Have you ever done a business plan before? It really isn’t that difficult to find the information, but it can be time consuming especially when you are keen to get your business up and running.

But wouldn’t you rather put in the time before setting up your business and know that you have the right information to start with. It will help you stay focused, know your good points and your not so good points, and allow you to address issues that need improving before you actually start operating.

WHAT IS YOUR PROPOSED BUSINESS GOING TO BE DOING?

Now is when you need to thinking about why you are starting your small business.

Is it because you have always had a mad desire to run your own business, because you have a burning need to prove to everyone how good you are at selling, fed up with being bossed around by a so-called manager who knows less than you do, or do you really want to seriously commit your whole being to running a successful business?

That is what you need to be thinking about at this stage?

HOW WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR PROPOSED SMALL BUSINESS?

For example, if you want to have a cafe, do you understand all the health and food regulations that will apply to what you are setting up?

Do you realise that there will be strict council regulations to abide by? What is your view of the menu you want to have – is it just what you prefer to eat and are there thousands of customers out there who will want to eat the same thing?

If you prefer to drink strong coffee, do you believe that all your customers should have the same served to them?

Many questins need to be answered before you start your small business.

HAVE YOU HAD A SERIOUS CHAT WITH YOUR ACCOUNTANT?

Before you set too many wheels in motion you need to have a chat to your accountant and see if you will have the funds for starting a new business.

I know of one lady who got so excited about buying her dream cafe. I, as a business broker representing the seller, asked her if she had the finance. Her answer was, “Yes, my husband just borrowed against the house to buy a semi-trailer so I should be able to get a loan.” Alarm bells rang with me straight away because I knew where they lived and I thought ‘semi trailers are not cheap so there is probably not enough equity left in the house to borrow more money’ and that was exactly the situation.

Before going too far into the idea of setting up your business you need to know:

- If you have the funds available

- If it is going to earn enough for your needs

- If you do not have funds available are you going to be able to borrow any

- What entity you will use to buy the business

By addressing these questions at the beginning you won’t get into trouble early in the piece. Financing a business is a big issue and needs to be very carefully thought out.

A business plan will help you analyse many areas of a new small business and you will be able to solve many of these situations before they arise and affect your new business.

By doing a business plan for your small business before you start spending money you will be well on the road to success. Your planning will be so much clearer and you will have more understanding of your stock, staff, markeing and finance. Many skills make up the success of a small business and having a business plan at the outset will help you start on the right footing.

Copyright (c) 2009 Kaye Dennan

Business plans are important because it will tell you exactly where you want your business to go and how you will get there. If it is the first time that you will be making your own business plan template, then it is best to check out several business plan templates. There are even some business plan templates that will be able to help complete yours in only a matter of hours. Just imagine the time that you saved and the time you will be spending on the execution of your business.

The reason why business plans are indispensable when about to embark on a business is because of the fact that it will be able to tell you if your ideas are financially viable or not. It will tell you exactly if it is operational. Most existing business plan templates include budget, start-up costs, cash forecasts, profit and loss, and so many other features that you will need to help you with your business.

We all know that getting into any business is a risk. It is a risk worth taking if you are prepared for it because one thing is for having business plans will give you a greater chance in succeeding than if you do not have any plans at all. So choose a template and start making your plans for your business. Commit to it and your business will commit to you too. That is the start of a wonderful business relationship between you and yourself. You can be sure of that.

Ideas can start anywhere. This can happen when a person is driving or when one is just sitting down and noticing something that nobody has thought of. Given that opportunities don’t happen very often and being the first counts, the individual can begin to put it on paper and work on the details.

If the person wants to start up a business but does not have enough money to make it happen, then that individual should look out for investors. In order for these people to be interested in this dream, a business plan must be drawn up before it can go any further.

Investors read a lot of business plans monthly and since it is hard to decide on which to accept, one should make sure that the document stands out by making it simple and brief for these people to understand.

It must have something concrete that will show how successful it can be compared to other proposals. This must have projections and figures that people can read. It must have a model explaining in detail how revenue will soon pour in.

Another thing that must be present in the business plan is the marketing aspect of the project. How will this reach the market? What steps will be taken should it not work out in the beginning? Will distributors be able to sell it? Who will benefit from this product? What is the gender and age group will this cater to?

It should also have a sales plan. It should explain how this product will be distributed. Will it be done directly or through another source? How much will it cost to make such a product? What is the manpower needed to make the operation work?

Should the person have a variety of products in store for the business, one can already determine and claim that a certain product will be the core line of the venture. This will be the key that will lead the growth in sales.

Since it all boils down to money, the document must show how much is needed for this to work in the first year of operation. It is best to show these in phases so the investors can see at point how the business is dong and where the money for this project be used. Most importantly, how long before the investment will pay off.

Investors may not have the time to read one’s business plan even if this has been mailed weeks before the scheduled presentation. To overcome this, one should put it in slides so that a visual presentation similar to the one on paper can be viewed by these people. The summary of the business plan should state clearly what the person wants to happen.

Simplicity is the best way for people to understand the business plan. By putting down important details that these expect to find, there is no doubt that investors will want to put out money and make the person’s dream a reality.

One should remember that some of the most successful businesses today started with humble beginnings. Some started out with practically nothing but through patience and hard work, the sacrifices have paid off.

If the individual has a dream, one should make it happen. If the person doesn’t, perhaps in time someone else will.

When you set out to start your own business, you know that you are going to have to take care of a lot of different things from paperwork to securing the money you are going to need to get started. If you are planning to secure a loan or a grant to start your business you are going to have to prepare a solid business plan. The problem with this is that a well thought out business plan can make a novel look like a comic book. In the same way that most editors do not have the time to read every manuscript that comes across their desk, investors lack the time to read every business proposal that they receive. In order to get your plan noticed you are going to need to use an executive summary template.

The executive summary is a highly condensed version of your business plan. This is your chance to present the highlights of your plan to investors in a way that they will be able to read it within a few minutes instead of taking hours to pour over the hundreds of pages of your original plan. You will have space to present your ideas in their best light, show them how you plan to spend their money and how it will help you secure a return on their investment. This summary is designed for the busy investor who simply does not have the time to read the whole plan unless he is already interested in it.

When you are looking for a template you need to make sure that the one you choose follows the most commonly accepted format. When investors start looking at these summaries, the last thing they want is to have to search all over the page to find the relevant information. You are only going to get one chance to make the kind of first impression that is going to secure the funding you need for your business. Read any instructions that come with your template carefully as they can help you to understand what it is going to take to create an eye catching executive summary.

Your summary needs to be clear and concise as the people who will be reading it do not have the time to sift through a bunch of fluff to get to the meat of your proposal. You must get the reader’s attention within the first two paragraphs or you are going to lose their attention. Once their attention starts to wander you have lost them and your summary will probably end up in the trash. You can find an executive summary template online that can be downloaded for free, in fact you can find a wealth of them and you should try several before you decide which one you should use.

If you have decided to start your own business, one of the first things that you need to do is to work on a business plan. A business plan is so important because it actually serves as a compass for the direction your business will take in the future. Having a plan will also help you achieve the things you want to achieve and will help your business to find success as well.

Consider the Details

One of the reasons that having a business plan is essential is that it will help you to consider the details of your business and its’ future. As you are working on your plan, you will probably find that there are many aspects of your new business that you have not considered. Getting started with a business plan will help you to save money and time since you will be able to deal with issues before they become a problem.

Helps You Get Funding

Another great reason for having a business plan is that it can help you if you are trying to get outside funds for your business. Most lenders and investors want to see that you have a clear business plan before they take a risk on your business. Having a plan already drawn up shows them that you are serious about being successful at your business. If you are going to show your business plan to potential lenders and investors, make sure that the figures you use are accurate so your plan is credible.

Management Tool

Starting a business is a huge job and it is helpful if you have something that can help you manage the business. A business plan can act as a management tool that can help you focus on where you are and where you want to be in the future. This will help you to keep your daily tasks well managed and will also help you to accomplish long term goals as well.

If you decide to go without a business plan, chances are that your business is going to end in disaster. You can use a business plan throughout all stages of your business to guide your business towards success. While it may take some time and energy to get a business plan together, in the end it will be well worth taking the time to get it done right.