SIMPLE STEPS ON HOW TO WRITE AN EXCEPTIONAL BUSINESS PLAN

Lets begin by saying that a business or prospective business man or woman who does not have a business plan has already planned to fail in his or her business.  According to Estan Young in the business guide of 1993, he defined a business plan as; "A written representation of where a company is going, how it will get there and what it will look like once it arrives there." In order word, a business plan is a map or like a road map that shows a business man or woman where he or she may likely be in the nest four to five years time. Its like a Mirror that reflects how the business will look like, how it will run, who and who will run it, what the business stands for, the problem the business is solving in the society, how it will continue to solve the problem in the nearest future, what makes the business different from others of its kind, the capital and how it would be spent to achieve success for the business etc. Simply put, a business plan is a calculation of what the future of a business would look like using facts and figures. There are basically two types of business plans, they are:

1. ANNUAL OR PERIODIC BUSINESS PLAN: This type of business plan as the name implies, is prepared for the yearly projections of a business or a company. It usually states what the business needs to achieve, its objectives for the year. Business people normally prepares this type of business plan at the first month or before the first month of the year.

2. NON ANNUAL OR PERIODIC BUSINESS PLAN: This is usually the business plan for starters or those who have start up business ideas and for an already existing business or company that is looking at the possibility of expanding or investing into a new business. This type of business plan is prepared to cover a period of between 3-5 years.

CHARACTERISTICES OF AN EXCEPTIONAL BUSINESS PLAN

For your business plan to be exceptionally good and well written, it must have all of these features below. These features are what speaks out and sells out a business even while the owners of the business are not physically present to transact the business themselves. These features includes:

a. It must be well written down and base on facts on ground not fictions. The business world is a real world and not fictitious in nature. You have real life challanges to deal with, so everything you do should be base on fact not assumptions.

b. Thorough research concerning the business you are to venture into must be carried out through information gathering or data collection before you write your business plan. Get facts via research so that you can make informed decisions concerning your business.

c. Your business plan must be very clear and precise - straight to the points, (no need for big grammars in your business plan). Writing a business plan does not need your heavy grammer or stylist, well structured, well constructed queens english. All you need is clear, direct sentence that goes straight to the point.

d. A good business plan must also define the roles and responsibilities of every actor ( stakeholders) or intending actors in the business. The job everyone in the business is going to be doing must be well spelt out in clear terms while writing a business plan.

e. A good business plan must also include a time frame or a timeline in which certain goals concerning the business should be achieved. A specific time should be well stated when certain levels would be attained.

f. Every business plan must have a financial budget for the duration in which the plan will span. This should include cost, expenditure, revenue generation, miscellaneous, projected profit etc. A detailed financial budget should be well spelt out as a budget in your business plan to assuage any form of assumptions.

James Patrick

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