type="text/javascript"> Business Planning

It All Begins with an Idea...The overriding reason for anyone to think of establishing a business is - opportunity.

An opportunity to be your own boss, to provide a product or service, to implement your ideas, which can generate sufficient surplus.

To be successful - to stay in business - you need a combination of hard work, skill and perseverance.

Generally, people who start their own businesses can be grouped into two broad categories. The first group consists of people who know exactly what they want to do and are merely looking for the opportunity or resources to do it. These people may have already developed many of the skills necessary to succeed in their chosen field and are also likely to be familiar with industry customs and practices, which can help during the startup phase of a new business.

The second group consists of people who want to start their own business, but don't have any real definite ideas about what they'd like to do. They may have developed skills in the course of their employment or education, but may not be interested in opening a business in the same field of endeavour.

To start any business big or small, one needs to start with developing a Business Plan.

Business Plan

A business plan is a documented step by step guide which will guide an entrepreneur and help him/ her in translating his/ her ideas to a successful reality. A Business Plan is not just for a start up company but also for established businesses to navigate their future roadmap.

Start a business plan with describing your business and product or services. Write about the market you are targeting and the stage of development your company is in. If you get stuck up on a particular part of the plan, leave it for time being and come back later and finish it. You can't make a perfect first draft, so just get some thoughts down to start the process and you can always come back and change it or polish it up later. While making a business plan, keep the following points in mind :

Keep Target Audience in Your Mind

While writing your business plan, keep in mind the intended audience and why you are writing the plan. For example, if you are trying to get debt financing, emphasis should not be on the huge profit potential - but on the certainty that the debt can be repaid. If you are writing a plan to help you run the business better you may start with general background information on the company and the industry, and focus on the areas of your plan that are currently most important to you.

Strategy - Core of Your Business Plan

The first part of the business plan should be geared towards helping develop and support solid business strategy. The plan should explain the market, the industry, target customers and competitors. Write about customer needs and the benefits of the current products and services. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each competing firm and draw out the opportunities for your product or service in the marketplace. All of these steps largely aim to help you in creating a strategy for your business. The second half of the business plan should explain how to execute your selected business strategy. Your products and services, your marketing and operations should all closely tie in with your strategy. Have a strategy that will set the course for your business rather than having a smart-sounding strategy for your plan,

Think Competitively Throughout Your Business Plan

In the present competitive market, you would probably be facing some serious competition sooner or later no matter how unique your business idea is. You need to think competitively throughout your business plan. As an entrepreneur, you need to identify where you will do things in similar manner as your competitors, where you will do things differently, what will be your real strengths and real weaknesses, where will you create your niche. Focus your plan on being different than your competitors and compete with existing players less directly. Find a particular market niche to focus on. Think over the points, can you find a unique strategy? Can you position your products differently? Can you use different sales or marketing vehicles? Your business plan should be able to answer these questions.

Be Realistic With Your Business Plan

Lots of business plans sound good on paper, but don't work in the real world marketplace. It's difficult to attract people to a new product or service, just because it's better. People or companies have established buying patterns and are currently doing business with someone else. To do business with you, it takes more than attracting them to your business. You've got to steal your customers from someone else's business and create your own base of loyal customers. It is possible that your competitors may launch new products or services or cut their prices to counter your entry in the current market. For a new start up company it's easy to overestimate sales projections as it's easy to underestimate costs. There are always going to be some unseen expenditure, hefty amount of cost overruns, expensive problems and items that you simply overlooked. So forecast conservatively and try to have an extra cushion of cash tucked in reserve.

Tips on Creating Business Plans

People
In seeking fund from banks, venture capitalists or other outside investors, you will increase your chances of success if you get someone committed to your management team who at least has a recognizable name.

Alternately, you can include as exhibits to your plan any positive media clippings you can find, such as items from trade publications, about members of your management team. If you don't have any clippings, try contacting relevant publications to get media coverage-perhaps about your start-up business proposal.

Keep Your Business Plan Factual and Succinct
Try to keep the plan factual, don't use generalisations to describe the potential of your business. Don't put too much detail when creating plans. If a business plan is too long, the focus on what is really important might be lost.

Involve Everyone
Use expert opinion or key employees to create a business plan. Then work with them until you are satisfied. Have key people get together to get the plan in a synchronised fashion. The more input people have in creating the plan, the more responsibility they will feel towards it.

(Source : Government of India sources)