Thinking of starting a business or raising money to expand an existing one? This popular book will show you how to write the business plan and loan package necessary to finance your business and make it work.

With How to Write a Business Plan, you'll learn how to:

evaluate the profitability of your business idea

estimate operating expenses

prepare cash flow

create profit and loss forecasts

determine assets, liabilities and net worth

find potential sources of financing (up-to-date sources provided)

think first before borrowing from friends and relatives

present your plan to lenders and investors

How to Write a Business Plan now provides a CD-ROM with spreadsheets that help you determine and forecast cash flow, financial statements, sales revenue, and profit and loss. It also provides three sample business plans you can modify for your own use.

This edition is completely updated, providing all-new resources, both online and off.

The forms from the CD-Rom, are available under the Appendix and Chapters 5, 6 & 7 of the EBOOK.
*The CD-ROM is not included with the digital version of this book.

Benefits of Writing a Business Plan

A. What Is a Business Plan?

"Marry in haste, repent at leisure." (proverb)

"A stitch in time saves nine." (proverb)

A business plan is a written statement that describes and analyzes your business and gives detailed projections about its future. A business plan also covers the financial aspects of starting or expanding your business -- how much money you need and how you'll pay it back.

Writing a business plan is a lot of work. So why take the time to write one? The best answer is the wisdom gained by literally millions of business owners just like you. Almost without exception, each business owner with a plan is pleased she has one, and each owner without a plan wishes he had written one.

B. Why Write a Business Plan?

Here are some of the specific and immediate benefits you will derive from writing your business plan.

Helps You Get Money Most lenders or investors require a written business plan before they will consider your proposal seriously. Even some landlords require a sound business plan before they will lease you space. Before making a commitment to you, they want to see that you have thought through critical issues facing you as a business owner and that you really understand your business. They also want to make sure your business has a good chance of succeeding.

In my experience, about 35% to 40% of the people currently in business do not know how money flows through their business. Writing a business plan with this book teaches you where money comes from and where it goes. Is it any wonder that your backers want to see your plan before they consider your financial request?

There are as many potential lenders and investors as there are prospective business owners. If you have a thoroughly thought-out business and financial plan that demonstrates a good likelihood of success and you are persistent, you will find the money you need. Of course, it may take longer than you expect and require more work than you expect, but you will ultimately be successful if you believe in your business.

Helps You Decide to Proceed or Stop One major theme of the book may surprise you. It's as simple as it is important. You, as the prospective business owner, are the most important person you must convince of the soundness of your proposal. Therefore, much of the work you are asked to do here serves a dual purpose. It is designed to provide answers to all the questions that prospective lenders and investors will ask.

But it will also teach you how money flows through your business, what the strengths and weaknesses in your business concept are, and what your realistic chances of success are.

The detailed planning process described in this book is not infallible -- nothing is in a small business -- but it should help you uncover and correct flaws in your business concept. If this analysis demonstrates that your idea won't work, you'll be able to avoid starting or expanding your business. This is extremely important. It should go without saying that a great many businesspeople owe their ultimate success to an earlier decision not to start a business with built-in problems.

Lets You Improve Your Business Concept Writing a plan allows you to see how changing parts of the plan increases profits or accomplishes other goals. You can tinker with individual parts of your business with no cash outlay. If you're using a computer spreadsheet to make financial projections, you can try out different alternatives even more quickly.

 

Thinking of starting a business or raising money to expand an existing one? This popular book will show you how to write the business plan and loan package necessary to finance your business and make it work.

I How to Use This Book
1 Benefits of Writing a Business Plan
2 Do You Really Want to Own a Business?
3 Choosing the Right Business
4 Potential Sources of Money to Start or
5 Your Resume and Financial Statement
6 Your Profit and Loss Forecast
7 Your Cash Flow Forecast and Capital Spending Plan
8 Write Your Marketing and Personnel Plans
9 Editing and Finalizing Your Business Plan
10 Selling Your Business Plan
11 After You Open—Keeping on the Path to Success
12 Good Resources for Small Businesses
Appendixes
Index

"An essential book to help entrepreneurs..."

 

"A thorough self-help book that will lead you through the process. Examples and worksheets will help you present a convincing financial opportunity to banks and investors in a format they understand."

 

"This outstanding handbook presents a step-by-step guide to writing a professional, sound business plan."

 

"Anyone who starts or operates a small business without a business plan takes a needless risk of either failure or no growth. Here’s an easy-to-follow book that takes the reader step-by-step … to get the budding entrepreneur off to a successful business start-up."

 

Mike McKeever has a B.A. in Economics from Whittier College, a Master’s in Economics from the London (England) School of Economics and has done post-graduate work in financial analysis at the USC Business School. Mike has taught classes at numerous community colleges in entrepreneurship and small business management. Author of How to Write a Business Plan, he has published articles on entrepreneurship for Dow Jones publications, the Sloan Publications Business Journal and numerous newspapers and periodicals. Currently, Mike runs a company, Business Plan Workshop, in which his business plan book features prominently.

 

How to Write a Business Plan by Mike McKeever
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