Write A Business Plan Fast!
 By Lee S. Shaffer

Every startup business needs a plan to succeed.

Maybe you want financing to help jump-start your business. Or maybe you want a simple roadmap you can follow that will lead your small business to success. Either way, you need a plan.

Here’s how you can create a specific business plan for your new enterprise.

Keep It Simple
The purpose of the plan is to show where your small business is going and how it’s going to get there. Your plan might cover the first year or the first five years.

You business plan need not be long and complicated, even if you’re in search of financing.

If you’re producing a plan for in-house use, a few well-thought-out pages can do. More complex plans rarely run more than 30 pages, even with the attachments of financial documents.

The four main components of any plan include:

• A detailed description of your business

• How you will market your business and to whom

• Financial information about your business

• Goals and measurement milestones

Tips To Create Your Plan
If you’re creating an internal business plan that’s not intended to help you get financing, cover these basic areas:

• Description of products or services

• Who you’ll market to and how

• Projected sales

• Projected profit and loss

• Monthly anticipated cash flow for at least the first year

• When and how you’ll measure your success

If you’ll use your plan to get a loan or other financing, it will need to include additional details, such as a description of the management team. Your financial information will need to be detailed and rock solid. You’ll also need to show how you intend to repay the loan.

When producing a business plan with financing in mind, be sure to address the four C’s of getting credit:

• Character

• Cash flow

• Capital

• Collateral

Another tip: Be specific. For example, include specific actions you will take to achieve marketing and sales goals. Use specific dollar amounts when estimating your monthly cash flow needs.

Another tip: Make sure your plan is realistic. For instance, don’t state sales goals that are pie-in-sky.

Don’t Start From Scratch
You can get plenty of free sample business plans and templates for business plans. Just go online. Start your search at these sites

• Bplans.com
  This site offers 60 free sample business plans for dozens of different types of businesses. You can read the specific plan and incorporate ideas into your own. Here’s a sampling of the types of businesses covered by the plans:
  

  • Auto repair service

  • Bed and breakfast

  • Medical billing

  • Real estate broker

  • Self storage

  • Wedding consultant

• Center for Business Planning
  If you’re launching a high-flying venture that will require lots of capital for startup, take a look at the fully-developed plans at this Web site. You can’t use these as your own, but you can see the depth and detail of information required in the plans.

• SCORE
  You can download different business plan templates for startups and established businesses – for free.
  
  If you need more than the free business plans and templates, you pay a little to get a lot of ideas. Try these Web sites.

• AllBusiness
  Need a business plan that’s short and sweet? Check out the sample short form at AllBusiness. You can purchase the plan for just $15 and download it at the Web site.

• Business Plan Pro 2007
  The out-of-the-box software from Palo Alto Software will guide to producing a plan that’s right for your business. It includes more than 500 sample plans and a step-by-step EasyPlan Wizard. You can download the software instantly for $99.95.

Get Personalized Help
AFS Members have access to small-business consultants through AFS ProTalk. These professionals can answer your questions about producing a plan specifically for your business.

Unlimited access to the consultants is only a mouse click or phone call away for AFS Members. To learn more, check out ProTalk on the AFS Web site.

(Posted January 2007)

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