What to include in your Business Plan A common misconception is that business plans are are just for start-up companies. Small business owners and tend to deal with day to day issues without thinking of long term planning. Having a business plan and sticking to it is a great way of ensuring your business stays in line with your expectations. If updated regularly you can leverage your business plan to help drive your business forward. A good business plan should be ambitious but realistic and be aligned to the long term expectations of your business. Its always a good idea to plan the first year of your plan in detail and then look at least the next two years at a higher level. Things to include: 1. Mission / Vision Statement - What do you want 2. Operations Overview 3. Competitive / Market Analysis 4. Marketing Plan 5. Financial Planning & Business Metrics 6. Funding Plans & Options 7. Key Milestones 8. Staff 9. Long Term Projections 10. Intellectual Property 11. Company History Over the next couple of days we will be going through the key elements of a business plan in more detail. A key thing to remember is that your business plan is also a key selling tool for your business. Your plan should be succinct and concise, between 3 and 10 pages, any additional information can be put in an appendix.
Summarize your business plan by creating a presentation, its a great way of focusing your business. You should also tailor your business plan to the audience that you are presenting it to, highlighting what you think they will be most interested in. A great example of this is the difference between a bank and an investor. A bank primarily wants to be sure you will repay your loan so you should place emphasis on
your cash planning. An investor wants to know how profitable the business will be and how much money they can earn from the business and how quickly they will see a return on investment. When presenting your plan to a potential investor you need to explain how much money they could make from their investment and when they will get this.