Business Plan

[jnjsarauer]

Did you write out a detailed business plan before you started your business or have you been making it up as you go along? I did not need to secure financing for my business so did not think it necessary to have a detailed plan. Now that I've been at it for awhile, I can see where a formal plan would have been a good thing to keep me focused and help me get to the next level. Live and learn! Just curious to see what others have done in regards to written business plans.

[Fergal]

When first sitting down to write your business plan, you shouldn't write it for your funders, you should write it for yourself. Try to keep it as realistic as possible and write it so that it will actually help you in planning the resources you will need to get your business up and running. Your business plan should be there to help you, not just to get money.

However, in the real world, you may need to adjust your business plan a little before you give it to potential funders of your business. This is to be expected, but my advice is that you should have a draft that it is real to you. Plus it will be much easier to write the first draft of your business plan if you are writing it to be as realistic as possible as opposed to constantly considering whether you have everything you need in it, to get a grant or loan.

The only thing I can guarantee in relation to business planning is that things wont go according to plan. However, you shouldn't let that stop you from writing one. Many people who sit down to write a business plan are amazed at how helpful it is to the future success of their business and how it uncovers potential problems and opportunities that they never would have thought of without going through the process.

[zerzis]

The first thing is checking out the legalities. Gain knowledge of all the rules because if you need to break them afterwards, you should be able to break them properly. And then try to keep the goals small in the beginning. Then as you gain confidence you should increase your goals.

[Hurbel2k]

A plan can be helpful to structure Your thoughts.
I created a kind of business plan how I will complete my studies. How much attention I will give to what part of my studies.
A business plan is probably useful even if Your financing is already complete.

[zerzis]

Hey a study plan is a good example how a business plan should be. although there are few things which we have to think about differently the main central concept is the same - planning things and executing them taking the risk factor into consideration.

[Hosting_Solutions]

Yup. A business plan is a good start in organizing your thoughts and plans... it's like a blueprint for your company. A well-constructed business blueprint will serve you well in the long run.

[mark-20]

a couple of bissness i have been invovled in what happend to me was there was no time it was sold and handed over to me to quick to plan so i was straight to work this did mean it wasnt so good to start with like no time to advertise get myself knowing and but i got along okay. i think if you build a bussiness from scratch it would take a plan cause it isnt known there is alot more to organise a have baught a bissness before and all a had to do was say ready steady go and a was away to me they are the best to buy

[pendelton]

Even in you case you can take a bit of time, a few hours, and write out a business plan, it never hurts to write one out. It can, in fact, help, when it gives you a reason to think past what has been handed to you, maybe seeing a profit earning potential that someone else didn't see, or use since they did not plan.

http://www.sba.gov has information on writing a business plans. The outline of a plan is, I would imagine, pretty much the same country to country, so that sba link is not just for people in the US.

[mark-20]

nope a dont agree, i think if you have a mind that is very good at bissness there is no point in getting a bissness plan but a bisnesses adviser a think is very adviseable cause in most cases they are talking in 2nd hand expericance and they usally know what kind of websites/ bissnesses are makeing the money and what aint. will you get that from a plan? no :( and with a bissness plan you have the problem of sticking to it lol in ma case a couldnt do it :P

[gnine11]

There are different view points about writing a business plan in this thread, and i appreciate everybody's view point but i would like to share my own story with you guys.

I quit my job and started working on my business plan. I wasn't having money to start my business, so i decided to go to venture capitalist for finance. Then i started talking to some of the experienced people in the industry (online business). Everybody told me that for getting finance from a third party requires three things.

1. Full proof Business Plan which will generate profit.
2. Well planned finance in Business Plan.
3. Strength of Team which will execute the plan.

And financer will not compromise on any of the topic. So even if you have good business plan doesn't make sure that you will get finance, it can only help you in organising yourself. Your finance and team strength is also very important factor for running a business.

[BlueEew]

Did you write out a detailed business plan before you started your business or have you been making it up as you go along? I did not need to secure financing for my business so did not think it necessary to have a detailed plan. Now that I've been at it for awhile, I can see where a formal plan would have been a good thing to keep me focused and help me get to the next level. Live and learn! Just curious to see what others have done in regards to written business plans.

You must have one. I repeat you must have one. I believe you need one to start a mjor business thats not Internet related anyways. That may just be in some places though.

[pendelton]

You can be as detailed as you want, which lowers your flexibility, or as flexible as you want which lowers the detail. Making it modular is the key for online businesses, putting the detail in to each section that you deem fit.

Main points will be your marketing plan and your cash flow, so you can track your ROI on your advertising and the site(s) overall. A lot of what is in a business plan that you find online is for offline businesses. Your hours of operation and some of the stuff is just useless for an online business, not that I am saying you shouldn't plan your time mind you, but you do not have to say that you will be there 8 am to 8 pm.