A business plan is not just a document! It will help you to prepare your business outline and reach your target goals. Having this, you can analyze the results of your work. Based on this you can take various strategic decisions. The next step after selecting a business idea is making a plan. If you do it in the right way, the future tasks of your business will be much easier. And your chances of success will increase to a great extent.
Also, if you want an investor for your business, you have to submit your plan document to him. If you don't plan properly you won't be able to approach investors. This plan is not that difficult to make. Today I will show you step by step how you can make a unique plan very easily.
1. Market Research
Market research is a technique by which you get various information about target customers, your competitors. By doing market research you can know who your competitors are in which situation. What strategies are they using? What is the behavior of your customers? Or they are using a service or product more often. Where they are facing problems, where they need solutions, or what kind of risk you have if you start in that business, you can get an idea about them by doing market analysis. Market analysis is a very important step in your planning.
2. Business Analysis
Business analysis is a very important step in your planning. How to solve problems in your business. If you add some points to the business, your business will become strong. Business analysis makes many things clear to us. For example, what benefits can we get from the business? We can avoid some expenses. There are many types of opportunities in business. What opportunities we can exploit or find new opportunities.
3. Select Your Customer
Many people do not know who their customers are when making a plan. They think everyone is their customer. But not everyone can be a customer of your product. So you need to know who your customers are. For example, your product or service will be more acceptable to people of any age. Or is your product something that is only for girls or for boys? You need to select who are the real customers of your service/product. To whom you want to sell the product or service.
4. Set Realistic Goals
As you make a plan, you must set a goal. It won't be if it's unrealistic. You need to set a realistic goal. The goal should be set in such a way that even if you don't achieve it in your target time, you can come very close to it.
5. Look at different timeframes
One of the steps is looking at the timeframe. Many people do not follow this step. But there is no substitute for a perfect planning. Seeing means that your product related products have sold more in the market at some time. Or they are very popular at some point. And at some point the demand for that product or service drops. There are other things like maybe one product or service was very popular at one time and suddenly its popularity decreased for another new product. What was the new product offering for which the value of the old product decreased? You have to plan keeping these timeframes in mind.
6. Review Your Plan
When we make a plan we do not see any mistakes. But later it was caught when reviewed. So the business plan must be reviewed again. If you go to review, you will find many things to add. Got something to drop again.
7. Organizational Structure
One of the most important parts of a new business plan is describing the organizational structure of the company. This section will contain job description of officers and employees of the organization. It should be written how they will perform all the responsibilities of the company so that the organization is run smoothly.
8. Financial Planning
This is the most important part for investors and lenders. This is the part they will study the most. So be heavvy careful not to make any type mistakes. Both the amount of money needed for your business and the profit potential of your business will be captured in this section. Cash flow analysis, profit and loss analysis both will be in this section. This section should be as detailed as possible. Illustrate the point with necessary calculations, graphs etc. If there is any deficiency in this part, the whole business plan will lose its importance. With this part of the figure you need to make it clear why your business is marketable and profitable.
Some tips for making a Business Plan
- Keep it concise: Documents need to be kept concise and clean. When you show your plan to someone, no one will read 100 pages of details. Even when you go to see your plan for some reason, you do not see such a large document yourself. Therefore, your goals should be documented briefly.
- Review ideas: Review your ideas before planning. Otherwise, if you don't feel like working on this idea later, then the whole business plan will be wasted.
- Don't Panic: Did you know that most entrepreneurs and business owners were not business experts? They didn't have many degrees. They just knew what they wanted to start. They were sure about their own ideas. After that they just collected the data by doing various analysis. From there they make a business plan.
How to Write a Business Plan
When starting a business it is important to go through the initial steps. First you need to make sure you have the skills and perseverance to start and run a small business. Next you need to choose your business area. Based on your qualifications, skills and interests, select the field and what kind of business you want to do, and also check the market value of your business idea.
The next step is to put the business plan on paper to make sure that the business idea is profitable enough and has scope for expansion in the future. You must already have a clear idea of the business plan, but it is not enough to sketch the plan in your head, you need a written business plan. As a result, on the one hand, if there is any deficiency in your plan, it will be found, on the other hand, it will be beneficial to get investment or loan. Some important points for writing a smart business plan:
1. Short and concise writing
Business plan should be short to the point & make sure that your written business plan covers every aspect and gives a complete and clear idea of your business. But at the same time, the length of the business plan should be kept in mind so that it is not excessively long. Because no one wants to read page after page of business plan, and secondly you need to expand and refine this business plan as the business progresses. If the business plan is too long, it will be difficult to revise it in the future. The length of the business plan will of course depend on the nature of your business and the field of business, but try to keep the entire business plan within 30 pages, if the plan is very complex, you can increase it to 40 pages.
2. Write with the reader in mind
The goal of a smart business plan is to present your business plan to the reader. A business plan can usually have two readers, small lenders or investors. The financial aspect of your business is most important to the lender, whether you can repay the loan on time from the profits of your business. An investor, on the other hand, may be interested in your products, services, and marketing plans. Also, the language of the business plan needs to be simple and fluent. You may be using a complex scientific method but the scientific terminology may be unfamiliar to those who will invest in your company, so it is important to explain it in layman's terms.
3. Don't panic while writing
Even if you have a clear idea of the business plan, writing it down can seem daunting at first. Don't panic, the business plan is yours, you know best about it. If you find it difficult to write a complete business plan at first, write down the main points first, then write down each point. It will also reduce the chances of missing out on any important matter.
