1. Elements of a Sound Business Plan

2. It is axiomatic that good planning produces good results. The business plan is where you validate your business concept and set in place your plan for success. The purposes of a business plan are to:  Provide an opportunity to validate the feasibility of the concept by answering a series of structured questions about the viability of the concept. These questions include:  Will the concept work within the market of competing products / services,  · Who are the target customers for the product/service  · Will the revenue justify the time and expense involved in executing the business plan  · Present the opportunity to potential investors  · Provide guidance to the participants for the execution of the business model.

3. In completing the business plan, we prove to ourselves that the business will fly, and that confidence will fuel our perseverance though the inevitable twists and turns. Typical elements of a business plan include the following: 1.Executive Summary 2.Vision and Mission Statements 3.The Market Opportunity 4.Market and Competitive analysis 5.Marketing Strategy 6.Key Resources 7.Barriers and Risks (Include results from the Risk Management Unit: What Could Go Wrong) 8.. The Financial Plan In completing the business plan, we prove to ourselves that the business will fly, and that confidence will fuel our perseverance though the inevitable twists and turns. Typical elements of a business plan include the following: 1.Executive Summary 2.Vision and Mission Statements 3.The Market Opportunity 4.Market and Competitive analysis 5.Marketing Strategy 6.Key Resources 7.Barriers and Risks (Include results from the Risk Management Unit: What Could Go Wrong) 8.The Financial Plan Elements of A Business Plan

4. Part 1: The Executive Summary  The purpose of the executive summary is to piqué the interest of the investor to motivate them to continue reading.  It should be clear and compelling, leaving no glaring holes which would cause the investor to pass on the proposal.  View this as a short writing project, but write this after the whole plan is written; keep it to one or two pages. You can cut and paste portions of the business plan you have already written, but keep it short, concise, and compelling.  In the summary, you should emphasize:  The concept  The market and intended customer  The value proposition  The qualifications of the principles  The ROI (Return on Investment ·

5. The vision statement is a concise picture of where you want the organization to be at some time in the future; at the organization's maturity. It represents a picture of the best possible "dream" result. Sample Vision Statement: TAB will be considered the best coffee hangout in Springfield, as measured by public opinion and market share in less than three years. Part 2: The Vision and Mission Statements The mission is the statement of the organization's purpose for being: their reason for living, their contribution to the world. Sample Mission Statement: "TAB will wake the people of Springfield each morning with liquid joy and a sweet disposition." It represents the short version of plan for realizing the vision statement and will drive the creation of operational objectives; your project plan to achieve your vision.

6. The point of this statement is to convince investors that your plan is credible; that it has a reasonable chance to succeed. Keep the section clear, concise, and compelling. Part 3: The Market Analysis This is a short statement which illuminates the opportunity that the enterprise will exploit. It could be a weakness in the competitive landscape, untapped market potential, or the offering of innovative products or service Identify the geographic scope of the business (local area, city, region, online, etc.) and the principle competition. Clearly state how your business will fit into the ecosystem of businesses in the market "space."

7. This is a key section of your plan. The generally used guide for this section is known as the "Marketing Mix," or sometimes the "Four P's." There are different versions of this mnemonic, but you might try: Product, Positioning, Pricing, and Promotion. Place is often one of the P's, but we are assuming this is a single site and/or online business. You can, of course, modify the lesson to meet the needs of your project. Part 4: Marketing Strategy Product Descriptions and Development Roadmap. List each of your main products and their key qualities. If you plan to introduce new products, lay out these over a time is a product "road map." It is valuable to lay this out in the form of a graphic organizer (search product road map on Google images for ideas). Positioning. Positioning defines the place your company will take in the competitive ecosystem: are you going to be the low cost provider to grab market share, provide blend of price and value, high end quality and service? Describe and detail your approach to quality and service appropriate to your position. Pricing. What are the prices of your products? You might represent these along side of your competitor's pricing on a chart or in a spreadsheet. Make it clear that your products are priced consistent with how you are positioning your business (low cost, high end, etc.) Promotion. How will you get your name out there? What is your plan for establishing your brand and communicating your value propositions? This could be a mix of appearances, speeches, stunts, promotions, and your advertising plan. Be specific and lay this out on a time line timed to your product road map.

8. Part 6: Key Resources List each of the organization's key personnel and their qualifications, keep each entry to one paragraph. Identify any other strategic assets you may have, including intellectual property, regulatory advantages, exclusive arrangements etc.; anything that might give you critical advantage.

9. All enterprises carry inherent barriers to success and risks of failure. Serious consideration needs to be given to these, and soberly addresses. There are two primary reasons for this: 1)To be honest with yourselves about your own prospects for success, and 2) To be honest with your investors. They understand that there are risks. They want to know that you know what they are and have plans to mitigate these risks. The last conversation you want to have is explaining to an investor why a previously unidentified risk has popped up and caused you grief. Part 7: Barriers and Risks (Include results from the Risk Management Unit: What Could Go Wrong)

10. This is a series of financial spreadsheets which defines the flow of cash into and out of your company. Revenue inflows includes your initial investments, loans, and sales from the operation of the business. Expense outflows include repayment of loans, expenses of operating the business, and the returns for investors. The important part of the financial portion of the plan is to reality check whether or not you have : 1)accounted for all of the inflows and outflows, and 2) will be able to turn a profit. Be realistic, you can't make up losing money by increasing volume and 3) if you have to raise your prices past the point of value to your customers, you won't have any. A good plan will have linked spreadsheets which will allow you to model key variables that will flow through the entire workbook. For example, build your workbook so that by changing the volume of sales or the sales prices, the changes will flow through to the pro forma profit and loss statement. This "dashboard" of key plan inputs will allow you to model the impact of changes on the overall profitability of the business. Typical elements of the financial plan are: Source and Uses of Cash. Where will you initial start-up capital come from and how will it be used? Sales Forecast. This projects how many of which products are sold over time. Pro Forma Profit and Loss. This is the projected budget for your business. ROI, or Return on Investment. This tells investors when and how much return they will make on their investment. By the way, they will hold you to it, so make it real. Part 8:The