The Ten Elements of A Winning Business Plan
1. A well-researched business idea which includes information on what products and services you intend to offer, who your target customers are, details of your competitors and a general assessment of the market you are proposing to work in.
2. A clear idea of how much it’s going to cost you to start your business.
3. A clear idea of how long it is going to take your business to become fully operational.
4. A personal survival plan detailing how you will survive during the initial period when your business is not actually earning you money, but costing you.
5. A contingency plan for what to do in the event that something unforeseen happens to either your business or you.
6. Details of how you intend to fund your business and, if you intend to borrow money, the plan should include details of those who you are hoping to borrow this money from together with anticipated repayment periods.
7. Profit and loss forecast where you work out how much your business is going to cost to run versus how much you’re going to achieve through sales.
8. Cash flow forecast. Essential for every business because you work out how quickly and often you will receive cash into your business versus how much you will have to spend to continue trading.
9. Operational details for your business, which will include:
a. details of where your business will be based, including any additional business premises that you may need to rent (for example additional storage space for
stock etc);
b. information on how many staff (if any) you will need to hire, where you
intend to get these staff from and how much you’re intending to pay them.
(You should never rely on the goodwill of friends and relatives who offer to work for you for nothing. This is wholly unrealistic and if your business relies on others supplying their labour free of charge then you should be asking yourself if your business is really viable.)
10. SWOT analysis – what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing your business?
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