Business Planning

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.

Planning 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.

"The business plan is a necessity. If the person who wants to start a small business can't put a business plan together, he or she is in trouble," says Robert Krummer, Jr., chairman of First Business Bank in Los Angeles.

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 four 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?

10 Painless Steps to a Business Plan

I don't need a business plan!

Using the Plan

A business plan is a tool with three basic purposes: communication, management, and planning.

As a communication tool, it is used to attract investment capital, secure loans, convince workers to hire on, and assist in attracting strategic business partners. The development of a comprehensive business plan shows whether or not a business has the potential to make a profit. It requires a realistic look at almost every phase of business and allows you to show that you have worked out all the problems and decided on potential alternatives before actually launching your business.

As a management tool, the business plan helps you track, monitor and evaluate your progress. The business plan is a living document that you will modify as you gain knowledge and experience. By using your business plan to establish timelines and milestones, you can gauge your progress and compare your projections to actual accomplishments.

As a planning tool, the business plan guides you through the various phases of your business. A thoughtful plan will help identify roadblocks and obstacles so that you can avoid them and establish alternatives. Many business owners share their business plans with their employees to foster a broader understanding of where the business is going.

Business Plan Outline

Introduction

• Give a detailed description of the business and its goals.
• Discuss the ownership of the business and the legal structure.
• List the skills and experience you bring to the business.
• Discuss the advantages you and your business have over your competitors.

Marketing

• Discuss the products/services offered.
• Identify the customer demand for your product/service.
• Identify your market, its size and locations.
• Explain how your product/service will be advertised and marketed.
• Explain the pricing strategy.

Financial Management

• Explain the source and amount of initial equity capital.
• Develop a monthly operating budget for the first year.
• Develop an expected return on investment, or ROI, and monthly cash flow for the first year.
• Provide projected income statements and balance sheets for a two-year period.
• Discuss your break-even point.
• Explain your personal balance sheet and method of compensation.
• Discuss who will maintain your accounting records and how they will be kept.
• Provide "what if" statements that address alternative approaches to any problem that may develop.

Operations

• Explain how the business will be managed on a day-to-day basis.
• Discuss hiring and personnel procedures.
• Discuss insurance, lease or rent agreements, and issues pertinent to your business.
• Account for the equipment necessary to produce your products or services.
• Account for production and delivery of products and services.

Concluding Statement

Summarize your business goals and objectives and express your commitment to the success of your business.

Once you have completed your business plan, review it with a friend or business associate. When you feel comfortable with the content and structure, make an appointment to review and discuss it with your banker. The business plan is a flexible document that should change as your business grows.

Sample Business Plan

Sample Business Expansion Plan

For More Information

Information is power. Make it your business to know what is available, where to get it and, most importantly, how to use it.

Sources of information include:

U.S. Small Business Administration

• SBA District Offices
• Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)
• Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
• SBA OnLine (electronic bulletin board)
• Business Information Centers (BICs)

The SBA has offices located throughout the United States. For the one nearest you, look under "U.S. Government" in your telephone directory, or call the SBA Answer Desk at (800) 8-ASK-SBA. To send a fax to the SBA, dial (202) 205-7064. For the hearing impaired, the TDD number is (704) 344-6640.

To access the agency's electronic public information services, you may call the following:

SBA OnLine: electronic bulletin board - modem and computer required
(800) 697-4636 (limited access)
(900) 463-4636 (full access)
(202) 401-9600 (D.C. metro area)
Internet: using uniform resource locators (URLs)
SBA Home Page: http://www.sba.gov
SBA gopher: gopher://gopher.sba.gov
File transfer protocol: ftp://ftp.sba.gov
Telnet: telnet://sbaonline.sba.gov
U.S. Business Advisor: http://www.business.gov

You also may request a free copy of The Resource Directory for Small Business Management, a listing of for-sale publications and videotapes, from your local SBA office or the SBA Answer Desk.

Other Sources

• State economic development agencies
• Chambers of commerce
• Local colleges and universities
• Libraries
• Manufacturers and suppliers of small business products and services
• Small business or industry trade associations
• How Business Plans Work

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