Business Plan
If you are looking to start a new business idea, developing
a business plan can help you turn your dreams and goals into
realities.
Regardless of what type of business or service you want to begin
providing, a solid business plan can help you to put your goals
into perspective and help you to understand what you will need to
do to make the money you want and what your new responsibilities
will be.
Brainstorming and Forming a Plan
To begin creating a business plan, sit down with a friend,
spouse or partner and have a serious discussion with them about
your ideas and goals. Talking with another person about your ideas
will help you to better formulate your plan.
As you talk with them, discuss different ideas about your new
business and take notes that you can later develop an actual
‘business plan’. Questions and information you could discuss
include:
What service will you provide?
If you have an idea of a service you want to provide, toss out
ideas about how you are going to go about it. You may even
have more than one business idea, and that’s okay. Explore these
ideas with them and you may be able to narrow them down to
one great idea you'd be good at with their help.
Do you have the skills to provide this service?
While you may have big dreams about starting your own business,
sometimes these ideas are not an option due to your level of
experience. What business could you do that will use your
abilities and skills? Maybe you want to learn something new, which
is okay too, but starting a business on something you are familiar
with will give you a leg up on success.
How much will you charge for your service?
Decide what you would like to charge for the service you want to
provide. Others can help you as well as internet research to find
out what others providing this service are charging and adjust
your original figure accordingly. Likewise, if you are setting
your standards too low, raise the rate a bit if you think it is
appropriate.
Are there any necessary supplies or start-up costs?
In some cases, the service you want to provide will require you to
have certain materials of your own that you may or may not be able
to afford. Decide what you think you may need and whether you
already have these materials. Will you need a loan for the
materials? How might you pay for these materials to get started?
All of these questions can help you to formulate a business plan.
Write a Plan of Action

Once
you
have taken your notes about your business idea, draft a document
that outlines all of the essential points including:
- Your service
- Charges
- Responsibilities
- Materials needed
- Marketing/Advertising
If you plan on borrowing money for materials, write up a payment
plan regarding how much you'll need to borrow and a payment
schedule that you set up together. Create a budget and how you
want to repay or reinvest in your business will help you down the
road.
Business Planning Resources
Download our
Business
Plan worksheets to get you started.
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