Writing A Business Plan

All business plans have essentially the same structure, outline, although they all look very different, and read differently, presenting different ideas. A business plan for a coffee shop will be different than a home based secretarial service.

Imagine someone writing a business plan for a child care center to serve employees working in nearby business offices. The plan would encompass all the elements of a typical business plan, such as marketing, financial projections, biographical summaries, etc. But, more importantly, this business plan would focus on the demographics and geography of the employees in these offices. Most importantly, it would focus on the ages and family status of those employees.

Changing gears, suppose a child care center which had been in business for a few years wants to expand, with additional facilities in surrounding areas. The dynamic of the proposal would immediately shift to focus on these new locations. The plan would focus on issues of (1) prior success, (2) expansion strategy and costs, and (3) managements ability to handle the expansion.

The hardest part about writing a business plan is establishing your initial focus.

Ask yourself this: What kind of business will it be? What will it look like?

Describe it in one sentence, a kind of mission statement. It doesn’t have to be perfect as long as it describes what you are trying to do. It can be more than one sentence but try to keep it to less than five.

For a deli – what kind of deli. Is it a Jewish deli, German deli, a general deli, organic deli, so forth. Keep things general at first because you can refine it later.

Who are your target clients/customers?

You will never serve everyone, your audience is always more specific. Describe the age range these people fall into and their sex. It may be everyone within a certain mile radius from your business, where your customers live or work in. Continue to refine your audience as much as possible. Knowing who your market is, is essential to your success.

For Lender's

To a lender you are a stranger and that is exactly the issue that all lenders or investors are faced with every day. Your job is to make their job as easy as possible by presenting all the information they need upfront.

Keep this perspective as it is important even if you are going to a banker who is familiar with you, or your business idea. Few bank managers make any decisions any more these days. It all goes to a committee or to some other office. It’s no longer possible to know who makes these decisions, like some years past when you could shake hands with the bank president. It may be someone who knows you and your industry but more likely it is a total stranger. Assume it is a stranger and present your information in this way.

By the time whoever finishes reading your business plan, they should feel comfortable with your business and your goals for your business. They should also feel comfortable with the fact that you are the best person to tackle this business idea and its goals.

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