Attention: READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE SUCCESS AND WANT TO SUCCEED IN YOUR BUSINESS
The outline of your business plan begins to emerge as you answer the questions in the guide which flows from your grasp of the concepts discussed in each section hence the sub-title: a comprehensive, simple and easy step by step knowledge-based guide to writing effective business plans. Each topic is also followed by a sample business plan to help understand the basics and to write or review a business plan.
A business plan is a written outline of the functional sections or areas of a business enterprise to justify its financial viability and economic sustainability as well as serve as a guide for its management, evaluation and a roadmap for future development. Knowledge of business plan writing will help you to put your business on the right track for long term success. The book is written to help all categories of readers' grasp the fundamentals of business plan writing to enable them to write an effective business plan or review one.
The content of the book captured by the table of content mirrors the format or basic outline of a business plan. They are Executive Summary which covers preview executive and review executive summary format. This is followed by the business description which covers topics such as industry overview which includes how to get information for your industry analysis using North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and other sources. Other business description topics are company description, vision statement, mission statement, company goals and objectives, history or current status, company ownership, and products and services. If your products and services are very extensive, you can create a new chapter for it to enable you present it to the reader.
The next chapter after business description is the market. It covers market segment and target market, market size and trends, competition, market obstacles and opportunities and sales forecast. The management and organisation chapter comes after the market. It is often said that the five elements of a successful business are: 1. Management 2. Management 3. Management 4. Market and 5. Product - in that order. This section is therefore very important in any business plan and covers management description, organizational structure and chart, business legal form, board of directors, management philosophy, corporate strategies and key success factors, staffing requirement and personnel plan, support services.
The Marketing and Sales chapter covers Marketing Objectives, Marketing Strategy, Sales Plan and Marketing Plan. The next section after that is operations and covers development status, operations description, human resources, legal environment and facility. others are production, information technology, insurance, inventory control, cash flow control, supply, distribution, fulfilment and finally customer service.
The financial plan chapter of the book covers startup expenses, basic assumptions for financial statements, opening day statement of financial position, profit or loss statement, break even Analysis, Statement of Cash Flow, Statement of Financial Position, Sensitivity Analysis and financial ratios. This is followed by the funding request chapter succeeded by the difficulties and risk/SWOT Analysis chapter. The last chapter in the book is Appendices where you attach your supporting documents.
The unique feature of this business plan book is the guide constructed in the form of a questionnaire after each section and sub-section which is basically a workbook.
