Procuring capital from investors in order to start a business is never an easy process. The investors will want a high level of confidence that they will make a return on their investment. Since the business has not yet been launched, the investors will need to see something on paper to instill that much needed confidence. This is where a business plan proves helpful.
No business can survive much less thrive if it does not have a coherent plan to follow. A business that simply exists and is reactive on a day to day basis is not going to be profitable. Crafting a solid business plan reduce the potential for the business to falter since a proper road map is being charted for its success.
==> Download your business plan template now!
A Road Map for Success
A business plan can be best described a road map designed to carry a business towards its primary goals. The business plan charts all the steps for success in a logical and coherent manner. When presented to potential investors, the investors can actually see what path the business intends to follow in order to be successful.
This means certain elements must be weaved into the business plan.
Goals
Items to Consider when Writing a Business Plan
At the core of any business plan is its goals. The most of goals will revolve around what is needed to run a profitable business. However, merely being profitable is not always the prime goal most small business entrepreneurs have in mind. They might be interested in expanding the scope of their business and maximizing their profits to a significant degree. Disorderly steps that have no logical approach to attain such goals have to be avoided and instead a very definitive business strategy must be drawn up. This strategy will always require the business to attain logically laid out goals present in a business plan.
A Business Plan Should be Broken Down into a Series of Timely Steps
It has been said the best way to right a novel is to start at the ending and then work your way backwards. This way, you never run into problems with how to actually get there. A business plan can follow a similar strategy. The plan could present a twelve month plan with the eventually business goals sought after presented at the conclusion of the 12 month period.
This means a series of goals can be broken down biannually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily. This way, a business can always have a manageable path to follow in order to achieve what it is the business is seeking.
Would the business plan become weighted down by too many excess steps if you follow this approach? The answer is no because the plan itself can be written in very terse language that gets straight to the point in its presentation. Certainly, you do not want the plan to be so sparse they manageable goals are not presented in a manner that can easily be followed or understood.
Goals and Plans are Never Inflexible
One thing that clearly must be understood about writing a business plan would be the fact that the plan is never written as law and should never be tweaked or modified when it would be best to do so. Conditions and market factors may change and this can necessitate changing goals or steps in the business plan. However, you do not want to make flippant changes since this could undermine the cohesiveness and the coherency a business plan must possess in order to have any value.
However, a business plan that is locked in one way of doing things and unwilling to be pliable is just not going to be a business plan that can deliver much benefit to the company it intended to support.
==> Download your business plan template now!
Writing a Business Plan is Involved
The process of writing a business plan is an involved one. Since the business plan presents all the steps a business intends to take in order to be successful the plan cannot be lacking in focus or details. This is doubly true when you wish to present the plan to investors since you positively must impress them to be awarded funds.
Peter