Business Plan Blueprint

Small business owners often make the mistake of starting up their businesses without a clear-cut plan for how to make their business successful and how to help it to grow consistently. Today’s economic climate is no place to begin without having a step-by-step plan if you are going to make it in this highly competitive world. What every entrepreneur must do is to create your very own business plan. This document will help you to see your dreams in a way that will allow you to implement them.

So, what goes into writing a business plan? A good business should take the following basics into consideration.

Executive Summary of a Business Plan

This section of the business plan takes top priority in the overall scheme of planning how to make a business successful.

Market Analysis

Market Analysis is important because it demonstrates the level of knowledge you have about your particular industry. Without adequate knowledge, your business is vulnerable to failure.

Description of your Company

This section gives details about how each element of your business will work together.

Organization and Management

This section includes information about your company’s organizational structure, and goes into detail about the management team as well as the owner.

Marketing and Sales Management

Without marketing strategies, there will be no customers, and this section relates to how you will go about bringing in the customers.

Product Line and Customer Service

This section is where you will go into detail about the products that you will be selling. It will also outline the benefits your products or services will provide to customers.

There are many other aspects of writing up a business plan, but the first step you must take is getting the right kind of advice before getting started with your own.

Small Business Accounting Blueprint

There are a lot of different elements that should be considered when you are getting ready to take your business to the next level. Financing is just one of them. In short, before taking your business plan to a lending institution for a small business loan, you will want to make sure that you understand the amount of capitol it will take to finance your business while t is still in the start-up stage. And there is no secret about the fact that many new businesses fail during their first year of operation because they just do not have enough money to keep their doors open.

Here are a few things to consider before taking your plan to your bank.

Do You Understand the Basic Financial Needs of Your Business?

Do you know how much money it will take to get through that first year of operation, while you are building your customer base? Since it is unlikely that you will be generating enough income to meet expenses in that first year, you will need to include that amount in your request for funding. Get help with your bookkeeping as needed, by professional.

Do You Know When to Expect to Make a Profit?

A breakeven analysis is a tool that can be used to estimate when you can expect to actually start making a profit with your business venture. Knowing what your start-up costs will be is only the first step in understanding how much revenue it will take to run your new business successfully.

Starting a new business is an exciting adventure, but unless you have all the tools it takes to make that new venture successful, the inevitable is likely to happen and that excitement will turn to distress. This does not have to be the case when you have done everything in your power to be prepared for running a thriving business.

A Business Plan is a detailed depiction of a business idea that includes several sections outlining current or projected performance measures for a particular company/start-up. There are two primary purposes for a Business plan: To provide a visual means of presentation to present when trying to acquire funding and to make available a set of guidelines a company can follow in its quest for success. The most important components of a Business Plan include the sections supporting Management, Financial, Industry Analysis, and Marketing concerns. Both current and start-up companies can benefit from the development of a well conceived plan. The main difference is that a plan created for a start-up is based solely upon projection measures whereas established businesses have prior performance history and experience as a framework for future goals.

When attempting to secure funding company owners or designated members must conduct interviews and presentations with banks, venture capitalists, private investors, investment companies, the Small Business Administration, family and friends, etc.. Naturally, these investors and lenders want to know that they will receive a return on their investment. Therefore, the company or its designated member involved in the process is accountable for convincing funding sources that your particular business is worth their time, effort, and money. This is how a well written Business Plan comes into play because it is the avenue through which a company conveys how it will achieve the success necessary to not only pay dividends, but more importantly to sustain substantial profits. Your vision must come across to these professional investors as a worthwhile endeavor that will garner profits large enough for them to make back their investment, and then some. These entities are not interested in lending money and then receiving it back. Just like you, they want to make money and a detailed, precise, and well written plan is the most important selling point in captivating their focus and attention.

Likewise, a Business Plan is the means by which a company owner’s vision is transformed from thought to purposeful and well defined action. A well written plan takes into account the adversity a company will face in its future as well as possible steps that can be taken to overcome those very same dilemma’s. In addition, a plan is to exhibit every aspect of a particular industry and its trends in an effort to interpret for a company what the market for business is really like. Many business owners are surprised when the company encounters less than positive situations that were destined to happen, because consultation with an industry professional never took place. Part of a professional Business Plan Writer’s responsibility is to solicit the necessary industry consultation and research essential for the creation of a plan that will prevent the element of surprise that can happen without adequate investigation.

An overwhelming majority of start-ups require funding from sources outside of company owners themselves. Although there remains the few who are fortunate enough to have the resources to start and operate a company, a Business Plan is vital regardless of whether or not outside financing is needed. Your plan is your first key to success and you owe it to yourself, company management, and employees to solicit the help of a professional Business Plan Writer to produce a superb framework that will guide your business to the level of success originally envisioned. The Business Plan is the number one investment that you can make in your company and its future.

~A.L. Demings~

“Greatness begins with a flash and becomes full blown fireworks” ~A.L. Demings~

A professionally written plan should cost anywhere between $1,500 and $30,000 if written by a professional Business Plan Writer who’s overall purpose is to write you a plan applicable to your company specifically. Although every plan is characteristic of the company for which it is written, there is a substantial amount of research and investigation required to obtain the necessary information for every individual project. The level of investigative efforts required to develop a detailed plan that correlates with the guidelines set forth by lenders and investors, is ultimately what determines how much a Business Plan will cost. Furthermore, the size and authenticity of the business being established is a determining factor as to the amount of research required, along with the characteristics of the particular market or industry. However, the range between the price of plans written for small businesses and larger companies is immense.

Typically, a plan prepared for a small business start-up should cost anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000. Once again that cost will be highly dependent upon the amount of research and investigation required. And, it is contingent upon the nature of that particular industry or market. Another aspect that plays a role in how much a Business Plan Writer will charge is the resourcefulness of the company owner. Most plan writers will have a client to complete a series of worksheets prior to each consultation, and the adeptness with which the client is able to complete these questionnaire’s is important in determining how much research and investigation will be required of the plan writer.

Be skeptical of online plan writers charging prices as low as $100-$200. These are what I refer to as “cookie cutter” Business Plan Writers, who obviously do not do the research and investigation necessary to create an adequate Business Plan. What these online scam artists do is apply superficial information about your company into a prefabricated Business Plan Template without including the detailed information required by lenders and investors. Several online companies also lead entrepreneurs into believing that the purchase of a template is adequate enough to create a professional plan. Remember, you will get what you pay for, and the most beneficial investment you can make for your company is a well written, precise, and detailed Business Plan.

~A.L. Demings~

“Success comes to those who have the discipline to control their own destiny”
~A.L. Demings~