No matter what kind of business you have, it is essential to have a written business plan. It is critical to your success, and you need it if you plan to get loans or approach investors. It will tell you what to expect over the next five years. Take a look at how to write your business plan.
Start with an Executive Summary
The first step is to write your summary, where you give your business name, the critical employees, your business address and background, and the products or services you offer. This tells everyone who you are and what you do.
Describe Your Business
You should give the details about your business in this section. Talk about your business’s opportunities, your target market, and how you stand out from the competitors in your field. Show what makes your business different.
Your Market Analysis
In this section, you should show evidence that you gather through a comprehensive analysis of your business’s market. Show the competition, what they are doing well, and where they fall short. How will your business fill a void in the market, and how will the competitors react? Discuss where you will get your customers. Will they come over to you from your competitors, and how will you attract them?
Lay Out Your Operational Structure
You will start giving the specifics about your business. This section should lay out how your company operates daily and be specific. You should also discuss its legal structure. Include the owners and the stakeholders and what each one brings to the table.
Describe Your Products
This is the section where you will talk about your products. It is one of the most important sections because you need to show what makes your company a success. Explain how your products will be priced and how it compares to the competition. You can also include your marketing and promotions plan here.
Your Funding Request
If you plan to request funding, you should include your request here. You will want to say how much you are asking for and what you plan to do. You should also say what your projected returns will be.
Financial Analysis
Your financial analysis should paint a picture of your past business performance and what you expect in the future. You can include charts and images to make your explanation easy to read. If you can, show stability over the past few years. Otherwise, you can show realistic projections of what to expect going forward.