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Jackson Small Business Support Center
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Business Plans for Small Businesses
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A Business Plan is a key part of Small Business Profitability and Sustained Success. When writing a Business Plan it is very easy to get buried in the details and lose focus on the things that are really important.
Very simply, a business plan is a written description of your business's future. It should be designed to convey what is important to your investors, your bankers, your vendors, your employees and to yourself. An effective small business plan conveys your business goals and strategies that you will use to meet these goals - in terms that are important to the reader of the business plan.
An effective small business plan has three essential parts;
- The narrative that describes your business structure, products and services and your targeted customer base. Including:
Mission Statement - reasons why your business is important to customers -
Vision Statement - what your business plans to become in the future
Why your business will succeed Why your business will operate
- The marketplace which describes your customers (who, where and why) as well as your competition and industry profile. Including:
Your target markets and why customers will buy form you Your marketing and sales approaches Summarized Market Research
- The financials which contain your income and expenses and assets and liabilities as well as your required funding and sources for that funding. This section includes:
Income and expense projections (P & L) Sources and uses of funds Balance Sheet (Assets & Liabilities) Assumptions to support the financials
Though you may have lots of information and research material the business plan itself should be only twelve to fifteen pages long with an Appendix containing key support material such as relevant research, personal backgrounds, and demographic information.
Your Business Plan should be tailored to support your Marketing Plan (marketplace) and to attain your sustained profitability (financials).
We have developed and implemented hundreds of strategic and tactical small business plans for our own use and for client businesses. We can prepare your business plan, or preferably, we can work with you as an active participant to develop your Small Business Plan which will truly be your plan.
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