Writing a small business plan. Part 1 of 6

One of the most important tasks to carry out when you are planning to launch a brand new small business, is to take time to prepare a fully functional small business plan.

Writing a small business plan will not only allow you to focus on your business start up, but it will also be a valuable asset to present to your business bank manager or indeed any potential investors who may wish to inject vital funds into your new small business.

Another key benefit of a well written business plan is that it becomes a permanent reference point for you to view as needed and will assist you in maintaining your focus for the life of your business.

I am writing this guide in small sections to allow you to follow the plan in your own time. This article will demonstrate the complete overview of what you will need to consider when writing your small business plan.

Small business plan - an overview

There are 6 key elements to consider when preparing to write your business plan they are;

1. Your business aim: this section should indicate your businesses generic goals and should also identify what areas you will need to research (such as marketplace, route to market etc) and also pinpoint an accurate timetable for your small business development.
2. Stock: this section should demonstrate your products and/or services that your are planning to specialise in, where you may source your products and any legislation you may need to be aware of and comply to.
3. Promotional: here you should plan to demonstrate how you intend to get your products and services to the marketplace, how you are to proceed with advertising media, where you plan to retail your products and services and also note any restrictions that may apply to certain products or services.
4. Operational: This is where you should identify the time constraints that may apply (production time, supplier lead time etc), delivery timescales to your customers, supplier conformance, shipping options and the limits that will apply.
5. Financial: This is a key section and should clearly demonstrate your total costings, direct expenses, projected stock holding (if applicable), acounting methods, sales tables and your sales targets and company budget controls.
6. Timetable: When writing your business plan, you will need to focus on ‘forward planning’. This will encompass you projecting a timetable of development…where do you see your company in 5 years for example.

This article gives you an explicit overview of what a business plan should contain. Of course, business models vary and you should be looking to vary the plan to meet the exacting needs of your own business.

In my next article we shall begin attacking each aspect of the business plan in detail beginning with your business aims.

I hope you find this resource useful and remember, taking a week or so to write your small business plan will save you time AND money in the future.

One famous quote to consider is “if you fail to plan, your are planning to fail”