How you go about writing a "relevant" business plan depends on the type of business. My advice would be to start by keeping it very short—one page only—so that you can focus more on three core metrics and concrete goals rather than developing a lengthy document that you may never reference. Identify how you'll measure growth, and then focus on quarterly, monthly, and quarterly goals. Use a free Trello account to manage your goals. Reverse engineer your goals, then track your progress and tweak your strategies accordingly. Hope this helps!
A good business plan guides you through each stage of starting and managing your business. You’ll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. It’s a way to think through the key elements of your business. Business plans can help you get funding or bring on new business partners.
Traditional business plans are more common, use a standard structure, and encourage you to go into detail in each section. Lean start-up business plans are less common but still use a standard structure.
Traditional business plan format:
1. Executive summary
Briefly tell your reader what your company is and why it will be successful. Include your mission statement, your product or service, and basic information about your company’s leadership team, employees, and location. You should also include financial information and high-level growth plans if you plan to ask for financing.
2. Company description
Use your company description to provide detailed information about your company. Go into detail about the problems your business solves. Be specific, and list out the consumers, organization, or businesses your company plans to serve.
Explain the competitive advantages that will make your business a success. Are there experts on your team? Have you found the perfect location for your store? Your company description is the place to boast about your strengths.
3. Market analysis
You will need a good understanding of your industry outlook and target market. Competitive research will show you what other businesses are doing and what their strengths are. In your market research, look for trends and themes. What do successful competitors do? Why does it work? Can you do it better? Now's the time to answer these questions.
4. Organization and management
Tell your reader how your company will be structured and who will run it. Describe the legal structure of your business. State whether you have or intend to incorporate your business as a C or an S corporation, form a general or limited partnership, or if you are a sole proprietor or LLC. Use an organizational chart to lay out who's in charge of what in your company. Show how each person's unique experience will contribute to the success of your venture. Consider including resumes and CVs of key members of your team.
5. Service or product line
Describe what you sell or what service you offer. Explain how it benefits your customers and what the product lifecycle looks like. Share your plans for intellectual property, like copyright or patent filings. If you're doing research and development for your service or product, explain it in detail.
6. Marketing and sales
There is no single way to approach a marketing strategy. Your strategy should evolve and change to fit your unique needs.
Your goal in this section is to describe how you will attract and retain customers. You'll also describe how a sale will actually happen. You will refer to this section later when you make financial projections, so make sure to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales strategies.
7. Funding request
If you are asking for funding, this is where you will outline your funding requirements. Your goal is to clearly explain how much funding you will need over the next five years and what you'll use it for.
Specify whether you want debt or equity, the terms you would like applied, and the length of time your request will cover. Give a detailed description of how you will use your funds. Specify if you need funds to buy equipment or materials, pay salaries, or cover specific bills until revenue increases. Always include a description of your future strategic financial plans, like paying off debt or selling your business.
8. Financial projections
Supplement your funding request with financial projections. Your goal is to convince the reader that your business is stable and will be a financial success. If your business is already established, include income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for the last three to five years. If you have other collateral you could put against a loan, make sure to list it now. Provide a prospective financial outlook for the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and capital expenditure budgets. For the first year, be even more specific and use quarterly — or even monthly — projections. Make sure to clearly explain your projections and match them to your funding requests. This is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business.
9. Appendix
Use your appendix to provide supporting documents or other materials were specially requested. Common items to include are credit histories, resumes, product pictures, letters of reference, licenses, permits, or patents, legal documents, permits, and other contracts.
Lean start-up format:
1. Key partnerships
Note the other businesses or services you will work with to run your business. Think about suppliers, manufacturers, subcontractors, and similar strategic partners.
2. Key activities
List the ways your business will gain a competitive advantage. Highlight things like selling direct to consumers or using technology to tap into the sharing economy.
3. Key resources
List any resource you will leverage to create value for your customer. Your most important assets could include staff, capital, or intellectual property. Don’t forget to leverage business resources that might be available to women, veterans, Native Americans, and HUBZone businesses.
4. Value proposition
Make a clear and compelling statement about the unique value your company brings to the market.
5. Customer relationships
Describe how customers will interact with your business. Is it automated or personal? In person or online? Think through the customer experience from start to finish.
6. Customer segments
Be specific when you name your target market. Your business will not be for everybody, so it’s important to have a clear sense of who your business will serve.
7. Channels
List the most important ways you will talk to your customers. Most businesses use a mix of channels and optimize them over time.
8. Cost structure
Will your company focus on reducing cost or maximizing value? Define your strategy, then list the most significant costs you will face pursuing it.
9. Revenue streams
Explain how your company will make money. Some examples are direct sales, memberships fees, and selling advertising space. If your company has multiple revenue streams, list them all.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
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