The Business Plan As Essential Map
You are starting your own business! Awesome! So what’s the plan? As in the business plan. I know, it kinda takes the fun out of it, to have to spell everything out. All the details, where your office will be, how many employees, what equipment you need, how you plan to market… Haven’t quite figured all that out yet? Well, that’s why you need a business plan! Don’t worry, it’s not as painful as it sounds, and we can even direct you to a free sample business plan. I mean, you wouldn’t wander a completely foreign city without a map would you?
You like to travel light, you say, keep things simple. You’re exicted and you’ve already looked at possible office space!! That’s great, but do you know how much you can spend?
That’s just the sort of detail that writing a business plan will help you figure out by organizing the descriptions about your new business. Not only will it help you better define your company (which will help you pitch it to investors now and market it later), you’ll have a clearer picture of strengths and weaknesses, and, very importantly, where you plan to take the company. Formalizing all of your ideas in writing will give them more shape and make them more executable. As your business gets going, you will be able to refer to your plan to help make decisions (or to change the plan!).
So what’s all in a business plan? Here’s a basic outline of a sample business plan:
- A summary of your business. Keep this brief.
- A more in-depth description of the company including the purpose (or mission statement), info about your background, key employees, and goals.
- A description of the industry and your target customers.
- Description of products and services, including pricing info. Include photos if possible!
- Organization details: who’s involved and how everyone is organized, your legal business structure (such as LLC or INC), info about how sales are generated.
- Marketing and selling strategy. Good idea to start thinking about how you’ll promote your startup.
- Finances. If you are looking for a loan or investors, this will be important. Be realistic about startup costs and earnings projections.
That’s a basic overview. For more on how to write a business plan, see this sample business plan outline. Once you’ve really nailed down the details, you’ll feel better – because you have a plan for starting and growing your business. Trust us, you don’t want to be wandering aimlessly, in whatever industry it is, without a map.
