We write a business plan step by step. How to write a business plan - sample

Often, beginning entrepreneurs are faced with a rather difficult problem - how to draw up a business plan. This task is not easy, because to work through each element you need to have certain knowledge and understanding of the activity in which you are going to start a business. If they are not there, then you will first have to get acquainted with the information, various techniques, and only then move on to practice.

By the way, we have made a series of articles with examples and samples of business plans in the section. We also recommend that you read the article:. This will help you write your business plan correctly.

In the meantime, let's move on to how to draw up a business plan yourself.

We set ourselves the ultimate goal

Before writing a business plan, it is very important, at the beginning of the project development, to understand for yourself what specific goal the organization will pursue. For successful implementation, it is necessary to take into account the importance of three significant factors:

Awareness of the initial location (what we will start from, the so-called point “A”).
Determining the final goal, the achievement of which will be the most important result (let it be point “B”).
Drawing up a clear sequence of how to get from point “A” to point “B”, as well as understanding the mechanism and its elaboration.

We determine for whom we are drawing up a business plan

Next, you need to understand for whom this plan is being drawn up. The detail of the presentation and the evidence base will depend on the choice of the final “reader”. Any project is drawn up for one of the following “consumers”:

For potential investors . These may be creditors, government support bodies that provide subsidies and other incentives to developing businesses, and various grant providers.

When writing in this case, special attention should be paid to the evidence base of the viability of the project being developed, as well as to the conviction of the effectiveness of the use of the funds provided. This information will be relevant both for those who lend money and for those who give it free of charge (subsidies, grants).

It is very important to make all your actions logical and consistent. Some information may be presented slightly embellished to obtain financial support. However, there is no need to be overzealous with this.

The main parameters of such a project will be such qualities as cleanliness, neatness and consistency. All facts must contain specifics and explanations. Details in this case are also welcome.

Presentability will depend on the presentation in front of potential investors; you will need to use slides and visual aids (samples, research results, etc.).

For myself . Such a plan is drawn up for actions that will be used in implementation to achieve maximum efficiency.

In this case, it is important to reflect information about the resources needed and available. The business plan should be as close as possible to what actually exists.

It is worth understanding that these are completely two different cases that require an individual approach. You cannot create the same business plan for yourself and for potential investors. And of course it is worth noting that the project for those who may provide financial resources will be more complete and detailed.

We do a preliminary analysis

Work on any project begins with an analysis of the situation in the present time. To systematize all available information, describe and fill in all sections, you need to study the data and analyze them together. If the initial information is not enough, it is necessary to supplement it by contacting specialists or to further study all aspects of the situation.

Very often, for a preliminary assessment of the situation, as well as its analysis, they use a method recognized throughout the world, which is called SWOT -analysis . Its popularity is due to its simplicity, clarity and accuracy.

What is SWOT analysis and how to apply it in practice

The name of this technique stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.” It is used to assess all internal and external factors affecting the organization. An important advantage is the objectivity of the SWOT analysis; it reflects a truly real picture.

It is necessary to take a serious approach to the development of each of the indicators. At the same time, strengths are the initial advantages of working in this field. Weaknesses are studied to eliminate them. So, for example, if the weakness is the lack of your own premises, it is worth considering the possibility of purchasing them, while eliminating this disadvantage. These two parameters relate more to internal factors, because they are determined by the position of the organization itself.

But opportunities and threats are directly related to the external environment. The company cannot influence them directly. So, having considered the available opportunities, you can use them to your advantage, increasing efficiency or saving on something. For example, adapt packaging design for the consumer market, while increasing demand for the product itself. But considering threats and responding to them will help avoid difficulties and losses. Here it is important to either use a policy of “avoidance” or try to use the current situation to your advantage.

After working through all aspects of the SWOT analysis, you need to begin considering individual sections of the business plan. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to assessing the resources of the described project, including monetary, labor, intellectual, and time. This will significantly save time and also help to preliminary assess the effectiveness and costs of the project.

You can familiarize yourself with the structure and sections in the corresponding article presented earlier.

We create a title page, a resume, and set goals for a business project.

The preparation of any project begins with writing a title page, which must indicate: the type of activity, legal form, name of the organization, its legal address, as well as information about the founder and location of the company itself.

Next they move on to writing a resume. It is important to understand what this section consists of after working through the rest. It contains consolidated information about what will be considered in the project. Conventionally, a summary can be called a kind of “squeeze” from the remaining sections of the project. It is important that in this section the reader receives an answer to the two most important questions:

What benefits will potential investors have if they invest money in the project and it is successfully implemented?
What are the possible risks of loss, and what is their scale (partial or complete loss)?

In the “Goal Setting” section, it is very important to indicate the goal itself, the assigned tasks, possible problems, actions, deadlines, as well as arguments that will allow the investor to be confident in the success of the proposed project. Here you can display the results of a SWOT analysis in a tabular form like:

Analyzing the market

In this section, it is very important to reflect the current situation by collecting the latest information, rather than using outdated information. You can consider your competitors, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, in tabular form:

	Advantages	Flaws	How to increase your chances of winning the competition
Our organization
Competitor #1
Competitor No. 2
…

It is necessary to draw up a portrait of a potential buyer (by objectively assessing the situation), and consider the possibility of attracting other segments of the population.

We evaluate the organization’s capabilities in this industry

This section contains information about the organization itself. It is worth paying attention to the operating hours and seasonality, since these factors directly affect the amount of possible income and their consistency. If a business plan is drawn up by an already existing organization that plans, for example, to start producing a new product, then the description of the section is reduced to listing already known data (organizational and legal form, methods of taxation, goods, information about the company, etc.).

For those companies that are just planning to open, it is necessary to take the choice of open pension fund and tax system very seriously. It will also be necessary to study legislation: various regulations and other documents.

We describe the product or service

In this section, special attention should be paid to goods and services that will generate profit. You first need:

Make a detailed description of the major and minor items. It is advisable to provide the project with photographs of finished products (samples) or the samples themselves.
Compare the product with the description of the portrait of the potential consumer.
It is worth highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each product and comparing it with competitive products in the industry. Based on the information received, competitiveness is assessed. This data can be presented in the following tabular form:

Describe the process of supplying goods or providing services (wholesale, retail, final consumer).

Such a detailed examination will help you understand what are the features of your products and the sales market as a whole.

Attention should also be paid to what additional documents will have to be drawn up (various patents, certificates, copyrights).

We draw up a marketing plan

Based on the previously obtained results, you can proceed to developing a marketing plan. Particular attention should be paid to product promotion tools. They can be: advertising, merchandising, direct sales, sales promotion and others.

It is necessary to study in great detail the demand in the market segment in which you plan to operate. In this case, it is worth determining average prices, elasticity (variability) of demand, and methods of stimulation. It is also important to study target segments and buyer groups.

It is worth thinking about the methods of distribution, as well as consumers, be they legal entities, individuals or end consumers. For each of them, you can develop a separate sales program.

You also need to think about possible ways to attract customers. In addition, you can think about advertising campaigns and exhibitions.

It would be useful to predict the volume of future sales. This can be done visually using the following table:

It is important not to overestimate projected sales so that the data looks realistic. It is necessary to justify the amount while giving confidence to creditors.

If desired, you can create realistic, pessimistic and optimistic scenarios, justifying each of them.

In general, any marketing program can be represented as:

We draw up a production plan

Drawing up a production plan is not necessary for those organizations that do not intend to produce something on their own. So, if the company is only going to trade goods or services, this section can, in principle, not be compiled. But for those organizations that are directly related to production, drawing up a production plan is almost a primary task.

In this case, it is initially necessary to consider the available and necessary production capacities, including premises and equipment. The information can also be presented in tabular form:

It is also very important to draw up plans for the supply of raw materials and their storage. In addition, you need to clearly depict the production process itself (this information can be placed in applications).

Information about the required employees is also indicated, a staffing table is drawn up, indicating qualifications, the method of calculating wages, work schedule and other information.

We draw up an organizational plan

This section displays all activities related to organizing a business. It is important to break them down into separate steps, indicating the implementation deadlines for each item. You can use a table view:

It is necessary to distribute all steps in the correct sequence. You can also present the information in the form of an implementation schedule.

In addition, legal aspects must be included here.

Making a financial plan

This section is devoted to drawing up a detailed estimate. In other words, all costs that will be necessary are planned. This is best done in tabular form, ensuring clarity and ease of study.

It is worth understanding that any organization has one-time and recurring costs. Non-recurring costs include fixed assets, but periodic ones, in turn, are divided into constant and variable. Fixed costs do not depend on production volume. Of course, it makes sense to talk about fixed costs only in the short term, since in the long term any costs become variable.

After all costs are taken into account, provided that the cost is known, you can find the break-even point, which shows the sales volume at which income will be equal to expenses.

It is necessary for everyone to find the break-even point in order to approximately represent the scale of production or sales that will ensure not only break-even, but also the profitability of the enterprise. For clarity, it is worth drawing up a graph showing the dependence of profit on the volume of goods (services) sold. It might look like this:

It is worth including depreciation costs in the calculations. Indeed, as a result of complete wear and tear, most fixed assets require replacement. In addition, tax and pension contributions (recurring costs) should be taken into account. The most complete display of all expenses will help to estimate the real profit margins.

To calculate payback periods, you can use a simplified formula:

Payback period = One-time costs/Net monthly profit.

You can also include calculations of profitability here (it is worth considering that there are many formulas, you need to choose the one that is suitable for the type of business and what exactly the profitability of is being calculated).

Considering the risks

In this section, for clarity, you can create a table that will display:

Possible risks.
The likelihood of their occurrence.
Ways to avoid.
Possible losses.

If you plan to insure any risks, this also needs to be reflected in the business plan. Don't forget to include insurance costs in your financial plan.

What is this section for? Everything is very simple. Any investor wants to be sure of the success of the project or at least compensation for losses. Knowing the possible dangers, you can always try to avoid them or reduce losses. The main thing in this case is knowledge of vulnerabilities and their elimination.

Sometimes various applications are added, which include diagrams, graphs, tables, certificates, contracts, licenses. We can say that this is a kind of visual material, which is placed in a separate section in order not to clutter up the project itself.

Applications

You really need to include all the documents that were discussed in the business plan and that would serve as confirmation of all of the above. These can be various schemes, plans, resumes, certificates of creditworthiness, letters of guarantee, various statutory documents, etc.

The most common mistakes made when drawing up a business plan

Ignoring the seasonality of work. Such a defect nullifies all the calculations made. If the business is seasonal, then this must be taken into account when calculating sales volumes, while trying to compensate for the shortfall in other months.
Overestimation of planned sales (production) volumes. This indicator will also affect the efficiency of fixed assets and production capacity utilization.
Incorrect calculation of working capital. It is important not only to determine the profit, but also the part that will have to be used for the further functioning of the business.
Mixing of cash flows. This refers to the situation when the company itself finances the project.
Understating the discount rate. Also applies to own resources. The error is due to the fact that the possibilities of using funds are assessed not in the amount in which they could be used.
The business plan is too large. There is no need to clutter the project with unnecessary information.
Unrealistic data. All information must be supported by compelling arguments.
There is no uncertainty about additional funding. It either exists or it doesn’t.
Incomplete information about financial forecasts. Before the project pays off, all financial data must be indicated separately for each month.
Superficial market analysis. You need to thoroughly study the segment in which you are going to work, because the success of the business depends on it.
"Approximate" costs. All of them must be taken into account and be accurate, because the profit of your enterprise will depend on this.

Instead of a conclusion

Now you know how to write a business plan. There are no universal business plans. Much depends on the chosen industry, production characteristics and other factors. You need to approach the development of the project consciously, spending a lot of time and effort on it.

All aspiring businessmen are faced with the need to build their own business model. To understand firsthand how to start your own business, you should write a business plan. It is this that becomes the basis and foundation of any undertaking, because without a competent, structured and correctly written business model, it is extremely difficult to create something worthwhile and profitable. Let's look at step-by-step instructions on how to create a business plan in more detail.

Business plan - what is it?

Many people think, and some succeed and make a profit, while others are left without money. There are many reasons for this, but the foundation of any startup is a good business plan. A business plan is a visual aid for launching a specific idea; it is a document that contains all the information about a startup or company: characteristics, market and risk analysis, financial situation, marketing plan, organizational structure and more.

Simply put, this is a description of your entire future business on paper. In addition, this document helps you understand whether your startup needs to be launched and whether it will generate income, or whether it is better to “curtail” this idea at the development stage, otherwise there will be more losses than profits.

Business plan structure

Let's look at the steps of how to create a business plan yourself. A business plan is a step-by-step instruction that should lead you from point A (initial data) to point B (desired result). The main task of this document is to identify all the shortcomings of your initiative and eliminate them at the development stage. By describing all the data on paper, you can understand whether the project can compete with current market leaders and whether it will generate income in the future. In order to understand how to correctly draw up a business plan, consider the structure of this document.

Title page;
Introduction;
Confidentiality Memorandum;
Brief summary;
The main idea of the project;
Marketing analysis;
Revealing the idea.

And so, let's look at the step-by-step instructions on how to write a business plan in more detail.

The first step in how to write a business plan correctly is to create a title page, where you should indicate the working name of the project, contact information, and the names of the founders. Also, on the first pages, you need to write an outline of the document: indicate the number of pages and the names of sections. The document itself takes on average 30–40 pages. An example of how to draw up a business plan can be found on the Internet or at special master classes.

In the introduction, you should briefly describe the idea of your project, its advantages and uniqueness, why you think it will be successful and what benefits it can bring to the market. The introduction, oddly enough, is better formulated after writing the business plan - this way you will understand the whole essence of the idea and will be able to briefly describe all the information in an accessible and understandable way.

The next small but important step in how to draw up a business plan yourself is writing a confidentiality memorandum. This is a sheet in which you indicate that your business plan is copyrighted and all rights belong to you. That is, when you submit a document for consideration by potential investors, it will be protected from full or partial copying. For those who do not know how to draw up a business plan correctly, this point is a must have.

In your short summary you should answer all the key questions:

What service will you provide or product will you produce?
Who will be interested in this?
Production volume - how much product/service do you want to supply?
What will be the profit?
How much will you need to spend to open a business?
Sources of financing?
How many people will be involved in production?
Approximate desired profit for a certain period?
When will the business start to pay off?

When answering these questions, you need to try to show your project from all sides as advantageously as possible (but never lie!) in order to interest potential investors, advertisers or possible co-founders.

The next stage of how to write a business plan for a small business is traditionally devoted to describing the main idea of your startup. At this stage, you should describe what goal and objectives you set for yourself, and what problems may arise along the way. You should also describe what actions you are going to take to achieve your goal as quickly as possible. It is important to write not in the abstract, but by precisely formulating everything you will do step by step. For example, it’s not easy “let’s launch an advertising campaign”, but “let’s hire a PR manager who will promote the brand using social networks by attracting popular bloggers with the audience we need.”

It is also worth doing a SWOT analysis at this stage. This is a planning method, the use of which helps to determine the weaknesses and strengths of a product/company/business/person, as well as their opportunities and threats.

This analysis looks as simple as possible - only four columns, but with its help you can clearly see all the advantages and disadvantages of your future business, and weigh all the pros and cons. So, if there are many times fewer weaknesses compared to strengths, the project is unlikely to be successful.

Another point on how to create a business plan for yourself is to do a marketing analysis. This is a description of the financial viability of your business, where you need to provide examples of successful sales of similar things/products or services; talk about the success of the industry in which you want to start a business; make an assessment of the ability to compete with competitors: study the current market and understand the features of pricing, as well as the prospects for its development. This analysis can be done either independently or by specialists. You can find out how much it costs to create a business plan from marketing companies.

And the last stage of how to write a business plan is to reveal the idea. At this stage, you need to describe in as much detail as possible, with all the details, your product or service that you want to launch: appearance, color, size, production stages, implementation, project cost, and more.

Marketing plan

In addition to the above data, the business plan also needs to draw up marketing, organizational and financial plans, as well as conduct a risk analysis.

Let's start with a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a part of an enterprise's business plan that describes the steps necessary to achieve its goals. To do this, the current market situation is analyzed; goals are actually set; a work strategy is created and tips are described that will make it easier to complete the assigned tasks. That is, this is an action plan for the company, using which the set goals will be achieved.

If you are going to launch any product, be sure to describe the entire process of creating it, including the required equipment, floor space, production capacity and other technical details.

Of course, in large companies special marketing departments deal with all this, but novice businessmen often cannot afford to hire professionals. There is no need to despair - you can do everything yourself. Of course, this will take more time and the results may not be as accurate, but in general the necessary information is freely available, and understanding it is a matter of time and desire.

Organizational plan

The organizational plan describes the principles of startup management, management, discloses information about the founders and personnel, the legal and actual address of the company, and more.

An organizational plan is an essential component of any business plan, however, it is often drawn up “for show.” This is a fundamentally wrong approach, because it is with the help of this plan that you can clearly distribute who in the company is responsible for what and manages what. An insufficiently thought-out organizational plan, on the contrary, leads to confusion and problems.

The main task of the organizational plan is to show prospective investors that human resources and their proper use will be sufficient to achieve the set goals. In the organizational plan, it is necessary to indicate how many people are on staff, and who is doing what, because everyone must be in their place and perform the assigned task.

Financial plan

One of the most important components of how to draw up a business plan for an investor is the financial component. The entire final economic indicator will depend on the choice of the most profitable and sustainable plan, the company’s budget. That is why it is necessary to write a financial plan. In this regard, you must predict the efficiency and financial results of your business.

Here you need to indicate the source of the initial capital, the total amount, register taxes, analyze the dynamics of exchange rates and do a break-even analysis, and much more.

The financial plan is the most important for a potential investor, as it outlines all the capabilities of the startup, and also analyzes its expected success or failure. is at a low level, and a competent financial plan allows you to immediately see the full attractiveness of the project for the investor. Therefore, for those who do not know how to correctly write a business plan for an investor, it is worth paying special attention to this point. is extremely small and you should rely only on your own strength.

Risk analysis

An equally popular section of any business plan is risk analysis. In risk analysis, potential threats are calculated that could cause a decrease in the company’s income.

There are several types of business risks:

Uncontrollable - risks that cannot be influenced. But they can be taken into account and their likelihood can be reduced when starting a business. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Uncontrollable risks include crises, natural disasters, currency risks, changes in legislation and others. To minimize the consequences, you need to insure property, create cash reserves, etc.;
Controllable risks are those whose impact can be minimized or eliminated altogether. These include production problems, lack of funds, problems with employees (dismissal, strikes), changes in the market and more.

When creating a business plan, it is important not only to write down possible risks, but also to distribute them according to the level of threats: which of them are most likely for you, and which are the least likely. In the same paragraph you need to describe your action plan in case of unforeseen situations. Anyone who is interested in how to draw up a business plan on their own should understand that such an analysis should be carried out quite often, because the market is changing, and accordingly, the data from the document will not stand in one place either. The more up-to-date information you have, the easier it will be to calculate risks. And it doesn’t matter whether you are wondering how to draw up a business plan for agriculture or are looking for it, you must do a risk analysis!

Business plan requirements

Although a business plan is an official document, it must be written simply and clearly, without complicating the text with difficult formulations and excess terminology. The total volume of the plan is approximately 30 pages. Each point does not need to be described much - it is better to be brief, concise, and to the point.

Describe all the data that will be useful to a potential investor in more detail - he must see why you are creating your project and what are the prospects for its development in order to want to invest his money in it. But don't make anything up. Remember: all the data you provide in your business plan must correspond to reality. You can present the facts in a favorable light, but in no case should you invent or embellish anything.

And don't forget to make your plan easy to study. All sections should be structured and interconnected so that there is no need to re-read the same page several times. Of course, you can entrust this matter to professionals, but who can draw up a business plan for your startup better than you?

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Mistakes when drawing up a business plan

Of course, no one is perfect and it is unlikely that you will be able to avoid all mistakes when drawing up a business plan. But there are things that are very easy to fix or prevent, but they greatly affect the overall perception.

So, when drawing up a business plan, pay attention to its design. When the entire document is made in the same style, without errors and typos, with highlighted sections, it is much more pleasant to study it. Also try to avoid grammatical and punctuation errors, because an illiterately written text is repulsive, even if a sensible thought was written. Check it yourself or have the document proofread by a professional proofreader - it won’t take much time, and you won’t spend a lot of money, but the result is worth it.

Don’t overload your business plan with unnecessary information and fluff - it’s better to write briefly and meaningfully than to let your thoughts run wild. But you shouldn’t shorten the text too much - try to give all the important facts and data. You can find an example of how to write a business plan correctly on specialized websites or take a master class at various events.

conclusions

We have reviewed detailed instructions on how to write a business plan yourself. Thus, we can conclude that a business plan is a mandatory document that must be drawn up before launching any company/product/service. It doesn’t matter whether it’s this or that - it’s simply necessary to describe the concept and prospects for the development of your initiative.

Firstly, this document will help you structure all your thoughts and find the shortcomings of your business at the development stage. Secondly, with the help of this document you can clearly and simply show potential investors what you offer them and why, in your opinion, they can invest money in this business. Investors like to work with responsible people, and your business plan is an indicator of your commitment and reliability.

Basic rules and tips on how to create a business plan to make life easier for beginning entrepreneurs.

Smart entrepreneurs won't start a new business before they figure it out How create a business plan.

This document, which is essential for any startup, will help to avoid many unpleasant surprises, will allow you to start increasing your customer base and turnover from the first months of opening, and will lead the business to success and prosperity in a shorter time.

Of course, drawing up a business plan is not a panacea for all ills, but it greatly simplifies the life of entrepreneurs, especially beginners.

Do you even need to know how to create a business plan?

Naturally, it is necessary.

Once in a cafe I heard an excerpt of a conversation between two hucksters (sorry, gentlemen businessmen, but I cannot call these creatures differently).

One complained to the other that “this skinny bespectacled guy” came to teach me: “I should have created a business plan, then you would have seen the futility of this project.”

All this was generously flavored with obscenities, whining about the complexity of modern life for respected people and dreary memories of the most wonderful times of the 1990s, when it was not the one who was smarter who was right, but the one who had a bigger roof and a bigger gun.

No matter how much these relics of the past whine, it is no longer possible to act in the old fashioned way.

The level of competition now is too high, the market is too saturated, mistakes are too expensive.

You can’t do without creating a business plan!

If a businessman intends to implement a new business venture, does not even try to think about how to create a business plan, considering it absolutely unnecessary, then there is a high probability that something will go wrong during his work:

it will take a lot more money than he initially thought;
too much competition will not allow his business to develop;
there are no suitable infrastructure facilities;
it turns out that there are no specialists to work for you;
your idea is generally unpromising in your locality, etc.

All of these troubles can be avoided even before you start investing money in a dead-end project if you take care to create a business plan.

Main types of business plans that can be created

“Business is a most exciting game that combines maximum excitement with a minimum of rules.”
Bill Gates

That a business plan is certainly a kind of instruction for the formation and development of a specific company, store, industrial enterprise, etc.

Indeed, most often, competent businessmen create just such a business plan for a particular enterprise in order to avoid serious mistakes and unnecessary financial expenses.

If you are pursuing a goal other than opening a company with your own money, then you need to prepare one of the following business plans:

Investment.

It is very similar to the business plan of an enterprise in its structure, but its main difference is that it is drawn up not for the owner of the company, but for the investors he wants to attract.

The main emphasis here is on market research and the benefits that this enterprise can provide to future investors.

Credit.

Some banks and credit unions require their borrowers to create such a business plan.

In it you must write down how much money you need, for what specific purposes it will be spent, when you can return it, etc.

Grant.

Getting a grant from the state or private foundation is also not so easy.

Most likely, you will be required to create a business plan in which you will have to describe what your organization or company does, what goals you want to achieve with the funds received, what your successes have been, etc.

Since most entrepreneurs are interested in how to create a business plan for an enterprise, we will talk about it next.

How to create a business plan for an enterprise: structure

If you are drawing up a business plan not only for personal purposes, but also, for example, so that your investors or partners can familiarize themselves with it, then it is better to create it according to all the rules, so that it is immediately clear: you are a serious business person and with you can do business.

It is very important to adhere to the traditional structure of a business plan:

It is read first, which means you immediately need to take the bull by the horns and describe as briefly as possible what your company will do, where it will work, how much money is needed to open it and how long you are going to implement all the ideas.

In general, a resume is actually a business plan in miniature.

Description of the enterprise.

A company like this (it’s important to come up with a name for your company before writing your resume) will do this and that.

Less water, more specifics.

Description of products/services.

Exactly what goods it collects or what services it will provide to the population.

Market analysis.

A very important part of the resume.

The more carefully you analyze your direct competitors, consumers, the free niche you are going to occupy, the pricing policy of your enterprise, sales channels, etc., the greater the chance of success for your enterprise.

It is this kind of analysis that allows you to avoid major mistakes in further work.

Organization of the enterprise.

This is the main part of your business plan, where you should indicate in stages:

what is needed to register a company;
what infrastructure facilities are needed for work, whether they require repair or construction work;
list of commercial or construction equipment;
ways to advertise yourself;
main competitive advantages;
members of the future team;
timing of the project;
commercial plan, etc.

That is, here you describe what you need to do step by step to open a company, how much money and time you will have to spend on it.

Income and expenses of the enterprise.

How much capital investment will be required to open a company (be sure to include the item “unplanned expenses”), what kind of income you plan to receive from the sale of goods or services, and how quickly your investment will pay off.

Description of risks and ways to minimize them.

To properly create your business plan,

in the following video:

How to create a business plan and avoid major mistakes?

Very often, entrepreneurs who are seriously thinking about how to create a business plan fail to avoid basic mistakes, which are:

Numbers taken from the ceiling.

Let's say you found a business plan "" on the Internet.

Everything there is beautifully painted, chewed, all the numbers are indicated.

But you don’t take into account that this plan was created three years ago and, using it as a basis for your business, all amounts had to be adjusted based on the current economic situation.

Unnecessary information.

You should not try to create a 100-page business plan; neither you nor your investors will read this Talmud.

Present all information briefly and clearly.

Conducted as a market analysis.

For some reason, many businessmen believe that it is not at all necessary to devote too much time and effort to analyzing the market in which you are going to occupy a niche.

As a result, they have to cope with many unpleasant surprises at the starting stage.

Lack of specific goals that you are going to achieve.

“I want to earn a lot!” - this is not a goal, this is a dream that may never come true.

Write down point by point what exactly you want to achieve by opening your own company.

These mini-plans with specific goals and financial expectations should be drawn up at least once a quarter until your business is firmly on its feet.

Inflated profit figures.

Of course, it’s not harmful to dream that after just two months of operation your shoe store will bring you a profit of two million, but a businessman must look at things realistically so as not to go broke.

I don't think you'll have any difficulty how to create a business plan, if you listen to my advice.

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The failures of beginning entrepreneurs are most often based on typical mistakes. A study of business failures at the start and an analysis of the reasons for this phenomenon showed that in most cases serious mistakes are made. They can be avoided. We bring to your attention the TOP most common mistakes of novice entrepreneurs.

Break-even point not determined

You'd be surprised how many people start a business without doing the basic math and figuring out how many products or services they need to sell to break even. But this is one of the most important markers and indicators of business viability.

The break-even point is determined by elementary calculations. Add up all your current expenses for the month. The break-even point is reached when your profits cover all expenses. This is the minimum you should earn. If, according to forecasts for several months, it is unrealistic to achieve this level of income, it is better to abandon this business.

Conclusion: You cannot invest money (loans or savings) in a business idea unless you have a complete and clear financial analysis.

Illusions about a perfect start

Many startups rely on a standard business - they purchase high-tech equipment, rent a luxurious office in the central area, organize an elite restaurant, etc. In itself, the desire for an ideal is very commendable, but in practice we record massive examples of bankruptcies of ambitious projects. After analyzing the reasons, two main errors appear:

The service or product was not in demand. If there is no demand in a particular region or city, a luxurious office will not help.
Incorrect capital allocation. Example. The young enterprise invested the lion's share of the start-up capital in the purchase of high-tech equipment, without leaving the necessary reserves for the purchase of raw materials and other current expenses. The first months of operation did not produce the expected profits. The result was that in order to pay off the debts, we had to sell the equipment.

Conclusion: Make sure your products or services will be in demand. Don’t rush to invest large sums, create a small business with minimal investments and test the viability of your idea in practice.

Lack of professionalism and love for your work

Are you smiling skeptically? In vain. Explore success stories in Russia and around the world. You will not find a single example of a profitable business whose owner does not understand the essence of his field or is not in love with his business. Regular economic development reports show the most profitable areas. If you don’t believe in the importance of love for your chosen field and passion for your business, choose the most promising field and get started. You will see from your own experience that this is a road to nowhere. But we see a lot of examples where businessmen, in love with their product or service, achieved outstanding results, despite the pessimistic forecasts of experts and the misunderstanding of others.

Conclusion: You must love your job and be the best specialist in it. This is the main component of success.

“Step-by-step plan for organizing a business”

Quite often we observe chaotic movements of novice businessmen and a complete lack of planning of actions. But the creation plan is extremely important. If you do not have knowledge in this area and do not know what stages are involved in creating a business, we offer you a plan that is suitable for any area.

Stage 1. Looking for an idea

This is the first place to start. If you can't come up with an idea, you shouldn't be an entrepreneur. But first, it’s worth understanding the terminology and making sure that you and I have the same understanding of the meaning of the expression “business idea.” We are not talking about a brilliant and innovative idea that can revolutionize an entire industry. We're talking about ideas that already work, but you see how it can be done better and provide a better service to consumers. We are not talking about large-scale projects; you can start a business with minimal or no investment.

A true entrepreneur sees opportunity in the challenges he faces every day.

A simple example. How are things going with garbage collection in your city? Yes, this is a very serious problem, but this is an opportunity for you to organize a profitable waste removal and recycling business. Now this is one of the most promising areas.

Are you into handicrafts? Sell your products online, handmade items are in great demand now. Do you have a cottage or a small plot of land at your disposal? Grow and sell herbs or vegetables - this is in great demand. Interesting ideas are right in front of your eyes, choose any one you are inclined towards.

Stage 2. Analyzing the market

You should have a few preferred ideas in mind. Now we need to evaluate each of them for relevance. Conduct a survey, observe the situation in your city or region, read the analytics. If your idea is in demand, evaluate your closest competitors. Objectively evaluate the pros and cons of their work, think about what you can do better. Compare everything: quality and service, range, prices. Soberly assess your capabilities and work out your advantages as carefully as possible.

If you have come to the conclusion that your product or service is truly needed and that you can compete with existing companies, proceed to the next step.

Stage 3. Planning

Drawing up a business plan must be approached with the utmost seriousness. Most people ignore this stage and order the writing of a business plan by specialists only when it is necessary to attract investment. But this is a big mistake. First of all, you need a clear and realistic plan. Do not buy ready-made business plans - they are useless.

List everything you need for a successful start and plan your current expenses for the next six months. In the future, try to stick to your planned expenses, but create an emergency fund just in case. Based on the costs, you can determine the break-even point and begin setting prices. In the process of organizing and developing a business, try to check the plan as often as possible and analyze the reasons for deviations, if any.

Stage 4. We are looking for start-up capital

There are options in which a business is created without money or with minimal investment. But, as a rule, a certain amount is still needed to start. When writing a business plan, you have already determined how much money you need. Immediately add at least 20% to this amount. This way you will get a more or less real amount of the required starting capital. Start searching.

Great if you have the required amount. It is strictly not recommended to start with a loan. Look for options with franchises and small business assistance programs, attract partners with money or investors, try to find additional income, but do not take out a loan.

Stage 5. Registering a business

Don’t even hope that you will be able to work without registration. If you do not understand the intricacies of registration and find it difficult to choose a registration form, hire an experienced lawyer. Paying for his services will pay off with interest.

Stage 6. Reporting and paying taxes

During the registration process, you will determine the most advantageous tax payment system for you. The choice largely depends on the scope of activity and the scale of your business. Hiring an experienced and qualified accountant is extremely important. But you yourself should have at least minimal knowledge in the field of finance. Read articles, study, without this success in business is impossible.

Stage 7. Quick idea testing

This stage can be completed before registration, although much depends on the chosen field. As a last resort, try to do a quick test before making a serious investment of big money. How is testing carried out? Use your own funds to conduct a minimal advertising campaign, create a small batch of a product or offer services and try to sell it. Studying demand in practice is extremely important.

Remember one of the common mistakes? Don’t rush to invest heavily and don’t immediately build the perfect business. Create something minimal and test how it works. If the expected result is not achieved, do not rush to abandon your idea. Perhaps the reason was hidden in incorrect planning, price, or incorrect assessment of the target audience. During the test, conduct a survey of consumers, find out why they do not buy your product or refuse services.

Based on the results of quick testing, you will be able to see your mistakes and make adjustments to the plan. The option of abandoning an attractive idea and looking for a new one cannot be ruled out. This is a very important stage, it allows you to save money, effort and time on the implementation of an erroneous plan or an unclaimed idea.

Stage 8. Development

You conducted testing, adjusted the plan based on its results and began to receive your first profits. You need to start developing right away. Distribute your income as follows:

Cover current expenses.
Set aside a certain percentage for possible force majeure circumstances.
The rest is invested in development.
In this list, you did not notice the costs of meeting your personal needs. There is no mistake here. When planning to start a business, you had to find a source to meet your family's needs in case of failure. Stick to this plan and do not waste the profits of your new business, they should be invested in development. Only a few adhere to this rule; this is one of the most common reasons for failures after a more or less successful start.

Stage 9. Active promotion

This is an integral part of development, but it is too important and requires a separate discussion. By development, everyone understands an increase in production capacity, expansion of staff and assortment or range of services. This is correct, but many entrepreneurs in Russia underestimate the importance of advertising and finding new markets.

It is not enough to expand the staff and capacity; the entire economy must be provided with work. Don't rely on word of mouth and half-hearted, cookie-cutter marketing methods. Use aggressive advertising, actively look for new clients using any available and currently possible methods. Use everything, but be sure to analyze the results and weed out what is not effective. Maintain and develop advertising methods that bring tangible results with minimal budget expenditure.

Stage 10. Expand your geography

You have reached the level at which the business operates decently within one city. Don’t stop and enter the market of neighboring towns or regions. There is no desire or opportunity to expand geography? Explore options for mastering a related field, master innovative areas. Don’t stop, otherwise you will gradually begin to roll back and wait for a more enterprising and nimble competitor to appear who will offer your customers more favorable conditions.

“Important criteria for assessing business performance”

There are very clear markers by which you can determine the success of an enterprise’s development and find dangerous mistakes at the very start. These should be taken with the utmost seriousness:

After several months of work, conduct an audit. If, based on its results, you see that the business does not generate even minimal income and is even operating in the red, it is not viable. Investments and loans will not save the situation, but will only worsen your situation.
If actual sales are much lower than planned, immediately change your work style or plan.
Starting a business is a challenge. You will experience stress - this is normal only to a certain extent. If entrepreneurial activity causes you obvious and constant discomfort, either leave the business or change your approach.

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 performance 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:

Idea (it should always be there);
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;
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;
Development and active promotion. After the first orders are received, you can begin active promotion and bring everything to fruition;
Business registration and scaling.

As you can see, I missed 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 immediately have to 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

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