What is a Business Plan?
A business plan is a formal document created by a business owner describing their business goals, how they will be attained, the time frame in which they will be accomplished, the financing needed and much more.
Purpose of a business Plan
To identify, describe and analyse a business opportunity, examining its technical, economic and financial feasibility.
Components of a business plan
- Opportunity
Describe why your business needs to exist. What problem do you solve for your customers? Summarize what your company does. The executive summary should be very short and you can go into more detail later in the plan. - Target Market
Describe your target customer or market segments. - Competition
Describe your current competition. What products and services are people using instead of yours? Explain why your product or service is better than the others. Also, be sure to describe any competitive advantages you may have. - Execution Plan
This includes the business marketing and sales plan, Operations plan i.e. Locations and facilities that you are going to use in your business - Why You?
Write an overview of you and your team. Why are you the right people to build this business? - Financial Planning - Forecast
Write an overview of your financial targets. How much do you plan to sell in the next year? What are your long-term sales goals? - Financing Needed
If you are writing a business plan to raise money for your business, include a summary of what you are looking for and how the returns will be achieved.
