A business plan is what helps an entrepreneur navigate the market environment and see goals. Many successful people note that an idea must be written down on paper, otherwise it will never be realized. Therefore, a business plan is necessary for running a successful business. How to write a business plan yourself: a sample and step-by-step instructions are contained in our new publication!

A business plan is a program according to which a company operates. It is necessary in order to competently coordinate the actions of the organization and see the directions of its development.

A business plan can be called a kind of rehearsal. The entrepreneur plays out various scenarios during which he can see problems and find ways to solve them. In this case, the person does not lose money, as would happen in a real situation.

Business plan objectives

• Formulate the goals of the organization (both short-term and long-term)
• Set project deadlines
• Determine the target audience and markets for products
• Analyze the competitiveness of the organization
• Determine the company's advantages
• Assess the level of costs
• Develop an action plan aimed at increasing the economic efficiency of the organization
• Predict the amount of profit and the level of profitability of the business.

What's included in a business plan?

1. Title page and contents

Here the company's imprint and contact details of the founders, as well as the contents of the document, should be indicated.

2. Summary (introduction)

This part is a summary of the entire business plan. The most important thing should be here, i.e. justification of the relevance of the business and the financial part.

The resume should not be approximately two pages long. Although it is located at the very beginning, its compilation should begin at the end. You need to approach this responsibly, because this is the part that the investor studies.

3. Company history

If you already have an existing organization, then you need to talk about the history of its origins and its successes.

4. Market opportunities

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis of the enterprise, i.e. identify its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

7. Business model

This is a financial plan. Here you need to describe all sources of income and costs. You also need to indicate your suppliers and main buyers.

A cafe business plan: an example with calculations and step-by-step instructions for creating your own cafe from scratch can be found

8. Forecast

In this section you need to create a financial forecast. It is necessary to write about the amount of profit and payback period of the project.

The entire business plan should be 30-40 pages.

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for a small business

Let's look at some sections of a business plan using an example

SWOT Analysis Matrix

It is an analytical document in which all the pros and cons of doing business, additional operations and everything that lays the foundation of entrepreneurship are clearly calculated. A business plan helps throughout the entire period of the organization’s activities. It describes the main objectives of the company, problems that may arise and methods for solving them.

For example, you decide to start your own business, but your finances cannot afford it. Then a business plan comes to your aid.

Proper planning will open up the possibility of attracting investors or creditors, which will help solve your financial problems.

In the process of drawing it up, you will study the economic structure of the company in more detail, calculate all the financial aspects and decide for yourself whether you can manage the project.

That is, creating a business plan from scratch is first of all necessary within the organization: to analyze the company's performance. Secondly, he necessary for strategy consideration for the safety of investors' investments.

What will help in compilation?

When drawing up a business plan, it is not necessary to have an analytical mind. If you decide to open your own business, then you will probably understand all the specifics of the process. What is important here is knowledge about the needs of the target audience (the demand of potential clients), financial costs, possible losses and ways to increase the profitability of the company.

If you are experiencing difficulties in the initial stages of planning, we recommend that you contact a highly qualified organization that provides business project writing services. Together with you there will develop a business form of the requested document.

Main points and sections

Different projects differ in the scope of content and company activities.

Main points there must be goals and description of the company, in order to show interest to the company's financial assistants.

Main sections for drawing up a business plan:

• summary (main topic of the project, author's summary);
• the main goals and objectives of the organization;
• general presentation of the company (product description, location and other functions);
• relevance and development analysis;
• consumer market research;
• competitiveness;
• sales policy and planned marketing;
• internal company targets: personnel, finance, organization, etc.

We invite you to download several examples of business plans:

What calculations are coming?

To carry out a clear organization of the enterprise, there will be a system of payments within the company:

• cash calculation;
• forecasting;
• document flow (securities, risk factors, insurance services);
• occupation period (especially important in case of attracting investors);
• internal profitability of the company;
• volume of production.

Calculations for each company are made based on the specific activities of the company.

How to build a business plan from scratch?

Each project is compiled individually, but we will try to analyze the standard type of project.

Short biography:

Higher economic education. Graduated from NSU, managing a small business.

The main goal and task of opening a grocery chain

Prospects for job creation. Expansion of the product market. Creating your own brand. High financial profitability of the store, due to the lack of grocery chains and high demand for these services.

General presentation of the company

This product will provide a list for all age categories. The location will be in the center of the community, which is convenient for consumers.

Available range: food, household chemicals, etc.

After analyzing the development, we came to the conclusion that within 2 years the payback period will increase by 120%.

Competitiveness

Having examined the competitor's market, we discovered that the competitor will not be active in the next year and a half due to financial and social problems.

Sales policy and marketing research

In the first month sales “at zero” are possible, due to lack of information among the population. Later, when the entire locality knows about our store, the planned indicators should exceed 100%.

Covering the spectrum of marketing, we investigated the implementation of a small volume of advertising campaigns, which will significantly save on the enterprise’s budget.

For each employee, a planned indicator will be introduced: sales volume, customer acquisition, freshness of goods and cleanliness of the store. Financial indicators and other cash movements will also be maintained.

When deciding to create an enterprise, it is necessary to study complete information about possible losses, risks, characteristics and much more related to the initial stage of starting a business.

In conclusion, we invite you to watch the video: how to create a business plan from scratch - step-by-step technology.

A business plan is a short-term course of action for a business entity. The document contains information about the company and ways of its further profitable operation. It contains information and proposals for the production of a new product, the provision of a service, the sales market is assessed, calculations of the necessary materials and equipment, marketing moves are made, and a conclusion is drawn about the feasibility of implementing the project from a financial point of view, the profit received and the payback period are predicted.

A business plan is an important strategy, management and planning tool. Any investment agreements and transactions are concluded subject to the mandatory availability of this document. Having seen the forecasts set out on paper, confirmed by real figures, investors will make a deal with the entrepreneur, enter into a contract, and invest the necessary resources.

When issuing loans to start-up entrepreneurs, the bank needs a guarantee of repayment of funds. The provided business plan informs the credit institution about the existing or future activities of the businessman in a succinct, understandable form. By and large, such a document answers the question that interests every business owner: is it worth investing in a particular project?

Writing a business plan is a long, labor-intensive process that will require the author to have extensive knowledge in the subject area and the ability to analyze - in total, this data will allow you to clearly define tactics and strategy to achieve the desired result. There are 3 ways to become the owner of a finished document:

• Compose yourself. In this case, the entrepreneur will need knowledge of the economy, legislative acts, all the nuances of his business, and, finally, the rules for drawing up a business plan.
• Use the services of specialists. There are companies that, in a number of services provided, prepare and compile similar documentation. The negative aspects of this method include the high cost of the service and the subjectivity of the information presented.
• Download from the Internet. Rather, this option is recommended to help the first.

You can see how to correctly compose such a document in the following video:

Stages of document preparation

A competent business plan should contain maximum information about the company’s activities.

Its approximate structure:

1. Summary.
2. Overview section.
3. Description of the product (service).
4. Marketing plan.
5. Production plan.
6. Financial plan.
7. Assessment of upcoming risks.

Although a summary belongs to sections, it should be written separately, after completing the entire document. It performs the function of an extended output, a summary. After reading it, the investor, lender or business owner will have a general understanding of what is written below.

A standard resume is 1 page in A4 format.

If you have not yet registered an organization, then easiest way This can be done using online services that will help you generate all the necessary documents for free: If you already have an organization and you are thinking about how to simplify and automate accounting and reporting, then the following online services will come to the rescue and will completely replace an accountant at your enterprise and will save a lot of money and time. All reporting is generated automatically, signed electronically and sent automatically online. It is ideal for individual entrepreneurs or LLCs on the simplified tax system, UTII, PSN, TS, OSNO.
Everything happens in a few clicks, without queues and stress. Try it and you will be surprised how easy it has become!

Overview section

The purpose of compiling this paragraph is to provide information about the enterprise. The section should provide answers to the following questions:

• What is the organizational and legal form of doing business?
• The main activities of the company?
• Job profile: sales, production, intermediary, etc.?
• What does the company intend to offer to the potential target audience?
• What goals does the organization pursue in implementing this project?
• In what geographical area does the company plan to develop?
• What is the main difference between this company and its main competitors?
• How does the company see its development prospects in the next few years?

At the end of the paragraph, the legal details of the organization must be provided: address, contact phone number, website (if available).

Description of the product (service)

The main objective of this section is to present in a concise form the features, qualities and characteristics of a product or service offered by a specific business. The section should contain a physical description of the product or service, a description of the benefits, possibilities of use, problems that the described product helps to solve, and the stage of readiness to enter the market.

It would not be amiss to indicate the data of experts and consumers who had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the products and give positive feedback. If we are talking about a product, it is recommended to attach high-quality photos from different angles.

Marketing plan

The section allocated for marketing research is one of the largest and most important parts of the business plan. The main task of the compiler is to explain how the described business will influence the market and respond to its rapidly changing trends in order to ensure the sale of goods in the stated volumes. The marketing plan should reflect the following aspects:

• demand for the products offered;
• market expansion opportunities;
• analysis of competitors, factors influencing the internal and external environment;
• market research results;
• projected sales volumes.

To confirm the information described, one can cite ready-made versions of SWOT analysis tables. To summarize the point, a description of the marketing strategy is given (the expediency of using marketing means is explained, in particular a description of sales strategies, product promotion, advertising, pricing, and sales promotion).

Production plan

The purpose of creating this section is to describe the technological process of product production. A general approach to organizing production is indicated. Characteristics are given to suppliers of raw materials and auxiliary materials that will be used. A description of the main technological processes is attached. Options for purchasing equipment, its main characteristics, and power are considered.

A separate paragraph indicates the qualification requirements for personnel involved in production. Divisions are formed (if we are talking about a large business). The terms of payment, labor incentives, and proposed changes in the personnel structure as the enterprise's capabilities expand are considered.

Below it is recommended to draw up a production flow diagram that will clearly demonstrate the processes of receipt of raw materials and components, the processes of their processing into a finished product, where the goods will be stored, how and where they will be delivered from the enterprise.

In the case of the provision of services, the scheme will have a slightly modified form. It should reflect the way in which services are provided to clients, where the initial stage will be the provision of the necessary tools and materials.

The following aspects of the production process should not be ignored:

• estimated production capacity;
• need for land, buildings, structures;
• the need to purchase equipment;
• terms of supply of raw materials;
• quality control of received materials;
• requirements for sources of energy, water, gas;
• quality control of manufactured products.

Financial plan

An important condition for drawing up a business plan is to determine the financial indicators of the business. These calculations are based on taking into account costs and sales (income) forecasts. The result of the calculations will be the amount of profit that the enterprise will receive from the implementation of this project. In essence, this is basic information that is of interest to investors and credit institutions.

Investment costs (to start a business):

• registration of an organization;
• purchase or lease of production space;
• arrangement of the premises;
• acquisition of equipment and auxiliary materials;
• registration of a license.

Basic costs are usually divided into fixed and variable.

The volume of fixed costs does not change depending on the increase (decrease) in the volume of output:

• rental of premises;
• depreciation of fixed assets;
• employee salary (rate);
• tariffs for water, heating, electricity, gas, communications;
• equipment servicing;
• payment of taxes.

As a rule, the basis for calculation is a time period: month, six months, year, etc.

The volume of variable costs is directly proportional to the volume of output:

• costs of raw materials;
• salaries to employees (piece-rate form of accrual);
• transportation costs (gasoline, etc.);
• payment for communications equipment.

To determine operating profit, it is necessary to subtract expenses from the cost of production. An important condition for making correct calculations is the construction of a break-even point - a graph displaying the minimum permissible volume of production and sales at which costs will “cover” income. This means that the production and sale of each subsequent unit of production will bring profit.

To calculate the level of profitability of production, it is necessary to relate the cost of goods for a certain period to the amount of costs. The calculation of the payback period for production is carried out by the ratio of investment costs to net profit.

Risk assessment

This section provides an approximate assessment of the risks that are most likely to occur for this project. In addition, a number of preventive measures are proposed to prevent or minimize their negative impact on business.

A business plan is a project that allows an entrepreneur to display all the aspects of organizing his future business. A competent and convincing business plan makes it possible to attract large investors, creditors and start a promising business.

Careful study of each point of the business plan is the key to drawing up a competent and promising project. Initial points to pay attention to.

In order to draw up a competent business plan, you need to carefully study the factors presented in the table.

When drawing up a business plan, it is advisable to consider the following recommendations:

• at the beginning of the business plan, make a short discussion of it, which will succinctly outline the essence of the document;
• describe the future company in as much detail as possible (name, actual address, legal address, description of the area of ​​activity, area of ​​premises, landlord, etc.);
• provide a detailed analysis of the sales market (market segments, consumers, development trends, possible risks, expected profits, etc.);
• talk about future goods and services (reasons for choosing this particular product, target audience, advantages over competitors, process of production of goods, etc.);
• describe the chosen strategy (the way to conquer the market and find your niche);
• carefully study the activities of dozens of the closest competitors, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses;
• draw up a complete description of production, paying attention to even the most insignificant points at first glance (method of delivery of goods, the procedure for writing off debt from debtors, the process of training and preparing personnel, equipment, technologies, licenses, legal aspects of activity, etc.);
• describe the work process. You can attach a resume and letters of recommendation from key employees (for example, the manager and key managers), describe job descriptions, calculate the approximate costs of paying staff;
• attach all relevant documents to the business plan. In addition to documents describing the duties and qualifications of employees, it is necessary to attach accounting documents, loan documents, rental or leasing agreements, statistical reports, etc.

At the initial stage of drawing up a business plan, it is important to avoid common mistakes. These errors include:

• excess of unnecessary information. A business plan should be devoted exclusively to a description of the planned business activity. The presence of a large amount of secondary information (personal merits of the author, professional terms, too detailed description of the production process, etc.) can make a negative impression on future investors;
• vague and unattainable goals. The tasks that an entrepreneur sets for himself must be realistically achievable;
• adequate financial indicators. Indicating an excessively high percentage of profitability of a company in order to impress investors can lead to the opposite result. Financial indicators should be based on real research and calculations, and also take into account possible risks;

Thus, when drawing up a business plan at the initial stage, it is important to decide on the direction of activity and collect all the necessary information. A competent project will be the key to building a successful business.

15Jul

Why I decided to write this article

Because many who ask me questions ask something that at first you shouldn’t even bother about. There are even questions that a person may never face at all. In general, “Woe from Wit” occurs in the minds of many novice entrepreneurs, and we will “eliminate” this grief in this article. At least I'll try my best. Now let’s talk about mistakes, and then I’ll give you a step-by-step plan as I see it.

Some errors and their solutions

1. Break-even point not calculated

Many people start a business without even calculating how much they need to sell in what period in order to break even. This is important because many business models are cut off at this stage.

Calculating the break-even point is simple. You calculate how many expenses you incur per month and then calculate how much you need to sell goods or provide services per month to recoup these expenses. If the figure is too large and seems unrealistic to you, then it is better not to take on such a business. If you think that you can sell the right amount of goods to cover expenses or start covering expenses in a few months, then you can think about this business further.

Conclusion 1: Until you have a complete financial picture of the business in your head, you cannot borrow money or even use your savings.

2. Everything must be perfect

When starting your business, you want everything to be correct and beautiful: the most modern equipment is purchased, the most functional website is created, the office is renovated, etc.

Striving for better is useful, but there is one “BUT” - before spending money, check the functionality of your business model. When planning to make an expensive website design, first make sure that your services or products are in demand at all.

Or, if you are opening a cafe, before making expensive renovations, try to start selling in the premises you have with minimal investment. If sales continue and the location in a given area of ​​the city generates at least some profit, then you can expand or do some major renovations.

Conclusion 2: Don't invest significant amounts of money until you are sure that people need the product itself. And there is no need to bring everything to perfection, thereby delaying the start. Start with what you have and gradually develop and improve.

3. Lack of understanding of your future business or simply no love

I personally think that a business should at least be liked. For example, I love every business project I have, and if I didn’t love them, they wouldn’t be profitable.

Some aspiring entrepreneurs write to me with questions like “What to sell”, “What services are profitable to provide”, “What business is profitable to start”, etc. I answer everyone: “Open your own bank.” And no one likes my answer, although it answers all these questions. Every entrepreneur has a different life situation, different interests and different knowledge. If one likes to sell toys, and the other likes to sell men's suits, then they will not be able to switch businesses and be as successful. This is because they don’t understand the model itself and simply don’t feel interested.

Conclusion 3: You can't build a business on an idea just because you just know it's profitable and have no interest in it. Business needs to be understood, loved and “in the know.” For example, I would not be able to open a massage parlor and lead the business to success. Not because I don’t have enough money, but because I don’t know anything about this business.

Where to start your business - 10 steps from scratch

To begin with, I want to say that below I will give 2 plans on how to start your business: complete and simplified. Let's start with the complete one.

Step 1. Business idea

Of course, to start a business, you need to know what exactly to start. I have always said, I say and will continue to say that an entrepreneur must have an idea. If you can’t even come up with an idea, then what kind of business are we talking about? You don't have to be an innovator and come up with something unimaginable. You can take an already working idea, look around, find shortcomings in it, or simply improve it the way YOU see it, and it will be a different business. It is easier to enter an established market than to form it yourself. And the idea doesn’t have to be global; you can start a micro-business or.

In order to come up with or find a business idea, read the following articles and after reading you will 100% decide on the idea:

After reading the articles and coming up with ideas, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2. Market analysis

After choosing a business idea, you need to analyze the market, find out whether people need your product at all. Assess the competition, identify the positive and negative sides of competitors, find in yourself what will distinguish you from your competitors. Compare prices, quality of service, assortment (if this is a commodity business) and look as much as possible for what you can be better at. It is necessary. Why? Read!

Once you have assessed supply and demand and realized that you can compete with existing companies, you can move on.

Step 3. Business planning

Step 5. Register your business

This step cannot be skipped because the business must be registered. You can use LLC or individual entrepreneur. It all depends on your activity. The following articles will help you with this:

Once your business is registered, you can move on to the next step.

Step 6. Taxes and reporting

I indicated this step right away, because you must initially decide which tax system you will work under. This must be done immediately, because the amount of taxes and methods of payment depend on this. To do this, read the following articles:

And also read other articles in the section, because there you will always find up-to-date and complete information about maintaining tax and accounting records. You can also ask your question and get an answer from a specialist.

Step 7: Quickly test your idea

Some will say that you can test without registering a business. And you're right! This is possible, but it was not for nothing that I wrote at the very beginning that there will be 2 options for the development of events and in the second I will talk about it. Now let's move on to the testing itself.

What you initially need is quick testing - “testing in combat”. Use your own money to test the idea, give minimal advertising, make the smallest possible product and try to sell it. Study the demand in practice, so to speak. You have to look at your plan, evaluate what you minimally need to get started, and start right away. Why is this being done? At the very beginning, I wrote about one of the mistakes of beginning entrepreneurs, which is delaying the start, constant improvements, etc. There is no need to bring it to perfection, you need to start as quickly as possible in order to test the idea in action, get the first sales and be inspired to continue development.

If the start does not give the first sales, then you need to reconsider the plan, idea and look for mistakes. A quick start is also done so that in case of failure you will spend less time, effort and money. Would you agree that it would be more annoying to prepare for a year and then fail? It’s less offensive to realize your mistakes right away, while you still have little time to do. This way you can make adjustments along the way and everything will start to work out!

To test your idea and your business, it can help you. It is more for testing an idea on the Internet, but it is also suitable for the real sector (offline).

Step 8. Business Development

After the tests have been carried out, the plan has been adjusted and sales have slowly begun, you can develop your business and refine everything that you wrote in the plan to perfection. Now you can improve the site, increase warehouses or offices, expand staff, etc. When your idea and business model have shown their effectiveness, it is easier for you to set more global goals. Moreover, you have already received the first money from your first orders or sales and can reinvest it in development.

If there is not enough money, then you can already resort to loans and borrowings, because the business brings in money and you can borrow for its development with a clear conscience. If you don’t need a lot of money, then even a credit card may be suitable. In I told you how you can use credit card money for your business without interest.

Step 9. Active promotion

This step could be classified as development, but I took it separately. Once you have wider warehouses, more powerful equipment and website, more employees, etc., you need to provide all this with work. This requires aggressive advertising to the maximum. You should take advantage of many advertising opportunities. Look for clients on the Internet, do offline advertising, engage in direct sales, etc. The more advertising tools you use, the better the result. But be sure to record the results and weed out ineffective advertising tools so as not to waste your budgets.

Step 10: Scaling

Your business is working well, bringing in money, you are constantly developing, everything is great! But there are also related directions or neighboring cities. If your business model is successful in your city, then you can open representative offices in other cities. If there is no desire or opportunity to go to neighboring cities, then you can simply capture an adjacent direction, if there is one at all.

For example, if you sell household appliances, you can simultaneously open a repair service and provide paid repair services. If your client’s equipment cannot be repaired, you can always offer him to buy something from your store in exchange. In general, look at your business and I am sure that you will find something to latch on to.

What else can you pay attention to?

When starting a business, there are several parameters that allow you to evaluate how effective your business is at the start; take them seriously:

If your business's net income is above zero, excluding equipment costs and taxes, then your business will survive because it generates some money. If it is below zero, it means your business is burning money and will not have enough loans and investments;

If you have planned sales for 200,000, but sell for 50,000, then this is a reason to seriously adjust your work and, possibly, the plan itself;

You should be comfortable. Business is hard. If you are also constantly having a hard time, then coping with business tasks will be difficult. Give yourself enough comfort that you don't feel left out by running your own business.

How to start and open your own business using a simplified scheme

As promised, I’ll give you a simplified diagram of how to start your own business. Because I have already described all the points above, so I will refer to them here so as not to repeat myself.

I myself have used this scheme more than once, because before I launched very small projects in which a lot could be missed. So the diagram looks like this:

1. Idea (it should always be there);
2. Easy planning, you don’t have to write it down, but put the main points on a piece of notebook. This is done in order to draw a model;
3. A quick test of an idea. Perhaps even without investing and finding money. Or you will need very little money and it will simply be in your savings;
4. Development and active promotion. After the first orders are received, you can begin active promotion and bring everything to fruition;
5. Business registration and scaling.

As you can see, I left out registration at the very end, because some business projects can be implemented without registration, because during the test you don’t get so much money that you have to immediately run to report to the tax office for it. But if the business model has shown its efficiency and after active promotion the profits are growing, then the registration should be instant.

But even in the first stages you cannot do without registration if you need retail space, an office or work with companies under contracts, because for this you need at least an individual entrepreneur.

Conclusion

In this article, I told you where to start your business, talked about the mistakes that beginners often make and that I made, and now you know what you need to do before starting your business. Read my website, subscribe to it, and try to start doing your own thing. We will not leave anyone on the site without help. Thank you for your attention!

Best regards, Schmidt Nikolay