When you are an entrepreneur, like us, you might be aware of what a business plan is and why it is so important to have one for your company. Usually, developing a business plan is a key first step to ensuring success. It will define that success, determine what your final goal is and what you need to do in order to get where you want to be.

According to Investopedia: “A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business—usually a startup—defines its objectives and how it is to go about achieving its goals. A business plan lays out a written roadmap for the firm from marketing, financial, and operational standpoints.”

As Investopedia mentions, a business plan is your map, and it will guarantee you and your team which is the right road to take in order to succeed in the business. Whether you want to get more sales, reach more people or get more traffic to a website, a business plan will guide you along the way.

A business plan can also help you evaluate your business, and will likely evolve from time to time. Your plan should have a list of goals that are set dates for expected outcomes, then you can go back to it from time to time and check if you have actually met those goals. Once you have achieved all of your current goals you will be able to plan a new way forward.

What do you need to create your own business plan? If you are creating a company or if you are an entrepreneur, you should utilize our step-by-step guide to help our readers flourish.

 

Business plan elements

As you are starting to develop your business plan, take into consideration that every business plan is different and will vary depending on companies variables and needs. Today, we are going to discuss the most common elements and how you can apply them in your plan.

 

Executive Summary

An executive summary is an outline of your company. Here, you will be explaining what your company is all about. Talk about your business in a way that will describe your mission, vision, and goals clearly.

Some companies take this step as a mission statement, where they outline the importance of the company, how they can help the community, and the long-time vision of the business itself.

Mission

What differentiates the executive summary from the mission is that the mission clearly defines what the company wants to achieve and the plan to do it.

Use this space to share about all the assets that the company counts currently and how they can be used to reach that final goal. However, your mission statement should feel personal and demonstrate the passion that you have for your company and its future.

Company Overview

The company overview should cover every aspect of your business, big or small, and you need to put into words what you do and how you do it. Become personal and share how you are achieving the goals you have for your company.

A good company overview explains why you take your business so seriously and why it is good for you and everyone around you. That’s why in this step, you need to talk about yourself, the community that surrounds you, and your employees in case you currently have them.

Success

Use this space to share the successes your company intends to gain over time. This success section should be written into bullet points that explain how your company can help others. Keep in mind that the success section can include simple things such as creating an enjoyable environment in the community or something bigger like donating housing for those in need.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses

Highlighting both strengths and weaknesses is an important part to improvement. By noting your strengths, you’re able to draw people in the environment and impact you’re creating but no one thing is perfect.  Take the time to thoughtfully consider your weaknesses and elaborate briefly on how you’ll work to improve. 

This section will allow you to have a clearer vision of what needs to be improved and the steps you should take to make your company grow and escalate over time.

Investments

It’s all about financial planning. You will be discussing your current assets and how you will be projecting over the years. Usually, business plans tend to have a projection from one to five years, and then you should update it after that time passes.

Conclusion

It is the final step that every business plan should have: a good conclusion.   Wrap up everything discussed previously in your business plan and give it the closure it needs.

 

Contact Us

At Dr. Rissy’s Writing and Marketing, we want to help you build your business and it’s road map to success. Click this link to schedule a consultation call with our top workers, where we will help you establish your “why” to business, then book with us to continue down the business plan road.  

No one is alone in their business, not if you know that there is help!