Piecing Together the Business Plan

Using last week's post as inspiration, I thought it'd be a good idea to delve a bit deeper into the different components of a business plan.

Another inspiration point is Lance Winslow's article Sample Business Plan Outline, which I also recommended last week.

Using Lance's extensive outline, I found further reading for each of his main headings

1) Executive Summary:

• e-Business plan tutorial
• Business Basics…by Mike Volker

2) Objectives:

• AllBusiness - Business plans include vision, mission statement, and objectives, don't they? What's the difference?

3) Company & Industry Analysis

• Company Analysis section of Growthink's Business Plan Development Guide
• Rutger's page on Industry Analysis

4) Marketing Analysis

• INC's Write a Marketing Analysis that Will Simply Dazzle
• MarketingProfs.com marketing FAQs

5) Management

• INC's Making the Most of Your Management Team

6) Operations

• e-Business plan tutorial

7) Legal Strategies

• Prentice Hall's Key Points page

8) Financial Strategies

• HowStuffWorks

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A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business

Business Plans: A Quick Guide

Scenario: You've decided to start a small business. You've researched your industry, your customers and your business' message/personality. There seems to be so many 'first steps' when it comes to starting a business but one that's always way, way up there is creating a business plan.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

• Writing a Convincing Business Plan by Arthur R. DeThomas Ph.D., Lin Grensing-Pophal
• The Definitive Business Plan: The Fast Track to Intelligent Business Planning for Executives and Entrepreneurs (2nd Edition) by Richard Stutely
• The Complete Book of Business Plans: Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan (Small Business Sourcebooks) by Joseph A. Covello
• The One Page Business Plan with CD-ROM by James T., Jr. Horan

There are plenty of free informational resources out there.

* Five Crucial Components of a Business Plan by Cavyl Stewart

* Sample Business Plan Outline by Lance Winslow

* 8 Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid by Jo Ann Joy

* How to Prepare a Business Plan that Guarantees Big Profits by Julia Tang

* Writing a Business Plan and Check List by Thomas Choo

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A VIS (Very Important Step) for your New Business