Drafting Your Business Plan

A business plan is an essential element to starting and running a successful business. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur or building a much larger business. Nor does it matter if you have a brick-and-mortar business or are working completely online. Everyone needs some sort of plan.

Starting and growing a business is like building a house. When you begin thinking about building a house, you start with blueprints or a written plan. Then you put your plan into action and lay the foundation. This foundation must be stable and solid because it will bear the entire weight of your house. If the foundation isn’t up to par, every addition that is made could potentially bring the entire house down. It’s the same with a business.

Creating a business plan allows you to have a firm base on which to build and grow your business. With this base, you’ll be able to:

• Set and measure your goals
• Know when to move forward
• Review what you’ve accomplished
• See where changes are needed
• Set specific goals for team members
• Prioritize your workload so you stay on track
• and more

In this template bundle, you’ll find worksheets to help you draft each piece of your business plan.

Here’s what you get:

• Insider’s Guide with tips on how to build a successful business plan
• 9 Worksheets:
  • Executive Summary Worksheet – so you can have a clear idea of what your business is and does.
  • Business Overview Worksheet – write a detailed description of your business.
  • Operations Plan Worksheet – explain and describe how each area in your business will function including physical setup and responsibilities for specific tasks performed.
  • Marketing Analysis Worksheet – narrow in on your target market for your business.
  • Products and Services Worksheet – describe the products you create, sell, and offer. Use this worksheet to help you discover new ideas for your products or services.
  • Sales & Marketing Worksheet – use this worksheet to help you make sales and market your items/services.
  • Competitive Analysis Worksheet – helps you identify and research your competitors to assess your direct and indirect competitors’ strengths and weaknesses to compare to your own.
  • Management Team Worksheet – to provide you with pertinent, concise background information on all key players involved in your business.
  • Financial Plan Worksheet – helps you organize and keep track of all the financial needs that may come with starting a business
•  Also includes an editable Projected Income Worksheet (doc)

As you can see, everything included in the Business Plan Template bundle will help you stay on track when planning your business.