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Business Plan Kit For Dummies, Second Edition is the perfect guide to lead you through the ins and outs of constructing a great business plan.
It contains valuable advice for evaluating a new business idea, funding your business plan, and determining if your plan may need to be reworked. A bonus CD includes income and overhead worksheets, operation surveys, customer profiles, business plan components, and more. AMAZON.COM READER REVIEWSOne of the most amazing books... I was dreading the process of putting together a business plan, but this book with the accompanying disk make it an easy process!! "A real hands-on guide to putting together a business plan and then making it work." "The book is awesome and has really made me interested in strategic planning and decision making." "I'm from tech land and have never put together a business plan before. This book, and the forms are a nice gentle introduction to that process." "Whether you are building a business plan for your eyes only or for a project or a new corporation, this book is uniquely helpful in thinking things through...It is not difficult to understand. It is very appropriate." "I needed to prepare a Business Plan, and I needed to do it without spending a lifetime learning about it. This book helped me more then I thought possible. I only wish everything could be explained like this. I highly recommend it if a Business Plan is in your future..." |
BUSINESS PLANNING RESOURCESCONSIDER THIS FACT:Companies with written business plans had 50 percent greater sales growth and 12 percent higher gross profits than companies without plans, according to a Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership survey of Entrepreneur of the Year Award winners.
10 BENEFITS OF A BUSINESS PLAN
1. Clear statements of your business mission, vision, and the values that steer your business 2. A description of your business model, or how you make money 3. A description of your products and services and the unique advantages they provide in your marketplace 4. An analysis of your industry, target market, and competitors 5. An assessment of your business strengths and weaknesses 6. A roadmap and timetable for achieving your goals and objectives 7. A description of your marketing strategies 8. An analysis of your revenues, costs, and projected profits 9. Benchmarks that you'll use to track performance and make mid-course corrections 10. A business "resume" you can use when introducing your business to key employees, investors, and business partners When someone asks about your business model, what they're really talking is how you plan to make money. Click to read about business models and how to develop one for your business.
Your business plan needs to be grounded in reality, which means you need to know all the facts about the market your business serves, who will buy what you're selling, and whether your prospective market is growing, holding steady, or shrinking. This excerpt helps you get a handle on your market environment.
This excerpt lists nine red flags that indicate the need for business plan revisions, whether to to ward off threats or to seize upon new opportunities. If your business is experiencing change, click for advice on how to adjust your business plan accordingly.
Business Planning Tip: STEPS TO FOLLOW WHEN LAUNCHING A BUSINESSOne of the most frequent questions asked by people starting businesses has to do with timing: When should they open a business checking account, how should they run their businesses in the earliest days before they move into offices, and how can they be sure they get off on a solid footing. Here's advice from Chapter of Business Plans Kit for Dummies *Commit to doing one thing well. Don't try to be all things to all people. Know your vision, mission, and the unique value you intend to deliver to customers. If any of those terms sound foreign, click on "FAQs" in the menu above to reach explanations. * Establish pricing, billing, and collection policies. From the get-go, know what you'll charge and how you'll collect. And remember, being cheapest is rarely a formula for small business success. Your pricing needs to be an accurate reflection of the value of your offering, and high enough to cover your costs plus an adequate amount of profit to keep you in business. * Run your business like a business, not like an adjunct of your personal checkbook or a hobby that you do in your spare time. The day your business opens, be sure you have a business checking account to keep business expenses separate from personal expenses. And even before your business opens, keep track of start-up costs, which will be deductible as business expenses after your business is up and running * Designate a workspace even if it's in a corner of a room of your house. For advice about home offices, read Balancing work and life from a home office, an article I wrote for the Visa-sponsored BusinessBreakthrough program. |
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