A business plan is a must for just about every business.  It is the basis of your businesses goals and plans, and it will help you keep to the task at hand when you build your business from the ground up.  A business plan is basically a written description of your business and its future, and if you plan on securing business loans to help you get off the ground you may need to furnish this plan in order to convince lenders you are worth the risk.  While there are considerably more elements involved you could basically write a paragraph down on the back of a napkin in McDonald’s and have the very start of your business plan. 

A business plan can help everyone involved in your business and it can be used to give people tasks that need to be accomplished towards getting your business launched.  As mentioned they can be used to procure business loans but they can also be used to help attract key employees for your company, prospects for additional business, supplier contracts or a way for other businesses to understand how you manage your company.  It really is an important document that will be used from the very day your business doors open to the day they close – hopefully many years down the line. 

In order to develop a business plan you need to know what they contain and how to put one together.  Business plans should contain your goals for your company, what you will do to reach those goals, problems that your company may face and how you intend to deal with the problems, the organizational structure of your company with titles and the associated responsibilities of each and how much capital is going to be needed to keep your company going until it is functioning in the black on a consistent basis. 

With these items in mind you want to include in your business plan the following three parts which are standard in all business plans:

The business concept – this is the first part of your business plan and it will talk about the industry market you will be entering with your business, how your business will be structured, what you will be selling or the service you are offering, and how you intend to make your business successful.

The marketplace section – in the second section of your business plan you will need to discuss who your potential customers are, why they buy the things they do, who your competition will be and the strategies you plan to put in place to help you win the customers over your competition.

The financial section – the last part of your business will include your income information including your cash flow statement, balance sheet, and other income related topics including analysis of when you will break even.  If you have an accountant they can help you with the information you will need.

Once you have the information for the three main sections of your business plan it can then be broken down in the following components for easier layout: executive summary; business description; market strategies; competitive analyses; design and development plan; operations and management plan; and financial factors.  The whole plan should be finalized with a cover, title page, and table of contents for a professional presentation.  Remember you are giving these to potential clients, partners, and financiers. 

You are probably wondering how long this plan is going to be considering the amount of information you need to cover.  Between fifteen and twenty pages is how long the standard business plan runs but it can be as long and as detailed as you want or as brief and vague as you want.  It is all going to depend on the type of business you are proposing.  If the business is new, you may have a longer plan that most because of the complex details you are conveying about your business.

The length will really be determined on how you intend to use the plan.  If it is a business development tool that will be distributed to outsiders then you may need to make it detailed.  If it is going to simply be used in house for managing your business then a shorter version is acceptable.