How to write a business project sample. How to build and create a business plan from scratch: step-by-step technology for creating, as well as examples of ready-made instructions for small businesses

If you could not find the necessary business plan with calculations, then the best solution would be to draw it up yourself. What are the stages of document preparation? What sections should it contain? How to write it in such a way as to interest investors? Read more in the article “Business.ru”.

Business plan, what is it?

BP is a management, financial and marketing strategy of a company, drawn up in the form of a document. Within its framework, all aspects of future activities are covered, possible risks are taken into account, the volume of investments in the development of the project and the approximate date of return of the invested funds are calculated.

Let’s take a closer look at what a business plan is and give as an example the business plan of two small businesses:

small coffee shop;
fitness club.

Functions of a business plan

The main requirement for creating a detailed business plan for an enterprise is the ability to demonstrate your idea of a future business clearly to those who will provide funds for its development (investors, banks, various funds, potential partners, etc.).

Business planning will help systematize and structure all information about the project. It will also allow you to set up the planned deployment of future infrastructure and help you correctly determine the time to invest money in its development. Most aspiring entrepreneurs have only a basic understanding of the functions of a business plan. All possible varieties are listed below.

Simple and clear wording in the text, without the possibility of other interpretations;
Try not to exceed 25 pages. The file must be arranged according to generally accepted standards;
The investor should receive complete information about the project after reading the business plan;
All your calculations and conclusions should be based on verifiable figures, research and facts;
Each section should be interconnected and should complement a comprehensive positive opinion about the project. Having familiarized himself, the investor must discern the future potential of the enterprise;
Try to remain flexible. If your business plan allows you to make changes, clarifications and additions, then your project is already better than its competitors;
Be sure to indicate methods for monitoring the future enterprise.

Creating a business plan yourself is not difficult if you think through the idea of a startup. Have you already looked through ready-made examples of business plans for small businesses and haven’t found a suitable one? We present a step-by-step algorithm that will allow you to develop it yourself. Each item of the BP will be described in detail below.

First of all, you need to determine the “negative” and “positive” sides of your business idea. There is no need to quit what you started if the negative aspects at first glance outweigh the positive ones. Every minus can become a growth point for a business.

The cornerstones of a successful business are a stable position in the market and the ability to compete in the chosen niche. The sales market will require a detailed analysis. If, after conducting the above research and calculating the initial financial indicators, you have not changed your mind about starting a business, you should start creating a business plan.

Sections of a business plan: 12 main points

The structure of a business plan, consisting of 12 mandatory sections, is widely used. The volume of each of them will depend on the specifics of the project; a small enterprise can do without some of them completely. But in general, the power supply should look exactly like this.

1.Cover page

This should include:

The name of the project and the company in which this project will be developed and launched. It is required to provide detailed contact information (contact number, legal address, etc.);
Full name of the head of the company;
The person or group responsible for creating the BP;
Date of creation of the BP;
It is possible to add the most significant project indicators to the title page.

2. Non-disclosure memorandum or NDA (non-disclosure agreement)

This important agreement will ensure that your unique business idea is protected and will prevent someone else from stealing your finished project. This file contains information about the requirement to keep confidential any information that was obtained while reading this document. Duplicating a business model in this form, copying documents and other facts of copyright infringement within the framework of this business plan will be prosecuted by law.

3. Brief summary

The order of this section of the business plan should not mislead you; you should begin filling out this part only at the end of writing it. This is a kind of excerpt from the entire document: briefly describe the main points related to financial indicators and your business idea.

Instructions on how to write a resume:

Describe your product or service;
Give a description of the target audience;
Indicate how many products will be sold/produced and what the company's total revenue will be within one calendar year after the launch;
The total volume of required investments and planned costs;
Organizational and legal aspects;
Data on the required labor force within the project;
Possibility and list of sources of subsidizing the project;
Indicate the time frame for reaching the break-even point and the payback period in general.

Important! The investor pays attention to this section first of all. Therefore, the fate of your business idea largely depends on your resume. In this case, you need to keep it to one page.

In this section you also need to write: total income for the year, total funds at the end of the year, profitability of the enterprise and net present value (NPV).

4. Project description

This section should reflect the main aspects that prompted you to believe in the presented business idea. The following clarifications will help:

The essence of the project (in simple words, without the possibility of erroneous interpretation)
What does the company need to do to achieve its goals?
Are there barriers to the success of your business model? If yes, how to overcome them?
What can you personally suggest (specific steps) to ensure that the company achieves profit in the shortest possible time? Indicate a specific period of time (3 months, six months, a year, 10 years, etc.).

Important! Be precise, concise, and provide only hard facts in your business plan. Try to keep it to 2 pages

It will be useful to clearly demonstrate the viability of your enterprise using a SWOT analysis (analysis of opportunities and risks). The main thing to remember is that you are analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of your business, not a product. Entrepreneurs often mistakenly do the opposite.

Example of a SWOT analysis for a coffee shop chain:

5. Description of the market niche

When drawing up a business plan, try to demonstrate the viability of your idea as part of a marketing study of the market situation.

The following numbers will help:

Sales volume of a similar product over a significant period of time (quarter, year, 5 years);
The overall growth rate of the niche you are applying for;
Specifics and trends of pricing policy;
Detailed information about competitors;
Identification of startups and small players, description of their advantages and disadvantages;
Characteristics of your buyer. What does he consider a familiar product? What does he want to buy? His financial capabilities;
The influence of external factors on the market (politics, society, science, economics);
Possible promising aspects of a niche in the chosen industry.

6. Detailed information about the project

In this section of the business plan, you need to reveal the essence of the project in more detail. The degree of readiness for launch and the availability of all the necessary resources for this should be mentioned.

Be sure to indicate in this chapter of the business plan:

Primary goals;
Detailed description of the target audience;
Important aspects (measurable) of success in the chosen market;
Detailed product description. It should be noted that its qualities should be higher than the average of its analogues;
Phased production of the product (for existing enterprises). Copyright information, availability of patents, certificates of conformity;
Description of the company;
General cost indicator with details of the time and volume of each tranche from the potential investor;
Primary costs for building marketing and management structures in the company.

7. Marketing strategy

Describe its essence, main performance indicators and tools for achieving the goals outlined in the business plan. It is required to indicate the responsibilities of each employee in the marketing department, as well as the timing and methods for achieving results. Calculate how much money you will need to invest in promoting your product or service.

What must be included in a marketing plan?

Market analysis.
Quantitative indicators of the release of future products and product line, product release schedule with time indicators and an indicator of the moment of 100% production load.
Product improvement in the process of enterprise development.
Description of pricing and external indicators of the product (packaging).
Information about the sales and procurement system.
Methods of promoting a product to the target audience.
Measurable indicators.
Service maintenance.
Measures to monitor the implementation of the marketing strategy.

Important! There are no strictly documented instructions for creating the ideal business plan. You can exclude, add or change items at your discretion

8. Production plan

Enter here all the information about the production of the product, taking into account seasonality. If you plan to sell finished products, you can omit this item when creating a business plan.

When creating a production facility from scratch, indicate the required production capacity, the specifics of the production process, and outsourced operations. In addition, you will need a complete list of equipment, its technical parameters and cost, as well as information about leasing purchases.

The production plan should also include:

Information about areas for the enterprise;
Required materials;
Output costs at each stage of the production cycle.

Important! Do not forget to indicate any factor that directly or indirectly affects the cost of the final product

9. Organizational plan

This section of the business plan reveals the features of hiring workers, managing and distributing responsibilities between them. This section should not be neglected, even when it comes to existing enterprises. It helps to understand whether the current organizational structure meets its intended goals.

This section specifies:

Legal and actual address of the enterprise/company;
Name of the organizational and legal form (joint stock company, LLC, individual entrepreneur, etc.);
Control circuit. It is important to reflect the relationship of each employee and department, as well as direct instructions for each unit of staff;
Information about the founders and co-founders;
Management composition (CEO, executive, finance, etc.);
Instructions for communicating with staff;
Supply issues for the administrative part of the enterprise.

10. Financial plan. What needs to be calculated?

A section of the business plan that describes all the financial nuances of the project. We need data on profitability, payback period, movements in the foreign exchange market (if the product is tied to imported raw materials), etc.

What data and calculations are required:

Tax calculation (what and how much you need to pay);
Composition of the enterprise's capital (loans, investments, issued shares, etc.);
Plan-report of income and expenses;
Cash flow in the form of a table (cashflow);
Enterprise balance sheet;
Payback period of the project.

In addition, it is advisable to calculate such indicators of the effectiveness of investments in a project as the investment return index (PI) and the internal rate of return (IRR) at several discount rates. PI is calculated using the formula: PI=(NPV+I) / I, where NPV is NPV for the last year, I is the initial investment.

The project is unprofitable if the index is less than or equal to one. For example, the amount of discounted flows for the year was 14 million rubles, the initial investment was 7 million. PI= (14,000,000 +7000,000) /7000,000 = 3. Low profitability. For every ruble invested, the discounted profit is 3 rubles.

IRR is the interest rate at which the value of all cash flows of the investment project is zero. That is, such a bet will allow you to recoup the initial investment, but without profit.

11. Risk management

In this section of the business plan, you need to examine the possible risks associated with the project. Factors that directly affect profit are especially important. You should pay attention to each of the possible risks (industry, social, financial and others). Do not forget to indicate the exact actions to reduce damage or prevent the impact of such risks on the functioning of the company.

To do this, you need to indicate: a detailed list of possible risks, tools and techniques for eliminating, eliminating and preventing possible problems, as well as modeling situations with zero growth of the enterprise and clear regulations for actions in such a situation. We can mention the low probability of such an outcome.

Choosing a niche and an idea to create your own business is half the battle. No one can guarantee the success of a future enterprise.

It is important to understand how to organize the process and spend start-up capital.

Carefully thought out and correctly composed " scenario» on the implementation of the idea allows not only get the business started faster, but also prevent potential errors leading to loss of funds.

With a plan, you will be able to assess the feasibility of your plans and immediate prospects. In addition, creating a business plan from scratch is mandatory in cases where lending is to be done.

Purpose and structure

A business plan is a road map of the future business, which reflects:

main aspects of operation;
possible problems;
risks of loss;
prospects;
anti-crisis measures.

The business plan must contain all aspects of the existence of the future company from the moment of creation to a state of stability when a transition to a new level is required. The description must be detailed and extremely simple without complex economic terminology, so that the document is understood by all interested parties (owner, employees, bankers, partners, investors).

Advice from the author! It would not be superfluous to enter into a memorandum (agreement) of confidentiality with those to whom the document is transferred for study. This step will protect the author of the written project from the theft of the idea and unauthorized use of the information contained in the business plan.

The detailed plan is 30-40 pages in length. The information is presented concisely, but informatively. The project includes 4 main blocks:

annotation– outlines the main concept (on half a page).
Summary– contains the main conclusions of the business plan and the results expected in the course of business.
Main part– the “body” of the project is signed.
Applications– graphic materials (diagrams, tables, graphs, resumes of managers) are displayed on them, allowing you to visually assess the prospects of your business.

You need to understand that a template plan for a specific idea may not be useful. Each type of activity has nuances, and the principles of its functioning may differ radically from other forms of business. Therefore, it is advisable to understand the structure of its writing. An analysis of the niche in which it is planned to implement the idea, competitors and features will have to be carried out by a potential businessman individually in each case, depending on the scale and scope of activity.

Compilation algorithm

By correctly drafting this important document, you will give the green light to your business. Let's consider the main components of a business plan:

Annotation. Essentially, this is an appeal to stakeholders, explaining what the project is, how and by whom it will be implemented. Describe the main idea briefly but interestingly.

Summary. Approach writing this part responsibly, because it is this part that all potential partners and investors, without exception, will read to the end. The resume determines whether the idea is interesting in principle. If the investor may ask to change any part of the business plan, then the project, the summary of which is not impressive, will be rejected at the first stage. The summary should reflect the rationale for the success of the idea, the expected results of the project and how to achieve them. To do this, specify:

objective of the project;
business maintenance;
financial needs (project budget);
target audience of consumers;
information about the demand for a product (service);
difference from analogues;
financial indicators of project success.

Important! It is worth noting that the resume is written based on the results of the business plan. Only by understanding the whole picture of the project will you be able to present a summary clearly and convincingly.

Goals and objectives

They provide a quantitative understanding of the project's results. The goal is what the project is being implemented for. Objectives are the effect that must be achieved. Analyze the business idea, its strengths and weaknesses, and the selected market segment so that it is clear who will benefit from the project.

Product or service

Explain this part in detail so that it is extremely clear what you are supposed to do. It is necessary to reflect: description of the product (service), uniqueness (advantages), possibilities of use, required personnel qualifications, technology, need for licensing (patent).

Market analysis

It will be necessary to collect and systematize information regarding: the composition of consumers, the state of the selected market segment and its prospects, and the capabilities of competitors. It is advisable to show the share that your product (service) occupies in the selected niche on a graph or diagram.

Marketing plan

This section aims to win over a potential investor. A carefully described strategy for promoting a product (service) will help to inspire trust.

Be sure to indicate what characteristics distinguish the idea from competitors, how this will help in its promotion, and how it will affect pricing.

Also describe all the ways to sell the product (service), advertising moves and sales promotion opportunities.

Production plan

This paragraph reveals the material component of the future business. Must contain information about: type and location of premises, involvement of subcontractors, necessary equipment, supplies, purchase of equipment (materials).

Management personnel

Indicate the personnel (management and ordinary employees) who will be involved in the implementation of the idea, as well as ways to motivate them (salary, compensation).

Required resources. Describe the amount of funds needed, timing and sources of raising them. In case of lending, indicate the terms and possibilities of repayment of funds, investment - the amount of monthly dividends. It is appropriate to display the project budget in the form of a table indicating salaries, direct and indirect costs of the project.
Financial plan. An important section that allows you to predict business development, as well as avoid unnecessary expenses. It is necessary to calculate: sales volumes, balance of assets and liabilities, profit and loss ratios, cash flow, payback of the project. This also includes an analysis of risks indicating ways to overcome them.

Applications

This section comes as a separate block. It contains statistical information, graphic materials, product design.

Important! All materials contained in the Appendix must be signed and numbered. Links to them are indicated directly from the text from the main part of the document. Applications usually take up to 10 pages.

Example of a business plan

Download an example of a business plan from scratch for solar energy:

More business plans:

Organization of a workshop for reinforced concrete products ();
Children's animation school ();
Construction of a telecommunication network ();
Brewery ();
Bakery ().

Benefits of Business Planning

When planning to open a mini-factory, shopping center or water park, it is advisable to entrust the development of a business plan from scratch to specialists. It is worth understanding that a business, the creation of which involves the injection of substantial investments, significantly increases risks.

Therefore, it is advisable to carefully study the market, competitors, calculate the budget, profitability, work patterns, and anti-crisis measures. All this can only be done by professionals. At the same time, it is quite possible to write this document yourself to implement a small idea without investments. This has its advantages.

Firstly, independent development of a plan will allow you to put together a holistic picture of the future business (weaknesses and strengths of the service (product), the amount of start-up capital, operational work plan, marketing strategy, the need to attract personnel and staffing).

When the smallest details are spelled out, it will become easier to understand whether the calculations are wrong. For example, attracting 20 thousand clients in the first year contradicts hiring 2 sales managers, setting them impossible tasks in advance.

In this case (if it is not possible to reduce the level of market entry), it would be appropriate to orient the business towards forming partnerships or cooperation with distributors.

Secondly, Having a self-written business plan in hand, an individual entrepreneur will be able to control success. Clear planning broken down by dates, fixed on paper, disciplines and allows you to impartially evaluate achievements. If the indicators indicated in the document are lower than those that were achieved in practice, this indicates the right choice of strategy.

Analyze due to what factors you were able to exceed your own expectations (seasonality, course jump, specialization). Continue to focus on this in the future. This way the company will generate even more income.

Failure to achieve the set goals should prompt an analysis of the reasons why this happened (overestimation of certain factors, problems with financing, improper organization of work, unforeseen circumstances).

Third, a business plan specifies the goals of the business owner. The wording “generating income” is unlikely to lead to success. If you state that you plan to sell 1 thousand units of product by the end of the year, then this is a specific goal, not a passive forecast.

The team's actions should be aimed at achieving it. The document contains goals for all points: income, sales volume, expense items, attracting clients, recruiting personnel. A goal formulated in quantitative terms becomes a task that predetermines an action plan.

Advice from the author! What is once done well is done forever. If the foundation of a business is built correctly and step by step, this significantly increases the chances of “surviving.” If necessary, the company can easily be repurposed or expanded.

Fourth, a good plan helps attract talented employees. Business prospects are an effective motivation for staff. When goals and their implementation schedule fixed on paper, company employees it becomes clear how to get to the maximum in achieving results.

Many beginning entrepreneurs, when implementing a certain entrepreneurial idea, ignore drawing up a plan, considering it just a tool for obtaining loans or investments. This opinion is wrong. A business plan is intended not so much for finding funds to open your own business, but for its successful step-by-step implementation and competent management.

Business plan: sample and purpose of the document + reasons for drafting + 5 stages of creation + features of writing for investors and for personal purposes + structure + 15 tips + 7 illustrative examples.

Any actions must be planned and displayed on paper. This is especially true for entrepreneurship. Without business planning, i.e. detailed optimization of resources and determination of further tasks, even an experienced entrepreneur will not be able to achieve his goals.

That's why it's so important to have on hand sample business plan and compose it correctly. This material will help you with this.

Why and who needs a business plan?

There are several definitions of a business plan on the Internet.

Here are the most common ones:

Those. A business plan is a document that describes in detail the ways of its implementation. Thanks to it, you can thoroughly justify your project, evaluate the effectiveness of decisions made from all sides, and understand the feasibility of financing a particular activity.

The business plan shows:

business development prospects;
volumes of the sales market, potential consumers;
profitability of the project;
upcoming costs for the production and sale of products, supplying them to the market, etc.

A business development plan is a tool that evaluates the final results of activities for a specific period of time. It can be used to attract investors and is necessary in creating a business concept and company strategy.

Drawing up a business plan is one of the important, responsible stages of planning. It is developed both for those enterprises that produce goods and for those whose specialization is the provision of services.

Before writing a business plan, specialists or the owner of the company determine the tasks and means for their implementation. The developed document can attract lenders to implement ideas. For this reason, it is impossible to exaggerate its importance.

Purpose of the business development plan:

analysis of aspects of entrepreneurship;
competent management of finances and operations;
justification for the need to receive investments (bank loans, equity participation of companies in the project, budget allocations, etc.);
taking into account the financial capabilities and threats (risks) of the enterprise;
choosing the optimal direction of development.

Entrepreneurs write business plans for the following reasons:

Features of drawing up a plan for personal purposes and creditors

It is important to see the difference between a business plan, which is written for internal use, and a “front door” document, so to speak, to be transferred to creditors.

1. Create a plan for personal goals.

If you intend to use the sample business plan and write it for yourself, please note that it will be in the form of a practical guide to further actions.

In this case, the business development plan should answer the following questions:

What activities are you (will you be) involved in?
What product/service does your company offer to the market?
Who are the consumers, clients?
What goals should you achieve?
What means are needed to achieve the goals?
Who is responsible for completing certain tasks?
How long does it take to complete it?
What capital investments will be required?
What results should the actions lead to?

You need to understand that when drawing up a working document, you need to reflect the real state of things in order to know in which direction to move, what to do, what to strive for.

2. Document for investors.

When developing a business plan to present to creditors/investors, the methodology is different. The person or organization that will finance your enterprise should receive a document detailing the situation and main objectives.

You must convince investors that their money will be used rationally and indicate the benefits for them. A business plan must be drawn up logically, every action must be justified.

If you have doubts in any area, study it more carefully, because lenders will likely have “uncomfortable” questions regarding the program you outline. And the amount of initial investment to open/develop your own business will depend on how you answer them.

Confidence in delivery is also of particular importance. It’s good if you can display statistics in a business plan, citing the example of another company. This will increase your chances of receiving investment.

When writing a business plan, you should adhere to a business style and follow the structure.

Sample business plan: structure

Regardless of the purpose for which you draw up a plan, working with it takes place in 5 stages:

As a business creator, you will have no problem making up the first two points. But what should be the proper structure of a business plan?

Let's look at the main sections, what information they contain and how to compose them correctly.

No. 1. Title page.

It acts as a calling card for itself. It indicates: the name of your company, contact information, address information, phone numbers of the founders.

In addition, the title must contain the contents of the entire document (chapter - page number). When writing your title, be brief and present information concisely.

The total volume of the business plan is about 30-35 pages, including applications.

*Business plan (sample title page)

No. 2. Introductory part of a sample business development plan.

It takes up approximately 2 A4 sheets. The introduction describes the main aspects of your business, its essence, and what advantages it has.

It is necessary to write down why the product/service is attractive to buyers and what the expected profit is. If you intend to raise funds for your business, the introductory part indicates the amount of capital you need.

Typically, the introduction is devoted to the following points of the plan:

The introductory part is compiled last, because it describes the overall picture of the company's activities.
You can fully portray it only after studying all the nuances of the case.

You can study a sample of this and other parts of the plan at the end of this material - examples of this document for the main areas of business are collected there.

No. 3. The main part of a business plan.

The main section concerns the type of activity and all its key points, the cost of the project.

It consists of subsections:

production;
financial;
marketing;
organizational;
calculating business efficiency;
risks.

We will look at them separately.

At the end it follows final part. In it you need to summarize the work done and give a clear definition of the tasks.

Subsections of the main part of business plans

No. 1. Development of the production subsection of the business plan.

The main section of the document is the most capacious. Its subsections describe each aspect of your business.

For example, industrial shows what equipment will be used, what premises you have, how much money you will need to purchase and start a business.

This plan is also designed to help you calculate production capacity and determine the likely prospects for growth in production volumes.

In addition, it contains information on the full supply of raw materials, components, and covers issues about the need for labor, temporary and fixed costs of the business.

To ensure that the production subsection of the plan has a clear structure and contains all the necessary information, indicate:

How streamlined is the production process, are there innovative solutions;
methods of supplying resources, the degree of development of the transport system;
a complete description of the technologies and why they were chosen;
Do you need to buy/rent premises to run a business;
composition of the required personnel and all data about them, labor costs;
possible maximum volume of output;
information about suppliers, subcontractors of the business;
the cost of each product;
estimate mentioning current expenses, etc.

No. 2. Development of the financial subsection of the plan.

Financial plan summarizes all the presented data with economic indicators for the business, i.e. in cost terms.

This includes business reports:

Balance sheet plan (confirming the company’s ability to timely pay its monetary obligations).

About financial results, profits and losses.

It highlights the sources of profit, how losses occurred, provides an assessment of changes in business income/expenses that occurred during the reporting period, etc.

About the movement of money.

This report allows you to see operating results, long-term creditworthiness, and short-term liquidity.

The financial subsection of a business plan is also characterized by the presence of:

schedules of future financial activities,
descriptions of likely investments.

Carefully consider the possibility of investing, whether it will be profitable, and the target orientation of the investment. Write how you will return the funds raised into the business.

Try to ensure that the financial part of your business plan includes:

No. 3. Development of the marketing subsection of a business plan.

The marketing subsection concerns the analysis of the market for the products manufactured by your company. You must indicate in the plan the size, dynamics and trends of the market, its segments, and conditions.

In addition, the subsection informs about who the consumers of the business’s products are and what product promotion strategy will be used.

Here, consumption volumes are calculated, the estimated share occupied in the market, the levers used to influence demand (advertising campaign, pricing, product improvement, etc.), and business competitiveness are described.

It is necessary to evaluate your product from the consumer’s perspective, why it is attractive, what its consumer value is, whether it is safe to use, and its service life.

When drawing up a marketing plan, rely on the following points:

To draw up a marketing plan, information is taken from the external environment, relevant research and surveys are conducted, and professional marketers are hired to study the market situation.

No. 4. Development of an organizational subsection of the plan.

In terms of doing business, organizational issues are considered no less important. Therefore, in this subsection you are required to describe all the steps that will be taken to implement the project.

For example, as shown in the example in the picture:

It is better to present the information in the plan in tabular form so that the sequence of your actions is clearly visible. It would not hurt to mention the regulatory and legislative acts that regulate the selected industry.

In organizational terms, it is worth describing the management side, the responsibilities of all employees, the system of subordination and incentives (remuneration), and describing the internal regime of the company.

Remember that you need to follow the structure as in the example:

No. 5. How to calculate the effectiveness and probable risks?

In the penultimate sections, you need to give an objective assessment of the company’s performance, show the expected prospects based on the estimate, balance sheet, profitability threshold, and planned sales volume.

The business plan developer must write the payback period, NPV (net present value).

The best option would be to arrange this in a table, as in the example below:

Business risks should also be taken into account. Be sure to indicate in the plan what measures you will take to minimize them if they arise, and what self-insurance program you will resort to.

Experienced business plan authors pay special attention to risks, and consider the likelihood of the worst outcome. Making notes on how to resolve perceived difficulties will make your future work easier. If losses and financial losses occur, you will already know how to compensate for them.

When this section of the business plan causes difficulties, turn to experts for help.

A SWOT analysis of a business is often used for this purpose:

This is a method of identifying external/internal factors that influence business development.

Thanks to it you will be able to appreciate:

your weaknesses (for example, the need to rent a building, lack of brand recognition),
advantages (low price, high service, professional staff),
indicate opportunities (these may include the availability of funds for introducing innovations, the use of modern equipment, coverage of a larger market segment, etc.).

And, ultimately, threats that you cannot cancel occur are considered, for example:

economic crisis,
deterioration of the demographic situation,
increase in customs duties,
growing political tension,
tough competition, etc.

If you provide a clear and justified algorithm for solving risks in the document, this is guaranteed to attract partners and creditors for your business.

15 tips for beginners to competently draw up a business plan

very painstaking and complex. In the process of compiling it, many questions will arise. For this reason, most beginners make mistakes.

To avoid them and make your business plan worthwhile, follow these recommendations:

Before you start writing, it is better to look at more than one example of a business plan.

It’s easy to find illustrative examples on the Internet, and perhaps they will even relate to your line of business.

There is no need to “pour water”, thinking that the document is supposed to be voluminous.

A business plan should contain only important, realistic information that is interesting to investors and useful to you in running your business (as in the samples below).

Errors, corrections, and typos are strictly prohibited.
The business plan should reflect the possibility of your enterprise reaching a higher level and the strengths of the management team.
When developing a business plan, one cannot underestimate competition and possible difficulties.
If the information you want to display is sensitive, you should skip it.

Do not complete the document hastily.

Such a plan will not have the desired effect on creditors. If you are composing it for yourself, all the same, it should not look like a draft version.

Use more tables, graphs (as in the samples below).

Providing statistics in this way makes the material more visual.

Market analysis is often inaccurate.

Therefore, approach the marketing section responsibly and collect all the necessary data.

Be sure to include competitive and distinctive characteristics in your business plan.

Throw out too abstruse expressions from your business plan, as well as those that are understood ambiguously and demonstrate your insolvency.

For example, “a product that has no analogues”, “at the stage of consideration”, “ease of sale”, etc.

Take into account absolutely all business expenses.

Lenders consider this column particularly important. Therefore, they may have a lot of questions for you on such items as staff salaries, taxes, purchase of raw materials, etc.

Don't ignore risk considerations.

As mentioned, this will protect you from problems encountered on the way to achieving your goals, and will also allow investors to see you as a serious, responsible entrepreneur.

In your business plan, focus not on the first profit or big earnings, but on a stable cash flow.

Don't forget to include time limits.

Any task has a deadline (a quarter, a year, several years).

If you are not sure that you can complete a business plan on your own, even using the samples below, do not waste money on a specialist.

He understands this issue more than you, so he will draw up the document accurately, without technical, methodological and conceptual mistakes that you may make without proper experience.

A detailed outline of a high-quality business plan with explanations

you will find in this video:

Ready-made business plans (samples) for different areas of activity

The pharmaceutical business does not lose its relevance, because the need for medicines does not disappear. Moreover, most of the family budget, as a rule, goes to medicines.

Because of this, opening a pharmacy is a very profitable business.

Therefore, it makes sense to take a closer look at the example of drawing up such a business plan in this sample:.

If you want to enter a different field, consider opening a cafe.

There are quite a lot of similar establishments and the competition is great. However, the demand for them is growing. If you take into account all the aspects of the arrangement and offer healthy food, you will definitely be successful.

To draw up a document correctly, check out the sample cafe business plan!

The male half of the population may be interested in the idea of organizing a car service center.

The owner of a service station will not be left without income if the repair and maintenance of vehicles is outlined in detail with all the ensuing factors in the business plan.

Women will find it more pleasant to open a beauty salon.

We assure you that, regardless of the number of existing establishments providing cosmetic services, your “enterprise” in the beauty industry will be in demand. This is due to the fact that every client wants the salon to be nearby and not have to travel to another block.

Representatives of the fair half of humanity can delve into trading activities and create a flower shop. The main advantage of the idea is the small start-up capital.

This small business also requires planning. And although flower shops are not exactly popular in Russia, who knows, maybe you will change that.

To do this, you need to draw up a well-thought-out business plan (a sample of which you can study at this link).

Hotel business is a much more complex option, which involves taking into account many factors, especially marketing ones.

If you don’t know what size room you need or what investments are required, get the information you need in a standard sample:
business plan for a hotel.

The process of implementing a farming project is no less labor-intensive. But in this case, you will have the opportunity to receive financial support and benefits from the state.

A good sample plan that can attract public investors, clearly demonstrates the goals, .

The implementation of any idea begins with drawing up a business plan. Without it, it is impossible to determine the necessary tasks and understand the feasibility of investments and costs. Many businessmen needlessly ignore this fact and do not use this useful tool.

If you have no experience in writing, any sample business plan given here will help you understand all the drafting standards, thanks to which you can easily set yourself a guideline for further actions.

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15Jul

Why I decided to write this article

Because many who ask me questions ask something that at first you shouldn’t even bother about. There are even questions that a person may never face at all. In general, “Woe from Wit” occurs in the minds of many novice entrepreneurs, and we will “eliminate” this grief in this article. At least I'll try my best. Now let’s talk about mistakes, and then I’ll give you a step-by-step plan as I see it.

Some errors and their solutions

1. Break-even point not calculated

Many people start a business without even calculating how much they need to sell in what period in order to break even. This is important because many business models are cut off at this stage.

Calculating the break-even point is simple. You calculate how many expenses you incur per month and then calculate how much you need to sell goods or provide services per month to recoup these expenses. If the figure is too large and seems unrealistic to you, then it is better not to take on such a business. If you think that you can sell the right amount of goods to cover expenses or start covering expenses in a few months, then you can think about this business further.

Conclusion 1: Until you have a complete financial picture of the business in your head, you cannot borrow money or even use your savings.

2. Everything must be perfect

When starting your business, you want everything to be correct and beautiful: the most modern equipment is purchased, the most functional website is created, the office is renovated, etc.

Striving for better is useful, but there is one “BUT” - before spending money, check the functionality of your business model. When planning to make an expensive website design, first make sure that your services or products are in demand at all.

Or, if you are opening a cafe, before making expensive renovations, try to start selling in the premises you have with minimal investment. If sales continue and the location in a given area of the city generates at least some profit, then you can expand or do some major renovations.

Conclusion 2: Don't invest significant amounts of money until you are sure that people need the product itself. And there is no need to bring everything to perfection, thereby delaying the start. Start with what you have and gradually develop and improve.

3. Lack of understanding of your future business or simply no love

I personally think that a business should at least be liked. For example, I love every business project I have, and if I didn’t love them, they wouldn’t be profitable.

Some aspiring entrepreneurs write to me with questions like “What to sell”, “What services are profitable to provide”, “What business is profitable to start”, etc. I answer everyone: “Open your own bank.” And no one likes my answer, although it answers all these questions. Every entrepreneur has a different life situation, different interests and different knowledge. If one likes to sell toys, and the other likes to sell men's suits, then they will not be able to switch businesses and be as successful. This is because they don’t understand the model itself and simply don’t feel interested.

Conclusion 3: You can't build a business on an idea just because you just know it's profitable and have no interest in it. Business needs to be understood, loved and “in the know.” For example, I would not be able to open a massage parlor and lead the business to success. Not because I don’t have enough money, but because I don’t know anything about this business.

Where to start your business - 10 steps from scratch

To begin with, I want to say that below I will give 2 plans on how to start your business: complete and simplified. Let's start with the complete one.

Step 1. Business idea

Of course, to start a business, you need to know what exactly to start. I have always said, I say and will continue to say that an entrepreneur must have an idea. If you can’t even come up with an idea, then what kind of business are we talking about? You don't have to be an innovator and come up with something unimaginable. You can take an already working idea, look around, find shortcomings in it, or simply improve it the way YOU see it, and it will be a different business. It is easier to enter an established market than to form it yourself. And the idea doesn’t have to be global; you can start a micro-business or.

In order to come up with or find a business idea, read the following articles and after reading you will 100% decide on the idea:

After reading the articles and coming up with ideas, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2. Market analysis

After choosing a business idea, you need to analyze the market, find out whether people need your product at all. Assess the competition, identify the positive and negative sides of competitors, find in yourself what will distinguish you from your competitors. Compare prices, quality of service, assortment (if this is a commodity business) and look as much as possible for what you can be better at. It is necessary. Why? Read!

Once you have assessed supply and demand and realized that you can compete with existing companies, you can move on.

Step 3. Business planning

Step 5. Register your business

This step cannot be skipped because the business must be registered. You can use LLC or individual entrepreneur. It all depends on your activity. The following articles will help you with this:

Once your business is registered, you can move on to the next step.

Step 6. Taxes and reporting

I indicated this step right away, because you must initially decide which tax system you will work under. This must be done immediately, because the amount of taxes and methods of payment depend on this. To do this, read the following articles:

And also read other articles in the section, because there you will always find up-to-date and complete information about maintaining tax and accounting records. You can also ask your question and get an answer from a specialist.

Step 7: Quickly test your idea

Some will say that you can test without registering a business. And you're right! This is possible, but it was not for nothing that I wrote at the very beginning that there will be 2 options for the development of events and in the second I will talk about it. Now let's move on to the testing itself.

What you initially need is quick testing - “testing in combat”. Use your own money to test the idea, give minimal advertising, make the smallest possible product and try to sell it. Study the demand in practice, so to speak. You have to look at your plan, evaluate what you minimally need to get started, and start right away. Why is this being done? At the very beginning, I wrote about one of the mistakes of beginning entrepreneurs, which is delaying the start, constant improvements, etc. There is no need to bring it to perfection, you need to start as quickly as possible in order to test the idea in action, get the first sales and be inspired to continue development.

If the start does not give the first sales, then you need to reconsider the plan, idea and look for mistakes. A quick start is also done so that in case of failure you will spend less time, effort and money. Would you agree that it would be more annoying to prepare for a year and then fail? It’s less offensive to realize your mistakes right away, while you still have little time to do. This way you can make adjustments along the way and everything will start to work out!

To test your idea and your business, it can help you. It is more for testing an idea on the Internet, but it is also suitable for the real sector (offline).

Step 8. Business development

After the tests have been carried out, the plan has been adjusted and sales have slowly begun, you can develop your business and refine everything that you wrote in the plan to perfection. Now you can improve the site, increase warehouses or offices, expand staff, etc. When your idea and business model have shown their effectiveness, it is easier for you to set more global goals. Moreover, you have already received the first money from your first orders or sales and can reinvest it in development.

If there is not enough money, then you can already resort to loans and borrowings, because the business brings in money and you can borrow for its development with a clear conscience. If you don’t need a lot of money, then even a credit card may be suitable. In I told you how you can use credit card money for your business without interest.

Step 9. Active promotion

This step could be classified as development, but I took it separately. Once you have wider warehouses, more powerful equipment and website, more employees, etc., you need to provide all this with work. This requires aggressive advertising to the maximum. You should take advantage of many advertising opportunities. Look for clients on the Internet, do offline advertising, engage in direct sales, etc. The more advertising tools you use, the better the result. But be sure to record the results and weed out ineffective advertising tools so as not to waste your budgets.

Step 10: Scaling

Your business is working well, bringing in money, you are constantly developing, everything is great! But there are also related directions or neighboring cities. If your business model is successful in your city, then you can open representative offices in other cities. If there is no desire or opportunity to go to neighboring cities, then you can simply capture an adjacent direction, if there is one at all.

For example, if you sell household appliances, you can simultaneously open a repair service and provide paid repair services. If your client’s equipment cannot be repaired, you can always offer him to buy something from your store in exchange. In general, look at your business and I am sure that you will find something to latch on to.

What else can you pay attention to?

When starting a business, there are several parameters that allow you to evaluate how effective your business is at the start; take them seriously:

If your business's net income is above zero, excluding equipment costs and taxes, then your business will survive because it generates some money. If it is below zero, it means your business is burning money and will not have enough loans and investments;

If you have planned sales for 200,000, but sell for 50,000, then this is a reason to seriously adjust your work and, possibly, the plan itself;

You should be comfortable. Business is hard. If you are also constantly having a hard time, then coping with business tasks will be difficult. Give yourself enough comfort that you don't feel left out by running your own business.

How to start and open your own business using a simplified scheme

As promised, I’ll give you a simplified diagram of how to start your own business. Because I have already described all the points above, so I will refer to them here so as not to repeat myself.

I myself have used this scheme more than once, because before I launched very small projects in which a lot could be missed. So the diagram looks like this:

Idea (it should always be there);
Easy planning, you don’t have to write it down, but put the main points on a piece of notebook. This is done in order to draw a model;
A quick test of an idea. Perhaps even without investing and finding money. Or you will need very little money and it will simply be in your savings;
Development and active promotion. After the first orders are received, you can begin active promotion and bring everything to fruition;
Business registration and scaling.

As you can see, I missed registration at the very end, because some business projects can be implemented without registration, because during the test you don’t get so much money that you immediately have to run to report to the tax office for it. But if the business model has shown its efficiency and after active promotion the profits are growing, then the registration should be instant.

But even in the first stages you cannot do without registration if you need retail space, an office or work with companies under contracts, because for this you need at least an individual entrepreneur.

Conclusion

In this article, I told you where to start your business, talked about the mistakes that beginners often make and that I made, and now you know what you need to do before starting your business. Read my website, subscribe to it, and try to start doing your own thing. We will not leave anyone on the site without help. Thank you for your attention!

Best regards, Schmidt Nikolay

A business plan is what helps an entrepreneur navigate the market environment and see goals. Many successful people note that an idea must be written down on paper, otherwise it will never be realized. Therefore, a business plan is necessary for running a successful business. How to write a business plan yourself: a sample and step-by-step instructions are contained in our new publication!

A business plan is a program according to which a company operates. It is necessary in order to competently coordinate the actions of the organization and see the directions of its development.

A business plan can be called a kind of rehearsal. The entrepreneur plays out various scenarios during which he can see problems and find ways to solve them. In this case, the person does not lose money, as would happen in a real situation.

Business plan objectives

Formulate the goals of the organization (both short-term and long-term)
Set project deadlines
Determine the target audience and markets for products
Analyze the competitiveness of the organization
Determine the company's advantages
Assess the level of costs
Develop an action plan aimed at increasing the economic efficiency of the organization
Predict the amount of profit and the level of profitability of the business.

General scheme for developing a business plan and feasibility study.

What's included in a business plan?

1. Title page and contents

Here the company's imprint and contact details of the founders, as well as the contents of the document, should be indicated.

2. Summary (introduction)

This part is a summary of the entire business plan. The most important thing should be here, i.e. justification of the relevance of the business and the financial part.

The resume should not be approximately two pages long. Although it is located at the very beginning, its compilation should begin at the end. You need to approach this responsibly, because this is the part that the investor studies.

3. Company history

If you already have an existing organization, then you need to talk about the history of its origins and its successes.

4. Market opportunities

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis of the enterprise, i.e. identify its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

7. Business model

This is a financial plan. Here you need to describe all sources of income and costs. You also need to indicate your suppliers and main buyers.

A cafe business plan: an example with calculations and step-by-step instructions for creating your own cafe from scratch can be found

8. Forecast

In this section you need to create a financial forecast. It is necessary to write about the amount of profit and payback period of the project.

The entire business plan should be 30-40 pages.

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for a small business

Let's look at some sections of a business plan using an example

SWOT Analysis Matrix

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for small businesses.