Video Professor

Ask anyone who has ever started their own business, and they will tell you that perhaps the most important step they took was writing their business plan. And while some may not enjoy the business plan writing process, they are an essential part of any start-up business.

For those of you new to the entrepreneurial world, the importance of a solid business plan cannot be stressed enough. No successful product was launched or service provided without first starting its life as an idea translated into a business plan. The process may intimidate some of you, but there is no reason to put off writing your business plan due to intimidation. As you will find, writing a business plan does not have to be a painful task.

So why write a business plan? As every entrepreneur knows, an idea only goes so far. Unless it is fleshed out and thoroughly examined, there is no way to know if the idea is strong. By writing a business plan, you will know beyond a doubt if your idea is worth building a business around. The business plan will expose the idea’s weaknesses and highlight its strengths.

The first step in writing a business plan is to decide what type of business plan you are going to write. To do this, you need to identify what you want your business plan to accomplish. Are you looking for investors, or are you already funded? Are you launching a service, or selling a product that will need to be manufactured? Will you operate out of a storefront, or is the business online? Is the business plan going to be read by a large audience, or is it an internal document? Answering those simple questions will help determine the scope of your business plan. If you are looking for capital and investors, your plan needs to detail every facet of your business. If the business plan will serve as an internal document that will provide guidance as your business grows, then you can bypass some of the discussion points laid out in a more formal business plan. However, every business plan must include the business objective and strategy for implementation, target market, company mission, development stages and leadership roles.

The second and perhaps most time consuming part of writing your business plan involves doing your research. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to thoroughly research your target, competition and industry. Too many businesses fail because they did not do their homework. You may think your product is perfect for your market, but what happens when your research shows that you were wrong? Better to find out early than to find out after you’ve spent your time and money launching a product that stood no chance of succeeding.

Finally, you need to sit down and write. Take your time, but don’t feel like everything has to be perfect. Find a few people you trust and have them read and edit your business plan. Once you feel like your plan is done, take a breath and relax, the easy part is over! But remember, your business plan is a dynamic living, breathing document. As your business changes, so can your business plan.