Many Ways

There are many ways to go about writing a business plan. If you are taking a business course in school right now, your textbook may have an outline for a business plan. But if you search on www.Amazon.com, you’ll find dozens of books and software packages that also provide business plan outlines and templates. Even the U.S. Small Business Administration has a recommended business plan outline, which you can find at www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/writingplan.html. Everyone has a little different idea as to exactly what goes into a plan and in what order the information should appear.

The reality is that, just as no two businesses are ever exactly alike, there is no perfect template for a business plan that fits all sizes and types of business. But the samples provide helpful guidelines, and entrepreneurs typically adapt the suggested outlines to suit their current needs and/or stage of business planning.

To save time and confusion, we have created a basic business plan outline for you and placed it in Activity 18. You will use this outline to develop a plan for the business concept you have created during the last eight lessons. The goal will be to show potential lenders or investors a feasible, step-by-step plan for how you will start this business and develop it into a company that eventually grows large enough to go public.