How to Write a Business Plan

A good business plan will guide you through starting and running a business. Your business plan will serve as a guide for starting, running, and growing your new business. It’s a way of thinking about your company’s most important aspects.

Company plans can help you raise capital and attract new business partners. Investors want to know that their money will be well spent. Your business plan will be the tool you use to persuade others that collaborating with you — or investing in your company — is a good idea.

What is a business plan?

A plan is the best way to put great business ideas into action. A business plan is a written outline that you present to others, such as investors, to persuade them to join your company. It’s where you tell your investors about your startup’s goals and how you plan to make money.

It also acts as a road map for your company, ensuring that your operations grow and change to meet the goals outlined in your strategy. A business plan can be updated as circumstances change, but it should always include your company’s main objectives.

Your business strategy can be written in a document or a slideshow, such as a PowerPoint presentation. It might be beneficial to create both versions. PowerPoint, for example, can entice people in, and viewers can be given the paper version as a follow-up with more information.

There are three critical reasons for having a business plan:

• Decide on a business focus.

The primary goal of a business plan is to establish long-term goals. These plans should include specific goals or milestones and procedures for achieving them. Making a roadmap for your purposes will help you determine your company’s focus and pursue growth.

• Obtain funds

Before investing in your company, private investors, banks, and other lenders seek a well-researched business plan. Investors are interested in managing your company, your revenue and spending forecasts, and, most crucially, how you plan to profit.

• Attract top employees and senior management

As your firm grows, you’ll almost definitely need to hire executives. A business plan can assist you in attracting senior talent and determining if they are a good fit for your organisation.

Types of business plan

There are two types of business plans:

• Simple business plan:

A basic business plan focuses on a few key metrics in brief detail to present information to investors quickly.

A lean canvas is a straightforward business strategy. The 2010 model is still one of today’s most widely imitated business strategies.

A lean canvas is divided into nine areas to attract investors, each containing high-value data and metrics. This type of lean business plan is usually one page long and includes the following information:

• Key figures

• Problem 

• Solution

• One-of-a-kind offer

• Channels

• Inequitable advantage

• Customer objectives

• Streams of income

• Structures of costs

Traditional plans:

Traditional business plans are lengthy documents that can be 30 or 40 pages long. A typical business plan serves as a blueprint for a new company, describing its progress from when it starts until it is well-established several years later. The following topics are covered in a typical business strategy:

• a summary

• business description

• Market research

• Services and products

• Management group

• Plan your finances

• Appendices

• Plan of action

Small business plan

Every business starts with a plan, whether it’s a mental map, a scribble on a piece of paper, or a formal business plan. A business plan describes your company, what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to do it. It lays out your company’s objectives, goals, strategies, potential issues and solutions, and the financial resources needed to run it.

Business plans are used to achieve various objectives, significantly impacting how robust or what your plan contains. Business plans are frequently employed to:

• Communicate your concept to potential investors to attract funding.

• Investigate new business possibilities.

• Learn how to better manage your business by ensuring everyone is on the same page (i.e., everyone knows who the target audience is and how the sales/marketing process works).

• Examine whether a company is viable. Many entrepreneurs jot down their ideas, run them by a mentor to see if they’re viable, and then tweak and change them.

Conclusion

When you first start a business, estimating your income potential, your product’s pricing point, or identifying and quantifying the risks and opportunities your company will face can be difficult, especially if you don’t have any clients. Estimating how much money you’ll need can also be challenging. Don’t be afraid to seek advice from people who have been where you are. Involve mentors or potential investors in the process. They may better understand what it takes to succeed and can give you a more accurate picture of what to expect when you first start.