How To Write a Winning Business Plan

 

What comes to your mind when you hear someone mention a business plan? It's simply a sales pitch. Nothing more! It’s you approaching someone for financial help to run your novel venture. If the person is satisfied with your stories, your bank account is credited the next minute. That’s the primary goal of any business plan.👏

As simple as it sounds, you need to do it thoroughly to earn your desired result. Funding of course! If you can give it the required dedication, you will have succeeded in creating the prototype of the business in your mind.

Honestly speaking, you are not here by accident. Providence brought you here because you are passionate about what you will be dedicating the rest of your life to. Friend, you are in the right place so there is no need to rush out or just scan through.

The insights you will gain here are laudable, and I congratulate you once again for being here. Only a few privileged guys have heard the opportunity to land on this page. I can tell you for free, this is not academic stuff with some confused theories; everything here is plain and practical.

By the time you are done reading line by line till the end, you will be glad the time spent here is an investment. Let me remind you again that the motive for a business plan is to get someone to invest in your dream.

Yes, you are the dreamer, you want someone to believe and invest in your passion, to see what you are seeing but through your eyes. Keep calm as I take you through the step-by-step approach of getting it done to receive positive and fulfilling outcomes.

To be honest with you, you will pay a prize to benefit from everything I have kept here for you. Ask me how much. It’s 💰patient. I know you are surprised but that’s just it.

I am with you, and please stay with me so that I don’t feel lonely at any time. It's always a joy keeping a companion with a dedicated fellow like you. Thanks a lot.

As I was saying, your business plan is your mouthpiece; imagine that you are sitting right now in front of your investor, what are the vital questions you anticipate the lender to ask you? These are exactly what you are expected to reflect in your business plan.

Don’t bug your brain, I will take care of everything as we proceed. Hope you noticed that my pace is low, I am making sure you have a robust foundation that I will build upon gradually. Speed kills so let’s continue to move slowly but progressively.

A business plan is as important as the icing on your cake, it beautifully enhances the quality of your journey ahead.

General guidelines for presenting a business plan

Now let’s high the accelerator. Here are the salient fundamentals you must know when preparing your business plan for presentation to investor(s):

• Keep your words short and precise because the investor will not have the luxury of time to read through everything you have penned down. Their patience and tolerance level especially for poorly scripted plans is virtually zero.

• Let your presentation be well-spaced out.

• Keep to facts only about your research outcomes such as the market research, competitor's research, and so on.

• There must be synergy and positive correlation among your sections.

•  Use a readable font and font size. Fonts like Times, Roman, and Aria are okay. Size 12 is ideal.

• Storyboard your plan.

• Key points should be in bullet layout.

General outline of a business plan

You can see that we have doubled our speed to another level. Now, the next thing you need to know is the general outline for a business plan. I am going to list them out right now but more importantly, I will tell you what investors are particular about in each section.

Please don’t be in a hurry I repeat; enduring knowledge settles in the brain gradually. Here are the outlines you need to apply:

•          Title page
•          The executive summary
•          Business model (Revenue, Production, R&D, and Go-to-Market)
•          Market analysis
•          Marketing/sales strategy
•          Operational plan
•          Team/organization structure
•          Major milestones with funding
•          Financial forecast/projections
•          The business risks
•          Exit plan
•          Conclusion

Let me just say something briefly about the business risks though I will talk about it later. Your investor has been around for a while and is notably skilled with how to manage risk.

Business risks shouldn’t deprive you of quality sleep, the seamless way to manage them is to get an investor who has been operating in your niche domain for decades and is still very much interested in running with the type of your dream. That’s it! You will be guided on how to navigate the turbulence ahead.

Are you still here? No matter how incredible your niche may sound, the personal interest and passion of the investor supersedes it. Sometimes your plans may have noticeable flaws, an interested investor will be pleased to finetune the glitches. Never get a headache because of REJECTION🚫. It's part of the game.

Hola! Here is the magic moment you have been waiting for, I want to tell you what investors are looking for in each section of the outlines I listed before.

• Title page – This must start with your business name, business, and personal contact address. They exemplify your sincerity and integrity. Mention the year of incorporation, and business background if you have been around for a while. The amount needed, purpose, and justification. This is like a brief introductory section. That information is enough.

• Executive summary – Funny but in reality, this is your turnaround point. Start the section with your company’s name again but this time around you need to add a unique key phrase that amplifies your goal.

For example, XYZ Limited aims to become a leading provider of high-quality and sustainable ….. (your services/products). Now this is like your vision statement and that's exactly what it is. So, if you already have a vision statement, you can copy and insert it here.

What are the other things to add here? Let me put them in bullet points for you plus some explanations so that you can have a robust grasp. I promised to make your stay here remarkable, and I will do exactly that. So here we go:

• Mention your target/addressable market - The galaxies can’t be your target market. What I mean is that everyone on the planet Earth can’t qualify as your customers. Your shotgun and rifle marketing must be targeted toward a particular segment of the sector.

• Products/services can be categorized under specific industries - Each industry is equally divisible into sectors. The sector likewise has market segments. Your target is towards a segment of the sector. Did you understand the relationships among industry, sector, and market segment better now? Okay, let’s make progress. Be very specific about who your customers are; I expect you to have their persona.

• Percentage of your addressable market - The investor wants to know about this. They are your customers, the determinant of your revenue stream. They must be large enough otherwise your niche will not be sustainable and no investor will buy into such a dream.

• The growth rate of your addressable market - The numbers must be climbing to get a pat on the back. So, indicate the growth rate and supply your data source. It must be verifiable. I need to give you some clues here. Naturally, some events drive micro or macro-economic activities. You may have heard people saying there is no effect without a cause. Yes, that’s true and I hope you agree with the axiom. No one would like to invest in a stagnated or retrogressing market. In this case, check if political challenges, government/regulatory policy, or disruptive innovation, could be the catalyst for growth in your chosen segment.

• What problems, frictions, or pain points are you planning to eliminate with your offer? If your solution is not solving human problems, it’s dead on arrival.

• Amount of capital needed. You must mention this and what you intend to do with it. Most time this will fly if it's meant to support order(s) in progress.

• Your revenue model - How will you be making money from the offer? Will there be recurring or just a one-off revenue? What is your sales per offer and is it competitive? What will be your gross and net margins?

• What will be the benefits of your offer? Does it truly add value to the target market? Investors want to know convincingly.

• Business valuation - How did you arrive at the equity participation you are seeking? The current worth of your assets must exceed the injections you are applying for otherwise you will get a thump down. Your team. Investors want to know if you have a balanced team in terms of their experience, skills, and competencies. Those qualities must align with your niche. Let them know if they are already on ground or you intend to bring them in at a particular time. Investors will pee at your admin salaries to confirm if you factor in the change in the cost according to plan. This is why it is important you ensure every section of your plan correlates positively.

I believe I have given you enough stuff to consume and digest properly. It is necessary that I move the other aspects of the outlines to part two of this article. I will drop the link here for you to continue. Have you gained new knowledge so far? Great! Go over the page again and let me know in the comment section if it was indeed helpful to you.