Business Plan Templates in Word for Free

How to write a business plan; what a business plan should include

If you are looking for investors to invest in your business idea, your business plan should provide details of how you are planning on developing your business, a timeline, who’s involved and how you will manage the finances.

The following items should definitely be part of your business plan:
– An executive summary – make sure your executive summary contains all elements of your business idea. Some investors will only read this part of the plan in order to make a decision whether to invest or not.
– Vision & mission – Who are you, what do you want to do with your idea, why and for who. Make sure your business goals and key / unique selling points are addressed in this section.
– Marketing & sales strategy – who are your customers, what does your market look like? Who are the competitors, are there any market trends? Make sure you have a good idea of who you will be serving with your product or service.
– Management team & personnel – doesn’t matter if it’s only you in the beginning, but make sure you write it down. And will you be hiring more people in the future? What kind of skills will you be looking for?
– Operations – will you be needing production facilities, what will those look like? Management information systems, IT systems, etc.
– Financial forecast – a very important section of your business plan! Have a very close look at the cash flow forecast, profit & loss accounts and the balance sheet. Make sure you will be able to dream these numbers as investors will ask you about it.