A business plan is a written tool for your business that forecasts the company's development 3-10 years ahead and outlines the path your business intends to make money and increase revenue.
When or in what cases is it necessary?
Business plans can help you secure funding or attract new business partners. Having one will help investors be confident that they will see a return on their investment. Your business plan is the tool you will use to convince others that working with you (or investing in your business) is the smart decision.
A good business plan will guide you through every step of building and managing your business. You will use your business plan as a navigator for structuring, running and developing your new business. This is a way to think through and detail all the key elements of how it will work.
As a reminder, the three most important goals of a business plan are: creating an effective growth strategy, identifying your future financial needs, and attracting investors and lenders.
The main sections of the business plan
A good and detailed business plan should contain the following sections:
- Relevance of the project
Description of the idea of developing a new project or bringing a new product or service to the market. - Market analysis
This section includes a detailed marketing analysis of the market, niche, product or service area, as well as a detailed competitor analysis, which clearly shows how your organization compares to competitors. - Marketing plan
Factors to consider in this section include:- Where is your target market geographically located?
- Top pain points your target customers face
- The most important needs of your target market and how your products or services can meet those needs
- Demographics of your target audience
- Where your target audience for your product spends most of their time, such as specific social media platforms and physical locations.
- Organizational plan
This section of your business plan should cover the details of your business management and organization strategy, human resource requirements and the legal structure of your company. - Production plan
Includes all relevant information about your products and services, such as how you will manufacture them, how long they will last, what needs they will satisfy, and how much they will cost to create. - Financial plan
The financial section should consider the main assumptions of the financial plan, determine general and administrative costs, sources of project financing, analyze sales, the structure of direct costs, tax payments, the structure of the full cost, loan servicing, calculate the discount rate level, financial results of the project, investment indicators. efficiency. - risk Analysis
It implies an analysis of possible problems in the implementation of the project, as well as a forecast of payback periods and growth.
Where can I get a business plan (buy ready-made, do it yourself, order from an agency / freelancer)?
If you are going to be responsible for the decisions that will be based on the plan, you need to be involved in its development. However, for the competent preparation of a business plan, it is better to turn to specialists, especially if subsequent approval of the project from investors or a bank is required. However, do not completely shift the writing of the document to other people, you can get information from experts (including freelancers, if you are sure of their competence) when developing the basis and analysis of the business plan, but as an owner and entrepreneur, the enterprise is an extension of your desires , goals, philosophy, skills and abilities. If you are not directly involved, this will not be an effective planning document.