Strategies for a Small Business Plan
A Home Business Article Contributed by Jenni Mckinney
A Small Business Plan: Definition
If you are one of the thousands of people seriously considering starting your own small business, the first and most important thing you should do is create a business plan. A business plan is a written statement that summarizes your goals as a small business, details the specific dates and activities needed to reach each goal, and acts as a guideline for measuring success in the long run.
One of the most common misconceptions about a small business plan is that you make it at the beginning of your operations and then have to stick to it for the rest of the life of the business.
This is simply untrue, specifically because there are so many dynamic aspects which assist the small business in its operations, like inflation, economic stability, natural disasters, etc. For these reasons and more, a small business plan is held to be something that can change as fluidly as outside forces can change.
Thus, a small business plan not only can be revised, but should be revised at least periodically, because it is impossible to forecast correctly all the possible factors which your new small business will face.
A small business plan can also serve as a legal document and can assist you greatly in getting a business loan from your local bank or getting venture capitalists to invest in your business. But how should a business plan be structured?
A Small Business Plan: Executive Summary
Your small business plan should have a cover page which lists your pertinent information, including name, address, phone numbers, web site, etc. The second page should be a table of contents. Then, your plan should begin on the very first inside page with an executive summary. Using at least a couple of paragraphs and at the most a few pages, type out a condensed narrative of your overall plan, and include the important aspects of your business, the market demand for your product or service, how you will outshine the competition, and where you foresee your business heading in the future.
A Small Business Plan: Business Description
The next page in your small business plan should be a thorough business description. This description should begin with a biography of the founding members, including their work and education history, and anything else in their skill set that is pertinent to the operation of the business.
Next should be the type of legal entity the business has been set up as, whether sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, S corporation, limited liability corporation, etc. Finally, you should provide a paragraph or two that describe the history of your small business, if it has one, including how the idea was first conceived and then how the company has grown so far.
A Small Business Plan: Offerings
The next page in your small business plan should detail the types of offerings the business will make, be it goods or services. How will these offerings be made available, and to whom? What will they cost? How will you make a profit? Spend a great deal of time on this page, because it will help crystallize in your own mind the specifics of making your business progress to success.
