Starting Your Business: Business Plan Basics

September 12, 2019 by izynadmin in Business

So you finally reached your “AH-HA moment” you figured it out, the universe is finally speaking to you. You see the vision of how you can be the next Jeff Bezos and build a new Amazon, or even better you figured out a solution to stop the people from burning down the Amazon in Brazil.

Whether it is a new restaurant or an e-commerce business run from your laptop. However, big or small the concept you should consider making a business plan if you plan to grow your business and have it thrive in the long term.

**At the end of this article we include a full outline of a business plan for you to follow.

Why Make a Business Plan?

Believe it or not, there are several uses and ways to leverage your business plan. It’s not just to organize your thoughts and plan for the future – though that is good. The main reason to make a business plan other than being smart, strategic and organized is simply to make more money. How? Well for one, no intelligent investor, venture capitalist, bank, or other organization will give you funding or a loan without a business plan – unless you are already obviously making tons of money. However, even if you are rolling in cash most professionals still will not trust you without a business plan. Making a full business plan will also force you as a business owner to consider multiple factors and make more realistic goals for the business.

Key Aspects of a Business Plan

Description of the Business – This is to describe what is the purpose of your business and what type of industry is it going to be in. You will also like to think about where you plan on locating your business. Also depending on how much capital you start with that can also determine how large it will be.

Market analysis– Here you want to analyze who your target market would be the more research that you can get on this the better. The research developed here can help you to figure out if your business will be profitable. You want to try to find what their value is, what are the patterns of that target market purchasing your product or service. It would also be good to look at the economic environment which will help you to find any sort of barriers your costumers could face.

Competition– When analyzing the competition you want to know who you will be competing with. You also want to keep in mind all the direct and indirect competition. For example, if you were starting a coffee shop your direct competition would be other coffee shops, and your indirect competition would be a Kuerig your potential client might have at home making the coffee for them.

Pricing & Product Mix– This is essentially calculating what you are going to sell and for how much. Keep in mind that you want to include the cost, and any overhead when you are making up a price. It will also be wise to keep in mind your competition’s prices you don’t want to be to overprice since this could lead to some of your target market going somewhere else.

Marketing Strategies – This is very important to think about in the sense that you want to figure out how you are going to reach out to your target market. We have all heard the old saying “if you build it, they will come” which is good, but that will only go so far. If you really want to get deeper into your marketing strategy you want to use some of the modern advantages we have with social media. There is a sea of people on social platforms waiting to be sold on what you’re selling.

Now, this could be a lot to take in all at once but at least for the marketing, there are businesses that have experts that can help you squeeze the most leads out of your social media. This will also allow you to put more of your time and effort into your business.

In fact, we are one such company that can help you optimize your marketing. Send us a message to learn more.

Use the business plan outline below to start making your own business plan:

Business Plan Outline

1. Executive Summary

Business concept
Current situation
Key success factors
Financial situation/needs
Vision statement
Milestones

2. Business Description

Product or service description
The positioning of products/services
Competitive evaluation of products/services
Future products/services
Reasons the business was started
Past performance or experience in the industry
Short and long term goals
Information about the key employees/owners
Legal formation of the company

3. Competitive Analysis

Industry overview
Nature of competition
Changes in the industry
Primary competitors
Competitive products/services
Opportunities
Threats and risks

4. Strategy

Key competitive capabilities
Key competitive weaknesses
Strategy
Implementing strategy

5. Market Analysis

The overall market
Changes in the market
Market segments
Target market and customers
Customer characteristics
Customer needs
Customer buying decisions

6. Marketing and Sales

Marketing strategy
Sales tactics
Advertising
Promotions/incentives
Publicity
Trade shows

7. Operations

Key personnel
Organizational structure
Human resources plan
Product/service delivery
Customer service/support
Facilities

8. Financials

Assumptions and comments
Starting balance sheet
Profit-and-loss projection
Cash flow projection
Balance sheet projection
Ratios and analyses

9. Exhibits

Resumes of key personnel
Examples of marketing pieces
Letter of recommendation or commendation
Copies of licenses or special permits

Brian Restrepo
COO & Co-founder
&
Izzy Nowick
CEO & Co-founder
www.matryxmedia.com
matryxxmedia@gmail.com