Business - What Kind Of Plan Are You Writing?

Writing a business plan is both an art and a science. It's a science because it must follow guidelines associated with business plans, as they tend to be written in the business community. It's an art because you will draw from a vast amount of information related to your specific project and bring all the elements together in the form of a business plan that will be read and acted upon by others. Your final plan will depend on the size and scope of your project and how much work you are willing to perform.

You will get out of the business planning process exactly what you put into it. Asking the right questions of yourself and your project will give you information to make better personal and business choices and legal and financial decisions. Writing a plan for your project requires you to have an idea and vision of the whole project, the component parts of the project and the operating system behind your project. An effective business plan will require you to look critically at the multitude of issues facing you in a way that is not initially influenced by your emotions. You want the facts. As you gather information and facts, that data will either support your thoughts and ideas or kill them. If the data gathering supports your position then you can emotionalize those facts in the way that you present your plan in writing. The design and packaging of your business plan can have a powerful impact on reactions and outcomes. Your job is to wrap your arms (and mind) around your project, analyze the information, understand the details and assemble that data in a format that conveys the message and meaning you wish to communicate in a way that sells others on your idea. First impressions are lasting ones so your final business plan should be presented as your finest intellectual work of art

Initial Analysis

Most people reading this report will be writing a business plan to get money, either from investors or lending institutions, to startup or operate your business. The best way to start the information-gathering process is to ask a few questions about the project:

1. Are you writing a business plan for internal or external purposes? A business plan written for internal purposes (department planning or marketing and sales planning for example) of a business is quite different than one written for external purposes (venture capital procurement or bank financing).

2. Are you writing a business plan for equity financing (Investors) or debt financing (loans from banks and other lending institutions)? While the core of a good business plan can serve to go in either direction (Venture capital vs. bank financing), financial institutions are going to want more exact information when it comes to audited financial statements, accounts receivables and other financial information relating to your business. If you are seeking startup capital from a bank for a new business idea, you can pretty much forget that unless you have a home or some other real property you can refinance with cash-out. Banks tend not to do speculative business loans.

3. Do you know what information you need to gather to write an intelligent business plan no matter what your project may be? Understanding the project issues can be a huge task even for people who have business planning experience. Knowing the information you need to write your plan is half the battle.

4. Are you prepared to do the work? Is your idea, vision or project worth it to you?

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