How a business plan helps you to avoid losses when starting a business?
This article is written by Ms. Vimi, Business Analyst, ATBC.
Your Business Plan is your business. It’s a roadmap that gives direction to your business. It documents your vision for the business and how you intend to achieve it. Running a business without a business plan is like sailing a ship without a rudder. A businessman or an entrepreneur whose focus is to build a successful business uses a well-drafted business plan that includes the right strategy and a logically connected business plan. A good business plan is a well-written presentation of facts. Now, what does a Business Plan include?
It mainly consists of 3 elements
-Description of the business model
-The marketing model
-The financial projections
The other elements include informative sections like
-The executive summary
– Business description
– Analysis of industry competition
– Build out a plan
– Operations plan
– The introduction of management
– Discussion of financials
– Projection of results
While planning a business, it is extremely essential to detail what problem the business intends to solve and how it aims to address these issues and why the business is best suited. However, there is no right or wrong way to write a business plan. The intent is that the plan meets your business needs.
Let’s now look into why you really need a business plan in place.
- Bring clarity on starting your venture and have conviction and seriousness about the business.
- Set milestones.
- Understand your competition.
- Understand your customer.
- Weigh the pros and cons and assess the feasibility of the venture.
- Eliminate any preconceived assumptions.
- Attract investors.
- Attract employees and the management team.
- Attract Partners
- To plot the course of action and focus efforts on it.
- Understand and estimate staffing requirements
- Document marketing plan
- To judge the success of your business by comparing the actual operational results with that of the business plan.
- Explore new opportunities – through brainstorming, interviewing, etc.
- Reduce the risk of the wrong opportunity
- Research and know your market.
- Brand positioning
In a nutshell, it states all the necessary ingredients needed for the execution of a business. Just as a great building can be built on a strong foundation, a well thought of and well-presented business plan is the foundation for a great business.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
The same applies to Business. Without a business plan, a business is most likely bound to fail.
According to a study, 78% of businesses fail not because of a lack of funding or enthusiasm, but mainly because they lack a well-defined business plan. So we know, how big losses can be avoided with a good business plan.
Having said this, do you wish to have a business plan for your business?
Now here’s an opportunity for getting a customized business plan with ATBC’s intervention. To know more …stay tuned…
