Plan for Success with a Business Plan | Inc Authority

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Plan for Success with a Business Plan

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Running a business without a business plan is like randomly pointing to a destination on a map and trying to get there without following the map. You’ll move forward but you’ll do so blindly, getting lost and possibly never arriving at your destination.

That’s why business plans are so vital. They’re more than just documents stating your ideas and strategies—they’re road maps that help you stay on track, so you meet your goals.

In this post we’ll dive deeper into why business plans are important and how they help you plan for success.

Business plans help you secure future funding needs

One of the first things a bank or investor will want to see when you reach out to them for funding is a business plan. That’s because business plans communicate your vision in a concise, compelling manner, providing you with a solid foundation to raise capital.

Business plans also showcase and organize established strategies, required allocated resources, attention to business finances, and projected growth. All of these things are essential for receiving seed money for your venture.

Business plans help you mitigate risks by creating a detailed road map

A business plan creates a detailed road map to get safely where you need and want to go. It forces you to create contingency plans for potential economic disasters and develop a financial plan accordingly.

Think of the current economic crisis due to COVID-19. While no one could have perfectly predicted that this would happen, the companies that are surviving the pandemic are the ones who had contingency plans in place.

Most importantly, business plans focus your attention on productivity and allow you to establish benchmarks to measure your success, while giving you directives to avoid costly mistakes.

Business plans help you project financials and conduct a thorough market analysis

You can identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of a company through market analysis. With these things identified, you can boldly create a business, marketing and finance strategy that will help you overcome your weaknesses, capitalize off your strengths and take hold of opportunities.

Not knowing these things at the offset of your business can spell disaster down the line.

Business plans help you establish goals and communicate those goals with partners, management teams and employees

For many business owners, daily operations can circumvent real progress. Because of this it’s not uncommon for larger, more important projects to become continually wait-listed. Having a business plan ensures that you have thoroughly outlined your strategic opportunities to capitalize on expansion, partnerships, new products/service offerings, etc.

And as you know, clarity is key to success when building a brand, culture and evolving environment that can proficiently manage customer service, products and finances. Everyone involved should understand the objectives, expectations and requirements for fulfillment. A business plan ensures this by creating alignment among founding partners with consistent messaging and missions.

Here is what must be included in your business plan

  • Mission, Vision & Objections of the venture
  • The Company (its legal description, history and current situation/location)
  • Products & Services (offered and planned)
  • External Environment (the industry status, the economy, legal/regulatory)
  • Overall Market (including analysis of the competition, size, growth, demographics, etc.)
  • Target Market (the specific segments your firm has or plans on pursuing)
  • Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/Risks
  • Sales & Marketing Strategy (including promotion, pricing, distribution, forecasts)
  • Management Team & Advisors (one of the most crucial areas for influencing funding)
  • Operational Plan (including equipment, labor/personnel and production/service process)
  • Implementation Plan
  • Financials & Exit/Payback Strategy (to show how investors/lenders will get their return)

In conclusion

As you can see, business plans are crucial for the protection and success of your small business. But they’re tricky and time-consuming to write. Thankfully, with Inc Authority, you don’t have to write it yourself!

Our dedicated Business Plan Advisors will handle the writing, editing, research, analysis and projections, giving you all the essential elements of a business plan. And don’t worry about revisions, we’ll take care of those too. Here’s a breakdown of everything you’ll get:

  • Dedicated Business Plan Advisor: Personalized one-on-one advisor to walk you through the entire process and available for consultation for edits, reviews and any other questions you may have.
  • Investors/Private Lending: Fully guaranteed to meet bank and investor guidelines to maximize your opportunity to raise capital.
  • Unlimited Revisions: We know changes are inevitable. Because of this, we will make any necessary adjustments of modifications to your plan within the first three months of development, at no additional cost to you.

Incorporating is the most powerful thing you can do to legitimize your startup. And at IncAuthority.com, our setup LLC services are 100% free. Always. So, don’t wait. Form your new LLC today and enjoy the protection due to you and your business under the law.

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