Writing a business plan often strikes fear into the hearts of business owners and entrepreneurs. That’s because, traditionally, writing a business plan is seen as an arduous, painful experience filled with anxiety and nail biting. What’s the solution to this madness? Don’t write a business plan. At least, not right away.
The goal for this section of the book is to provide you with a very fast and simple way to write the first iteration of your plan. This is a basic and rough outline of the business concept. You should not waste time trying to estimate the net profit down to the exact penny. This is information you don’t yet know. For now, set aside a limited amount of time to write a very short business plan that outlines the most basic of facts. Just get the essentials in order. Think of this exercise as akin to developing a concept paper that frames the first pass at your business model. You might want to limit the number of pages to ten or less (less is better), just to keep the concept contained and your time limited.
This section gives you the chance to describe the general business of your company. Think of it as a way to introduce your readers to the business idea, but not overwhelm them with details. After reading this section, the reader should have a basic idea how your company makes money. Your focus should be on defining who would benefit from your concept, why the customer needs the product, what problem the product solves for the customer and the features of the product.
This section gives you the chance to describe what products or services the company is in the business of providing to its customers. You’ll answer these questions: exactly what is the product or service you’re selling and why does the customer need it? How will you provide that product or service to your customer and how will you do this better than your competition?
This section gives you the chance to define your company’s market, customers, a basic marketing strategy, and the company’s competitors. After reading this section, the reader should have a very good understanding of the industry your company is in, who the customer is and how the company will reach those customers.
This section gives you the opportunity to explain how the company will function, along with a description of the company’s management and personnel team. After reading this section, the reader should have a good understanding of how the company will be run, who will run the company, how many employees the company will have and how much those employees are paid.
This is the section that generally strikes fear into the hearts of business plan writers. Fear not! This section is laid out in a sequence that you can follow, step-by-step. Just keep going to the end of the section. After thinking through each step, you’ll have a good idea of the company’s net profit forecast.
Typically, an Executive Summary is just a summary found at the beginning of the plan. It’s kind of a cheat sheet for the person reading the plan. They can get a good idea of what the company is all about without reading the entire document. A very good way to write an Executive Summary is to write it last.
