| The very first business plan I ever wrote was | | | | descriptive adjectives. I wanted to grab the reader's |
| praised by the Small Business Development Center | | | | attention and see why I was so excited about this |
| counselors and loan officers and immediately | | | | business. I especially took great care to write the |
| accepted and forwarded to the local SBA | | | | Executive Summary as a brief, but stimulating and |
| representative for approval. And no, I didn't use | | | | provocative attention grabber. (It is extremely |
| canned software.When I realized a business plan | | | | important to hook the reader from the get go so |
| would be needed for my small business startup I | | | | they continue on with the rest of the plan.)The |
| scoured the Internet and read books and was so | | | | financial statements were just as easy to tackle. The |
| intimidated by all the required financial reports I put it | | | | first thing to do was the assumptions. To do that I |
| aside for two years. But I knew a business plan was | | | | simply took the selling price of my service (or |
| going to be a necessity if I was going to get serious | | | | product) and determined how much I would make in |
| about my business idea.It took me only three weeks | | | | sales per day, week, month and year. That basic |
| from beginning to end and was about 15 pages long. | | | | information was the basis for the remaining financial |
| And it contained every single required report. How did | | | | reports.For example, the Cash Flow Statement is |
| I do it? I scoured the Internet for information. I did | | | | simply a detailed "budget". You take your monthly |
| searches on business plans and compared several | | | | sales assumptions and add any other incoming "cash" |
| outlines against what was recommended at the | | | | (loan dollars for example) and subtract your |
| SBA's (Small Business Administration) web site. What | | | | expenses. Carry over any extra (or loss) to the next |
| I quickly discovered was that there was one | | | | month until you have populated the statement for 12 |
| generally acceptable format that contained very | | | | months. Voila! Another section completed.Three |
| specific essay and financial reports.At first glance it | | | | weeks from start to finish.When it was completed I |
| looked so daunting. But I was so tired of the | | | | took it to the local SBDC office (usually housed in |
| corporate grind and I wanted so much to have my | | | | community colleges) for their review and advice. |
| own business that I pressed forward. I took it one | | | | They were floored that I had completed it myself |
| step at a time.One of the required items was the | | | | without software. And better yet, they loved it so |
| business description. Within that section was to be a | | | | much they said it was good to go. They suggested |
| description of the competition. Easy. The reason I | | | | local banks that were favorable to start ups and off |
| knew my idea was a winner was because there was | | | | I went.The loan officer was equally as impressed. She |
| very little competition in the immediate and | | | | said that she normally did a quick glance and rarely |
| surrounding area. I simply did a short write up | | | | read entire plans, but was so captivated by the |
| describing those businesses and added a quick | | | | opening Executive Summary that she asked me to |
| comparison showing how my idea differed from and | | | | wait while she finished reading. She immediately |
| improved upon those existing businesses.That wasn't | | | | agreed to forward it to the SBA representative for |
| so hard. Maybe I can do this. With newfound | | | | approval. That was an exciting moment indeed!Why |
| confidence I forged ahead to the next section. | | | | didn't I just use a template or ask the SBDC or |
| Marketing. More specifically defining my target | | | | SCORE folks to do it for me? Because it was my |
| market. Who was my customer? I was going after | | | | baby. I was going to ask for funding from a bank |
| the wedding industry's customer base. So I hopped | | | | and I felt that I needed to be aware of every |
| on the Internet and went to the census bureau's site | | | | minute detail of the plan. This way I could, with full |
| and did a search for marriage statistics in my state. | | | | confidence, defend the data should questions arise. I |
| From that I was able to determine how many people | | | | also reasoned that if I couldn't get this one item |
| had gotten married in recent years. I wrote a few | | | | taken care of, then maybe I had no business being in |
| paragraphs about that info.Two sections down with | | | | business for myself.Don't let this one item keep you |
| just a few more to go. It wasn't such an | | | | from realizing your dream. You can do it too!Sylvia |
| insurmountable task after all! I realized the essay | | | | Talo has authored the step-by-step manual, "You Can |
| portions could be written in such a way that I was | | | | Write Your Own Successful Business Plan", now |
| able to summarize my information into a few concise | | | | featured in the One Stop Business Start Up Kit. Visit |
| paragraphs for each section.The secret to the essay | | | | her web site a one stop site to help you start your |
| portions was to use an exciting voice with very | | | | own small business. |