# business plan



## jaygood78 (Aug 31, 2015)

do anybody have a example of a business plan that I can use? i'm new here and trying to start my own company up..and I was trying to see the best start up plan or business proposal....thank you and have a bless day!!!


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

*Re: business plan help*

Have you looked at the templates and examples at SCORE?
Templates & Tools | SCORE


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## teehugger (Jul 6, 2015)

*Re: business plan help*

i had to copy and paste my reply and save it as i knew it was so long i'd get logged out. then i had to track this thread back down. i hate those log outs! wah wah wahhhh

there are a lot of business plan templates you can find online. most of the time, they follow pretty much the same basic formula and only change 1 or 2 things like some include SWOT (strengths. weaknesses, obstacles and threats) and some don't or work SWOT in in other sections of your business plan.

the HARDEST part of writing a plan is going to be your pro-forma and financials which basically amounts to pulling numbers out of your butt, at least as far as sales go, but you really have to figure your expenses out too.

the absolute BEST source for writing your business plan is *the portable MBA in entrepreneurship *which you can get by interlibrary loan unless your local library doesn't do that.

it mostly sucks as a book on small business as it's written for classroom use, but it's chapter on writing a business plan is several times longer than any other outline i've seen online or in other business books. even more important, the next chapter gives the best coverage of proformas i've EVER seen anywhere! most books skim past that topic, but the book devotes about a dozen pages to just that subject.

for writing a business plan, that book is your best start. other books are much better for starting a small business etc. if you want a reading list, PM me. i've read over 20 books on small biz, search engine optimization and marketing etc. and can tell you some really good ones.

what you REALLY should be doing though is contacting the *SBA* (small business association) and *SCORE *(service core of retired entrepreneurs). i would suggest contacting BOTH organizations. with them, you can get FREE local counseling that would help you not only write your biz plan, but with your business in general. 

sadly, there's no SBA here and i was originally told no SCORE either, but started talking to SCORE online until they put me in touch with a local branch. i'd already written my business plan except for the financials, but having it reviewed by a professional helped and i'm lucky that i found a REALLY sharp counselor there who not only has a lot of really great ideas, but is a quick study who can wrap her head around a teeshirt business.

contact SCORE and the SBA! they will help you write your particular plan way more than reading someone else's, but there are THOUSANDS of sample plans you could look at online. every plan is different. you basically just have to figure out what exactly YOUR business is, how you'll do it, what you'll need, who your market is. 

market research for the teeshirt industry SUCKS, but there's a couple really good posts here that have at least some stats and resources.

another person's plan isn't going to fit yours unless you're trying to do the same exact thing, which if you are, you're entering a niche that has strong competition. you want to find your own thing that, at best, no one is doing yet, or at least doing right.

SCORE & SBA are what you need. they will help you focus on what you put into your plan, help you write it, and really help you understand it so you not only have a well written plan, but one that actually makes sense either with new ideas, or dropping bad ones if you find a good counselor. if you can use BOTH and get second opinions, even better.


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## STPG Press (Jul 6, 2015)

I would be hesitant to take someone else's business plan and try to change numbers or use it as a basis. Why? Because everybody's situation is very different, from a fiscal standpoint, a time standpoint, execution standpoint and an urgency standpoint.

The problem is that we tend to just change the numbers, but don't realize that the execution and all those other intangibles can be very different. It lets us be lazy and not factor all the contingencies. We end up with a great plan that simply cannot be executed as written.

Find a good template that asks all the right questions and build your business plan from the ground up. It will take longer. It will be harder. But it will be your plan and not half somebody elses with your data plugged in. You'll find that you're way better off for it.

Good luck!

Tim


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

:: Duplicate posts merged into one. In deciding where to create your post, please choose the most appropriate section and post only there ::​


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

You can buy a good business plan "outline" at Amazon. The one I bought 12 or so years ago helped me to ask myself good questions on an ongoing basis to this day.

It was written by a venture capital investment analyst who evaluated 5 plans a day, five days a week for years and loaned billions of dollars to the dot com crowd in the mid to late 90's.

If what you have to offer, the way you offer it, or who you offer it to is compelling enough, the relative health of the T shirt industry is not terribly important.

As far as the financials go, the meetings I've sat in on where projected growth was estimated (national companies) it was at best a guess, and not even an educated one. Usually just wishful thinking or worse, trust fund babies playing Trump. Come to think of it he's a trust fund baby playing himself.


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## teehugger (Jul 6, 2015)

> You can buy a good business plan "outline" at Amazon.


you don't even have to go to the library. you can look at tons of free business plan outlines online. they all generally follow pretty much the same format. even better than that though, also look proforma up on its own for information JUST on that topic. it's the hardest part of the biz plan.

most books tell you to write your executive summary last even if the first part of the plan. i don't agree with that. i wrote mine first, but i've also revised the entire plan over a dozen times. many books suggest you constantly refer to your plan, even after you start your biz and to update it at least every 1/2 year.

one tip i DON'T recall reading is that you should only talk about the business in 3rd person... no *i* this and *me* that. i got that advice from a consultant who specializes in biz planning.

another great tip i read in just one book is to start your exec summarry off with what's called an elevator pitch. basically, that's a 90 second long summary of your biz that highlights all of its important points and why it's such a freakin' awesome idea so, if you get caught in an elevator with a venture capitalist (you might want to take a long shower afterwards though!) you can get them interested enough in your idea to give you the money right there. think of it as a commercial. 

you really need to work hard on the elevator pitch though and should test it out on people and get as much feedback as you can. you want to really grab your readers' attention with the elevator pitch intro to your exec summary.

even now, just start writing EVERYTHING you can about your business down. you can organize it all later when you start writing the plan, but for now, just think of it as a sort of owner's manual


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