Business Planning Basics

June 12, 2013 Written by

Business planning is critical at all stages of a business, from startup through maturity. It is critical because it forces the business owner to actually ‘think’ about their business and priotitize what they feel is important for success. Some top items to think about when preparing a business plan are as follows:

1. Vision. Where do you see your company heading? What do you want to achieve?

2. Market. Who are your target customers and what are your key competitiors?

3. Advantage. What can buyers hope to get from you that they can’t get from your competitors. In other words, what is your competitive advantage in the marketplace?

4. Strategies. How are you going to market to, attract , and retain customers.

5. Goals/Resources. Going back to #1, what are your top 3 goals for the company and what will you need in terms of resources (money, staff, assets, etc) to get there.

6. Environment. Are there any regulatory issues/trends that you need to consider?

7. Qualifications. Does your company have the experience and expertise to accomplish your goals?

8. Logistics. What are the processes your company must perform to get the job done and are they documented so as to be repeatable? This seems obvious but many times key steps are not well documented.

Obviously, this list is not all inclusive and is simplistic but it is a start towards getting a business plan underway. We can help with preparing your business plan, just give us a call.

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Written by: Doug Rodrigues