In simple terms, a business plan is a document that defines the goals of your business and describes how to achieve those goals. In this guide, I will describe in detail all the stages of writing a business plan that will help you start a successful business. A well-thought-out business plan is a key to success for any entrepreneur, no matter what goals he sets for himself – from attracting investments to developing a strategic growth plan for the company.
1. Be brief.
Keep your business plan short and concise. There are two reasons for this requirement:
Your business plan should be such that the reader wants to read it in full. Who wants to spend time on a document that is 40 (and sometimes all 100) pages?
As a tool to drive business growth and development, a business plan must change with your company. A lengthy document is more difficult to work with, which means that a business plan that is too long is likely to be covered in dust on the shelf.
2. Investigate your audience.
Write a business plan in a language that your target audience will understand. For example, if your company is in the scientific field and your potential investors do not understand complex terminology, you must adapt to the needs of your investors.
Here’s an example of overly complex wording:
“Our technology is a single-connection accessory for CPAP machines. By connecting to a CPAP device, our product provides non-invasive ventilation with dual pressure maintenance. ”
Simplified formulation:
“Our product is an easy-to-use device that replaces traditional medical ventilators and does not require an electrical connection. The cost of our product is 1/100 of the cost of a traditional artificial ventilation device. “
Focus on investors. Describe your product as simple as possible and avoid complex terms. It is better to put more detailed information in the appendices.
3. Don’t be afraid.
Most entrepreneurs are not business experts. They have no special education and are forced to learn as they go. Writing a business plan may seem like an overwhelming task, but it is not. If you know and love what you want to do, it should be easy for you to write a good business plan and adjust it as your project develops. Many people just create Instagram accounts to get clients and it works connected with their niche. You can create a website with the perfect wordpress plugin to be more preventive.
Moreover, it is not at all necessary to immediately create a complete, detailed business plan, the structure of which will be described in this article. It is best to start with a simple one-page business plan and build a more detailed document from it.
4. Look at an example of a business plan.
Before writing a business plan, it is better to look at a sample business plan for a company in your industry (cafe, beauty salon, car wash, online store). You will be able to understand how it should look like, how to make calculations correctly, what to include in a business plan, industry features
If you want to receive funding from investors, you must describe how you are going to use the funds received. You don’t need to write all the expenses down to the last dollar. Just indicate the main areas on which the money will be spent (marketing, development and research, sales, purchase of equipment and inventory, etc.). There are many tools that will be very useful for your company and for managing the processes. For example scheduling software your customers will love, project management tools.
Good Luck with your business plans!!!