The Business Plan

What a business plan should consist of is often times dependent upon who you are talking to. Some say they want “short and to the point”, others say that the document needs to be comprehensive and thorough, while many successful entrepreneurs will say they started their business without ANYTHING on paper. Whomever you talk with, they will normally tell you that a business plan serves a couple of purposes….to serve as a ROADMAP for a business and to use to OBTAIN FUNDING.

My experience working with small business clients early in my professional career found that those successful entrepreneurs who had nothing on paper had EVERYTHING in their heads! There were instances where they needed to get it out of their head and on to paper, especially when then needed to pursue additional capital or were getting ready to sell the business. 

Attached is a comprehensive article which discusses how to prepare a “great” business plan (yes…it has some age on it but good historical perspective) as well as a link to the SBA Learning Center’s video on business plans. For Assignment 10, peruse this article,  the textbook chapter related to business plans, watch the video  link, and prepare a 3-4 page narrative which discusses the business planning process. In the narrative, integrate the content and comprehensively discuss the all elements of a business plan, discussing their importance (or lack of in your opinion), and why the business planning process is important. Conclude your narrative discussing why having the information “on paper” could help with entrepreneurial successes.

https://www.sba.gov/course/how-write-business-plan/