In this post you will be learning everything about creating a business plan and as a special bonus, we will be adding some interesting business plan examples.

Making a business plan is particularly important if you wish to achieve any measure of success with your business. In absence of a strong and carefully created business plan, it is impossible to attain and retain success in business. Before we deal with the question of how to make a business plan, let us first try and understand what exactly we mean by a business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is the written version of the future of your business. It is essentially a document that has a record of what you plan to do and how do you plan to do it. The document typically includes the following information:

Products/services you are going to sell/manufacture

Business structure

Business vision about how you are going to sell

Funding that you would need

Financial projections and related information

However, this is not the only information, it may need to include many such other details depending on your unique nature of business.

Questions you must ask before you deal with the bigger question of how to write up a business plan:

Why are we starting a business/Why are we expanding the business and are we ready for it?

How is our company different from the rest? How can we set ourselves apart from the competitors?

What are the solutions we are providing? How are we offering it?

Who are we? (You should be able to introduce your management teams, any key people, and advisors)

Who are your target customers/target businesses?

What needs to happen to break even?

How can we make a profit? How long is it going to take us?

Now, this is only a generic list of questions and you would have to add in a bunch of questions that are related to your particular business niche.

How to write a business plan?

Now it’s time to address the big question – how to create a business plan. A business plan can serve as your roadmap. This roadmap will guide you and other stakeholders in growing the business and will help you show your investors and potential partners where you and your business are headed.

Like I said before, a business can never attain and retain success without a carefully written business plan. However, it’s not necessarily rocket science. As long as you make sure that you are including all the essential information in your business plan, you should be fine.

So, roll up your sleeves and start learning how you can write a great business plan.