A Business Plan is a roadmap for managers. Whether for a new venture or an existing concern, a professional Business Plan can make all the difference between success and failure, between growth and stagnation.

A good Business Plan will provide insight and an actionable plan for every aspect of your business. It will address your product or service and specify how it adds value to the customer. It will define the target market including its characteristics and expected growth or decline. It will thoroughly evaluate the competition and predict their response to your actions.

At the heart of a Business Plan is strategy and at the heart of strategy, is financial performance. Thus the Business Plan will use market information to predict future profits and cash flows so that management may better understand the cost and requirements of debt and equity.

Once formalized, the Business Plan will strategically align information with cognition and thought with action, resulting in a smoothly operating enterprise geared towards growth and wealth generation.

While every Business Plan is distinct, custom designed for your product and market, a common outline could be as follows:

»   Executive Summary

»   Idea

»   Top Management Team

»   Market Research

»   Business Model

»   Corporate Strategy

»   Business Strategy

»   Functional Plans

· Marketing · Sales · Public Relations · Operations · Logistics · Human Resources · Technology · Procurement

»   Implementation and Rollout

»   Growth

»   Exit

»   Current Status

»   Financial Forecasts