Drawing up a business plan sample. A ready-made business plan with calculations using the example of a web studio. Download ready-made business plans

Welcome readers of the “site”! Today we will talk in detail about what is a business plan and why is it needed? , how to draw up a business plan as clearly, competently and succinctly as possible (we will provide a sample with calculations), and also provide links so that you can download ready-made examples for free .

This material will be useful to all novice entrepreneurs and businessmen who plan to attract money from banks (investors).

Read on to learn how to draw up a business plan for a small business yourself, what rules and procedures for drawing up exist, and where to download a ready-made business plan.

Every entrepreneur comes across the concept of a business plan sooner or later.

Business plan(from English business plan) is a project of your business, in which the goals and objectives of its creation are clearly defined. In it, the entrepreneur must describe his actions over a specific period of time to make a profit.

Business plan structure, objectives and strategy

2. Rules for drawing up (writing) a business plan 📝

Rule 1. Study the market situation in advance

Before starting to draw up a business plan, it is necessary to analyze the situation on the market as a whole. Collect as much information as possible about the upcoming enterprise or successful implementation.

Rule 2. Create a clear business strategy and follow it

The business plan must include specific actions throughout a certain period of time.

You must write down your actions month, 3 months, 6 months, year and 3 of the year.

Rule 3. Consider both the pros and cons of the chosen business

In a business plan, you need to describe not only your strengths, but also possible losses, so to speak, weaknesses.

For example , strengths include highly qualified specialists, market recognition, bright brand etc. Possible losses or threats include: great competition, high cost of goods or services.

3. How to write a business plan yourself - the procedure for writing and the structure of a business plan 📑

Regardless of your type of activity, the main components of a business plan will be the same.

How to write a business plan - step-by-step instructions with an example

1. Introduction

The introductory part should not be too lengthy, but it should describe the most important things:

direction of the enterprise's activity;
project payback period;
specific indicators.

Your potential investor should know the time frame for returning his investment and possible losses.

2) Description of services

In this section, describe in detail the direction of your activity. Decide for yourself which market segment you will work with.

Important! Assess your competitors and your advantages over them.

Decide what you plan to focus on in your activities: low cost with high sales volumes, high service, or maybe something else.

To completethissection you need to do the following:

Give a description and characteristics of the company's main and secondary products;
Take photographs of goods and services;
Create a portrait of your intended consumer;
Research and test your target market for similar products or services;
Organize a service;
Provide a pricing model. Assess the competitiveness of your project on the market.

After carrying out such an analysis, you will definitely understand and be able to highlight the differences between your products in the sales market. You will also clearly formulate what you produce and who needs it.

3) Marketing plan

Marketing plan – perhaps the most important stage in the development of your business. A lot will depend on well-designed marketing. You need to identify your main competitors, understand how they are promoting their project, and do it better.

Business promotion methods can be different:

Place advertisements on radio, in magazines, on websites. It is only important to determine which format of the advertising project is right for you;
Be sure to work on direct sales. Starting with “cold calls” to potential customers, ending with the sale of goods and services with the help of representatives;
Encourage your staff to achieve high results. Come up with promotions and bonuses for employees;
Find out the most favorable season for your business;

Main, Really assess the situation, do not exaggerate your capabilities. Brainstorm regularly and come up with new routes. Read more about it here.

4) Organizational plan

Specifically write down all the steps of the activity, assign persons responsible for performing certain actions. Limit the deadline for completing the task.

5) Financial plan

When drawing up a financial plan, it is necessary to take into account all the little things, dividing expenses into permanent and one-time ones.

Fixed expenses – this is a monthly office, payment of rent, utilities, Internet, telephone, etc.
One-time costs – this is the purchase of equipment for work, For example, computers, scanners, phones, etc.

After compiling your expenses, determine for yourself the minimum sales volume that will cover your operating expenses. Everything that is sold from above will be yours profit .

After calculating this, you will determine for yourself break-even point. You could say that this is the purpose of a business plan.

6) Conclusion

The conclusion is intended to attract investors. Optimal partition volume from 2 before 4 pages, which must be indicated:

The main vector of your company’s activity;
Project profitability;
Analysis of the company’s place in the sales market;
Company personnel, responsible persons;
Expected qualitative and quantitative indicators for each period.

The “Resume” section should provide answers to 2 main questions:

What results can investors expect from favorable business development?
What should investors expect in a worst-case scenario?

Of course, it is better to write a conclusion when the business plan has already been practically drawn up.

4. Sample business plan with calculations using the example of an anti-cafe

Let's take a closer look at a ready-made sample business plan using the example of an anti-cafe .

Business plan structure - example "Anticafe"

1) Overview section

In the table we will see all the general information about the project:

№	Titles	Descriptions
1.	*Name*	"Gloss"
2.	*Organizational form*	Individual entrepreneur
3.	Services available	Various programs; Events (trainings, seminars); Birthdays;
4.	*Location of the organization and sales market*	Stavropol
5.	Operating mode	From 11.00 until the last client.
6.	Establishment staff	Supervisor - 1 people Administrator – 1 people Service staff - 3 people Director - 1 people security – 1 people
7.	*Required starting capital*	500 000 rubles
8.	Expenses	167 000 rubles
9.	*Return on investment period*	10-11 months
10.	*Competition*	Small
11.	*Organization income*	216 000 rubles
12.	Organizational loss	167 000 rubles
13.	*Organizational profit*	49 000 rubles

2) Goods and services

An amount will be charged for the time spent in the anti-cafe 2 rub./min . For this money the cafe will provide services such as:

Mini library, you can retire and read books;
Lots of games for large groups (mafia, board games);
Game console;
Karaoke, projector, tablets;
Various courses can be arranged For example, English, Spanish, psychology, makeup training;
You can also order banquets, children's birthdays;
There is Wi-Fi, any visitor can use it;
Tea, coffee and various sweets.

Ideal clients: older people 17 -45 years of age who live an active life; they have an average income; without bad habbits; these people like to spend time profitably; they would like to receive good knowledge and great emotions.

The client must be taken to the cafe near 22 hours per month. From this the profit per person is calculated about 3600 rubles per month.

3) Marketing strategy

There is currently one cafe in this segment in the city. It poses a potential threat since they already have an established customer base.

Social networks (Instagram, telegram and others);
SMS mailings;
Discounts, coupons;
Radio announcements.

Promotion strategy for a new anti-cafe:

Direct attraction. Searching for clients or organizations that will come to us in a large group. Conducting children's matinees. Discounts for regular customers. Advertising in institutions.
Advertising on Odnoklassniki, Agent and many different networks. Reaching a group of people who are at home. Advertising on social networks allows you to get a lot of information from customers and very quickly answer all questions of interest, while requiring very little financial costs.
Building partnerships with companies that specialize in various holidays, show programs, corporate evenings, etc.
Club card. This card gives you the right to spend as much time as you like in the anti-cafe. Price 4 800 rubles, validity period 1 month.
Radio advertising. After a month of work, a story about events in the anti-cafe.

Such a business has seasonality . The anti-cafe has the highest attendance in autumn and winter seasons. And in the summer and spring there are fewer clients ↓.

Therefore, the plan should be drawn up in such a way as to increase profit several times, so as not to go into lesion .

№	Name	Deadlines	Responsible	Results and notes
1	Study	01.01.14 – 01.02.14	Manager	We have proven all our data
2	Recruitment	01.02.14 – 01.03.14	Manager	Found employees
3	Search for premises	01.03.14 – 01.04.14	Manager	Found a room based on the criteria
4	Repair	01.04.14 – 01.05.14	Manager	Repairs made to all requirements
5	We purchase equipment	01.05.14 – 01.06.14	Manager	Delivery to your place
6	Approval of the action plan	01.06.14 – 03.06.14	Director	Agreements have been concluded
7	We are registering	01.06.14 – 03.06.14	Manager	Purchased a cash register and documents
8	Advertising	03.06.14 – 10.06.14	We are hiring a specialist	Conducted advertising on all points
9	Opening	12.06.13	Manager	Everything went great, there were a lot of competitions and gifts, there were journalists, everyone knew about us

4) Financial plan

№	Expenses	Quantity (pcs.)	Cost, rub.)	Amount (rub.)
1	*Purchase of equipment*	50	5 000	250 000
2	*Purchase of inventory*	100	1 000	100 000
3	Finishing work	1	150 000	150 000
Total:				500 000

5) Conclusions

№	Name	Quantity	Cost, rub.)	Amount (rub.)
1	*Building rental (150 sq.m.)*	1 month	40 000	40 000
2	Payment of wages	6 people	15 000	90 000
3	Public utilities	1 month	5 000	5 000
4	Products	700 sets	10	7 000
5	Taxes	1 month	15 000	15 000
6	Deductions for depreciation	1 month	10 000	10 000
Total:				167 000

Having analyzed all expenses for the reporting month, we can say that if the establishment’s profit is greater 167 000 rubles, that's what it will be break-even point .

Given:

Simultaneous costs = 500 000 rubles
Expense per month = 167 000 rubles

Find: Payback period -?

Solution :

Payback period = One-time costs / emergency per month

1) We find an emergency per month

Emergency per month = Income per month - Expense per month

Profit for the month = (Profit per day) * 30 days = ( 30 Human * 2 hours * 120 rubles/hour) * 30 days = 216 000 rubles
Emergency per month = 216,000 rubles - 167,000 rubles = 49,000 rubles

2) Finding the payback period

Payback period = 500,000 rubles (down payment) / 49,000 rubles (PE per month) = 10 months

*Of course, all calculations made above are approximate and may differ from region to region.

5. Ready-made business plan examples for free + template 📎

We present a ready-made template for writing your plan, into which you can easily enter your data for calculations and overview analytics.

📌

Business plan has many definitions, but in short: This is a step-by-step instruction for bringing any business idea to life. Planning a future business or improving an existing enterprise is not only a basic requirement for investors, creditors and partners, but also a necessity for a businessman.
Drawing up a business plan implies a deep and accurate analysis of all aspects of the future enterprise, and this allows you to turn the idea into specific goals and numbers. And also, a business plan is always an unfinished book, since in the process of changes in economic conditions, the competitive environment, and the investment market, adjustments can always be made to successfully promote the business.

Any business idea can become a successful business if the future entrepreneur clearly understands what he needs to implement his plans. It is the business plan that is the starting point for starting a business, which makes it possible to assess the real state of affairs, study the market and competitors, give an adequate assessment of your capabilities, and think about how to make your business unique, and therefore in demand.

Basic principles for preparing a business plan

So what should must be in the business plan .

1) Project summary. This is a concise description of a business idea, a vision of development and tools to achieve results. The resume should also show what advantages you see in your business compared to other players in the market. In one word, this section should give a brief description of your business idea.

2) Information about the company. Here it is necessary to indicate the name of the enterprise, form of ownership, legal and actual address of the company, and describe the structure of the enterprise.

It is also necessary to describe the goods or services that you are going to market with the production or sale of.

Indicate the main goals of the enterprise.

3) Market analysis. This part involves considering the conditions in which you are going to enter the market - the competitive environment, demand, what price you are going to charge, and what profit you will make over the next three years. It is also necessary to indicate which advantages of your products or services will be especially attractive to consumers.

4) Product. This part should contain a detailed description of the future goods or services that you will offer the consumer. You also need to indicate which target audience your activities will be aimed at, indicate future suppliers, partners, contractors and other contractors with whom you plan to cooperate.

5) Development strategy. This section involves a description of the development tools for the future enterprise - growth rates, advertising, possible expansion.

6) Tools for the operation of the enterprise. This chapter needs to reflect information about what equipment you are going to use, how to package the goods, deliver them, and if these are services, then where you will provide them and by what means.

Also in this section it is worth including information about your team - from management to support workers.

7) Financial analysis. This section is key in a business plan , which should support your idea in numbers. Here it is necessary to analyze and calculate all the costs associated with the organization of the enterprise, its location, maintenance costs, payment of employees, payments to suppliers, etc. You need to take everything into account, right down to buying a pack of paper.

Also in this section, include information about your actions in the event of debt from partners, customers or suppliers. What debt repayment schemes are you going to use, and how can you protect yourself from such situations.

8) Accompanying documents. This is certainly not a section, but an important component of the business plan. It is necessary to attach all documents directly related to the enterprise as a legal entity, lease agreement, resume, job descriptions, etc.

Common mistakes in business plans

Examples of business plans can be viewed endlessly, but a beginner cannot always see the main shortcomings of a business plan. Often, a business idea does not come to fruition because it is absolutely impossible to see the main essence and advantages of the future enterprise in the business plan.

So let's consider main mistakes that inexperienced businessmen make when working on a business plan:

Unnecessary information. Often business plans are written in such a way that behind the description of the professional skills of employees, information about the business itself is lost, or a story about competitors turns into an essay “Who today offers the same products as mine and what a great guy I am, what can I do better (or cheaper) )". In fact, a list of competitors, a few words about the pros and cons of their work, pricing policy and an indication of your advantages in comparison with them is enough.

Unreasonable numbers . As mentioned earlier, financial analysis is decisive for the business plan, so all calculations must be made based on real numbers. Of course, it’s easier and faster to estimate by eye, but if you seriously decide to run your own business, then remember that any business loves accuracy.

In order for an investor to become interested in you, work hard to ensure that everything the numbers in the business plan were reasonable. Keep in mind that investors and creditors go into negotiations prepared, since it is their money that is at stake. And, if there is even a slight uncertainty about the reality of your calculations, you can forget about investing in your business.

Vague information about goals and tools for achieving them . This problem usually arises when there is an idea, but there is no vision for its implementation, or this vision does not have a finished form. Roughly speaking, if the future businessman has not thought everything through.

A business plan must disclose a list of specific goals and ways to implement them, work with the target audience, assessment of its solvency, a clear definition of the place in the market that you plan to occupy, and who exactly will be your main competitor. Indicate what is the basis for such conclusions (analysis, market research, survey, etc.).

Overestimated expected result . Often, when calculating the potential profitability of a future business, entrepreneurs' dreams take precedence over real numbers. You shouldn’t get carried away by what you want, but rather take an honest look at reality. If adequate numbers are taken into account in the financial analysis, then the expected financial result will also have a realistic appearance.

Don't try to impress creditors, partners and investors with profits of 500%. Believe me, they will calculate your result much faster and more accurately in their heads, because their experience and knowledge will be greater than yours. And if the idea presented is worthwhile, even if not profitable from the first day, but promising in the future, it will not be ignored.

Example of a business plan

So let's consider example of a business plan for a cafe " Goodtime ».

Summary .

Name – Cafe “Goodtime”.

Organizational and legal form – Limited Liability Company.

Location – Kyiv

Services provided - Cafe, bar, karaoke, holding festive events, conducting trainings, seminars.

Working hours – 8.00-23.00 without breaks and days off.

Staff – 1 manager, 2 administrators, 1 bartender, 4 waiters, 2 cooks, 1 art director, 1 cleaner, 2 dishwashers.

The required starting capital is UAH 500,000.00.

Expenses per month – 197,000.00 UAH.

The planned return on investment period is 18 months.

Competition is high

Demand is high

Planned income per month – 180,000.00 UAH.

Planned consumption – 120,000.00 UAH.

Planned net profit – 60,000.00 UAH.

Cafe services and products .

Cafe "Goodtime" will provide the following services:

1) Cafe, bar services.

2) Conducting trainings and seminars.

3) Themed parties.

4) Karaoke services.

5) Providing Wi-Fi for visitors.

6) Separate playroom for children.

Products that the Goodtime cafe will sell:

1) Confectionery products of our own production.

2) Semi-finished products of our own production.

3) Lunch/dinner delivered to your home or to-go.

4) Sale of coffee and tea by weight.

The target audience .

The cafe is aimed at people aged 18-55 with average and above average income. They should be interested in spending time in a cozy atmosphere, with the opportunity to participate in interesting programs and sing karaoke songs. Each client must generate income in the amount of 50-250 UAH.

Also planned consumers of services are small companies that are interested in holding events for small groups of people of 10-30 people.

Marketing methods .

1) Distribution of flyers-invitations to the opening.

Customer Retention Tools .

1) Interesting menu, the ability to prepare dishes to order.

2) Promotions, discounts for regular customers.

3) Holding interesting themed parties.

4) Gifts for regular customers in the form of desserts and drinks.

5) Service at the highest level.

Competitors .

The Goodtime cafe will be opened in the center of the residential area, where there are also 4 cafes of a similar level. But our cafe will have the following advantages:

1) Availability of karaoke;

2) Availability of a children's playroom;

3) Possibility of ordering food at home;

4) Theme evenings.

5) The location of the cafe has convenient access and parking space.

Action plan for opening a cafe .

1) Market analysis.

2) Team selection.

3) Renovation of the premises.

4) Purchase of necessary equipment and supplies for work.

5) Development of the menu and plan for upcoming events.

6) Registration of activities and obtaining all necessary permits.

8) Checking the cafe for functionality.

9) Opening.

The financial analysis .

One-time costs:

Purchase of equipment and inventory – 350,000.00 UAH.
Repair of premises – 150,000.00 UAH.

Total: 500,000.00 UAH.

Recurrent costs:

Rent – 50,000.00 UAH.
Salary – 48,000.00 UAH.
Utility bills, internet – 8,000.00 UAH.
Purchase of products – 70,000.00 UAH.
Taxes and fees – 21,000.00 UAH.

Total: 197,000.00 UAH.

Payback period:

Provided that the cafe will be visited by 50 people per day and the income from each will be 150 UAH, the payback period will occur in 18 months.

50 people *150 UAH*30 days =225,000.00 UAH.

225,000.00 UAH. – 197,000.00 UAH. = 28,000.00 UAH.

500,000.00 UAH/28,000.00 UAH. = 17.86 ≈18 months.

Conclusion

Provided that the idea is implemented correctly and the advertising company, cafe administration and art director work effectively, you can count on profit after the first month of work. Considering that the cafe opens in the fall, high traffic is expected in the next 6-9 months. To retain customers in the summer, it is possible to open a summer area in the future.

So, it is possible to draw up a business plan yourself. A simplified version is given here due to the fact that it concerns production issues. Also, keep in mind that this is just an example, so the numbers shown are very approximate. If you decide to use it as a basis, conduct a thorough analysis of the financial side of the issue yourself.

And yet, if you are not sure about the issue of business planning, then you can always use the services of professionals who will work through your idea well and turn it into quality business plan.

But, the main thing is to persistently move towards your goal and not despair, because mistakes are always possible. The most important thing in business is not that you should not make mistakes, but the ability to quickly navigate the situation and choose the right direction to solve problems.

Your future project. How to write a business plan? The step-by-step instructions in this article will help in this matter.

Business plan goals

Writing a business plan can be different depending on why it is needed. One of the most common purposes is to present it for investment. This kind of project business plan is the most complex. Often, third parties are involved in writing it - experts in their field, who will create a suitable business plan for approval by the investor.

It happens that a manager instructs you to write a business plan for a company, for example, to open a branch. In this case, they also often turn to third-party specialists to draw up such plans. Ultimately, the contractor may only need to make some adjustments to the needs of the company.

Well, when a business plan is needed to open your own business, it is best to write it from cover to cover yourself. Although this is a difficult process, it is exciting and very interesting. After all, your own business is the real brainchild of an entrepreneur. And therefore, its creation is treated with great care and thoroughness. The article provides instructions on how to draw up a business plan for your business.

Initial idea

Basically, those who decide to open their own enterprise have already chosen and know their field of activity well. But there are entrepreneurs who want to have their own business, but still do not clearly know what exactly they will do. They are looking for a business idea. It is difficult to overestimate its importance. The idea must suit the interests and desires of the entrepreneur himself.

This could be a hobby that a person is willing to do even for free, or a business that already brings in a guaranteed income. In any case, having chosen a niche for yourself, it is important not to be distracted by anything else and not to dream of unattainable heights, but to step by step bring your real idea to life. A business plan will really help in this matter.

How to write a business plan? Step-by-step instruction

So, having imagined what the future business will be like, you can move on to writing a business plan. There are special planning standards. Therefore, if it is to be submitted for investment, you should choose an appropriate standard and adhere to it when writing.

To understand how to write a business plan, step-by-step instructions and generally accepted standards will serve you well, since they are approved by people who are professionally versed in these issues. An entrepreneur will be able to sort out his, perhaps not yet fully formed, thoughts and bring his business to life.

A standard business plan consists of the following chapters:

General provisions.
Market analysis.
Marketing and strategic plan.
Costs.
Production plan.
Investments.
Financial plan.

Summary

Here the essence of the matter, a description of the business idea, information about its objective need in the market, timing of implementation, and competitiveness should be briefly displayed.

Of course, this part is largely intended for potential investors. It is they who, after reading the summary, make a conclusion about whether it is worth getting acquainted with this plan further or not. Therefore, if it is intended to be presented to an investor, it is necessary to describe this part carefully, perhaps returning to it again and again, making adjustments after compiling subsequent chapters.

However, for his own needs, this part is also important, since it helps the entrepreneur to better see the entire process of organizing the business as a whole.

General provisions

If the resume is written on about one - maximum two pages, then this chapter can be written in more detail. That is, in fact, the “General Provisions” chapter contains the same information as the summary, but in a more detailed form invites the reader to become familiar with the project as a whole.

It describes the characteristics and implementation of the project, its life cycle, the possibility of additional development and the forecast of changes in the product with a possible change in market trends.

The service business plan in this chapter should contain information about what the specific service is and how it will attract customers. For example, a business plan describes all proposed services, their characteristics and distinctive features. An attractive feature here is the legend of how celebrities undergo procedures in the salon or how individual specialists provide them with these services, how specialists were trained directly with the brand of product with which they work.

Market analysis

In parallel with writing a business plan or before drawing it up, it is necessary to conduct a market analysis. This is an extremely important part, because the success of the future project directly depends on it.

Having chosen a market niche and target audience, they conduct a thorough analysis to determine how relevant the project’s business plan, the initial proposal and its idea are. If the analysis reveals an excess supply, then it is worth returning to the idea and trying to adjust it so that it corresponds to the state of affairs on the market. If there is increased demand, then everything is in order, and you can safely proceed to further actions.

Market analysis is carried out in different ways. But if problems arise with its implementation, there are companies where you can outsource market analysis.

Nevertheless, the entrepreneur is recommended to look into this issue himself, since any third-party organizations will give only an objective average result, not fully taking into account the business plans of a small business and all the nuances of the business idea of the project author.

Marketing and strategic planning

This plan includes introducing the product to the market, its development, pricing, sales and distribution system, as well as advertising. To launch a product, it is advisable to build a Gantt chart, which will display the dates of implementation of various activities. Based on market analysis and competitiveness, a strategy is calculated, how the market will be conquered and what tactical actions will be required for implementation.

Pricing is based on economic calculations and the company's expected income. Sales and marketing can be presented in the form of a diagram, where the entire process will be visible in stages. For example, from receipt of goods at the warehouse to receipt of money for the goods and its sale.

Costs and production schedule

This chapter includes the purchase of necessary equipment, repairs, rental of premises and other costs. The production schedule must reflect how many people are required to implement the project, their work schedule, deductions of wages and related payments.

They will become much more attractive to an investor if there is a ready-made team that will work on the project, as this proves the entrepreneur’s ability to implement his plans. Therefore, it would be appropriate to highlight this fact in the business plan.

Production plan

If the company is a manufacturing company, then it is necessary to describe the production process, as well as the partners and suppliers who will participate in the business. For example, the farm business plan in this chapter should include equipment for milking, bottling, packaging milk and a mechanism for marketing it through specific suppliers.

Financial plan and investments

The most important part of the entire business plan is, of course, the financial plan. Moreover, if the project is intended to be familiar to the investor, then after reading the summary, a serious investor will most likely look at the financial plan. After all, this is where the real ability of an entrepreneur to implement business ideas will be visible. This is the essence of entrepreneurial activity.

The financial plan provides all the information about the possible costs and income of the project. Based on the marketing, strategic plan and costs, a table is drawn up for several years, which displays the required investments and their repayment schedule, all costs and possible income.

The final part of the financial plan must necessarily be a calculation of the profitability of the future business.

Now the reader knows how to write a business plan. The step-by-step instructions given in the article are a short guide demonstrating the importance of understanding goals and the need for business planning.

Typically, a classic Business Plan consists of twelve main elements, including a cover page and a confidentiality memorandum.

A well-drafted business plan can either simply become the basis for organizing a business or help raise funds for the development of a project if it turns out to be attractive to an investor or lender. Below is a step-by-step instruction on how to write a business plan, describing its most important elements and recommendations for its preparation.

What is a Business Plan in simple words and example

A business plan is a document that provides a detailed justification for the project and the opportunity to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of decisions made, planned activities, and answer the question of whether it is worth investing in a given project.

A ready-made business plan includes all elements of the development and functioning of a business for the planning period. How detailed and competently a business plan for starting a business is written depends on how much the idea will be appreciated from the outside, as well as the number of suddenly arising nuances that were not taken into account initially.

We can say that developing a business plan is half of creating a business. It describes the details of technological processes, accounting, the state of affairs in the industry, as well as documentation.

Thus, business plan in simple words– this is a detailed description of the planned project, containing calculations and expected results for the next few years.

Sample Business Plans (download)

Below you will find several more examples and samples of business plans that you can download and study in detail.

Types of business plans

When deciding how to write a business plan correctly, you must first determine for whom it will be written. There are two main formats for this document:

Interior. This business plan is intended solely for private use among the founders. With its help, expenses, production volumes and necessary inventories are planned, and the like. Such a business plan should be as close to reality as possible and reflect all risks even in the worst case scenarios. Some details of such a business plan that are obvious to the founder can be omitted, since in this case there will be no one to evaluate the unnecessary details.
For external users. Such business plans are prepared for presentation to investors or creditors, as well as government support agencies from which funds are expected to be received. This type of plan is distinguished not only by greater detail, but also by a wider evidence base and a larger number of calculations. In this case, it is necessary to convince your counterparties of the validity of the calculations and prospects described in the plan. Logicality and consistency in the presentation of information, the quality of its presentation, design and accuracy are important. It is often possible to use the maximum and minimum possible real numbers where it directly affects the result of the calculation and efficiency, in order to increase the attractiveness of the idea for those who can invest in it. It will be good if all the facts and figures contain sources that support their authenticity. A business plan that has visual materials will also benefit.

You cannot write a business plan for yourself and for an investor at the same time, since they have different purposes.

Internal plans should be more meaningful and practical, and the values in the calculations should be closer to the average or even worst case. Plans for external users should be logically and neatly presented, and the values in them usually are close to the ideal scenario.

What does a Business Plan consist of - Structure

Depending on the specifics of the business and the purpose of the document, the number and content of business plan items may vary. A typical business plan usually consists of the following elements:

Title page.
Confidentiality Memorandum.
Summary.
Objective of the project.
Analysis of the enterprise's position in the industry.
Description of the product of labor.
Production plan.
Organizational plan.
Risk analysis.
Applications.

Some elements that are required for writing a business plan for a job center or lenders are optional for writing documents for internal use. For example, it doesn't make much sense to create a confidentiality memorandum or cover sheet for yourself.

At the same time, a business plan for a store may not contain a paragraph describing the product of labor, since in this case all goods are purchased for resale, and the list of services is standard.

Where to start making your Business Plan - Instructions

First, you need to clearly define the scope of activity and the product that will be produced by the newly created enterprise. To do this, it is necessary to conduct a preliminary analysis of the market situation in real time and identify niches that are not sufficiently represented on the market. Choosing one of these niches will make it more likely to successfully take your market share in a short time.

Next, you need to collect all publicly available information about this field of activity. The greatest attention should be paid to real stories and reviews of people working in this area. Only they are able to give an idea of the nuances that, at first glance, are implicit.

For popular industries, for example, a cafe or a beauty salon, you can find a sample business plan for reference or even special services that help in its formation. For more specific industries, the amount of information publicly available may be limited.

If there is a clear lack of data for analysis, it is best to seek paid advice from specialists - they will help fill in the gaps in knowledge.

SWOT analysis

This type of analysis is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an idea when information about the latter is available. Conducting a SWOT analysis helps to visually correlate the pros, cons and dangers of a future project in order to conduct a holistic assessment of them.

The name encodes the essence of the method as an abbreviation: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is in these four columns that the data is distributed in the SWOT analysis.

Towards strengths include the advantages that the chosen niche has.
Weak sides should be described in as much detail as possible, as they are needed in order to eliminate them in the future. This column includes all the shortcomings in the theoretical implementation of the plan, from low profitability to the lack of own premises.

Strengths and weaknesses, for the most part, are internal factors that are directly influenced by the founder.

Opportunities and threats, on the contrary, are considered external factors that must either be used or adjusted to and taken into account. A sample table for conducting a SWOT analysis of a production project for a business plan is presented below:

Writing a resume

One of the elements of writing a business plan from scratch is writing a resume.

This element is always located at the beginning of the business plan and contains some brief information about it, forcing people who decide to read the contents of the document to become interested in it and continue reading it.

This is most important when searching for potential investors and lenders.

Despite the placement of this element in the document, the founder does not begin working on it before writing a business plan for a small business, since the executive summary is the section that provides consolidated information from the rest of the business plan.

Accordingly, work on the resume is the last thing the founder begins - this is, for the most part, the business card of the project for external users of information.

The main points that counterparties want to see in a resume are usually the possible level of profitability from investing in the development of a project, as well as the risks assumed for such investments.

Often the purpose of the project is included in a separate section.

In this subparagraph, it is necessary to indicate the goals and objectives set for the business, as well as argue for the success of the future enterprise. Often at this point the results obtained from SWOT analysis are used.

Analysis of the company’s place in the market

This section usually contains an overview of competition in the selected industry, presented by the number of competing firms and their market shares, product specifics and sales volume, if such data is present.

Also, this section usually includes data on the planned size of the organization being created and competing organizations: number of employees, production capacity, and so on.

Check it out (download).

Based on this analysis, a promising place in the industry is usually determined, that is, the market share that is planned to be occupied in the future and in what time frame this should happen. If a business plan is drawn up for external users, then this point is one of the fundamental ones and should be disclosed in detail.

As advantages, you can take into account the experience of hired employees and managers, possible prospects for the development of the organization, various know-how, and so on.

When it becomes necessary to write a business plan yourself, you need to pay special attention to some mandatory elements in its content. In the case of a marketing plan, such elements are tools for product promotion, demand analysis, as well as preliminary sales directions, especially when it comes to production.

Product promotion tools are usually advertising, direct sales, and other options, depending on the field of activity.

In some cases, competent merchandising can be used as a promotion tool. It is also necessary to indicate by what means the promotion will be carried out: will it be a special department, a separate employee, or outsourced services from companies and inviting third-party specialists.

Marketing demand research is an extremely complex and serious job, therefore, if you do not have confidence in your own skills, it is better to leave it to professionals. In this case, the likelihood that such research will be positively assessed by creditors will be higher.

However, if it is important exactly how to draw up a business plan yourself from start to finish, then it is necessary to take into account not only the volume of demand at a particular moment, but also its seasonal fluctuations, elasticity under the influence of the price factor, average prices for goods, and the possibility of stimulating demand.

If there are already preliminary options for selling products, it would be good to indicate them and draw up your own sales program for each, which will include sales volumes for the period, revenue, tax administration (for example, payment of VAT if the counterparty is not its payer etc.), methods and terms of delivery and payment. Here you can specify the rules and content of future promotions and discounts, if there are any developments on them.

It would be good to draw up a forecast sales table with calculations of total revenue for each counterparty or for each product. Tables can have a simple but informative appearance:

If possible, it is better to provide accompanying documentation with the amounts so that prices and volumes are not taken out of thin air. Also, you should not deliberately overestimate the prospects if such documentation is not available - this section should not raise doubts among investors.

Production plan

One of the most important elements of any business plan. It is necessary to understand that this part of the plan applies not only to production enterprises - the production plan includes the entire process of functioning of the organization.

An exception may be a business in which no personnel actions are taken with the products at all - for example, a wholesale store that simply purchases products, stores them in a warehouse, and then sells them.

If we consider the business plan of a restaurant or coffee shop, then the production plan includes everything from the purchase of products for cooking and the time of preparation of a dish or drink, to the equipment used, the cost and shelf life of the finished dish, as well as the process of maintaining existing equipment and mechanisms .

This paragraph, depending on the field of activity, should include:

Costs of raw materials and other production costs.
Costs for purchasing equipment and premises.
Labor costs.
General production and general business expenses - rent, utilities, etc.
Overheads.

In addition to expenses, this paragraph describes in detail the work processes, the timing of each production cycle and storage of products, the useful life of equipment, mechanisms of interaction between different departments, requirements for employees, planned wages, their calculation schedule, and so on.

As a result, you can present a production plan outlined in sub-items, starting with the purchase of raw materials and ending with the payment of wages and the sale of final products.

Organizational plan

In this section it is necessary to describe the structure of the company and its management system. This includes the organizational structure, staffing table, information about the management of the enterprise, founders, organizational and legal form, planned management mechanisms, and distribution of responsibilities.

(download in PDF).

This section also discusses the process of documenting activities in the process of its organization, with references to the primary legal acts according to which the registration and operation of the enterprise will take place. As a rule, this item is written in order, starting with the rental of premises and ending with the launch of production.

This section of the plan, regardless of the purpose of the document, must be disclosed in as much detail as possible, since it determines how much planned expenses and income in the future will coincide with real ones.

This item represents the preparation of calculation documentation for planned costs, as well as approximate revenue volumes. The best option for presenting this information is in a table, with separate explanations, since the amount of information in the financial plan of even a small enterprise is quite large.

It is imperative to remember that the enterprise has fixed costs that do not depend on the volume of production, such as rent, and variables determined by the volume of output. It is also necessary to take into account the cost of maintenance and repair of units, and all this must be taken into account when calculating the unit cost of production. Fixed assets transfer their value to finished products gradually, so their cost is taken into account as part of the cost depending on their useful life in the form of depreciation.

(download).

After the cost per unit of production has been calculated, as well as the volume of fixed costs over a period of time, the break-even volume of production is calculated - that is, the amount of product that must be produced and sold at a given price in order to fully cover the cost and fixed costs. A further increase in production and sales volumes will mean increased profits.

Also in this section it is necessary to present the payback period of the project, which in a simplified form is calculated as the ratio of initial costs to monthly net profit. The result will be in months.

This section can also include other indicators necessary depending on the scope of the enterprise’s activities. In general, the more detailed information is presented in this section, the better. For example, in the case of opening an online store, you can create a table like this:

Risk identification

At this point, it is necessary to consider the various risks that are inherent in the industry, region or type of activity, assess their theoretically possible impact on the organization’s activities and possible damage, and also describe in detail how to counter them, highlighting those that will be used in certain situations.

If the business plan is being drawn up for internal use, this section should be made as detailed as possible - this can be very helpful in the future.

When drawing up a document for investors, you can omit some implicit risks, but in no case should you omit the obvious ones - this will be noticed and perceived as a shortcoming or short-sightedness of the founder. When developing this point, the founder will also be helped by a SWOT analysis carried out at the beginning.

Formation of applications

Applications are a mandatory element of a business plan, especially those compiled for external use. All possible documents confirming the points expressed earlier by the founder are attached to the plan as appendices.

It is highly advisable to confirm all figures, for example, with official statistics, reporting documentation of similar companies, letters of guarantee and certificates, and so on.

It is also important to attach to the appendices various agreements concluded with counterparties or other founders, existing company documentation, documents certifying the qualifications and data of the founders and planned management personnel, and in general all possible documents confirming the information and judgments presented in the business plan itself.

Such documents must be referenced in the text of the plan. Too voluminous calculations or diagrams can also be included here.

An individual approach is required for the preparation of each business plan, however, there are some general recommendations that apply to most similar documents, according to which you can either draw up a business plan for an individual entrepreneur for internal use, or develop a plan for creditors of an existing large enterprise.

Reflect the real situation. If your plans take into account grossly overestimated profitability indicators or too low prices for raw materials, you may end up with a completely different financial result than was calculated in the marketing plan.
Write in literate, understandable language. If the business plan is written confusingly and with a lot of errors, no investor or lender will consider such a document seriously.
Take into account the nuances. It is necessary to pay attention to such things as seasonal changes in prices for certain goods and services, and climatic conditions affecting production. For example, in different regions, the cost of heating workshop premises, especially large ones, can vary greatly.
Draw up a business plan succinctly, but without unnecessary volume. The usual length of this document is 20-25 pages, excluding attachments. If it turns out to be much larger, then it is better to include all documents, voluminous calculations and diagrams in applications.
Calculate costs as accurately as possible. If the price of a particular product or raw material fluctuates greatly, it is better to take the maximum values, so that in the event of another price fluctuation there is no unpleasant surprise in the form of a loss of profitability.
Read similar documents. Working on a plan is much easier when you have an example of writing a business plan at hand. To do this, below are examples of business plans in different areas that can be taken as a basis.

Conclusion

Drawing up a business plan is a rather complex and time-consuming task. However, a well-drafted business plan can be considered half of starting your own business. Each industry has its own specifics in drawing up this document, but there are some general points that must be taken into account when drawing up a high-quality business plan.

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Most likely Each of us has come across ideas that we lacked either knowledge or strength to implement. However, clearly constructing a plan and following its guidelines helps to realize any idea and achieve your goals. To implement a business idea, entrepreneurs are faced with the question of how to create a business plan, which will be discussed in this article, the purpose of which is to help beginners organize their business and calculate all the pros and cons of a new project.

You will learn how to make a business plan that will help you understand your assets and, in case of their shortage, you can count on the support of sponsors who want to invest their investments in a worthwhile business.

What is a small business business plan, what does it consist of, and who is developing it?

This business organization tool will help you take a more organized approach to the implementation of your idea and the related preparatory work.

Having analyzed ideas for your business, the question arises: how to draw up a business plan?

How to write a business plan for a small business and what is included in its structure:

Goals and objectives;
Market analysis;
Product;
Marketing plan;
Organizational plan;
Management personnel;
Material resources;

Goals and functions

A properly drawn up business plan reveals the idea itself, its functions, the means necessary for the task, and the final profit. It reflects the current economic and material activities of the enterprise and shows further prospects for its implementation.

When drawing up a business plan correctly, it is necessary to follow its guidance until external or internal factors put such pressure on it that it requires adjustment.

It should be noted that a business plan is a long-term document, which is calculated for 2-3 years of its implementation.

Business plan functions:

Calculate the activities necessary to achieve the goal.
Present a project to receive investment.

Composition of the document

The document consists of two conventional parts, a description of the project and a presentation of the strengths of the idea.

Project summary;
General provisions;
Market analysis;
Marketing and strategic plan;
Costs;
Investments.

How to learn how to draw up your own business plan outline yourself - step-by-step instructions

How to build a business plan, the face of your future business, because any business at the initial stage of its inception requires clear planning. How to write a business plan, the step-by-step instructions presented in this article will help you do it correctly.

Assessing the prospects of the promoted product or service

Focusing on relative market share and the growth rate of sales volumes in the market may not provide the necessary information, since market demand is constantly changing. Also, the intensity of competitive growth makes the market unstable and unattractive.

Therefore, it is necessary to assess the prospects of the promoted product as follows:

Columns 2-5 are rated on a four-point scale: 4 - good, 3 - average, 2 - below average, 1 - bad. The final score will show how promising your promoted product is.

Making a cheat sheet for yourself

To visually represent the feasibility of your project, it would be good to build a Gantt chart, which will display the dates of implementation of various stages of the idea’s promotion.

Based on market analysis and product competitiveness, a strategic and tactical course of action to conquer the market is built.

Pricing policy is carried out based on economic calculations and expected income.

Thus, the Gantt chart helps to achieve three main goals:

graphically visualize and simplify the perception and evaluation of your project;
helps to realistically assess the sequence and timing of the project;
makes it possible at any time to analyze the current affairs of the project and the progress of their implementation, which facilitates the process of its management.

Setting a goal

Developing a business plan begins with setting goals, for this you will need to honestly determine:

What do I want to achieve?
What benefit do I get from this?
Why and who needs my project?
Then formulate the goal of the project.
In the end, I need to decide why I am writing a business plan.

Preliminary analysis of the market and competitors

In parallel with writing a business plan or before, a market analysis is carried out, the assessment of which will directly determine the success of your project. Having focused on a specific market niche and target audience, a thorough analysis is carried out to identify the relevance of your idea and its implementation. During the analysis, an excess supply may be revealed, then the idea should be adjusted according to the state of affairs on the market. In case of increased demand, you can safely get down to business. You can use outsourcing to analyze the market, but to organize your own business it would be better to research this issue yourself; this will help you give an objective assessment of your business and determine the strengths and weaknesses of your project.

Determining the strengths and weaknesses of your project

It identifies the most likely problematic aspects and prospects of business ideas.

To carry out the analysis, use the SWOT matrix.

How to competently draw up the structure of a production project for investors - content of the main sections

The typical structure of a business plan and the content of its main sections to attract investors consists of several parts:

Summary - the summary of the project, which is displayed on the title page, plays a leading role in the consideration of the project by investors.

Business characteristics – detailed information on the business.

Market analysis - description of the market situation in your case.

Project Description – rationale and description of the idea, especially its commercial side.

How to write a business plan yourself to attract investors? This will require a high level of skill and knowledge in your field, as well as experience and time to write the project. However, the implementation of such an idea may be rewarded with financial investments.

Summary

The project summary, although located at the beginning, is compiled at the very end of writing the plan. When the document is completely ready, it will be easier for you to present a summary of the project itself.

The resume includes several aspects:

objective of the project;
financial need;
competitiveness.

Whether your project will be considered further or not depends on how competently and professionally you approach writing your resume.

Project idea and SWOT analysis

To present a detailed description of your business, it is important to maintain a balance, not to overdo it with details, but at the same time to provide all the information an investor needs on the topic. To do this, you can describe the general characteristics of the enterprise, the quantitative composition and professionalism of the working structure, talk about the main goods or services, promising aspects of production and other aspects of the business.

A SWOT analysis will help you give a realistic assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, and will also indicate possible risks or promising aspects of the project.

SWOT means:

Strengths– strengths and prospects;

Weaknesse s – weaknesses and shortcomings;

Opportunities– chances, opportunities;

Threats– risks.

This section of the business plan is small in content, but the analysis process itself is considered quite complex and takes a lot of time.

Conduct a market analysis tailored to your specific needs. Marketing analysis will help you collect complete information on competitors and consumers, and determine your target audience.
The next stage will be to determine the optimal location of the office, enterprise, which will be convenient for the consumer. To do this, you will need to compare the number of consumers needed for the business to pay off with the audience that is within the radius of the proposed location.
If the market is oversaturated with competitors, you will need to think through your strategic move, focusing on the uniqueness of your product or service.
Determine distribution channels.
Calculate the necessary costs to attract a consumer.
Decide on a pricing policy, which tactic will be the most profitable, high cost with little demand or competitive price with a large flow of consumers.
Service and maintenance are also not unimportant for most clients, and they are willing to pay more for the high quality service they receive.

Production

This section covers the essence of your business in detail: what do you plan to do?

The production plan indicates:

suppliers of goods and equipment;
location of the enterprise;
what is the productivity;
production of products step by step;
employee qualification level;
calculation of required contributions to various funds,
logistics costs.

Many factors influence how much money will be spent on implementing a future business.

When describing the technology of the final production result, you will discover other aspects of your idea that did not come to mind before. There will be questions related to the storage of goods or problems with the delivery of imported raw materials, and a lack of qualified specialists in this field.

After all the subtleties, let's move on to the financial part. Subsequently, it may be necessary to make adjustments to the plan itself, for example, reduce costs or change production technology.

This section describes the entire structure of the enterprise and its management. This scheme simplifies the system of distribution of rights and powers of structural units.

Assuming the organization of the entire company, it will be easier to draw up a system of interaction between departments and personnel policies.

The organizational chart allows you to plunge into the depths of production and reveals the truth of who and how will bring the project to reality.

Finance

When drawing up a financial plan, it is important to decide how much investment will be required to start, how long it will take to pay off, and how the income and expenses of your business will be regulated.

The first thing you need to calculate is how much money you will need to invest in organizing and implementing the stability of your business. After which the expected profit is calculated, the average number of consumers per month is predicted. This will allow you to calculate the real payback period of the project. This stage will help determine what number of clients there should be during the month, and what the amount should be in order for the invested capital to pay off in a certain period of time.

The calculation indicators in this section will help you weigh all the pros and cons of this project, and understand whether the game is worth the candle or not. Potential investors also evaluate the project based on the data provided in the “Finance” section.

The financial section directly connects all points of the business plan.

In view of this, if adjustments or additions are made to any of the sections, this will certainly affect the financial calculations, or vice versa, changes and adjustments in finance will affect other structures.

Risk forecast

Taking financial indicators as a basis, compare the entire essence of the business plan and give an objective assessment of what you see. Is the material presented in an accessible way? What sides does it reveal? If I were an investor, would I invest in it?

If your answers were positive, then you have completed the first stage of your activity perfectly, you can proceed to the next stage, the implementation of your idea! This outcome of events opens the way for a successful start to your project.

How for a beginner to write a short overview (resume) of a project - rules for writing

The resume is the leading character of the project, the basis of the business plan, revealing the contents of the package on one sheet of paper, often after reading which investors either show interest in getting to know the project in more depth, or leave it without even looking inside. Therefore, in order to present it adequately and clearly, time is allocated to it last, when the entire document has already been compiled.

A well-presented resume will create the right impression about its author, his ideas and plans.

Goals and objectives of the company

Briefly describe the essence of the activity, mention at what stage of development your business is.

For example, the goal of the project is to open a clothing store for the whole family “Happy Family”.

Or the goal of the project is to open a chain of coffee shops and confectioneries “Bonjour”, where the products of the confectionery factory will be sold under the same logo.

Essence of the project and business concept

A short description of your business activity, its specifics and stages of development.

Brief Analysis

The analysis of the market situation includes a summary of the market research conducted, which also includes the marketing area:

The total effective demand for the proposed sales product or service.
Characteristics of the competitive group.
Product competitiveness.
To give the resume greater weight in the eyes of investors, information sources are indicated that are trustworthy and that well-known marketers participate in the market analysis; the entire marketing move rests on this.

What does the marketing of an organization look like, how to prepare the main parts?

For the first stage of business development, a marketing plan is important, which includes the target audience, an advertising campaign that attracts and retains the attention of buyers.

A well-designed marketing plan will be your guide, following which you will not only get the maximum number of loyal consumers, but also increase the profit of your organization.

Part I. Summary of current products and/or background to new ones

Summary of current products. This will require a thorough analysis of how goals and marketing plans were achieved last year, what strategies and tactics were used, which worked and which did not produce results. Highlight the key lessons learned from last year's marketing system, describe the lessons learned, and apply them to the new year.
Prerequisites for creating a new product. To introduce a new product to the market, you will need to briefly and simply describe the idea for it. A carefully developed new product concept will be outlined in the body of the plan. It is advisable to cite the source of the idea for a new product that will highlight the need for it.

Part II. Situational analysis

A situational analysis is the rationale behind your marketing planning, the foundation that will provide reliable support for your decisions and the reasons for a particular approach. Assessing the compliance of unit strategies and tactics with the prerequisites of the constructed plan.

Part III. Strategic direction

Brief description of the main direction of the product, target audience, benefits and positioning, performance criteria.

How to make a production plan, what are the correct points?

The development of a business plan for an enterprise also includes a production plan, which determines the number of workers and the amount of resources necessary for the production of goods;

The production plan includes:

manufacturing process;
the enterprise's needs for inventories, materials, fixed assets;
product quality control and production process;
main suppliers of various materials;
production facilities - use, location, advantages, disadvantages, buildings, adjustments;
personnel - the number of employees of different specialties, their salary, level of training or qualifications.

Important for the production plan is a description of the achievement of quality control, purchasing and production costs, and maintenance provision.

Cost control is carried out on the basis of cost analysis, which determines the compliance of planned and standard volumes. Due to the importance of cost control in every organizational process, the enterprise must know at what stage the product is at and demand reporting from managers competent in this matter.

Procurement control. Helps control supply discipline, track the quality of raw materials, quantity, characteristics and prices of goods from suppliers.

To make this control simple and effective, use the following steps:

collect maximum truthful and accurate data about the conditions and dates of deliveries;
collect data on the quality of supplies and their compliance with production standards;
obtain data on supplier prices.

Supplier control. To do this, one or two suppliers are selected for long-term cooperation, which ultimately ensures reliability of supply and efficiency from cooperation.

Inventory control. To do this, they use a re-order system after completing a certain level. Repeated ordering is used to minimize the ongoing costs of storing inventory, and this approach also ensures the proper level of customer service.

Maintenance control. This need must be taken into account at the initial stages of equipment design in the production plan.

Quality control. A comprehensive customer-oriented program improves the quality of production processes and products.

This activity carries out constant monitoring of product quality to ensure compliance with established GOSTs and standards.

How to develop and build an organizational chart?

To build a basic work schedule, a general production plan is required. The basic organizational system clearly records the type and quantity of each individual product produced, and provides detailed information about how, where and when it will be produced tomorrow, next week, next month. The data also includes the number of working class, production needs. The organizational chart first divides the overall plan into separate detailed operational subplans for each product, which are then combined into the overall production plan discussed above.

How to calculate a financial plan - step by step calculation

Due to the insufficiently stable market situation, when conducting business analysis, experts have to pay attention not only to mathematical calculations of the potential income of organizations. It is also very important to take into account the level of demand for the product/service being produced, as well as the social component of the field of activity where the organization is developing.

Since the economic component of business development is influenced by many factors, it is not always possible to bring the company to the desired level of profitability. Therefore, the financial plan is designed to control the company’s profits and expenses, which allows the owner of the organization not to incur losses.

When calculating a financial plan, you should pay attention to 3 important criteria:

effectiveness of the financial plan;
possible risks;
final analysis of the financial plan.

Determining the effectiveness of the financial plan is an important point at the planning stage. This is what allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s activities in the market in a competitive environment.

When calculating a financial plan, the most significant are such indicators.

This is the amount of expected profit based on the cost of the product/service at the moment.

The reasons for the change in the indicator may be:

inflation;
risk of loss of investment;
investments generate predicted returns.

If during calculations this indicator has a value of 0, this indicates the absence of unprofitability.

Profitability

Profitability is a comprehensive indicator of the financial productivity of a company. Using this indicator, the owner has the opportunity to understand how successful his project is, and also to understand whether the income received is stable.

If the profitability indicator is negative, it means that the company does not generate income, but only losses.

The profitability indicator is classified into 2 groups:

sales ratio - the percentage of income from each unit of currency (allows you to understand the effectiveness of pricing policy, as well as regulate expenses);
asset profitability is a relative indicator of business performance (allows you to see the possibility of making a profit from the company’s activities).

Payback period

This is a time indicator that reflects the period during which the full payback of the business occurs.

The payback indicator is divided into the following subgroups:

a simple indicator (this is the time period after which the investor will be able to return the invested funds);
dynamic indicator (to calculate the indicator, data on the value of funds is used, which depends on the inflation threshold throughout the entire time).

As a rule, it is the dynamic indicator that always prevails over the simple one.

To calculate a financial plan, you need to use the following formulas.

Net discount income is calculated as follows:

NPV=NK+(D1-R1)/(1+SD1)+(D2-R2)/(1+SD2)+(D3-R3)/(1+SD3), where

NK – initial capital of costs and investments;
D1-D3 – income by year, depending on the number next to it;
P1-P3 – expenses by year, depending on the numbers next to them;
SD – discount rate.

To calculate profitability it is necessary

ROOD=POR/PZ, where

ROOD – profitability from the main activity;
POR – profit from sales;
PP – incurred costs.

CO=NK/NPV, where

СО – payback period;
NK – initial capital (if necessary, additional investments are added to this figure);
NPV is the company's net discount income.

Despite the simplicity of the formulas, today it is more convenient to carry out calculations using specialized programs. If you are new to business, it is easier to purchase demo versions of such programs; their cost is several times less, and the functionality is similar.

How to correctly calculate a risk forecast - detailed procedure

Since creating a financial plan from scratch takes a lot of time, sometimes it is easier to analyze the existing one and correct weak points. This will speed up the process of generating profit from the organization’s activities.

As they say, risk is a noble cause, but this expression should not be used in business. It is the financial plan that serves to ensure that the company can prevent unpleasant situations in order to avoid losses. It is very important to consider all possible situations and choose the safest solution.

According to the sphere of influence, risks are classified into 3 groups.

Commercial

External factors of commercial risks are:

decline in demand for manufactured products/services;
unexpected appearance of a competitor on the market;
deception on the part of business partners (supply of low-quality raw materials, delays in the supply of goods, etc.);
instability of prices for technical support and services.

These are only the most common external reasons that can negatively affect your financial plan. It is very important to consider the scope of the company's activities and consider the impact of each specific unforeseen situation in a timely manner.

Financial

Financial risks include unexpected expense items, as well as unexpected profits.

The reasons for financial risks may lie in the following:

in late payments for goods/services by customers;
accounts receivable;
increased rates from creditors;
changes in legislation that entail an increase in prices for doing business;
unstable currency situation on world markets.

Controlling the above risks allows you to avoid possible losses and bankruptcy.

Production

Such risks are associated with changes in the company’s operating mode due to unforeseen circumstances.

The cause of production risk may be:

insufficient level of qualification of workers;
protests and strikes that lead to interruptions in the organization’s work schedule;
production of low-quality products, which entails a decrease in demand for the product and a decrease in sales;
There is no quality control of manufactured goods.

If such risks are not controlled in a timely manner when drawing up a financial plan, investments in the business will be unjustified (no income, losses growing).

In order to avoid all kinds of risks, it is worth using risk management techniques. To do this, they can use risk resolution tools, as well as techniques to reduce the degree of risk.

Means for resolving risks may be:

risk avoidance (avoiding a situation that may entail risk, often implies that the investor refuses to make a profit);
risk retention (responsibility for possible negative consequences rests with the investor making the decision);
transfer of risk (the investor transfers responsibility for the risk, for example, to an insurance company).

Risk Reduction

This is a reduction in the volume of losses and a decrease in the likelihood of a risky situation occurring. To reduce the likelihood, various techniques and means can be used.

Diversification

The essence of diversification lies in the division of capital between different investors who are connected with each other, as well as different forms of activity of the organization itself, goods produced/services provided. Diversification is the most reasonable and less expensive way to reduce financial risks. But, the risk of investments can be dissipated through diversification, but it is still impossible to reduce the probability to zero. This is due to the fact that there are external factors (unrelated to the choice of investment objects) that cannot be influenced downwards.

Obtaining additional data and information

Maximum knowledge of information allows for the most accurate forecasting and reduces the likelihood of risks for decision making - this makes data and information as valuable as possible.

Limitation

The essence of limiting is setting a limit - the maximum allowable amount of expenses, sales, lending, etc.

Self-insurance

This procedure means that the entrepreneur decides to insure himself, rather than purchasing insurance from insurance companies. This reduces the cost of capital for insurance. The essence of self-insurance is the creation of reserve funds, the task of the procedure is to overcome temporary financial difficulties as quickly as possible.

Insurance

This is the most popular and important technique for reducing risks. The essence of insurance is that an organization is ready to give up a certain part of its income in order to avoid risk. In simple terms, a company is willing to pay to reduce the likelihood of risk and financial losses to zero.

To avoid the most unpleasant consequences, the company owner must regularly resort to preventive measures, for example, analyzing the activity of competitors in the market.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the financial plan can be considered successful in the following situation:

if high incomes are visible, but financial costs are minimal;
when predicted risks are eliminated at an early stage;
when the enterprise’s activities provide worthy competition to similar companies;
when the company has a material and technical base and funds are invested in it;
provided there is documentary evidence of the company’s profitability.

A financial plan has many subtleties. Thanks to the correct analysis of the data obtained, it is possible to eliminate shortcomings and avoid unprofitability.

After familiarizing yourself with the general requirements for writing a business plan, we can conclude that before you begin to realize your dream, it is still important to lay out a detailed plan for achieving it on paper, calculate all the pros and cons, and ultimately begin to act according to your plan.

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