Writing a business plan can be an overwhelming task. This is why entrepreneurs face major problems when they have to decide when and how they should start writing a business plan.
Normally, writing a business plan should go through the following preliminary stages:
1. Establishing the audience and the type of funding you need. When you start writing your business plan, you should know exactly who will be the target audience that reads it: is it for the internal use of the company or for potential investors? The end goal of a business plan is the one which determines the structure, the content and its length.
2. Determining the business plan structure. The structure of a business plan is the second most important element, once you’ve determined who your target audience is and this should be done before beginning the research and starting writing it.
3. Carrying out extensive research. Once you’ve found out what funding opportunities are out there for your business and what is best for your company, you need to start doing extensive research. In order to create a viable business plan you need to know as much as you can about the business, the market and the competition.
4. Organizing information. Gathering as much data as possible about your company and the way in which you intend to develop it just won’t cut it. You need to organize, filter, analyze and effectively exploit the gathered information. The best way to collect and organize gathered information after the research stage is to create separate folders for each separate business plan section.
Once you’ve gone through these stages, you can start writing your business plan in a clear, informed and organized manner.
