3 Modern Rules For Writing A Business Plan
Category: Business Planning
Tags: create a business plan, modern business plan, writing a business plan
Writing a business plan for your small business is one of the scariest, most daunting tasks that one has to do when thinking of starting up.
It is scary.
Writing a business plan is a lot of work. It requires a lot of research, time and a certain skill to put it all together.
A business plan is not something you brush away and forget. If you want to succeed with your small business, writing a business plan is definitely a must.
While not every business has a business plan, having one is never the wrong choice. But it is a must in many cases when starting up and needing financing/funding.
One of the main reasons why creating a business plan is scary is due to the misconceptions of what a business plan has to be.
- Make it 50 pages
- Really difficult to read
- Sound hard core professional
- Spent 6 months writing it
Sure, your business has to sound professional, has to be well put together and you do have to spend time on it, but nobody gives specifics as to what a business plan really should be.
What you hear about “the required sections” are not really required; they are simply sections that are commonly found in a business plan.
They are what everyone is used to.
But now we are in a new time where more and more people are starting up, creating business plans in different ways…
So what should you be doing?
3 Modern Rules For Writing A Business Plan
While you can’t really go wrong with a traditional business plan, more and more business owners are starting to realize that writing a business plan doesn’t have to take 6 months and dones’t have to be so difficultly.
As you write a business plan; you have to answer the critical questions that make up a business plan.
You have to write a business plan for the purpose of your plan.
Is it to act as a guide for your business? To help you secure financing/funding?
Whichever purposes your plan has; you format your business plan to answer the critical questions needed to be answered.
The 3 Modern Rules Include:
1. Keep the business plan short
2. Answer the critical questions
3. Visuals, visuals and visuals
Keep the Business Plan Short
In today day and age nobody has time to read a book (about your business idea), so don’t think you have to write a 50+ page business plan explaining who you are, what your business is all about and detailing it to a point where the reader of the plan just says “enough with this”.
Think about it like a movie. Most movies are a hour and a half – you have the odd ones that are 2 hours or more. Most people don’t want to watch a movie that is 2 hours or more (at least not in one sitting).
The best movies are the ones that start of slow, give you something to think about and end with all of the questions answered or with a bit of mystery at the end.
Just like the movies, the same logic applies here to writing a business plan.
Answer the Critical Questions
If your intentions for writing your business plan are lets say to apply for funding, certain questions are simply a must.
When writing your business plan, it is important to explain who you are, what problem you solve, how you solve that problem, what your product service is, what you need to make it happen (funding needs), how much money you need (funding needed) and a time frame as to when the funds are needed by.
Answering these type of questions will give you as the business owner a better idea of what your needs are, and at the same time it helps the reader of the business plan understand your business and your needs.
Visuals, visuals and visuals
People are distracted.
If you want to keep them on point and focused, you have to break away the distraction. This means, showing visuals.
Visuals don’t mean you have to go crazy and everything has to be a picture.
But what it does mean is that your business plan; you should have pictures, graphs, charts, website screenshots, product/service visuals and more.
A good way and a really modern way of writing a business plan is to go along with visuals.
Within your business plan, you can showcase your website as well and discuss your business. Since most businesses nowadays have an online presence, it’s important to visualize.
A PitchDeck presentation is another way to showcase your business to partners, potential investors and to funding agencies.
These are 3 modern ways to write your business plan and to ensure success with your business.
To get started with writing a business plan, consider using our Business Plan Builder Tool.
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