Writing a Business Plan

If you've started a business before or have even tried, then you probably have some experience writing a business plan. As I've mentioned in my blog before not all entrepreneurs come from money. Therefore, it is important for them to try and get investors and to successfully raise money you need a formal business plan. Even if you don't need funding it is important to create one. For those of you who aren't familiar with a business plan, it is a written document detailing the logistics of your business. It includes your business idea, competitors, target audience, future action plan, and much more. They can range from ten to twenty pages depending on the industry and if you're using it to get investors or just for yourself. If your idea is very technical it could be much longer than a standard business plan.

It is extremely important for entrepreneurs to know how to write a business plan. It is the key to successfully starting a business and getting funding. As a junior studying entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University, I have already had to draft two business plans. My individual business plan was several pages while my group one was over sixteen pages not including graphs, tables, or charts. From my experience I recommend anyone trying to write a business plan to research as much as possible. You don't want to mess up an interview with investors or start a half-assed business. The U.S Small Business Administration (2017) recommends that you project three to five years into the future for these documents. They also provide more detailed information about the parts in a business plan.

I'd like to finish my blog by including a snapshot of a business plan template. Generally there will be many parts in a business plan, but it will vary from industry to industry so make sure to do some additional research.

References 

How to Write a Business Plan | The U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2017, from https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/write-your-business-plan