Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan
Whether you’ve been in business five years or fifty, every business needs to have a business plan that’s clearly written out. Having a clearly-defined business plan can help your business when you’re ready to expand or seek capital, attract new investors or ready your business to sell to the next generation. If you’ve never written a business plan before, however, you may not know where to start. Here are some helpful hints on writing your business plan, step by step.
Research
Your first step when writing any business plan is to conduct thorough research. You should have a good understanding of not only your own products or services, but the industry as a whole, including market trends, future projections and competitor analysis. As a business owner, you should be an expert on your product and your industry so that when you’re asked questions you’re able to give a quick and thorough answer. A good rule of thumb is that you should expect to spend almost twice as much time on the research phase as you would on the writing portion of your business plan. Once you have your research finished, you should be ready to move on to the next phase of your business plan.
Purpose
Every business plan should be written with a purpose. After you’ve conducted your research, you should be able to determine what angle you want to take when you begin the writing phase. You could use your business plan to provide future business owners with direction on how to manage your business once you’re no longer able to. That may include providing a background on your business, marketing strategies, sales history and profits versus losses. You could also write with the purpose of attracting new investors or to persuade a bank that you’re stable enough to take on the risk of a loan. Whatever your purpose, your plan should be written with it top-of-mind.
Explain the Why
When writing your business plan, you should be prepared to explain why people should take a chance in investing in your business. Creating and listing a mission statement along with a company profile can show people that you’re passionate and dedicate to the overall success of your business and that you’re knowledgeable and stable. Don’t be afraid to share any failures or lessons you’ve learned as a business owner, as it shows that you’ve experienced growth as a company and have learned from past experience what not to do.
Having a business plan is vital to long-term success. The better your business plan, the more likely you will be to succeed.
