The Unwritten Rule About Business Plans Ms. Bels Tuesday, August 27, 2013 The Receipt, Your Money and You One of the most important objectives when starting a business is creating a detail overview of what your doing. To do this, compile this information in a document known as a business plan. In the business plan, some components to include are: Overview/Introduction and Mission List of business owners Company contact info and address Ownership percentage breakout Marketing strategy Start up costs 3 to 5 year financial plan All of this information (and more) must be a part of your business plan. The reason for this is because this is the information that can potentially get people to invest in your company. Business plans are considered the blueprint of your business. It is an entire snapshot of your business compiled all into one document. Most banks and/or silent investors require you to submit a completed business plan as part of a loan request. Without this document, you will encounter pushbacks from potential investors and the banks. But, there is an unwritten rule when it comes to business plans. Rule: Never hand out your business plan to every investor or bank you come into contact with. The reason not to do this is that you can be weakening your ability to gain a monetary investment. The key is to keep the investors wanting to know more. If you give an investor your business plan to read over, he or she will have an opportunity to sum up what you’re venturing into and make a quick assumption about your business. The best thing to do is only give that investor a brief overview (or the Executive Summary section) of your plan. This will give the investor just the right amount of information he or she needs to decide whether your business is worth investing in .
