July 14, 2005
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Business Plan And Start Up Newsletter
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July 2005
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Shaunta Pleasant
Writing Editor, TL Manage Inc.
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Business Plan Pro... Everything banks; lenders and the SBA look for! Produce your business plan quickly and easily... For entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Business Plan Pro 2005
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Table of Content
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Business Plan Basics
How Can We Help You Write Your Business Plan?
How To Start A Business Plan
A Few Cool Helpful Notes
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Business Plan Basics
By Palo Alto Software, Inc.
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The best way to show bankers, venture capitalists, and angel investors that you are worthy of financial support is to show them a great business plan. Make sure that your plan is clear, focused and realistic.
Then show them that you have the tools, talent and team to make it happen. Your business plan is like your calling card, it will get you in the door where you'll have to convince investors and loan officers that you can put your plan into action.
Once you have raised the money to start or expand your business, your plan will serve as a road map for your business. It is not a static document that you write once and put away.
You will reference it often, making sure you stay focused and on track, and meet milestones. It will change and develop as your business evolves.
Do I need a business plan?
Not everyone who starts and runs a business begins with a business plan, but it certainly helps to have one.
If you are seeking funding from a venture capitalist, you will certainly need a comprehensive business plan that is well thought out and contains sound business reasoning.
If you are approaching a banker for a loan for a start-up business, your loan officer may suggest a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, which will require a business plan.
If you have an existing business and are approaching a bank for capital to expand the business, they often will not require a business plan, but they may look more favorably on your application if you have one.
Reasons for writing a business plan include:
- Support a loan application
- Raise equity funding
- Define and fix objectives and programs to achieve those objectives
- Create regular business review and course correction
- Define a new business
- Define agreements between partners
- Set a value on a business for sale or legal purposes
- Evaluate a new product line, promotion, or expansion
What's in a business plan?
A business plan should prove that your business will generate
enough revenue to cover your expenses and make a satisfactory
return for bankers or investors.
- Executive Summary--features the highlights of your plan and sells your idea in two pages or less.
- Company Summary--a factual description of your company, ownership, and history.
- Products (or Services or both)--describes your products and/or services and how they stand out from competitive products and services.
- Market Analysis-provides a summary of your typical customers, competitive landscape, market size, and expected market growth.
- Strategy and Implementation-describes how you will sell your product, how you will put your plan into action, and establishes milestones.
- Management Summary-provides background on the management team, their experiences, and key accomplishments.
- Financial Plan-contains key financials including sales, cash flow, and profits.
What makes a successful business plan?
- A well thought out idea
- Clear and concise writing
- A clear and logical structure
- Illustrates management's ability to make the business a success
- Shows profitability
How do you write a business plan?
Sitting down looking at a blank computer screen as you prepare to
start your business plan can be daunting. You may want to look
at some alternatives that will make the process a bit easier.
Hire a Professional
A professional consultant will create the business plan for you,
but you still have to be prepared to think through your business
and understand the underlying concepts in your business idea.
You will have to work closely with the consultant to ensure that
he or she develops a good plan that accurately represents your
business or business idea. You can find a list of business
planning consultants at www.planconsultants.com.
Buy a Book
There are many good books on the market that will help you to
understand what needs to go into a good business plan. You can
read Timothy Berry's "Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning".
Use Business Planning Software
A good business planning software package will provide you with
an outline for a well-developed, objective-based and professional
business plan. Software packages will remove the problem of
starting from scratch by structuring your plan for you. The
software should ask you the right questions that will pull out
the most important underlying concepts within your business idea.
Find out more about the leading software package on the market, Business Plan Pro.
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How Can We Help You Write Your
Business Plan?
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Everyday we have people contacting us and asking for help with writing a business plan for their business. It would be impossible for us to give everyone that asked personal help.
So I have written a manual that will help you with writing your business plan.
This manual is intended to aid you in the preparation and the writing of your business plan for your business.
The first part of it is written to help you write your business plan. There is plenty of note space for you to take notes as you move through it. You can also take additional notes on other paper as needed.
You should write your business plan as you go through this manual. Or, you can go to the Quick Start... Business Plan Work Shop.
This section is written for those of you that want to write a quick little business plan in a speedy amount of time.
This section also includes some worksheets in a printable form. You can use these worksheets to help you figure out some of the financial information that your business will need to complete.
For More Information about; How To Write A Business Plan... Made Easy
Go To; http://www.yourbusinesspal.com/business_plan.html
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How To Start A Business Plan
by: John Mussi
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This is a guide on how to start a business plan. A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. The basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs sales personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals.
Plan Your Work
The importance of a comprehensive, thoughtful business plan cannot be overemphasized. Much hinges on it: outside funding, credit from suppliers, management of your operation and finances, promotion and marketing of your business, and achievement of your goals and objectives.
Despite the critical importance of a business plan, many entrepreneurs drag their feet when it comes to preparing a written document. They argue that their marketplace changes too fast for a business plan to be useful or that they just don't have enough time. But just as a builder won't begin construction without a blueprint, eager business owners shouldn't rush into new ventures without a business plan.
Before you begin writing your business plan, consider the following core questions:
What service or product does your business provide and what needs does it fill?
Who are the potential customers for your product or service and why will they purchase it from you?
How will you reach your potential customers?
Where will you get the financial resources to start your business?
About The Author
John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.
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A Few Cool Helpful Notes
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Business Plan Pro
Save time. Let Business Plan Pro lead you through every step of creating your business plan. The plan may be about the final document for your banker or investor, but for you it is about the process of gathering your ideas and developing and growing your business. Business Plan Pro creates a great looking document for your banker, while helping you to better understand and grow your business.
Business Plan Pro 2005 includes:
- Help at Every Step with instructions and examples to build your plan quickly and easily.
- 400+ Sample Plans give you a jump-start with a diverse collection of start-up and on-going business plans.
- EasyPlan WizardŽ guides you through every step from start to finish.
- Most Preferred Format to give banks, lenders, and VCs what they are looking for.
- Most Complete with everything you need to define your business, compare industry ratios, set schedules, create personnel and mini-marketing plans, and find funding.
Order now to save time and money!
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If you are planning on building a web site for your business Site Build It (SBI) is a really good choice. I believe in it, because I used it to create this web site site. And if you found me via the World Wide Web, that means it is doing what it is suppose to do.
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"Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." - Dale Carnegie
All the best,
Shaunta
http://www.tlmanage.com
http://www.yourbusinesspal.com