While a business plan is in general useful from the standpoint of being organized and efficient its most useful purpose is as a vehicle for obtaining investment dollars. An outstanding executive summary is an absolutely essential element in winning investment dollars from venture capital: venture catalyst, and/or individual investor angels. The executive summary is a description of your brilliant plan and you want to do justice to it. You can either write the executive summary first or last in building the plan, but consider writing it roughly first and then giving it polishing touches afterward. Areas that need to be covered include: Mission statement & company description, management, completion, target customers, product / service, marketing plans, and financial considerations. The mission statement and company description are often combined in the writing of a business plan because on the one hand the mission statement discussed the general philosophy, goals, and purpose of the business while the description lays out the current specific strategies and objectives. The mission statement can be fairly lengthy and is an excellent opportunity to display the writer's dreams and vision of a targeted niche business.

Most often the first examined part of a business plan is that presenting the management team. Depending on the investor and the business being considered, the management will be examined on their history and proclivities and talents in appropriate germane areas. Make it precisely clear how each person's background and business experience qualifies them for his place on the team. The duties and responsibilities if each member of management should be laid out is sufficient detail to avoid ambiguity and minimize overlapping assignments. Brief resumes are helpful.

In order to determine precisely who its competition is, a fledgling business will have to determine exactly what it is offering that makes it distinctive and stand out from among all others. Using Internet search engines for key word searches can be extremely informative. (Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista and Hotbot are examples.)

Understanding one's target customers is essential. It needs to be made clear in the business plan that you know and can describe your customer and target market. You need to know his or her likes, dislikes and expectations. Also you need to demonstrate that you have a product or service that they will purchase. Market research will be the basis for the information in this part of your business plan. And in this area one needs to consider not only the current market, but trends as well.

What is the benefit or your product or service? Will it make the customer happy or fill a need? Does is sound like fun or is it unique? These are some of the questions that need to be asked in this section of the business plan construction. Market research will be required in this section also in order to establish whether the target customer experience from start to finish can shed light on the applicability of the product or service. Demonstrable background knowledge of the product or service should be obvious.

The business plan is not complete without marketing plans. Here is a partial list of not to be overlooked avenues: trade shows, print articles, mailing list (postal & internet), newsletters, ads (print and Internet) and exchanging web site links. According to the Small Business Administration: "Advertising and promotions...Are the lifeline of a business and should be treated as such."

Regarding financial considerations the Small Business Administration has this to say: "To effectively manages your finances, plan a sound, realistic budget by determining the actual amount of money needed to open your business (start-up costs) and the amount needed to keep it open (operating costs). The first step to building a sound financial plan is to devise a start-up budget." In order to estimate sales, profits and costs look to trade associations, your local bank or the reference section of your local library.

Writing a business plan requires considerable time and effort. It is not for someone who want to jump-start a business. Very small business can be started without the formal written plan, but any business will benefit by at least mentally completing the above steps.

Copyright (c) 2007 Jennifer McGannon