Business Plans Handbook

Why is a business plan so vital to the health of your business?

A business plan is a written description of your business's future. That's all there is to it--a document that describes what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of a plan.
Business plans can help perform a number of tasks for those who write and read them. They're used by investment-seeking entrepreneurs to convey their vision to potential investors. They may also be used by firms that are trying to attract key employees, prospect for new business, deal with suppliers or simply to understand how to manage their companies better.

Starting a Business
1. Contemplating Your Great Idea
2. Would you enjoy you as the boss?
3. Financing Basics
4. Choosing the Structure
5. Is the Red Tape a Deal Breaker?
6. Communications in the 21st Century
7. Networks & Mentors

Creating financial projections is an important part of your startup’s business plan. If you’re seeking financing, financial projections help convince prospective lenders and investors that your business will be profitable by offering them a good return on their investment.

There are four steps in any total-market forecast:
1. Define the market.
2. Divide total industry demand into its main components.
3. Forecast the drivers of demand in each segment and project how they are likely to change.
4. Conduct sensitivity analyses to understand the most critical assumptions and to gauge risks to the baseline forecast.