Last Updated on Apr 7, 2020 by James W
Regardless of the age we own, most of us imagine how life would be like if they started a business – by any kind. Whether you have already asked yourself why you do not own a business yet – or not, this is the first step that you should know before starting everything. You will find a lot of articles online telling you that there are only few things needed in order to make your dream reality – still, most of them are illusion and do not offer you quite a lot of practical steps. Either way, this should not be the case to you. These being said, in case you are looking forward to knowing more concerning the subject, make sure to stick with us and keep an eye onto the following lines in order to see how to write a business plan – a step by step process.
- Executive Summary
A business plan is, in most of the cases, your roadmap for starting it and predicting how it should look like (and the efficiency) on a 3-year period (some of them go even for the fifth year). The executive summary shows the main aspects of your business, this being the first thing that every reader finds and reads. If you are wondering what you might fit in here, we have already created an important selection for you, as follow:
- Mission – what is the mission of your business (i.e. what it is all about and how people should perceive it); as for the length of it, a paragraph would do.
- Founding Information – here is important to state when you established the business, as well as the other people that play some major roles into the development of it (such as possible co-founders, number of employees, and location of the business).
- Highlights – whoever might read your executive summary, has to be very interested and intrigued of what you did. Thus, it is important to let them know what you are capable of – by showing them what you managed to do in the future, by highlighting your most important growths (social, economic, financial).
- Products and Services – here, you must explain and describe what you provide to the customers (or third party).
- Plan and prospects – by highlighting what are your next objectives.
- Company Description
This section is the second important one, due to the fact that in here, your readers are about to find out everything about the elements of your business. Any potential investor will find here your goals and objectives, as well as future information that will complete the possible missing pieces. In order to give you a brief and clear image, consider the following recommendations:
- Give a brief description of your business and imply what are the needs that your company aims to satisfy;
- Describe how the needs are satisfied through your products and needs;
- Note who are the consumers, organizations or third parties that are about to be served by your business;
- Explain how your competitive advantage wins it all.
- Market Analysis
This third section implies the market knowledge, as well as some qualitative analysis that your company has conducted. For a better understanding, keep an eye on the following:
- Industry Description – this paragraph regards details about your industry, as well as some additional information regarding the growth rate and other characteristics;
- Unique Characteristics – here, it is important to share what are the unique characteristics that you aim to show to your possible customers. In addition, you can add what are the demographics of the group and the purchasing trends that may either be in favor (or not) to your business;
- Pricing – offering an idea about your pricing structure is important both for the possible investors, as well as for your business line;
- Competitive Analysis – this segment provides a better understanding over your competition, as well as the prospects regarding the product line and market segmentation.
- Organization and Management
Following the Market Analysis we meet the Organization and Management, one step which aims at sharing the company’s organizational structure, as well as additional information concerning the ownership of the company, management team and other qualifications of brand of directors. In order to provide a brief step-by-step, consider the following requirements:
- Organizational Structure – an organizational chart might just do the work for you in this step. By including it into this stage, you are about to offer a broad description of each person and department, as well as what every single person is doing as part of your business. In addition, it shows that you have previously thought of every aspect and, in case everything goes out of plan, you know where the broke was;
- Information about Ownership – is more about sharing insights regarding the business, such as a brief description of the: names of the owners, the percentage they own, forms of ownership, common stocks and others.
