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By Andrew Pearce


A good business plan template contains two main parts. A narrative followed by a series of financial worksheets. The narrative part of the business plan template embodies all the details and the strategy of the business plan and is further divided and subdivided into various sections. It is highly recommended that you work on creating a business plan template in a systematic way to avoid missing out on the inclusion of important facts and points.

Components of a Business Plan There are many opinions about planning but all agree that there is a basic outline to follow. You will need to develop the outline to fit the requirements of your business but the basic steps are simple.An executive summary,An introduction of your product/service,A market analysis,An operations discussion,A return on investment analysis,Appendices

The purpose of creating the template is not to speed up the process of deriving the final business report but thinking about your business in an intelligent, smart and planning fashion. While going through the various facts and ideas, you gradually get involved in looking at ideas and business models in a more critical way. Though this process may initially appear to be a waste of time, the process of creating the template also has the power to prevent a poor decision that could prove to be a disaster in the long run, if not properly addressed upfront.

Running into challenges in any of these areas is no reason to quit. Consider a business that you're passionate about. If you're passionate, you'll have the energy to address the shortcomings in your plan. If you lose that passion in the planning stages, the process will have been successful. It will have given you the warnings you need.

Creating a template involves a significant amount of research, re-thinking and planning. Detailed notes regarding the sources of information and the underlying assumptions that support the financial data and information must be kept carefully for quick and easy reference as and when needed.

Return on Investment While evaluating return on investment is something you'll do on an almost daily basis as you develop and manage your business it's also a fundamental in your business planning process. In fact, everything you do in your planning process needs to be informed by this consideration. If you do not receive an adequate return on your investment - be it financial or time, you should not launch your business.

Conclusion Applying your business plan is one of the hardest things to do. Once the doors are open on your business, the business takes over. You're working in your business instead of on it. Congratulations - you've created a job. A living business plan will deliver you from that. Make your business plan valuable by keeping it alive. Revisit it on a quarterly basis. Use it in your sales planning. And most importantly, have it provide the touchstone for your annual meetings. This is how to make your business on purpose and proactive. Working on your business is more important than working in your business. It takes discipline, time and commitment.For discussions and resources related to development and management of your business visit The Small Business Resource Library. You'll find practical discussions of topics of interest to small business owners and those considering starting their own business.The discussion of each topic is supplemented by a collection of materials reviewed and evaluated for their real world value.




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