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What to include in a business plan

BYTRADEBYTRADE subscriber Posts: 63 Bronze Level Member
edited October 2011 in Business Planning
Mission Statement:
Then, a mission statement for the business should also be included. The mission statement is like the overall vision & objectives. These can vary in length, and some are shorter than others. It will also outline the sort of products & primary stakeholders the business has. As such, it is important to include a mission statement in a business plan.
Equipment & tools:
The equipment and tools required is also something worth noting on a business plan. Here, you can provide a bullet pointed list of equipment and tools that will be needed. For example, equipment may include things such as machine tools, IT hardware, software, and any other furnishings or tools.
Marketing considerations:
Marketing considerations is another thing that can be included on a business plan. This can be fairly broad, but more specifically a USP (unique selling point) is something that should be noted here. This will state something more unique about the business product. For example, consider M&M's "melts in your mouth, not in your hand," which is a USP for these sweets. Aside from the USP other more general marketing strategies can also be outlined in this section of the business plan.
Financial Forecast:
A financial forecast is also something that should be included within a business plan. A financial forecast will provide a financial projection for a period of a few months up to one year. More specially, financial forecasts are cash-flow forecasts which outline expected cash-flows in and out. This will have financial predictions for each month included within the cash-flow forecast.
SWOT analysis:
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & threats and SWOT analysis covers this in more detail. As such this can also be a good thing to include in a business plan.
Executive summary:
The executive summary is more a less a summary of all the key-points of the business plan which can be included at the end. As such, all the main highlights from the business plan should be included in this summary.

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    jonspakerjonspaker subscriber Posts: 0
    Thanks for the great tips before stating a business. I am currently visioning, what should i do and to get the knowledge about how to get stat up with small expense and grow enough. I am looking for kinda advice to start an online business.
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    StartUpCoachFLStartUpCoachFL subscriber Posts: 8
    Once again you have laid out very nicely a valuable tool. I all ways include making money as a mission statement. Many times Entrepeneurs lose focus on tasks and need their mission statement to include the most important person in their business...them
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