SELECT YOUR LANGUAGE

A business plan is a critical part to starting a new business.  When you first have the thought of starting a new business, it is good to develop a business plan, which will serve as your guide to the purpose of your business and how the business should run.  Business plans are not as complicated as some people might think.  The Small Business Administration provides a free online template of a business plan that can be downloaded.  A good business plan includes the following:​​

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Executive Summary

Discusses what your company is and why it will be successful. This section includes your mission statement, your products/services, and basic information about your company’s leadership team, employees, and location. 

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Company Description

Provides detailed information about your company, when and why it is established, how it is unique and does it help solve a real world problem.  This section also discuss who your target market is (the population your product/services will serve/benefit).  It also discusses the strengths of your company in relationship to its competition.

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Organizational Structure

This section discuss how your company is structured, who will run the company.  Do you intend the business to be a nonprofit, for profit, Corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship or will you have partners?  

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You can create an organizational chart to show in a graphic format who's in charge of what within your company, and who reports to whom.  If you have personnel, make sure you get copies of their resumes as well to keep on file for your records.  

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Services/Products

This section describes what you sell or what services you offer to potential customers. 

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Marketing and Sales Strategy

This section identifies how you will market your products/services, what you will do to attract and retain customers, how you will bring awareness to your brand?  

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Financial Projections

This section is where you establish your financial projections for the business; the income/revenue and business expenses. The projections should be short-term and long-term financial goals that are realistic to your business and show sustainability overtime.  Try to start with a 3-5 year financial projection.  If your business is already established, include income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for the last three to five years (you can find examples of these online).  This is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business.  Microsoft Excel is a software program that you can use to create your financial projections.  They do not have to be exact, because they are only projections.  However, if you are asking for funding, you want to make sure that your projections match your funding request.

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Appendix

The appendix section is used to provide supporting documents or other materials related to your business. These are supplemental items that support your business plan, like charts showing your financial projections, the resumes of your personnel, your company newsletters, and/or State documents to verify the legality of your business.

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Starting a business is not for the faint at heart, because it will require hard work, dedication, patience, and time. You might not begin to see financial progress in the first one to five years.  However, if you are passionate about the services/products your business offers to others, this will serve as your motivation to keep going.

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Visit the www.sba.gov website for helpful information on how to create a business plan.  Best of luck to you in your business venture!  Congratulations!

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By Jason Torrents