How to write a business plan.

The best way to come up with a business plan is to take the time and do the research. The more you know about your industry, competitors, and potential customers, the better your chances are of being successful. This blog post will provide information on how to write a business plan from start to finish. It will provide tips for what information should be included in each section of your business plan. You can also use templates that can help you get started If you’re unsure where to begin or want an outline before drafting out your own ideas!

Let’s move.

So, to start with,

What is a business plan?

I know this is what some people are already asking themselves.

A business plan is a document that provides the framework for a company’s operations and financial expectations. It includes an overview of the organization, market analysis, product or service description, competitive analysis, financial projections, and other information relevant to running the business.

Why do you need a business plan?

I think this is yet another question you must be asking yourself.

The reasons you need a business plan are many, but I’ll highlight a few most important reasons.

• For proper execution of the business.

The business execution process is the hardest part of the business. It’s time to do what will earn you money. A business plan will help you go through this process systematically as it shall guide you through every single step.

• To seek funds from other people.

Oftentimes, we can’t fully fund our ideas and so we need investor funding. A business plan helps pitch your business to an external investor and prove to them that the venture is worth investing in.

When should you write your business plan?

When I was starting out one of my side hustles, this was a question on my mind. Since it was on a small scale, I thought I didn’t need one.  This is a tendency of many people especially when they are starting out on a small scale. Yes, sometimes you have the plan on your mind but it’s always a wise idea to write it down. So that you can follow it to the dot. In case you are away, anyone can move your side hustle forward as it has a clearly drawn plan. Therefore, in short, the answer is “Always”.

You should write a business plan always. Whether you are starting small or not, it can always help.

Common mistakes in writing a good business plan.

Before we move on to How to write a business plan, its important we hint on the common mistakes while writting one so that we avoid those.

As the saying goes,

‘mistakes are human’

William Arthur Ward

Though oftentimes they lead to business failure. It’s important to try as much to avoid mistakes in business. Mistakes in a business plan shall directly lead to mistakes in the business as you’ll implement a play with a mistake. Therefore I say it is wise to highlight some major mistakes while planning which include,

• Being vague about goals or objectives.
• Choosing the wrong goals for our plan.
• Focusing on too many goals at once, instead of just one or two.
• Not being specific.

The mistakes when writting/ making business plans are many. You can read more about them in our full blogpost about mistakes we make while writting business plans.

The basic steps of how to write a business plan.

The good news as far a writing a business plan is concerned is, there isn’t a need to invent a new business plan format. You’ll use a template. All you need to do is fill what corresponds to your business in the template. You can add more elements to make your plan unique, and in good shape.

Executive Summary.

An executive summary should contain a brief introduction and summary of your entire business plan. It should describe the business, the problem that it solves, your target market, financial sources and all one needs to know. It’s a good idea to write the executive summary last because it’s just the summary of the whole plan.

Its main aim is to give lazy readers a context of what the whole plan is about. One should know what the plan is about by just reading the executive summary

For example, someone who wants to open a rabbit farm can talk about;

• Their experience in rabbit keeping.
• Connections that they have with other rabbit farmers.
• What exactly sets your business apart.
• What makes your business special or better than others
• Your target products and more of the sort.

Business Description/ overview.

In this part, you clearly write/ talk about your business in full depth. Clearly describe where your business will be located, the products you will sell, who your target customers are, your projected growth, your partners in business, the different opportunities your business offers, and more.

The business description should clearly let one know all about your business.

Business goals and objectives.

Goals are guidelines or achievements you want to attain. On the other hand, Objective’s implementation steps to attain the identified goals. The difference between the two is that one (objectives) help you attain the other (goals). Unlike goals, objectives should be smart.

Some examples of business goals would be;

• Increase the total income of your company by 10% over the next year
• Increase overall business brand awareness.
• Reduce production cost by 3% over the next one year.
• Open new offices in your location and more

Read also: The key elements to success for a new business.

Market Analysis / Industry analysis

One of the success factors in business is knowing your competitors, their strength, and weaknesses. This helps you exploit their weaknesses to your advantage.

In addition, you should describe your target market, you can include profiles of your ideal customers.

Specifically, who they are, their favorite forms of the products you produce, and more. Ideally, you should also include a SWOT analysis in this section

In the swot analysis, you discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your business.

For example, for a rabbit farm, an opportunity can be that there aren’t many rabbits Famer in your area.

Your strength can be that you have good knowledge of rabbit rearing.

Your weakness can be that the business is new in your area. Not so many people have experience in the sector as far as veterinary services are concerned.

A threat can be a neighboring upcoming rabbit farm, hate speech in the industry discouraging rabbit meat consumption in women, and more.

Market research is an assurance of your market. It helps you see a gap in the market and suit your product specifically to bridge that gap. And if you don’t have enough funds, this can convince an investor to fund you by clearly elaborating and convincing them that the business is worthwhile.

This section also includes your research in the market. You have to go to the field and look at the current businesses in your area and the trends the market is taking. What flavor are people preferring nowadays, and more of the sort so that you start the business with exactly what people want?

Organization and Management Structure.

It’s in rare cases that you’ll start your business alone. You’ve heard the saying that ” two heads are better than one”. So, in this section, you’ll clearly show how workflows through your business with the main goal of achieving the business’s goals and objectives.

In addition, you can highlight the different talents of your team with whom you’ll launch your hustle.

Sales Strategies.

A sales strategy is a plan for promoting and selling your product or service to buyers in a unique way from those of your competitors. This can help you can make more sales than them. It is meant to provide clear guidance to your sales team on how they are to sell products efficiently.

Under this, you can talk about your;

Marketing strategy, including marketing mix, distribution channels, and promotion strategy. You’re only going to succeed in business if your products are purchased. In a plan, you can only guarantee by having a clear sales strategy that is convincing especially if you are looking for funding.

Funding.

As you are concluding with your plan, the money you need to start your business comes into play. Here you’ll need to draw up a realistic budget based on experience and research. If you aren’t sure, you can give an average figure in terms of worst- and best-case scenarios.

Often times businesses funding can be a contribution from more than one person, if you are seeking additional funds, it’s often wise to talk about how much money you have at the moment. Try to be realistic in this section so that people take you seriously and consider buying your business plan.

Read also: How to raise money for your side hustles.

 Financial Projections.

As you know, we are all in business to make money. Then we should project that in the planning process to determine if all goes well, what our reward would be.  This section clearly shows if the business is worthwhile. If the projections are so big, this is an indicator that the plan is missing some skeleton components of the plan.

This section is based on your sales strategy and its anticipated efficiency to predict your reward in that particular business at a specific time.

Conclusion

A business plan outlines the goals and objectives of your company, as well as how you will achieve them. It’s an essential tool for entrepreneurs to help them take control over their future by mapping out what they want from their business.

When writing your own business plan, it’s important to follow this outline on how to write a business plan and address all points in order to create one that can be used effectively. You should make sure not to forget any key components or get too carried away with details so you end up forgetting the big picture.

Take a few minutes out of your day and come back here after reading these points so that we can talk more! We want to hear from you! What are your struggles with planning? How can we help you? Let us know by getting in contact with one of our experts today. Your thoughts matter which is why we hope to see them soon.

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