Focus Give Away Rights Ebook

Ebook Sample Content Preview:

Chapter 5 - Creating Your Master Plan

Every business needs a solid and long term business plan. This plan should include all of the elements you want to concentrate on as your business grows including intangibles like your vision and mission statement. A business plan does need some degree of flexibility in it to keep up with changes in your industry field, but it should be solid enough to show prospective investors, employees and other interested stakeholders where you see your business being in five years time. Even if your business model is offering services to online clients you need to formulate a business plan that show how you intend to grow your business and what are the key things in your business that makes you stand out from your competition.

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is like a road map for your business. It shows what your business will do and the goals you have for your business. A good business plan will highlight all the major areas of your business and show what makes your business different from those of your competitors. Most business plans outline goals for the next 3 - 5 years including financial forecasts, marketing strategies, operational goals and the impact your business might have on the environment. The environmental aspects of your plan might include your projected carbon footprint for example or how your business might positively impact your local community.

Why is a Business Plan so Important?

It has been said that a company without a business plan is like a journey with out a destination. If you don't have a clear vision on where you want your company to go then you are likely to either spend your time going around in circles or worse going backwards. Your business plan will show what your objectives are for the next 3 - 5 years; the timelines for how long it will take to reach your goals and an outline of your products and how they will differ from others in the market.

Your business plan will be useful in helping you determine when you need to employ staff or outsource part of your business. If you need to raise any finance for your company then your business plan will show potential investors how you plan to repay the money. Your joint venture partners might be interested in your business plan if they are thinking of working with your company over the long term and if you ever decide to sell your business then your business plan will help show potential buyers the essence of your company.

Even if the only person who is going to see your business plan right now is you it should still be done. Your business plan will help sharpen your goals and ideas; it will be motivational when you are having a down day and it will provide you with a benchmark for the different goals you want to achieve with your business. By regularly comparing your forecasts to your actual financial goals for example you will be able to see if your projected growth for the company was under or overestimated and you can tweak your further future goals accordingly.

What Should be in Your Business Plan?

There are no set formulas anymore for what a business plan should look like however all business plans do include some common elements. These include a cover page, and executive summary or table of contents and an overview of your business. Your plan should also include your business goals, an indication of how you intend to meet those goals, some financial forecasting or targets and what skills and resources you have at your disposal to ensure your business will meet its targets. If you have any supporting documents such as bank balance sheets or proof of potential income then these should be included as an appendix to the main plan.

• File Size:721 KB
• License: Giveaway Rights
• Tags:2013 Ebooks Give Away Rights