A business plan is a formal document that gives information of the identity, vision, mission, and functions of a business. It serves as a guide or manual that helps a business owner layout budgets for his/her enterprise.
Some may ask why it is necessary but I assure you that a good business plan can make you achieve your goals with ease.
A well written business plan as I have said earlier helps entrepreneurs start a new business showing steps on what is required for the business to be fully active, resources required and gain expected to be achieved at the end of each business transaction. It also shows strategies put in place for efficient marketing and advertising and also how capital can be raised to start or run the business.
For potential investors and venture capitalists to find your business a profitable one, you need a business plan. The business plan shows the purpose of the business that is the mission and vision statement, the managerial team as well as the organizational structure.
A business plan also helps in the decision making process, shows potential strengths and weaknesses in form of SWOT analysis. SWOT simply means Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Weakness (I shall discuss this fully in another post).
With a good business plan, you can also purchase materials from suppliers easily and sometimes on credit.
You also document the salary and wages to be received by you and the rest of the managerial team as well as other workers in your firm.
Business plan enables you to create future plans and help you attract both customers and stakeholders.
As you can see a business plan is what you need to skyrocket your business.
Now let us talk about what you need before you can write a legit business plan.
1. Do your research
You need to make adequate research on what your business entails. Do adequate feasibility study on everything that has to do with your business. Study your environment, competitors, demand rate, available resources, market etc.
2. Know the purpose of your brand
This is where the mission and vision statement comes into play. Every entrepreneur has one or two problems he is trying to solve using his brand. Before you can start up a business, you must be able to identify a problem whether individual problem or societal problem.
3. Take note of every detail your business stand for
Put into writing all you have discovered from your research and then come up with a suitable business profile that will give a proper description of your business. You should also take note of your expenses, cash inflow and outflow as well as budgets.
4. Think of a good marketing and advertising strategy
The way you inform people about your product or service truly matters. Make sure to have an efficient customer care service as well as a good means of advertising and delivery your product or service to the right customer.
NOTE: always ensure that your product or service suites, to a large extent, the need it was made for. Failure to do so can diminish your efforts.
With all these being said, you can now proceed to writing your business plan with this form below:
Executive Summary
This is a preview of the entire business plan. Here, you highlight the problem you want to solve, the measures you tend to apply in solving the problem, the competition you are faced with and also just a little highlight of your business finance.
Company description
Describing your company can be a little bit tasking. You might be tempted to write all the sweet things in the world about your company but ensure you do not put down services you can not render and do not forget to add your location.
Opportunities
Here you pen down a full description of the problem you tend to solve, possible solution(s) and your future plans for the business.
Market Analysis
You are expected to note who your customers are not as individuals though but as the key people that will be interested in your product or service. For example, a company that manufactures textbooks knows that it key customers are students. You should also write down your market segmentation, needs, trends, growth and competition.
Strategies
This should contain marketing and advertising strategy, sales plan, technology to be put in place, equipments and tools needed. You can also document how you will be able to get your product to your customer's doorstep. That is one of the strategies that makes companies like jumia a better store than you going to a far away market to purchase a particular product. Anything you know that can put you in a better place than your competitors write it down here.
Organization and Management
In this part, you are expected to give a detailed account of your organizational structure and Management team as well as their individual functions.
Service or product
As clearly stated, you are to write down the product or service you render in your company.
Financial plan
This is where the main work is. You need to know a thing or two about accounting but not too worry you can learn it in less than a day on the internet. You will write down your sales forecast, expenses, expected profit and loss account, cash flow statement and balance sheet. It is highly recommended that you add standard tables and charts to make it look professional.
Appendix
This one is optional though but it contains extra information you would like to share maybe your resume.
Business plans are highly recommended for business startups as it gives a well defined breakdown of how a business would run. As a business owner, you ought to have a plan and a well constructed business plan is all that you need.
