Write Your Business Plan
Traditional business plan format
You might prefer a traditional business plan format if you are very detail oriented, want a comprehensive plan, or plan to request financing from traditional sources.
When you write your business plan, you do not have to stick to the exact business plan outline. Instead, use the sections that make the most sense for your business and your needs. Traditional business plans use some combination of these nine sections.
Executive summary
Briefly tell your reader what your company is and why it will be successful. Include your mission statement, your product or service, and basic information about your company’s leadership team, employees, and location. You should also include financial information and high-level growth plans if you plan to ask for financing.
Company description
Use your company description to provide detailed information about your company. Go into detail about the problems your business solves. Be specific, and list out the consumers, organization, or businesses your company plans to serve.
Explain the competitive advantages that will make your business a success. Are there experts on your team? Have you found the perfect location for your store? Your company description is the place to boast about your strengths.
Market analysis
You will need a good understanding of your industry outlook and target market. Competitive research will show you what other businesses are doing and what their strengths are. In your market research, look for trends and themes. What do successful competitors do? Why does it work? Can you do it better? Now’s the time to answer these questions.
Organization and management
Tell your reader how your company will be structured and who will run it.
Describe the legal structure of your business. State whether you have or intend to incorporate your business as a C or an S corporation, form a general or limited partnership, or if you are a sole proprietor or LLC.
Use an organizational chart to lay out who is in charge of what in your company. Show how each person’s unique experience will contribute to the success of your venture.
Service or product line
Describe what you sell or what service you offer. Explain how it benefits your customers and what the product lifecycle looks like.
Marketing and sales
Your goal in this section is to describe how you will attract and retain customers. You will refer to this section later when you make financial projections, so make sure to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales strategies.
Funding request
If you are asking for funding, this is where you will outline your funding requirements. Your goal is to clearly explain how much funding you will need over the next five years and what you will use it for.
Specify whether you want debt or equity, the terms you would like applied, and the length of time your request will cover. Give a detailed description of how you will use your funds.. Always include a description of your future strategic financial plans, like paying off debt or selling your business.
Financial projections
Supplement your funding request with financial projections. Your goal is to convince the reader that your business is stable and will be a financial success.
If your business is already established, include income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for the last three to five years. If you have other collateral you could put against a loan, make sure to list it now.
Provide a prospective financial outlook for the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and capital expenditure budgets. For the first year, be even more specific and use quarterly — or even monthly — projections. Make sure to clearly explain your projections and match them to your funding requests.
This is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business.
Appendix
Use your appendix to provide supporting documents or other materials. Common items to include are credit histories, resumes, product pictures, letters of reference, licenses, permits, or patents, legal documents, permits, and other contracts.
Reference: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan
