The business plan serves as a tool that defines and explains your business operations, its goals and

its
strategies

1. Executive Summary
The first section should be a concise overview of your business plan. It should be short, and must be well
written. Your goal is to draw readers in so they want to learn more about your company.

Though this section appears first, consider writing it last, after you've worked out the details of your plan and can
summarize your thoughts succinctly and accurately.

The executive summary for a business plan should include:

Your business name and location

Products and/or services offered
Mission and vision statements
The specific purpose of the plan (to secure investors, set strategies, etc.)

2. Company Description
This high-level view of your business should explain who you are, how you operate and what your
goals are.

The company description should feature:

The legal structure of your business (corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.)

A brief history, the nature of your business, and the needs or demands you plan to supply
An overview of your products/services, customers, and suppliers
A summary of company growth, including financial or market highlights
A summary of your short- and long-term business goals, and how you plan to make a profit

3. Products and Services

Clearly describe what youre selling, with a focus on customer benefits.

Include details about suppliers, product or service costs, and the net revenue expected from the sale of those
products or services. Consider adding pictures or diagrams.

In general, this section should include:

A detailed description of your product/service that emphasizes customer benefits

An explanation of the market role of your product/service and advantages it has over competitors
Information about the product/service's life cycle
Relevant copyright, patent, or trade secret data
Research and development activities that may lead to new products and services

4. Market analysis:

Show your industry knowledge, and present conclusions based on thorough market research. Place detailed
findings of any studies in an appendix.

Your market analysis should include:

 A sketch of targeted customer segments, including size and demographics of each group
An industry description and outlook, including statistics
Historical, current and projected marketing data for your product/services
A detailed evaluation of your competitors, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses

5. Strategy and Implementation:

Summarize your sales and marketing strategy, and how youll implement them with an operating plan.

This section should include:

An explanation of how youll promote your business to customers and enter the market
Details about costs, pricing, promotions, and distribution/logistics
An explanation of how the company will function, including the operations cycle (from acquisition of
supplies through production to delivery)
Information on sources of labor and number of employees
Data on operating hours and facilities

6. Organization and Management Team:

Outline your company's organizational structure. Identify the owners, management team and board of directors.

Include the following:

An organizational chart with descriptions of departments and key employees

Information about owners, including their names, percentage of ownership, extent of involvement within
the company and a biography listing their background and skills
Profiles of your management team, including their names, positions, main responsibilities and past
experience
List of any advisors, such as board members, accountants, and attorneys

7. Financial plan and projections:

This last section of your business plan should be developed with a professional accountant after you've completed
a market analysis and set goals for your company.

Some of the important financial statements that should be part of your plan include:

Historical financial data (if you own an established business), including income statements, balance sheets and
cash flow statements for the past three to five years

Realistic prospective financial information, including forecasted income statements, balance sheets, cash flow
statements and capital expenditure budgets for the next five years A brief analysis of your financial data, featuring
a ratio and trend analysis for all financial statements
The business plan serves as a tool that defines and explains your business operations, its goals and its strategies.
To cover each area of the business, the parts of the business plan must collectively identify the critical areas of
your business operations. Although the contents of these parts vary based on the type of business, the required
parts of the business plan remain consistent.

Executive Summary

The executive summary appears first in the business plan but is often the last to be created. This summary
provides a brief review of the information within the plan. It quickly introduces the business and its owners,
identifies the industry and target markets, and identifies the competition. The executive summary also includes the
requested loan amount and the ideal repayment plan, when a loan is requested.

Staff

The staffing section identifies the positions that are required to run the business efficiently. It explains the
functions of each position and ascertains the cost of each employee. Employee costs include payroll, benefits,
training costs and other expenses that are incurred as a result of hiring the employee.

Operations

The operations portion of the business plan explains the business operations in detail. This includes information on
the business location. This section identifies the hours of operation, as well as the furniture and equipment that the
business needs to produce. It addresses the suppliers and vendors that your business will use, the products that you
will purchase from them and the costs that are incurred. The operations portion also address specifics about
maintaining the property, such as zoning compliance, utilities, taxes, building repairs and monthly property
payments.

Marketing

For many businesses, the marketing portion serves as the core of the business plan. In this section, you will include
your business list of products and services, along with the consumers cost for each. You will identify your target
market, or customer base, and explain the methods that you will use to capture and retain those customers, such as
advertisement and trade shows. The marketing plan also includes details about your business competition, its
strengths and weaknesses, and how your business will counteract the strategies of that competition. The marketing
section also includes information about your business website, including how your business will use the site, create
traffic and protect your customers information.

Financials

Although every business plan includes individualized information, the financial portion of every business plan is
quite similar. This section should include, at minimum, four financial statements. These statements include, in order
of appearance, the personal financial statement, balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. Each
owner must include his own personal financial statement. Therefore, if there is more than one owner, there will be
more than one personal financial statement.

Appendix

The appendix is the section that validates the information that lies within the business plan. This section includes
supporting documents, such as tax returns, bank statements, lease agreements, marketing research, insurance
policies and building appraisals. The documents in this section should be appropriately labeled and appear in the
order of reference.