Conquer business plan phobia - tips for making a business plan

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1995 by Linda Stern

There's a mystique to the term business plan that makes it sound like you couldn't possibly do one without an MBA or two, but much of what makes up a bona-fide blueprint is probably already in your head. A business plan is a part-words and part-numbers profile of where you are, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there.

The words describe your company, its products and services, competitors, customers, management, operations, marketing and sales plans, industrial outlook, and long-term goals. The numbers estimate your cash flow, income and expenses, balance sheet (what you have and what you owe), and a break-even analysis. There aren't too manypeople unintimidated by both numbers and words, but once you break the plan down to these essential components, you'll find you an do most of it.

12 Steps to Success Here, n the spirit of helping business plan phobics, are the best ways to trick yourself into writing a plan--the 12-step program, if you will, for people who truly, madly, and deeply hate reports.

1. Even if you do only parts of a formal business plan, you'll be ahead of the game. The more you learn about business plans, the more you'll realize how useful they are, even for people who don't need to borrow money or capitalize inventories. A solid business plan is a blueprint that can help you manage your workdays. Some of your tougher should-I-take-this-assignment-or-concentrate-on-that-client choices will be made easier with a plan. When you turn to your financials, you'll no longer worry about how to make your next insurance payment--you'll see where the money is coming from.

And you need not even write a whole plan to make one your best business tool. The other little secret is this: If you are writing for yourself, you can pick and choose the parts of a formal business plan that mean the most to you and ignore the others.

2. Work with software, a good book, or a $125-an-hour business consultant who will hold your hand. When business plan expert Rhonda M. Abrams, a San Francisco business consultant and author of The Successful Business Plan: Secrets Strategies (The Oasis Press), decided it was time to reshape her company, she didn't write her own plan; she hired a strategic consultant to help her. Sometimes you need objectivity, and sometimes you just need prodding.

The new generation of business planning software is full of prompts that can get you going when you aren't sure what to put in your plan. Business Plan Pro (Palo Alto Software) puts a section-by-section outline in your word processor, along with questions like: "Why do people buy your product instead of others? Do you have better features, a better price, better quality, better service, or some other factor?"

PlanMaker (PowerSolutions for Business) has a manual you could use as a guide even if you never load the software. Each section comes with its own questionnaire that can similarly push you through the plan-writing process. "Do you know of any trade publications that have cited the growth potential of your industry, product, or service?" it asks, for example. And when it comes to crunching numbers, programs such as BizPlanBuilder (Jian Tools for Sales) offer spreadsheet templates for such financial forecasting as a break-even analysis. (For reviews of seven business plan software packages, see page 80 of the September 1994 issue.

Furthermore, the business section of every bookstore and library is replete with how-to-write-a-business-plan volumes.

3. Just put something on paper or screen. This is the old writer's trick of doing anything to appease that damn blinking cursor. "Get over the idea that the first draft has to be perfect," says Tim Berry, who wrote Business Plan Pro. "Type your first sentence, and understand you will change it and change it." You can do the same with the financial section. Some people are afraid of writing business plans because they secretly fear their dreams will vanish upon close inspection, says Abrams, but this is usually not true. "Fantasy" businesses become more real and more exciting as we delve into the details.

4. Tackle the fun part first. You can't write a business plan until you know where you want to go, so the mission statement should be your first building block. Your mission can be high-minded and mercenary: "To make a lot of money while providing superior marketing help to promising start-up companies," for example. It sounds vague, but it isn't. A mission statement like this helps you weed out schlock projects or low-paying clients. And on bad days, you can refer to it to keep your eyes on the prize.

5. Use plain English. If you are uncomfortable with the jargon of the business world, don't use it. You can always go back later, before you deliver the plan, to insert capital assets" and "accounts receivable" at the appropriate points, where you thought computer and fax machine" and "what everybody owes me" were good enough.

6. Ask yourself questions. Abrams suggests that a meaningful business plan first answers your own questions. What do you need to know to make this business work? Ask yourself if it's realistic to expect that you will do everything the company needs. Your business plan may point out areas--marketing or accounting, for example--where you'll want to hire help.