The Business Plan Process
It all begins with research. Is there a market for your product or service? What is the competition? After research comes developing a strategy, calculating costs and revenues, drafting a plan, and finalizing a finished copy.
1. Do The Research
Use databases, articles and direct interviews with entrepreneurs and potential customers to do research on the industry as a whole, your niche market, your competitors, and operational costs. Keep detailed, organized, careful notes. Be very careful about citing sources, as you will be referencing them throughout the Business Plan.
2. Develop A Strategy
Use industry standard best practices as a jumping off point. This insures your strategy is solid, as it is tested in the field by others. But then you must develop further strategies that differ from the rest of the industry. This will set your company apart from the competition and create "barriers to entry" to help your business succeed. This will inform all sections of your Business Plan.
3. Do The Calculations
Add up all the costs of every activity your business will engage in. Include operational costs for the first-year, five-year and long-term projections. Then create revenue projections for the same time periods. Base your projections on the research you did, in light of the strategy you developed. Your projections must absolutely be realistic from square one, or the scent of naivete will make its way to investors, who will promptly drop your Business Plan in the wastepaper basket.