Business plan
How to create a business plan?
You have a great business idea, but nothing will happen if you don’t have a clear business plan to execute your idea. Here are the 9 crucial parts that a business plan must have.
Executive summary
To begin with, you should write a summary of your business description, business aim, and financial summary in this part. You can come back and write your executive summary after you have finished the whole business plan.
Business description
A business plan should clearly explain what the new product/ service is. Here you will talk about the feature of your produtc/ service.
Market analysis
Before starting a new business, one must do ressearch on the target market and its competitors. Here you will talk about your target market and show details about your main competitors. You should also include a detailed competitive analysis for your business and competitors. For example, write down the pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and target customers of your competitors.
Target customers
Without customers, there is no business. You should be clear about your target customer segment, understand their painpoints/ real needs, and provide a feasible solution for them. You should also explain why you expect your target customers to pay you for your product/ service.
Marketing & sales strategy
Every business needs marketing & sales strategy to make money. Here you can focus on how you are going to differentiate your business, turn people into paying customers, and get profits. For example, what is your unique selling point? How are you going to reach your target customers? You can also use the SWOT framework (Strength/ weakness/ opportunity/ threat) to analyse your business idea.
Operations & logistics
This part is about how to deliver your product/ service and earn money from your customers. Write down the process from production to delivery clearly.
Financial plan
First of all, you should be clear about your pricing strategy. Once you know your costs and pricing, you can start forecasting your costs and sales. You should also estimate the breakeven point and find out when will your business be profitable.
Back-up plan
It’s always good to have a back-up plan. Here you can write down what you can do if something unexpected happens, both in short and long term.