How to draw up a business plan step by step. Risk assessment. Ways to minimize risks. Business plan - what is it

To begin with, I'll tell you briefly about my business results. At the moment, I am the owner of several large Internet projects, the total cost of which is more than several million rubles, including a website portal. It is for this reason that I can openly express my opinion regarding business planning and various business processes. The knowledge and skills that I own were acquired not in a university and a textbook, but in conditions of market competition through dozens of experiments.

To write or not to write a business plan?

Let's open any of the university textbooks on business, and each of them will say that business begins with a business plan. And let the bearded professors with glasses not like what I will say next, but let's start from what results these professors have achieved in business. As a rule, these are theorists who have never led large companies... But they all repeat that a well-written business plan is 50% of the success of your future company.

Honestly, I even find it funny at such moments. You can plan for at least a whole year, make a plan for 100 A4 sheets, and then your business will fail.
Do you know why? Because this is the market! The market is constantly changing, transforming, and it is cruel, especially to newcomers. You can never predict everything that can happen to you or your business idea. That is why my personal opinion boils down to the fact that drawing up a business plan for a long time is killing your time.

There are a few situations though where a business plan might come in handy.

When is a business plan really needed?

In our age of bureaucracy, you simply cannot do without a business plan in two main cases:

- You want to receive a grant or subsidy for business development from the state.
Unfortunately, the business support system in the Russian Federation is such that without a business plan, you will not even be accepted. The main reason is that most officials in business support centers, they have no idea what business is, because they have never studied them and are used to acting according to textbooks and regulations. The principle works here: the more paper in a business plan, the better. In the eyes of officials, such a business plan will look as if serious work has been done on it.

- You are preparing a business plan for an investor.

It is important to clearly understand that an investor is far from an official! As a rule, this is already an experienced businessman who will not poke around in the sheaf of papers that you brought him. For him, two things matter most:
1) The idea you came up with. She must "infect" him, he must want to do this business.
2) How well you understand the topic. Be prepared for dozens of questions. And you will have to answer all these questions.

Perhaps these are the two main situations in which you really need a business plan.

When you don't need to make a business plan!

I remember when I was 22 years old, I even bought myself a clever book called Business Planning Writing. At that time, I generally had a vague idea of business. Now I can say that it was one of my most stupid acquisitions. I wanted to write a business plan FOR YOURSELF! Never write business plans for yourself! Better to devote this time to studying the market, study it inside and out, and finally, start your business. The maximum time that you can spend on creating a business plan is 1-2 hours of working time! Just take a piece of paper, a pen and calculate all the indicators. A business plan should fit on a maximum of 1 sheet of paper, no need to write 30-page Talmuds!

Sample Business Plan "Business on Social Networks"

One of the main areas of my businesses is the social media business, namely the public page business.

I want to note right away that the data presented is already confirmed, and I drew up this business plan after launching the project and making a profit from it. That is, after the fact. I will add my comments to each paragraph.

Idea: creation of a public VKontakte page for the purpose of selling advertisements on it, your products, participating in affiliate programs.

Ways to make money on the project:
— advertising sale,
— partnership programs,
- selling your goods.

Main affiliate programs:
— ,
— .

What products can be sold:
- women's products for beauty and health,
- goods for kids,
- goods for the household.

Analysis of a competitor's project

Sample business plan "Parking"

Of course, I couldn't help citing a typical university-style business plan as an example! And such an example was the BP model for organizing a parking lot. As for my opinion about of this business plan, I can say that the abundance of figures in it can please only an official or a teacher at the university, but not a real entrepreneur. You can download this business plan at the link located just below:

Startup Basics: Good financial plan, not drive and cats

A business plan is the first step towards the implementation of any project and implementation of activities. After all, any idea, even the most original and promising, must be confirmed by deep analysis. competitive environment, financial calculations. In this article, we will expand on what a business plan is, its basic structure and provide a step-by-step guide to writing it.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make a very common mistake and don't bother writing a business plan. Believing it to be a waste of time, they are missing out on the opportunities that planning provides. They do not see the benefits that can be obtained by analyzing and planning activities.

You should not treat this document as a simple formality that is necessary for meeting with investors and presenting your idea to creditors and business partners. The work on the document should be comprehensive. Even if different sections are assigned to individual specialists: economists, marketers, etc., they must work as a team. Indeed, the document must take into account all aspects of the project: the technical, legal part, the nuances of taxation, product sales.

When attracting investors and lenders, experts recommend working on two documents at the same time: on the internal and external plan. External document performed for business partners, people who need to be convinced to invest money. It should not distort the data, because it will be studied by specialists.

At the same time, by analyzing the competitive environment or assessing all the weaknesses of the project, you can focus more on the advantages and strengths. In this case, investors will see the promise of the idea, and you will have a better chance of getting approval.

The inner plan is your personal step-by-step guide, which should fully reflect the real situation. Here you no longer need to hush up about some of the weaknesses of the project, but try to calculate everything possible risks that can jeopardize the implementation of the idea.

5 reasons to start planning

Business security assessment

Before expanding activities and investing in the purchase of equipment, rental of premises, you should assess the main risks that threaten to nullify all efforts.

A business plan will help you see the failure of an idea even before its implementation. If already at the planning stage, when calculating costs, income and assessing profitability, financial errors are noticeable, then perhaps you should postpone the implementation of the idea until better times or even switch to another project.

Attraction of additional investments from outside

Most business ideas require an impressive start-up capital, which a budding entrepreneur may not always have. At the same time, there are people who are ready to invest their money in interesting project subject to its relevance and prospects.

In this case, one cannot do without such a document, and detailed planning, market analysis, assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the project will allow investors to evaluate the idea and make a decision on the investment.

Getting a loan from a bank

Today there are many credit organizations that are ready to issue a loan for a business, but they need to demonstrate a document that lists expenses, payback period, and calculation of profitability.

A business plan allows you to effectively manage an existing business

This moment is of interest to those entrepreneurs who are thinking about expanding their business, opening additional branches or diversifying. Detailed planning and assessment of the market situation will make sure that the company needs to expand, avoid financial losses and possible mistakes.

Clear goal setting

In addition to wanting to start your own business that will generate income, you need to set a clear goal. Of course, it should be expressed in monetary terms, but other indicators are also important, such as the volume of the company, quality of service, range of services, etc. A business plan will allow you not to deviate from the chosen course and calculate the shortest path to achieving your goal.

Errors when writing a business plan

A business plan is a kind of roadmap, a scheme that will allow you to move in the right direction, bypassing all obstacles and dangers. As in any other business, when writing a business plan, it is easy to make mistakes that not only prevent you from moving on, but can also cause serious financial risks.

There are two serious mistakes that planning initiators make. The first is the assignment of writing a plan to companies specializing in the provision of such services. The second is data distortion and errors in financial, marketing or production planning.

The first mistake can lead to the fact that third-party specialists will not be able to fully assess all possible risks and specific features of the business. The second mistake leads to financial collapse, because without understanding the intricacies of drawing up a document, an entrepreneur makes many serious mistakes.

There are no stereotyped business plans, just as there are no identical situations. Even if the document is drawn up for similar stores located in the same region, they will have completely different performance indicators.

All mistakes that aspiring entrepreneurs can make in the document can be divided into three categories:

Technical flaws. As a rule, this is due to incorrect statistical data, shallow analysis of the market and the industry, shortcomings in financial miscalculations.
Conceptual inaccuracies. This is mainly due to the lack of experience, misunderstanding of production technology, lack of special education.
Methodical errors. This may be an incorrectly chosen legal basis for registering a business, an incorrect form of taxation, ambiguity regarding the ownership of the production part, premises. All this can alert the investor, demonstrating your incompetence and forcing him to refuse to invest in the project.

Where to start a business plan?

Any planning must start with the idea itself.

Step by step work on the plan can be represented as follows:

Search for an initial idea.
Analysis of the competitive environment.
Work on the financial part of the project.
Drawing up a document.

Spending time on an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment, on assessing opportunities and threats, you will receive a detailed, high-quality document that you can use to obtain a bank loan or convince potential investors that your business is a real place to place your money.

How to write a business plan yourself?

For many people who are just thinking about starting their own business, the very thought of writing such a document is scary and repulsive.

Beginners often find this difficult to do, and they prefer to seek help from specialists. As mentioned above, there is a certain risk in the failure of such an idea. People who are poorly versed in the specifics of the customer's business may not be able to do a deep analysis of the situation, which will initially distort the data and will not give a real idea of the prospects and direction of the business.

To facilitate the task, experts advise contacting specialists and third-party organizations only for certain calculations where deep economic knowledge is required.

Plan structure

Whatever field of activity the business belongs to, it is necessary to adhere to a clear structure, without missing any of the sections:

Title (company address, name, contact details).
Summary.
General description of the idea and mission.
Market analysis.
Marketing part.
Production plan.
Organizational part (search for premises, recruitment, purchase of equipment).
Financial plan (business model, calculation of profitability, payback).

Step-by-step instructions: how to write a business plan correctly

Title

This is the first front side of the document, which should reflect the name of the organization, full name. director, date.

Sometimes it is allowed to make a thesis of the main financial indicators on the title page.

Summary

Despite the fact that this section comes first, it is written after all the calculations. By this time should already be on hand detailed analysis competitive environment, SWOT analysis, calculations of payback and profitability.

It is with the resume that potential investors and lenders begin their acquaintance.

The following aspects should be reflected here:

corporate values companies;
mission;
corporate vision.

Corporate values

In this part, it is necessary to concisely explain what the idea, essence and corporate values are. The description of corporate values is not an empty formality. This is what determines the further path of the company, indicates its further vector, the path of development.

Any company, regardless of size and staff, must have specific values and goals. This is what will help keep the company afloat in the first crisis.

How do you find the very corporate values that will reflect your company's idea? It's just enough to think about the staff who will work in the company, what it should be, to outline briefly the attitude towards the client and service. Put all these thoughts on paper, and then correctly transfer them to the document.

The task, of course, is not an easy one, but a clear understanding of the principles, understanding of the goal sometimes allows you to keep the company afloat even in a difficult economic situation.

Mission

The mission statement of the company allows you to summarize the essence of the project and indicate why your company will be useful to people. In this part, there should not be a word about making a profit and the further development of the company.

Focus on what you ultimately plan to sell, market, produce. Just 2-3 sentences are enough to indicate the main idea of the company. For example, Apple's mission statement is that “it works to meet the knowledge and security needs of people. innovative technologies". And the Coca-Cola company promises to bring joy and optimism to people.

Corporate vision

This is also a short and capacious part, where in two or three sentences you should indicate what kind of company you see in the foreseeable future. There is no need to make long-term plans and indicate the profit in numbers. The item should demonstrate the purpose of what the firm is striving for. Vision and mission must overlap.

After defining the goal and mission, you should move on to drawing up short-term and long-term goals. How do they differ and how to compose them correctly?

Short-term goals, as a rule, are drawn up for 6-12 months and clearly answer the question to which financial performance the company should come in a year. Long-term goals can be drawn up for 1-5 years and allow you to see the financial prospects.

When setting goals, you must adhere to the following rules:

They should be clear and specific. For example: “The company needs to increase its profits by 20%. Open a second branch, etc. ”.
Goals must be measurable and realistic. It is necessary to be clearly aware of the maximum percentage you can increase sales and profits.
It is necessary to be precisely tied to the time, taking into account such factors as seasonality, conditions of the region, the resources that the company has at its disposal.

Market analysis

It often happens that, having burst into flames with an idea, entrepreneurs have little understanding in which direction to move on and how filled this niche is.

In-depth market analysis is designed to get answers to questions such as:

potential opportunities;
definition target audience;
percentage of competition;
major players and their strengths / weaknesses;
development trends.

The analysis allows you to determine in which direction you need to move in order to take a worthy place in the market, bypassing competitors, and what are the development trends of the idea itself. This part of the document must necessarily take into account the specifics of the business industry, regional characteristics, product release time, seasonality, etc. It is necessary to be objective and realistically look at things, assessing strong competitors and determining the market share that can be taken by coming out with your product / service.

Analysis external environment

This is an indispensable part of a business plan and helps to identify the main players in the market. For convenience, competitors can be divided into two categories: main and indirect.

The main rivals include companies providing similar services. It is necessary to collect complete information about their product, service, price, quality of service, work experience, suppliers, etc. This information will help you assess their strengths and weaknesses and outline ways to combat them.

Indirect competitors are companies that offer a similar service, but do not pose a serious threat to business development.

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis, which systematizes the strengths and weaknesses of the project, indicates the prospects and ways of getting around possible risks... This is a powerful tool that allows you to form the future strategy of the enterprise.

Swot analysis will objectively show the whole project from the outside

SWOT analysis allows you to look at the entire project objectively from the outside and work out the following issues:

assess the strengths of competitors;
spend comparative analysis strengths competitors with their own;
identify hidden threats;
what weaknesses of the project require adjustment;
take into account the factors of the internal and external environment.

To systematize all information, we use a standard matrix.

When working on a spreadsheet, you should focus on the following points:

Narrow down the scope of your analysis. You don't have to try to cover the whole business at once. If you're just entering the market, focus on a new product or service. This will give you a more accurate result. If a business involves development in several directions at once, then it is logical to conduct its own analysis in each separate segment.
Make a clear distinction between outside and inside. Threats to the company, as well as opportunities, are external factors that do not always depend on the actions of management or personnel. But the strengths and weaknesses are internal factors.
Try to be as objective as possible. There is no need to distort the data, to embellish the factors. Make a SWOT analysis based only on objective facts. When describing strengths and weaknesses, try to look at it through the eyes of the consumer and the competitor. The document should not contain your subjective conclusions.
State all facts clearly. The more accurate the wording, the better the analysis result will be.

Let's look at the technology of creating a matrix using the example of the well-known Auchan retail chain, which is represented all over the world by hypermarkets with food and non-food products.

Strengths (S)	Weaknesses (W)
extensive experience in the market	high level of competition
a wide range of	high staff turnover
effective customer loyalty program	lack of experienced managers
wide target audience
Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)
own brands	changes in the taxation system in the country
the Russian market is not yet sufficiently saturated, which makes it possible for a large network development	the emergence of a strong competitor and the rapid seizure of territory
introduction of additional services	low income of the average buyer
expansion of the range of services

The analysis shows that each side of the matrix is balanced, which indicates a fairly stable position of the company in Russia.

SWOT analysis allows you to develop a further strategy and eliminate those weak links that hinder the development of the company.

In this regard, the following table format is convenient:

What does such an analysis give other than an objective picture?

The matrix allows you to combine results and develop an action strategy. The combination of strengths and opportunities (SIV) allows you to find a competent way of development for the company.

The combination of strengths and threats (ASMs) helps you see how to minimize risk by leveraging company strengths.

The combination of SLE (weaknesses / opportunities) helps to design measures to overcome weaknesses, using the opportunities that the company has.

And the work of a pair of SLUs (weaknesses / threats) will tell you what exactly can put the business in jeopardy.

Determining the target audience

Determination of the target audience is an important stage in planning, as it gives a clear understanding of the concept of a product, service and allows you to correctly calculate the development trend.

The product may target the consumer or industrial market.

When working with consumer market to determine the target audience, it is important to consider the following factors:

consumer age;
social status;
marital status;
the level of education and the nature of specialization;
buying behavior, etc.

For the manufacturing market, these factors are irrelevant. There are important technical features product and industry specifics.

When determining the target audience, it is necessary to create a portrait of the average buyer, describe what exactly the person is guided by when purchasing a service or product. This will allow in the next section, the marketing part, when developing distribution channels to correctly determine the direction.

Pricing

The stage of pricing is an important step, which, in many respects, predetermines the final profit and the search for distribution channels.

It should be understood that the final profit is influenced not so much by the cost of the product as by the turnover. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the competitor's price at the moment of market analysis. Understand what it consists of and what is included in it. This point especially applies to firms that provide services.

When setting a price tag, it is important to consider the following points:

production cost;
the cost of this product from competitors;
the cost of promoting a product.

In no case should you understate the price in order to intercept competitors. Firstly, this can cause the enterprise to be unprofitable, and secondly, it will force to reduce the quality of service or raw materials to reduce the cost. In this way, you will create a negative reputation. Therefore, it is very important to find "your buyer" and, focusing on his demand and opportunities, offer a really high-quality and unique product / service.

Pricing methods

Given the huge number of pricing methods, business owners use only a few that allow the most correct price tag.

Before you start choosing a pricing methodology, you need to understand the goal of entering the market. This could be:

retention of positions and survival in the market;
extracting maximum profit;
changing the target audience.
The goals may be different, but the pricing method and the calculation of the final cost of the product / service will depend on them.

When entering a highly competitive market, manufacturers often choose to follow the competitor. The bottom line comes down to choosing a leading company. The price is set at the same level, regardless of the cost of the product and the level of costs.

The advantage of this method is in holding market positions. The downside is the loss of control. If the leader modernizes the equipment, goes to suppliers with cheaper raw materials, then you will not be able to reduce the price after him without incurring losses.

It is also important to mention popular methods such as:

costly;
cost-marketing;
value approach;
a price neutral strategy;
method of skimming;
price breakout strategy.

One of the simplest methods is costly. Here it is important to correctly calculate the cost of goods and add the planned profit on top. The advantage of this strategy is the guaranteed profit. Minus - it is not valid when there is a lot of competition in the market.

One of the varieties of the cost-effective strategy is the method based on the break-even analysis. Here it is important to determine the break-even point and already, based on these parameters, make a mark-up that will allow you to make a profit.

The cost-marketing method is one of the most difficult. It combines the analysis of pricing, taking into account the marketing strategy and the cost of goods. There is no clear formula here. The process should be approached creatively, but the result can be high.

The value-based approach focuses on the price / cost ratio. Thus, the manufacturer, in order to extract more profit, sets the maximum price that the manufacturer can pay for the offered quality of the product.

The price neutral strategy is one of the most popular on the market in highly competitive niches. The bottom line boils down to one thing - setting prices, in the same way as competitors. For a company that is just entering the market, it is important to ensure that it does not lose its positions in the market by exceeding the average price, but also not to underestimate it, losing on profit.

The skimming strategy assumes the short-term extraction of the maximum profit. This strategy is possible when several conditions are met:

powerful advertising;
fundamentally new product;
a promoted brand or, on the contrary, a new company that uses the most powerful and promising advertising;

The advantage of this approach is profit maximization. The downside is the fact that competitors can quickly take advantage of the overpriced and prevent the company from gaining a foothold in the market. Here it is important to clearly limit the time frame of such a strategy, and in the future use a different pricing method.

It is important to understand that not every new product will allow you to operate according to the “skimming” scheme. It should be an expensive product, aimed at a buyer who is ready to pay for quality and level. By the way, Apple uses this method, releasing a new version of the legendary iPhone every year. Such a policy of price discrimination at different periods of time is entirely justified. The buyer is willing to pay for a unique premium product and admits that the price is somewhat overpriced.

The price breakout method is the opposite of the skimming strategy. It is advisable to conduct it for enterprises that plan to occupy a large part of the market niche. The following conditions are important here:

you need to be sure that competitors do not beat the price;
the product should be in great demand among a wide audience;
the product should not be of an everyday nature.

As you can see from the description, each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, manufacturers often experiment at the planning stage, determining the most optimal option for themselves.

For example, opening grocery store in a small residential area, it is advisable to use costly method or a price neutral strategy. To this end, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment and determine the pricing of competitors. But for a company that enters the market with an innovative product, you can set a price based on a skimming strategy.

Marketing part

This section explores the primary target market, including geographic location, demographic data, and the needs of the target market. The section should show that you have a clear idea of the target audience to which you plan to sell a product or service.

When researching methods of promoting a product or service on the market, it is important to focus on the target audience and take into account the behavioral factors that you described in the previous section. It is also important to focus on the company's pricing policy, because the expansion of sales channels will largely depend on this.

The questions that should be reflected in this part of the document are as follows:

What group of goods or services are you planning to sell?
What will be the sales market?
Which customer group are you targeting?

Here it is important to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the product, and you should not embellish the information or distort the data, because all this will negatively affect the promotion of services and the final profit.

It is necessary to understand what makes the offer unique. It can be a high-quality comprehensive service, an individual approach, original packaging, high-quality raw materials, etc.

You need to understand that speaking about uniqueness trade offer(USP), we are not trying to create a truly unique product that has no analogues on the market. Today it is almost impossible to do this. And the novelty of an idea that is not present on the market requires large initial costs, labor and time resources. Therefore, it is important to consider the uniqueness of the service, packaging, new format sales, etc.

For example, the iPhone created by Steve Jobs was not an innovative product in and of itself. A talented businessman simply took a finished product and came up with a unique selling proposition.

Council. When creating a USP, think about how to interest “your customer” and offer him what he cannot get from competitors.

When determining the market and pricing, it is important to take into account the seasonality of the product. Indeed, at different times of the year, the need of buyers for a particular service / product can be completely different, which will affect the price. This will allow you to correctly assess the volume of services, select required amount staff, calculate the profitability of the business and the break-even point.

You should also describe in detail the organization of sales, ways of informing customers about entering the market, the format of advertising and promotion.

Promotion of a service / product can be implemented as follows:

outdoor advertising design;
promotion in social networks;
contextual and banner advertising on websites;
discounts and bonus programs for regular customers;
distribution of leaflets, etc.

The method and type of promotion is largely determined by the target audience. For example, if a product is targeted at the 50-70 age group, then promotion through social networks will not have much effect. Conversely, online advertising is the best way for young audiences.

By developing marketing strategy, it is important to take into account not only the target audience, but also the geography of the outlet, the seasonality of the product.

In the last paragraphs of the marketing plan, it is advisable to make a sales forecast for a specific period of time, taking into account all external and internal factors. You do not need to take a period of more than a year. Enough 6-12 months with a monthly or quarterly breakdown to reflect the sales forecast.

No need to overload marketing plan a huge number of numbers, a detailed description of their actions. Even if the document is intended for presentation to investors and lenders, it is better to use diagrams, charts and tables for clarity.

Production plan

This section should provide an accurate description of the process of creating a product or providing a service.

The production process consists of many links that are interconnected with each other. In order to reduce risks and successfully promote a service or product, it is necessary to carefully develop and take into account all production processes.

In the production part of the plan, such issues as the volume of raw materials, technical and labor resources, requirements for stocks and control over product quality are addressed.

For successful implementation of the project, it is necessary at the planning stage in the production part of the document to determine the required capacities, their disadvantages and advantages.

All the information presented in detail in this section helps to compile an effective organizational plan, which will allow you to implement your plans in stages.

In the production part of the plan, it is important to correctly calculate the required area and location of the premises. Whether it's a workshop, warehouse or store in the city center. Based on the performed market analysis, the selected target audience and other factors, it is necessary to correctly determine the location of the business.

Also, experts immediately recommend considering the prospects of the technology in this part. Indeed, when purchasing equipment, one should analyze the development of a business for more than a dozen years. It is necessary to correctly assess the need for production capacity, the level technical equipment and the possibility of upgrading equipment over time.

It is in this part of the document that the supply of raw materials and equipment necessary for the business is determined. If production requires additional materials, raw materials, then you need to immediately assess the quality control, determine the list of suppliers.

Organizational plan

Step 1. Business registration.

In this part of the document, one should touch upon the organizational and legal form of the business and take into account the tendency of the enterprise's development in the future.

It should be elaborated on permits, the cost of registering a business, the time spent on registration of all licenses.

The list of documents for registering a business and for obtaining all permits must be specified in each individual case. You should immediately clarify for what period of time before starting a business you need to submit documents.

Step 2. Selection of premises.

You need to pay attention to the following points:

the ability to comply with fire regulations;
compliance with production requirements;
required area;
the presence of ventilation, sewerage and water supply.

For retail outlets location matters. These factors must be fulfilled taking into account the selected target audience and product category.

Step 3. Staff recruitment.

Take a closer look at the employee's questionnaire, make a list of his qualifications necessary for the job.

This will make it easier to select potential employees, save time and help you find a good team.

Step 4. Equipment purchase.

Financial plan

The financial part is one of the most difficult. All calculations must be clearly justified and verified. Before entering an item of expenditure into a document, it is necessary to carefully monitor prices, study a lot of documents and information.

This part of the document is worth dwelling on in detail:

on project costs;
execute the income forecast;
analyze funding sources.

Costs

It is the expense item that largely influences pricing, allows you to correctly calculate the break-even point and profitability.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make serious planning mistakes in this part of the document. They simply forget about some categories of expense, which entails an incorrect calculation of the cost of production, jeopardizing the development of the business as a whole.

The main “forgotten” expenses are usually:

loading or unloading of goods;
taxes;
service maintenance;
installation of equipment;
professional development of employees, their training;
loss or failure of products during transportation.

This part indicates the costs of the selected taxation scheme, taking into account the organizational and legal framework.

Calculating costs, it is advisable to divide all costs into 3 categories:

initial;
permanent;
variables.

The initial costs include all the funds, equipment, raw materials needed to start a business. This also includes the costs of registering a business and obtaining permits.

Permanent ones include the salary of employees, payment of rent and utilities etc.

Variable costs include those costs that depend on the season, production volumes. This must include transportation costs, piecework, procurement Supplies, repair.

In order to clearly demonstrate the financial part of the document, it is better to present the entire estimate in the form of a table, where the following points should be.

P / p No.	Name of expense item	Amount, rub.
1. Business registration	-	-
2. Taxes	-	-
3. Rent of premises (land)	-	-
4. Purchase of raw materials	-	-
5. Purchase of machinery and equipment	-	-
6. Expenses for auxiliary equipment	-	-
7. Wage fund	-	-
8. Transportation costs	-	-
9. Advertising and promotion of products	-	-
10. Utility bills	-	-
11. Other running costs	-	-

It is difficult to imagine business development at the first stage without additional funding from personal capital or from investors. Such "additions" are also losses, since they do not allow making a profit from the project. But at the same time, they are aimed at business development and allow you to get income in the future.

Income

In this section, it is necessary to justify the feasibility of the project from an economic point of view. It is important to demonstrate profitability and correctly execute the forecast of the expected profit.

Having a clear cost estimate and projected income, it is important to correctly determine the break-even point.

The break-even point is one of the key economic indicators, which indicates how much product needs to be sold in order to equalize expense and income. The break-even point is that extreme line, below which you cannot go, otherwise you can go bankrupt. Profit is not an idea here. The indicator only shows the necessary income so that after paying all taxes, rent, utilities, wages, the enterprise remains afloat.

To calculate the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial activity and assessing the prospects of the enterprise, many economic indicators are used. One of the key and optimal ones is the calculation of profitability.

The simplicity and transparency of this indicator makes it almost the main indicator that allows you to objectively assess the feasibility of conducting a particular project.

For comparison, the analysis of total revenue, turnover or net profit are not objective indicators, since they do not reflect the true state of affairs and do not allow an analysis of the work of a similar company.

If for the implementation of the business it is necessary to involve investments from the outside, then the profitability must be calculated taking into account these investments.

Profitability is calculated using the standard formula:

R = (total profit from sales / cost price) * 100%

Risk assessment

This is an important section of the document, which must be taken seriously and carefully considered all the options, unfavorable conditions that can become a threat to the business.

Often, investors, having briefly familiarized themselves with the resume and the financial side of the issue, study in detail exactly the section of risk assessment. The investor must be 100% sure that the money invested will pay off and that in any situation you have clear plan action.

Describing all the risks and adverse conditions that may affect the project, divide them into two parts:

external (do not depend on you);
internal.

External risks include fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, inflation, natural disasters, fire, theft, damage to property, changes in legislative framework, unfavorable weather conditions (if we are talking about a business directly dependent on these conditions), etc.

Internal include:

failure of the technical part of production;
incorrect actions of personnel or management;
negligence in control over production technology or quality of service;
lack of sufficient qualifications or experience among employees.

In order to protect yourself as much as possible from force majeure situations, experts recommend creating the most pessimistic scenario. This will allow you to develop a clear algorithm of actions in any of the situations and in real life successfully overcome difficulties.

The final, but optional, section might be the appendix. In this part, it is advisable to submit all documents, letters, contracts, price lists, commercial offers competitors who helped make analysis, calculations.

7 rules for successful planning

Don't misrepresent the data or deceive yourself. No matter how pessimistic the forecast is, there is no need to deliberately understate an item of expenditure or increase revenues.
When describing your resume, try to be as concise as possible. Try to imagine how you can describe your business project in two or three words and present it to investors in a favorable light. Often, lenders and investors pay attention precisely to the part and financial calculations.
When developing your marketing strategy and forecasting revenues, be sure to set clear timelines. They will allow you not to deviate from the vector and analyze the success of the enterprise after a certain period of time. Reconciliation of real and projected indicators will allow you to quickly make adjustments if the business does not bring the expected profit.
Be laconic, adhere to a clear structure of the document, but at the same time do not ignore in-depth analysis of economic indicators, market environment. This data will allow you to get a full understanding of the environment in which you plan to grow your business.
Do not use when planning templates downloaded from the Internet. Remember that every project is unique and individual. Therefore, more than one typical business plan will not allow you to carefully work out internal and external factors, analyze the specifics of the company's activities and outline a development strategy.
During the planning phase, clearly state the authority and responsibilities of the staff. This will allow you to choose the right state.
When analyzing the competitive environment, elaborate on the description of their strengths. The document should analyze at least 5-7 competitors from a similar and related field in order to form a complete objective picture.

If you are going to seriously do business, you cannot do without a business plan. The best idea should be supported by a well-written action plan. The rules for writing a small business business plan will guide you through the sequence of steps.

Between dreams of own business and the real thing has little in common - in fantasies we clearly imagine only the result, in business it requires planning. Even the best business idea is worthless without a well-written action plan. We will look at the rules for drawing up a business plan for a small business, and we hope the information will be useful to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Going on the road, we plan a route so as not to wander at random, starting a new business requires a similar approach.

What is a business plan

A business plan is a guide to action with a description of the idea, process, implementation mechanisms and goals.

Defining a specific target in this chain has crucial, since it is this point that makes it possible to clearly formulate:

What is your position at the moment, that is, where is the starting point to start.
What should you get as a result.
What steps need to be taken to promote and develop the business.

Business plan purpose

Drawing up a business plan is useful at the start of any business, but in two cases, a plan is required:

To provide investors and lenders, as well as to receive financial support from the state.

The purpose of drawing up a business plan is to confirm the consistency of the idea and the effectiveness of the use of money. The information presented in the plan should be detailed, look reliable and logical. For clarity, it is useful to accompany the defense of the business plan with a presentation from the slides.

Real business plan "For yourself"

A working version of a business plan for "internal use". There is always a difference between "front" and "work" plans.

Development forecast and prospects

Consider several options for business development. Try to objectively assess the prospects based on the expected income and expenses. Put yourself in the shoes of an investor, and think if you would agree to invest in the described company.

In this article, we will analyze in detail what a business plan is, what it is for and how to draw it up correctly.

Greetings, dear readers! Alexander Berezhnov is in touch. Today we will talk about business, or rather, about business planning.

As you know, any business or project starts with. But in itself, it does not carry much value, since most people give birth to dozens of ideas every day.

Many famous entrepreneurs, outstanding people in the field of training in management, leadership and planning speak about this. These are Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Vladimir Dovgan, Alex Yanovsky, Tony Robbins and others.

Surely you had situations when an idea was born, but there was not enough time and energy to bring it to life, and most importantly, you did not know where to start.

This article will be useful for both beginners and existing entrepreneurs, because, as you know, any prosperous company or project always has a plan to achieve its goals.

When I myself went through trainings in the field of business planning, I well remembered the words of one of the trainers:

A dream differs from a goal in that it does not have a clear plan for achieving it!

In other words, if you do not have good plan upon reaching the goal, it is unlikely that it will become something more for you than just a dream even after many years.

In this article, I will cover issues related to business planning, since myself I have experience in writing business plans for my own entrepreneurial projects. And in order to convey information in an accessible language, before writing the article, I talked with two of my friends who are professionally engaged in writing business plans for entrepreneurs to order in order to attract outside capital to the business of their clients. The guys help entrepreneurs by writing professional business plans in obtaining loans, grants and subsidies.

Dear readers, I draw your attention to the fact that in these articles we will consider a simplified model of writing a business plan for starting a small business. And if you are faced with the task of writing a business plan for big company, then I advise you to use the services of professionals who specialize in this.

I will not take away your precious time anymore, let's start ...

1. What is a business plan

Any term has many definitions. Here I will give my own, it is rather short and reflects the main meaning of the concept of "business plan".

Business plan Is a document or, in other words, a manual that describes the idea of a project, business processes and mechanisms for their implementation in order to achieve the goals stated by the author of the document (business plan).

In general, business planning, like any process, must have a goal, in this case the success of your project will depend on 3 key factors:

Awareness of your level at the current time (point "A");
A clear idea of the ultimate goal of where you (and your company) plan to be (point "B");
A clear understanding of the sequence of steps to move from point "A" to point "B".

2. What is a business plan for?

From my experience, I will say that a business plan is needed globally in 2 cases, and in each case its writing is different in a certain way.

These are the cases:

1. Business plan for investors(lenders, donors, bodies providing state support in the form of subsidies, etc.)

Here, the main purpose of the business plan is to prove the viability of the project and efficient use funds. And it does not matter whether you will return them, if it is a loan or not, if it is a subsidy or a grant.

In a situation where you are thinking about how to write a business plan for investors, you need to focus on the consistency of the actions that you plan to take, perhaps even bluffing about certain points that will help you get funding. When writing a business plan, you can embellish something, but most importantly, do not get carried away.

In short, your ready plan should be clean, neat, logical. Everything should be beautifully painted in it, explanations are given to the facts you cited, and so on.

It will not be superfluous to prepare a good computer presentation and speak publicly to investors.

Therefore, when I am asked how to write a business plan, I ask the question in response: “For whom is the business plan drawn up? For yourself or for investors? "

2. A business plan for yourself(according to this plan, you will actually act for the successful implementation of your own project)

Let me explain with an example. If, when writing a business plan to attract funding, you write that you need 300,000 rubles to buy 10 computers, then you will write a detailed estimate in the form of a table:

№	Consumption name	Quantity (pcs.)	Cost, rub.)	Amount (RUB)
1	Intel processor-based system unit	10	20 000	200 000
2	Monitor "Samsung"	10	8 000	80 000
3	Mouse	10	300	3 000
4	Keyboard	10	700	7 000
5	Speakers (set)	10	1 000	10 000
Total:				300 000

That is, you really need 10 computers to run the project. That's how you write it. BUT!

If you are drawing up a business plan for yourself, then most likely even this small estimate for computers will look different for you. You will ask why?

Example

You know that you and your partner, with whom you are going to open a business, already have 3 computers for two, and you can find 3 more computers at your father at work, at home on the loggia and in your grandmother's garage, having slightly modernized them.

It's very figurative, but I think you get the point. All this concerns the available resources, but for the investor you will ask for funds to buy new office equipment, since you will need to document it for it.

The same, if you are going to open a business in the field of cargo transportation, then in the business plan for the investor you write that you need 5,000,000 rubles to buy 5 trucks... Then it will be easier for the investor to navigate the expediency of using his funds.

Even if you already have 1 or 2 similar trucks, you simply add them to a new vehicle fleet when receiving funding and everyone will be happy.

Because often there is a situation when in negotiations with an investor you say that for the successful operation of your project you need 5 trucks, but in principle you have 2 ... And then you start to disorient the investor, saying that one of these trucks was bought in half with your friend, and the other belongs to your wife and she may not give it to you for a new project, and so on.

Output
Write a business plan for investors as much as possible detailed and beautiful.
When writing a business plan for yourself, focus on the resources that you have, and write such a plan as close as possible to yours. realities.
Moving on to the technology of writing a business plan ...
3. How to draw up a business plan correctly
Drawing up a business plan begins with a preliminary analysis of the current situation.
Before moving on to the wording, description and filling of the sections, you need to collect together all the information that you own, and if you do not get it, then fill in these gaps using third-party sources or contacting specialists.
One of the recognized technologies for preliminary analysis before the upcoming business planning is the so-called SWOT analysis.
It is quite simple to understand and clearly structures all the information you have.
4. What is SWOT analysis and how is it applied in business planning?

SWOT- this is an abbreviation and it stands for:
S trengths- strengths;
W eakness- weak sides;
O pportunities- capabilities;
T hreats- threats.

SWOT analysis is needed in order to assess the internal and external factors of the company, making an objective picture for the upcoming business planning.
For example, in your case, these may be the following indicators:
Strengths:
Low production cost;
High professionalism of the project team;
The company's product (service) has an innovative component;
Attractive packaging of a product or a high level of service provided by a company.

Weak sides:
Lack of own retail space;
Low brand awareness among potential buyers.

Opportunities and threats are characteristics of the external environment that cannot be directly influenced by the company, and therefore, they can influence the outcome of its work in the future.
Such factors can be:
Economic and political situation in a country or region;
Socio-cultural environment (peculiarities of consumers' mentality);
The level of technology development in the territory of doing business;
Demographic situation.

According to the analysis of the current conditions, it is possible to highlight the potential opportunities of the future project.
Capabilities:
Introduction of new materials and technologies for the production of the company's product;
Receiving additional funding for the project;
Adaptation of product design to the cultural and age characteristics of the region.

Threats:
High customs duties on raw materials for the production of goods;
Strong competition in this market segment.

After the SWOT analysis is done, you can proceed to the description of the sections of the business plan. Below I will describe each of them, explain my point of view, and in the 3rd part of this instruction, in a concise form, I will give examples of filling out each section. This will help you to clearly see the technology of writing a business plan.
And so that my examples are not general phrases like “it is better to be healthy and rich than poor and sick”, I will disclose the question “How to write a business plan” using the example of opening anti-cafe or in another way time-cafe * .
Antikafe(or time-cafe) is a new format of cultural and entertainment establishments that first appeared in Moscow in 2010.

Their essence lies in the fact that visitors do not order food and drinks for themselves for money, as in an ordinary cafe, but pay per minute for the time they are in the institution. For this payment, they get the opportunity to play board games(for example, the very popular game ""), play video games on the X-BOX game console, organize your own events: birthdays, corporate events, parties, and also enjoy free WI-FI The Internet.
Here, visitors can also participate in entertainment and educational activities: musical and theatrical evenings, trainings, clubs foreign languages, take training courses on playing musical instruments etc.
By the way, personally me, as a person leading healthy image life, I am glad that in these establishments it is not allowed to drink alcohol and smoke.
5. What sections should be in the business plan
In order to understand the structure of a business plan, you need to decide on its sections. I will offer you my own version, which is classic for most business plans.
Sections of the business plan:
Introductory part (summary);
Description of goods and services;
Market analysis and marketing strategy;
Production plan;
Organizational plan;
Financial plan (budget);
Expected results and prospects (final part).

Starting to develop a business plan, I recommend that you conduct a small "brainstorming", describing your idea on 1-2 A4 sheets. This is necessary in order to understand the whole picture and only then proceed to a detailed description of the above sections.
An important point!
Before filling out the sections in detail, collect as much information as possible on the topic of your project (business).

It can be:
Industry analysis with quantitative indicators;
Ways to promote your products or services;
Current competitors in the market;
The amount of tax deductions for your company;
Technologies applied in the industry of your future business.

All this will help you write a business plan yourself as efficiently as possible and not search along the way for material for its sections. This will save you a significant amount of time and get good results.
In the second part, we will take a closer look at how to fill out the sections of the business plan.

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