you will need this type of business plan should you wish to expand your business, the most important thing for you to know now is where you will be in the next 3,6,9 and 12 months. One of the best form of business plans to start out with is the “Working Business Plan”. This plan answers the 5 “W’s” – Who, What, Where, When and Why.

There is no pre-required length that a Working Business Plan should be. Just remember that you aren’t writing to impress, you are writing to address the important issues of starting your business. This plan is just for your planning purposes and can be expanded later on into a full executive plan. The following outline will help you in processing your thoughts and writing your Working Business Plan.

1. Mission Statement – What is the goal of your business. What purpose does it serve.

2. Objective – What will the outcome be for your business as a result of your mission. (ex: K.G. enterprises will gross over $50,000 it’s first year with a 5% error margin on its documents).

3. Management – Who will run the business and what qualifications does the person have. What additional skills or resources are needed? What are the names of others that might be able to serve as mentors or help you in grooming your business for success?

4. Service/Product – What products or services are being offered? How will they be produced. If you are selling a product, how much of the product will you need in stock? Do you have the start-up capital needed to purchase the produce? If no, how will you raise the capital needed?

5. Customers – Who are your customers? What area are they in? Is this a service or product they will want to buy? Do a typical profile of a repeat customer. 6. Competition – Who are your competitors? Where are they located? What are their prices? What services or products do they sell? How could you do better?

7. Marketing – How will you market your business? How much money will you need to market your business? How is your competition marketing their business? Do you need business cards, brochure, stationery, fliers etc.?

8. Office Set-up – What are your daily office procedures, what will you do each day that will result in the sale of your service or product? What bookkeeping system will you use and how often will you input your information in the system? Do you need a bookkeeper? What supplies do you need? What type of furniture do you need? What office equipment will you need? Where will your office be?

9. Finances – HOW MUCH MONEY WILL YOU NEED FOR THE FOLLOWING?

$ Your Income

$ Advertising/Promotion

$ Bank Fees

$ Business Insurance

$ Business Lease/Rent

$ Internet (include website, hosting etc.)

$ Supplies

$ Postage

$ Printing

$ Telephone

$ Training

$ Utilities

$ Marketing/Advertising

$ Equipment

$ Furniture

10. Networking – Who needs to know about your new venture and why? What contacts do you need to have? Why do you need to know them? What can they help you with?

Contact Management

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week.

Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week. Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

11. Sales – The number of clients you service or products you sale will give you a true picture as to whether or not you are having success with your business. But first, you must have a measurable sales goal in achieving this success. Start by evaluating where you want to be in sales for the first 3 months, 6, months, 9 months or one year. By doing this you will be able to re-evaluate your business plan every three months and determine if you need to improve in marketing etc.

12. Starting Date – Set a starting date for when you want to begin your business or put into place this working business plan. Make sure you have printed material available for all services or products offered. Also evaluate and follow-up with yourself daily for the first month to ensure that you are following your own plan. After 30 days, follow-up on a weekly basis and then monthly from that point on.

13. Remember, no plan will work unless you are willing to put it into action!

If you are planning on seeking funding or investors for your daycare startup then a solid child care center business plan will be essential for proving the feasibility of your idea to them. There are also some other compelling reasons why you should take the time to prepare this important blueprint for business success. If you are going into business with a partner, a business plan will allow both of you to make sure that you are thinking along the same lines. And even if you are going it alone and have nobody to impress, a plan offers you a way of getting all your thoughts and research down on paper in one structured report.

A business plan allows you to see if your child care center is viable and helps you to set goals and benchmarks that you can later measure your progress against. Below we offer a child care center business plan template. The ideal way to put together a plan is to look at a few that have been done for other child care centers and then make adjustments to suit your unique situation. It can be an extensive report or something brief that fits onto one page.

What to Include in a Business Plan for a Child Care Center

1) Executive Summary

This is a summary of your daycare business plan and it should be written after the plan is complete. Detail the contents of your plan and declare some of the conclusions that you have made.

2) Company Mission

Put money aside for a minute and write a little about how you want to fit in with and impact your community in a positive way. Write about the importance of child care in society and your personal philosophies on early childhood development and daycare. What kind of image do your want to project?

3) Table of Contents and Introduction

Introduce the reader to your business plan and let them know what kind of daycare you have in mind. What is the basic concept? What services will you offer? What age groups will you care for?

Set out a contents page so that readers can easily navigate their way through the report.

4) Background

You should include some background on the child care industry to help readers to better understand the present state of the industry and how your business will fit into it. Personal backgrounds of yourself and other key players should also be included to let readers know who you are and what led you to the conclusion that you want to enter this industry. What skills, experience or attributes do you have that make you particularly well suited to setting up and managing a child care center? Attach any supporting documents such as your resume to the business plan as an appendix.

5) Objectives

Summarize your financial goals as well as any expansion plans that you have for the daycare over your first two or three years in business.

6) Startup Requirements and Financing

List out all anticipated startup costs and other hurdles that must be overcome before you open your doors to families. How you propose to finance the new business?

7) Business Structure and Legal Considerations

Will the child care center be a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation? Include details on the daycare licensing process for the state in question as well as other local regulations that must be complied with such as zoning and building safety requirements. What insurance policies will be necessary to protect the business and its owners from property damage or liability claims?

Organization

How will your daycare be managed? Your daycare business plan should include information on the ownership structure (if there are other owners involved). Set out a plan for taking on and managing staff including hiring practices, necessary qualifications, wages and other policies. Outline job descriptions for each position and set out a clear hierarchy showing which managers are responsible for which employees.

9) Market Analysis

A good business plan will usually have an analysis of the local market. This is where you can present the findings of any market research that you have undertaken. Your market analysis should include information gained from surveys with prospective daycare clients in the area to find out more about them and about what they are looking for in a daycare service. You can include demographic data about your local market here and attempt to establish some typical customer profiles. Discuss your proposed location and why you think its location is strategically significant.

Look at a variety of niches within daycare such as infant care or after school care and decide on the niches that you will go after with your set up and your marketing. Give details on all local competitors and suggest ways that your daycare could offer unique services that differentiate it from these other market players. Look at their strengths and weaknesses and try to come up with the ideal service for your market that is an improvement on the services that are already available.

10) Marketing Plan

Put forward a marketing plan for gaining new customers. Outline a branding strategy, a pricing strategy and how you will consistently promote your daycare to local families. Try to identify precisely what advertising and marketing methods you would use to get leads and what sales approach you would use to turn prospective families into new clients. Write an online marketing plan discussing a proposed website for the child care center as well as a strategy for bringing targeted traffic to the site.

11) Financial Plan

Lastly, you should include some detailed financial forecasting. Estimate revenues and expenses over a period of two years and set these out in a spreadsheet. Profit or loss can then be projected based on these estimates. Put forward several different scenarios where for example costs are higher than expected or income is slower than expected. Identify the break even point or the point that the business becomes profitable.

A good child care business plan template along the lines of the one that we have outlined above will give you a clear direction of where you want to go, will help you to measure progress along the way and ultimately will help you to reach your personal and financial goals.

If you are considering starting a real estate investment company then you need to put together a business plan for real estate investors. This business plan will be your blueprint for success. It will not only help you to identify the pros and cons of different real estate investments, but it will also help you to identify financing options, successful investment strategies and real estate investment resources. Your real estate investment plan should also be used to focus your investment activities and goals.

Now that you know what a business plan for real estate investors is you should next learn what it is used for. A real estate investment business plan can be used for several things. First it can be used to help you focus on one or two specific real estate investment activities. Secondly it can be used to help you repeat investment successes. Finally it can be used to navigate your investments around sink holes and problems.

Before you start writing your business plan you should create an outline and gather your information. To start with you will want to write an overview of your real estate investment goals and objectives. This will help you to keep your business plan focused on the areas of real estate investing that you are interested in. The next section will be a market analysis. This analysis should include information on your target properties, what current properties are selling for or renting for, etc. This section should also include information about local commercial listings agents and a local residential listings agent that you can use to find properties or to market the properties that you buy. Other resources that you will want to list in this section include the contact information for professionals that you can call for appraisal and inspection services. The remaining sections of your business plan should include a section on how you should respond to different problems, a section on sales projections and estimates, a section for your financial plan, a section on how you will manage your investments and a final section that will summarize your goals and objectives.