The inception of a business does indeed begin with an idea. If you happen to be really good at making widgets, or helping people with some sort of service, creating a company that turns a hobby into an occupation is a very natural next step. At the beginning of creating a business, entrepreneurs have many ideas in what they picture their business will do. These ideas are the foundation of the business. These ideas are the business plan. As months and years go by, business owners lose sight on what their original ideas where for the business. Busy season happens, different avenues are investigated for the business, and in general, things change. By having a well written professional business plan, business owners can make sure that they stay connected with their original idea so as not to lose focus of their original goals. As the business progresses, it is fine to explore different ventures, however keeping grounded by the foundation of the original business plan is crucial to survival of the business. For example, Mr. Smith has decided that he wants to start a landscaping business. His original plans were to get customers through some door to door marketing and word of mouth. He wants his business to be able to maintain lawns for upscale neighborhoods in his city. As Mr. Smith moves forward with his business, he learns that he can make more money by working on redesigning front and back yards. So Mr. Smith gets involved with landscape design. Mr. Smith has not lost focus here because all of this was his original goal. Mr. Smith wants to be in the landscaping business. Now if Mr. Smith decides later on by one of his clients that he can make some side money by doing handyman repairs on homes such as fixing drywall patches, hanging ceiling fans, etc., then he has lost focus of his original idea. When this occurs, Mr. Smith's landscaping business suffers. When his bread and butter is being ignored, Mr. Smith will more than likely be overwhelmed and his clients will suffer the consequences. Mr. Smith needs to regain focus on what he set out to do and grow that business to be a success. Entrepreneurs that try to get involved in too many different ideas never are great at any of them. It is just like the old saying, I know a little bit about a lot of subjects but I don't know a lot about any one subject. Anyone like this would more than likely not be successful and any one thing.
To change gears a little bit and get back to the second reason of what a business plan is for is to simply raise capital for start up costs. If Mr. Smith went to a bank and told the business banker that he wanted to start a landscaping business and needed some money in order to purchase lawn mowers, shovels, rakes, etc., the banker would want to know all the details of how Mr. Smith is going to run his business. The banker is going to want to see Mr. Smith's business plan. Without this business plan, bankers will refuse to loan money for start up costs. Let me repeat...without a business plan, bankers will refuse to loan money for start up costs. This not only applies to bankers but also with other investors. Anyone willing to loan out money wants to make sure that their investment is secure and that there is no chance of losing the money that they loan to the business. Once again...without a business plan, bankers and investors will refuse to loan money for start up costs!
So what is a business plan? How do you write a business plan? Are there companies that write professional business plans? Are business plans expensive to purchase? Are business plans just templates or are they written specifically for my business? Ok...ok...so many questions. We'll get to those. Your first question was what is a business plan? A business plan is a detailed description of who are your officers of the company, how will they run the company, how much money is needed for start up, how do you plan to advertise, how much will advertising cost, who will you market to, how much money do you plan to make, how much will your cost of goods be, what is your competitive advantage, where will your business location(s) be, what will your expenses be, how will your business operate, what are your first 3 years projections of income, what exactly will start up costs be used for, a statement of cash flow, balance sheet, and pretty much anything and everything about your company to explain how it will run and how you expect it to be successful.
Writing a business plan is not an easy task if you have never written one before. There are different softwares that can be purchased to help guide you through writing your own business plan but these softwares are template based. When writing a business plan, you need to make sure you do not leave anything out so that the entire business operations and ideas are included. The best bet is to hire a company to write an individual, non-template based business plan that is very specific to your industry and to your business.
Profit and Las Vegas Bookkeeping has written numerous business plans for businesses of all types. If you are looking for a company that will give you the time and attention that you need in order to create the perfect business plan, call Profit and Las Vegas Bookkeeping at (702)405-9912. To learn more about the business formation services that Profit and Las Vegas Bookkeeping offers, visit us on the web at www.profitandlasvegas.com/formation. We are confident you will be happy with the service we provide.
Profit and Las Vegas Bookkeeping, LLC
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