What is a business plan?
A business plan precisely defines your business and identifies your goals. Serving as your firm’s resume, it describes the products and services you will sell, the customers to whom you will sell them, the production, management, and marketing activities needed to produce your offerings, and the projected profit or loss that will result from your efforts. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make the right decisions. A good business plan is a crucial part of any loan package. A lender will not consider lending an individual any money unless he or she can prove in writing that they have done their research, developed a plan of action and can demonstrate that they have the knowledge and experience to operate the business. Additionally, it can tell your sales personnel, suppliers and others about your operations and goals.
The first planning document that you will create as a potential business owner is a business plan. If your vision statement is a compass, then your business plan is a road map. It should be capable of guiding you, the entrepreneur, through a maze of business decisions and alternatives while successfully avoiding detours and dead ends. A business plan is a carefully thought out document that outlines the nature of the business, your objectives as an entrepreneur, and the actions that you will take in order to reach those objectives. A business plan is really a series of small, related plans that cover the four major business functions.
A business plan is a written, detailed description that serves as the resume for the business, identifying its goals. It also can include information about the entitys financial standing, resources, decisions and plans. Business plans may also be used to keep invested parties informed about the companys operation and goals.
A business plan is a comprehensive guide to the proposed activities and performance of your company. There are a number of different sections you will have to include, but as a guide you will have to provide projected cash flow statements, profit and loss accounts, market intelligence and details of the market structure. Your Technology Transfer Office will be able to provide you with a draft structure for a business plan and will assist you in completing it. (see How to Write a Business Plan (Word document)).
A business plan is a written document that describes the business you want to start and how it will become profitable. A business plan usually begins with a statement outlining the purpose and goals of the business and goes on to show how the business owner will realize those goals, including a detailed marketing strategy. A complete business plan also contains a formal break-even analysis, a profit-and-loss projection, and a cash-flow analysis designed to show that if the business develops as expected, it will make money. For more information, see The Essentials of a Business Plan.
