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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
How to Prepare a Business Plan summary
Edward Blackwell
Your Guide to Creating an Excellent Strategy, Forecasting Your Finances and Producing a Persuasive Plan
17 mins
What is How to Prepare a Business Plan about?
How to Prepare a Business Plan (2017) explains how you can wow potential investors by making your business plan the best it can possibly be. Packed with insights into the world of entrepreneurship, these blinks give you immediately applicable advice to make your plan stand out from the crowd.
Table of Contents
How to Prepare a Business Plan
summarized in 6 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 6
A great business plan is a blend of several key ingredients.
Money doesn’t come easily. If you want to secure funding for your business, whether from a bank or a private investor, you’ll need to impress. That’s where your business plan comes in – a collection of pages with the power to set you and your ideas apart from the crowd. So just what ingredients go into the recipe for the perfect business plan?
Firstly, you’ll need to include an opening statement on what your business entails, the amount of money you want and what the funds are for. Make this brief – two sentences are enough.
Next, you’ll have to provide some insight into the market your business is aimed at. It’s a fact that most investors think business success relies on locating a sizeable market and selling to it. After all, you might have the best invention since Henry Ford’s automobile, but without any demand for your brainwave it’s still going to be a nonstarter. With that in mind, you should assume that this section will make the biggest impact on your audience.
After you’ve completed your opening statement and an analysis of your target market, you’re ready to give your reader some information about the person you know best: you. Make sure you include details of any relevant training or qualifications you have, as well as an overview of your previous achievements. Next, you’ll want to describe your product’s unique benefits for customers. Although you might have plenty you want to talk about in this part, it’s best to stick to accurate facts and precise figures.
In the final sections, you’ll need to tell the reader how you plan to establish your business and how you see it progressing over the long-term. As you get to work on this part of your plan, consider the following questions: How will I market my products or services? Who will manage the day-to-day running of my business? And where exactly will I carry out my work or produce my product? As you answer these questions, take care to make your plans sound concrete and sensible.
As well as explaining your start-up phase, it’s also important to address the longer-term prospects for your business. Potential investors need to know whether they are looking at a short-term venture or one that will keep being profitable for a long time. So ask yourself: Is this going to be a slow-growing business whose rewards will gradually accumulate, or will it burn fast and bright?
In the next blink, we’ll take a look at the financial information your business plan needs to set out.
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Who should read How to Prepare a Business Plan?
- Business owners hoping to attract funding
- Budding entrepreneurs looking for inspiration
- Anyone dreaming of a career change
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