Small Business Plan

How do you prepare a small business plan ?

When preparing a small business plan you need to describe your business, its products and services.

If you want other people to invest in your business or if you're writing your plan to focus your existing business activities, you must be able to clearly convey what your business does.

What are the Key Factors ?

This part of your plan sets out your vision for your new business, and includes who you are, what you do, what you have to offer and the market you want to address. It answers the question - is your idea viable?

1. Start with an overview of your business:

2. When you started or intend to start trading, and the progress you have made to date. 3. The type of business and the sector it is in.

4. Any relevant history
- for example, if you acquired the business, who owned it originally, and what did they achieve with it.

5. The current legal structure. 6. Your vision for the future.

7. Then describe your products, or services as simply as possible, defining:

what makes it different
what benefits it offers
why customers would buy it
how you plan to develop your products or services
whether you hold any patents, trademarks or design rights
the key features of your industry or sector

Remember that the person reading the plan may not understand your business and its products, services or processes as well as you do, so it's important to avoid jargon.

It's often a good idea to get someone who isn't involved in the business
- a friend or family member perhaps - to read this section of your plan. and make sure they can understand it.