27Jun



As we have discussed, many formats can be used to develop your personal business plan. However you choose to present it, it is important to have a well structured plan that provides thorough information and research to your potential lenders, financiers, or partners. The following is the conclusion of a ten-segment business plan that can be used to help you better understand what your readers will be looking for. The first four sections included the executive summary, product or service description, market research, and marketing and advertising strategy.

5. Competition- The old saying, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” surely applies to the process of starting and running a company. In this section of your business plan, you may want to include a separate file for each competitor in your area. Include in each competitor’s file their location, revenues, date opened, and other such pieces of information. Is their company growing, declining, or stable? Your readers will be looking for evidence that your enterprise will be able to stand its ground in your local market. Include your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and describe how you will approach these aspects. Also include a diagram of each competitor’s share of the market. This is also another good place to emphasize the differences between your product and your competitors’.

6. Operations- The operations section of your business plan should describe the logistical requirements of your business’ operation. Break this section down into segments addressing products and raw materials required, staffing, facilities, equipment, and production strategy. These are all pretty much clear-cut. Production strategy should include a description of how your product will be manufactured, as well as any potential problems that may arise, with solutions. Also include your company’s hours of operations in this section. Your lenders will be looking for what you have done so far to get your venture off the ground and that you have a thorough understanding of the manufacturing process.

7. Management- Here you will provide a complete profile of each member of your upper management team. Include duties and responsibilities of each position, as well as salaries and benefits. If any of the positions are already filled, include personal background information of each of these individuals.

8. Personnel- This section will describe employee information. Include amount of employees needed, as well as future projections. Detail a list of all positions required to operate your business. Describe what skills your employees will need to possess. Also include how you plan to pay these employees, such as hourly, salary, overtime, etc.

9. Financial Data- Here you will include all financial data pertaining to your business. If you are not financially acute, find someone who is to help you with this section of your business plan, as this section is crucial as to whether or not you will be considered for loans. Include a balance sheet, break-even analysis, income statement, and a cash-flow sheet.

10. Supporting Documents- This is where you will include any other documentation or research that has not already been included. It is basically an appendix of resumes, credit info, quotes and estimates, leases or buy/sell agreements, census/demographic data, and any other legal documents that are relevant to your business plan. It is also a good idea to include any credible references you may have.

12Jun



Starting a bookkeeping business is an extremely financially option. There will always be a great need for professional bookkeeping services specifically for small to medium sized companies. Developing a tight and effective business plan should be one of the first steps you take towards achieving success in your bookkeeping business. By designing this plan you are effectively laying out the strategy and goals you want to achieve within a given time.

The steps in creating a business plan for your bookkeeping business are ideally the same as for any other venture. Firstly market research is key- see what your competitors are doing right, and wrong. Research can be easily performed on the web, or you could call up your competitors feigning interest as a potential client to see what services they offer. Learn from your competitors mistakes so you don’t follow the same pitfalls, and improve on the positive aspects of their business.

Potential clients are the key to establishing any successful business; you need to know what the client wants and how to keep them happy. Further to this you need to know how to attract the client in the first place. For a new small bookkeeping business localized pay per click campaigns could be a great method of turning on-line clicks to off-line sales.

In setting up your business plan, you need to know exactly which client

19May



When starting a cleaning business, or any business for that matter, a business plan is extremely important. It gives other interested parties such as investors, lenders or partners a clear idea of the opportunity at hand and it gives the business owner a way to compile his or her research in one place. A plan is all about knowing where you want to take the business and setting goals and targets to get there.

Many people don’t know where to start when it comes to preparing a cleaning business plan. This article gives you a basic structure to build upon and towards the end lets you know how you can find some sample business plans that have been used by cleaning services.

1) The Executive Summary – An introduction and outline of the basic concept or idea.

2) Ownership structure – What parties will have an interest in the business and if they will be active in the management or only passive investors. Outline the management structure if there is more than one owner actively involved.

3) Goals and targets – Set out your businesses objectives or what will be achieved by certain dates.

4) Mission statement – Outline the purpose of the business, it’s values and a company philosophy.

5) Start-up requirements – List down the things that must be acquired before you can start. How much money will you need to get started?

6) Market research and analysis – Compile the results of your research into the local market. What cleaning market segments offer the best opportunities? Who are your target customers? Who are your competitors and how do you plan to position your company to compete with them?

7) Marketing – Set out details and a budget for your cleaning business marketing strategy. What methods will you use to attract enquiries? How will your sales approach turn these leads into new accounts? What is your advertising budget?

8) Employees – Set out the process for hiring employees, estimate costs and set out a timeline for taking on staff as your business grows.

9) Financial estimates – Do some hypothetical cash flow forecasting. Make estimates of monthly income and expenses and plug them into a spreadsheet program. You can then estimate how much profit you will make over the first few years of your business’s life. Remember that many business owners are overly optimistic when they start out so you should run some worst-case scenarios with low monthly income forecasts just to give you an idea. Run some best-case scenarios too to allow you to see how much you could make if things go to plan.

Before you start out in the cleaning industry make sure that you have a solid cleaning business plan in place so that you are organized and 100% certain about the direction that you want to proceed in.

5May



When it comes to starting a catering business, as with any other business, a business plan is crucial for starting out in a clear direction, setting goals to aspire to and for measuring progress along the way.

When researching a business everyone from you business partners to your bank manager or investors will want to see a business plan. But a business plan is also a way for you, as the owner to get all your information down in one master document that will help you to stay organized and focused.

But where should you start? How do you set out a business plan? This article will look at the main components of a catering business plan and towards the end will let you know how you can go about getting a sample business plan from an already successful catering company that you can use as a base to assemble your own.

1) An Executive Summary – A brief outline to introduce the reader and let them know what the business is about.

2) Objectives – Basic goals for the company over the medium term (3 or 4 years). What should be achieved and when it should be achieved by.

3) The company’s mission (values, ideals)

4) Ownership structure

5) Start-up details – what equipment is needed, what are the start-up costs

6) Market Analysis – In depth market research should be included here as well as details on which niche catering markets are targeted and what services or products will be offered to them. Research into competitors should be included here along with how the business will gain a competitive edge over those competitors.

7) Marketing Strategy – Including advertising and sales methods. Sales forecasts should also be included.

8) Management – Outline the management structure of the new business.

9) Employees – Set out a plan for when employees will be hired and try to get estimates on how much overall staffing costs will be on an annual basis.

10) Financial details – This is perhaps the most important part of the plan. Estimated revenues and costs should be set out in spreadsheets over a hypothetical 3 or 4-year period. Then profits and losses can be projected based on these estimates. You may also insert optimistic figures and pessimistic figures to get an idea of ‘best case scenario’ and ‘worst case scenarios’. The financial analysis should also attempt to identify the date upon which ‘break even’ point will be met. This can be a little technical and if you are not an accountant some guidance is needed.

You can get generic business plans and guides that tell you how to write them, but it would be great if you had something specifically related to a catering start-up. Getting a hold of an example of a real catering business plan can be tough as successful business owners usually keep business plan details private. If you could get a hold of a plan to use as a basis for putting your own plan together it would definitely make your job much easier.

12Apr



What is a business plan? A plan is a way to prepare for your salon business. With a plan, you can map out the future of your salon, prepare for any problems and find resources that will help make your salon successful. Here are 6 steps for a simple business plan.

1. Executive Summary A short summary of the information included in your business plan. Information in your plan includes strategy, competition, marketing, and ideas. An executive summary is usually less than 2 pages.
2. Company Description Describes your business and what it entails. It talks about the goals, mission, assets, and start up-plans for your beauty salon business.
3. Market Analysis An evaluation of what your customers will want and need. It also scopes out the competition within your area. Market research is used in order to find the answers to these types of questions.
4. Marketing Brainstorming ways to promote your business. This may include word of mouth, advertisements and utilization of a business website.
5. Workforce Describes staff responsibilities and roles in your beauty salon business. It also lists qualifications for each position.
6. Financial Analysis Figuring out how much different aspects of your salon business will cost and what your profit will be in the future.

These 6 steps will give you a general idea of what a typical business plan entails. As you continue with the plans for your salon business, your plan will have to be more thorough. There are various resources available that provide outlines of plans specifically for salon businesses. One such resource is The Business Plan for Your Salon.

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