How to Write a Business Plan?

How to Write a Business Plan? 150 150 ML Cloud Accounting

How to Write a Business Plan

What makes a good business plan?

Business plans come in many different formats and styles, but the best ones cover the same critical topics:

Purpose. Explain why your small business exists and why it’s important. What problem or need is your business trying to solve? How does it solve your customer’s pain points?

Product/Service. Describe the product or service that you’re offering, and what makes it unique from its competitors.

Customer. Identify your company’s ideal customer. Get into their head, have a clear understanding of their challenges, and explain why your product is perfect for them.

Marketing. How do you plan to promote your brand? Show what you’ve already done, what you plan to do given your existing resources, and what results you expect from your efforts.

Monetization. The key to a sustainable company is a profitable business model. Explain how your business will make money and what kind of ROI investors can expect.

Team. A business idea is only as good as the team that executes it. Identify your team members and why they are the perfect team to bring this idea to life. Also look ahead and mention the people you still need to expand your company.

It’s not enough to just dump all this information into a single document and send it off. Venture capitalists read dozens of these documents a month, and have little patience for badly written or poorly created documents. You want your business plan to be as attractive and readable as possible.

Here are some tips to make your business plan more presentable:

  • Don’t write a novel. Make your business plan as short as possible while still communicating all the essentials. The fewer pages you use, the better. According to Entrepreneur, a typical business plan can range from 15 to 20 pages, but there’s lots of room for variation.
  • Make it easy to read. Divide your document into distinct and logical sections, so that investors can quickly flip between key pieces of information.
  • Proofread. Double and triple check the writing for typos and grammatical mistakes. Awkwardly written documents are hard to read through and easy to dismiss as amateur.
  • Invest in design and printing. A proper layout and decent printing or bookbinding gives your business plan a professional feel.

Also remember that content is more important than design. Strategize and research your business plan thoroughly, and know your numbers inside out—from costs to sales projections. Once you’re confident in your plan’s viability, then you can worry about formatting and layout. If you can show investors you can perform to a professional standard even during the pitch phase, they’ll be more willing to join you in building a thriving business!

Once your business is off the ground, you will need to start developing an invoice and bookkeeping strategy. Intuit QuickBooks software is designed to streamline the bookkeeping process. Feel free to contact one of our experts to find out what our software can do for you.