Business planning doesn’t sound glamorous, but to us at Comprehensive Consulting Solutions for Small Business, a Business Plan is a necessity. A business plan is the road map for the business and includes specifics about the company, goals, strategies, tactics, and more. It details how the business operates, where it wants to be, and how it will get there. A completed business plans is a working document that should be reviewed and updated on a quarterly basis – or at least annually. It is never a final document – always a work in progress. Uncontrollables do occur in the external and internal environment of small businesses, so adjustments may be needed to a certain strategy, tactics, or target end-user (customer). A business plan outlines the specifics of potential obstacles and how to overcome those. Some can’t be predicted, but the steps of how to handle obstacles, no matter what they are, should be established.
We have listed a few resources for building business plans below, but first let’s break down a couple of the sections within a business plan:
Company Description:
This section includes basics about the company – such as when was it started, where it is located and what areas it serves, why was it started, who started it, how is it setup (LLC, S Corp, etc), what are the ownership percentages, where did capitalization (funding) come from, what the business does, and what is the mission, vision, and values of the small business.
