We now come to probably the most feared, most avoided but the most important task in beginning a business.
Many believe that a business plan is only for those seeking outside financial help like from a bank or investors.
Others believe that this is just unnecessary paperwork and that the best business plan is in their heads.
Some who believe in it do so only half-heartedly and come up with a one or two page plan of how they see their business progressing.
All these approaches are misguided and without proper direction, the business is more likely to sink than grow.
The most important point to remember about a business plan is that it is first and foremost for you! It is to layout a concrete plan to successfully start, manage and then grow your company.
It will force you to think and invest in strategy planning, market research, financial planning, operational details and marketing plans.
However, we will concede that it is not easy to immediately start out working on a business plan and every business plan will need working and reworking.
We will try to provide you first with some general guidelines on what a good business plan should include and once we have you thinking in that direction, we will start helping you fill out all the details in the business plan.
Let us first outline what a well written business plan will contain: -An attractive statement of purpose - when people ask you what your business does, this is the first statement you will be using.
-Complete description of who you believe your customers will be, any special niche you are aiming for as well as a general strategy for winning over that niche.
-Complete description of your product or service.
Mention what are the highlights and what could be its challenges, production or selling wise.
-A well compiled list of people who will be working with your or advising you in various aspects.
Mention clearly what their skills and areas of expertise are.
-Details of financial plans that will show how you plan to finance the first few years and expected revenues and expenses -Major risks that you may face before your business settles down and major advantages that may help it grow well.
As you can see, your business plan is more like a map to guide you through, at any point in time.
If you have given sufficient thought to planning and written down the steps in sufficient detail in your business plan, no matter how many ups or downs there are, you should be able to stay on course.
In fact, one expert likes to compare a business plan to the centerboard of a sailboat.
Irrespective of how the wind is blowing, your business plan will always help you stay on course, headed in the right direction.
If you would like to look at some samples before you begin on one, you can speak to banks or business websites, which can help you by showing samples of a few business plans.
You could also look up one of the thousands of books in your local library, which should contain a sample.
However, treat the sample as just that.
It is meant to give you an idea of what are the essentials that should go in a business plan.
Do not worry if your plan is too long or short, simple or complicated.
What should matter to you is that it is written in a manner that you can follow easily, contains information that is helpful to your business, identified possible challenges that could arise and outlined plans for overcoming them.