Your Business Plan
This Your Business Plan Info Guide explains why you need a Business Plan and provides practical guidance on how to write a Business Plan. It includes a free Business Plan template.
A Business Plan can:
- help you to think through all the elements involved in starting your business.
Writing down your ideas on what you plan to do exposes the clarity or lack of clarity of those ideas. The Business Plan should cover as many eventualities as possible. For example, what would happen if sales are slower than expected or costs are higher?
- help you to find out if your business proposal is likely to be viable.
It also helps you to assess the risks and to gauge whether it is realistic to expect that your business idea will deliver on your personal and business objectives.
- enable you to communicate with all stakeholders both internally (staff and family) and externally (bankers, investors, grant authorities, suppliers).
Sharing the plan (or at least part of it) with key employees can help them understand your business goals, and their role in achieving these goals.
- help you to raise finance, eg sharing your plan with potential investors or lenders.
Remember!
- At the start-up stage, the Business Plan is used for setting out what you plan to do. Over time, you are likely to be caught up in day-to-day issues and to forget your original targets and aim.
- A Business Plan can help keep you on track by reminding you of what you set out to do. It can help you to track progress of actual results against plan, and to recognise and take action where positive or negative deviations are occurring.
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Your Business Plan should:
- be clear, concise and consistent.
- be based on research and facts.
- be realistic.
- give a clear picture of the business, and how and why it will work.
- clearly communicate your personality and quality as an entrepreneur.
- be a working document which is updated as your business progresses.
It is recommended that you have a colleague, friend or professional advisor, review the plan before approaching any third parties, such as banks.
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Use this Business Plan template to prepare a professional Business Plan for your business.
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