Starting a business? The need for a professional business plan

Most business plans are created in context of starting a business. But it is furthermore recommended to every entrepreneur to start for example a business expansion with a professional business plan or to use it for internal planning.

Starting a business? The need for a professional business plan

Starting a
business? The need for a professional business plan

Most business plans are created in context of starting a business. But it is furthermore recommended to every entrepreneur to start for example a business expansion with a professional business plan or to use it for internal planning.

Especially in the case of business start-ups there are innumerable uncertainty factors such as possible turnover, expected costs, market developments, competitive behaviour, etc. – these should be weighed up as realistic as possible in a business plan in order to be able to make a well-founded decision for or against starting a business.

Set up a
thriving and visionary business

Self-employment and founding a company is a dream for many employees and visionaries. To be flexible, to realise one’s ideas, to earn one’s own money and to enjoy success by oneself. These are tangible possibilities, but they also involve a lot of hard work and preparation. A lack of solid planning the most frequent reason for the failure of founders. Therefore it is essential to identify the potential and the unique selling proposition of a business idea in advance and afterwards describing it adequately within the framework of a business plan which is intended to convince investors and future business partners.

Why founders need to create a business plan

The business plan answers one key question: How to put a business idea into practice? A business plan is the central planning document for the steps into realising a business idea. The well-formulated executive summary of the business idea and the presentation of the future company development on the basis of well-founded figures give a good insight into the feasibility and above all the profitability of a project. Depending on the project regarding different objectives and addressees such as business angels, venture capital fonds or bank consultants, the business plan contents have often to be weighted differently.

This has to be taken into account when writing a
professional business plan

Particularly important in a business plan for a business start-up is the presentation of the business idea or the planned project. This should clearly show the special benefits for the customers of the business start-up – compared to possibly existing competitors. This special benefit can be of very different nature. Examples are new services of a product, special opening hours of a shop, larger product selection than the competition, ideal location, marketing advantage due to contacts to multipliers, special quality of services / products etc.

Through a profound market, competition and target group analysis, entrepreneurs can scan market situation accordingly, know what potential customers want and how to address them. The business plan thus allows to make a realistic assessment of the situation and make necessary adjustments.

Especially the financial planning provides the important commercial overview. A realistic sales planning and profitability forecast enables to assess whether the undertaking is economically profitable and whether the effort is worthwhile. The liquidity planning, which entrepreneurs always need to have in mind even after the start, secures the solvency of the company. With a solid planning upfront as well as on the run, a business plan helps to deal with all facets of a business model and discovers potentials and threats.

A good business plan should be suitable as a good guideline or timetable in the context of a business start-up as well as in the years thereafter. The business start-up plan provides the entrepreneur with an instrument for carrying out target/actual comparisons at regular intervals and, if necessary, initiating appropriate measures.

In addition to the advantages of his business idea, the business plan must also show why the founder of a new business is predestined to implement the envisaged business idea. The more specific the project is, the more important it is to prove the appropriate qualifications. Beside legal requirements (e.g. master craftsman’s certificate with a technical establishment) in particular the personal entrepreneur characteristics of the founder as well as the professional experience and – qualification should be represented in the chapter entrepreneur type.

In addition to the relevant content, form and appearance also play an important role. The visual appearance should reflect the entrepreneurs professionalism just as much as the content. Therefore a view simple rules apply, such as clear structure and outline, writing in short, simple and understandable sentences and trying to avoid too many technical terms and rely on verifiable facts.

After all the reader of a business plan needs to get a plausible impression of the business model, the realisation and it’s potential at a glance.

Professional support for a profound business plan

Defining a customised outline and elaborating the details of a professional business plan takes time and specific knowledge. Therefore several experts are offering professional support for entrepreneurs in drawing up business plans suitable for individual objectives. One established example with years of experience in creating convincing business plans is the Business Consulting Businessplan.org.

This article comes courtesy of [Businessplan.org
https://www.en.businessplan.org/],
the [professional business plan writing experts].

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