The Business Plan or Business Plan is a document where the entrepreneur details all the information related to his idea to create a company.
This document can take different forms. They are extensive and detailed. They are concise and brief. There is no specific model of the Business Plan.
Each entrepreneur must create their own plan, not only in the sense of writing down their own ideas but even in deciding what form it will take.
A few years ago, the Business Plan was considered the fundamental tool to be successful when creating a company. Not long ago people began to say that the Business Plan is practically useless.
In fact, the studies carried out on real experiences in the use of the Business Plan have not reached any definitive conclusion. A very well-finished plan does not guarantee the success of the company, although the opposite is not true either.
What Is A Business Plan Or Business Plan For?
Table of Contents
It is evident that the writing of a Business Plan must have some utility. A person who wants to start a project is a person whose time should not be wasted on useless efforts. The Business Plan must contribute something to the entrepreneur, or if not, better not spend an hour on it.
In addition, writing a Business Plan takes many hours of work. These hours should be understood as one of the first and most important investments in the new company. In fact, we could say that the company “begins” at the moment the entrepreneur’s ideas are put in writing.
Business Plan Utility
The Business Plan is a design tool. This means that through the Business Plan, the entrepreneur is giving his company a “mental shape” before giving it a “real shape”. Instead of having everything in mind, details, ideas, and numbers begin to take shape in a written document.
In the Business Plan, you can make assumptions, simulations, etc. which in reality would be quite “expensive” to check. It is much cheaper to be wrong in the Business Plan than to be wrong in reality.
Especially when most entrepreneurs only have the necessary resources for a single start-up and sometimes not even that. The risk of the bet must be ensured to a minimum.
The Business Plan is also a tool for reflection. When the project has already begun to be developed, even in the first weeks, reality presents itself with all its harshness.
Things appear that we had not foreseen, aspects of the business that we did not know are discovered, and a long, etc., etc. Having a Business Plan helps a lot to reflect on the impact of these developments on the business.
As the forecasts of how the business should evolve are expressed in the plan, after a few months, we will be able to see how reality varies from what was forecast, analyze the possible causes and, if appropriate, make the appropriate decisions.
In addition, before embarking on the adventure, the promoter of the project will have had to justify in great detail where those millions in sales are going to come from, what the available budget is going to be spent on, and above all, why project is going to be profitable. company.
The Business Plan is a communication tool. Not all entrepreneurs start alone. For whatever reason, many entrepreneurs start their projects with other partners. Psychology discovered a long time ago that several people can be talking for hours, around a table, about the same project and end up understanding each of them a different thing.
The Business Plan serves to put in writing, supposedly clearly, the different aspects of the business and discuss them in an objective and depersonalized way. It is also very useful for bringing to the table issues that are difficult to address directly, for example, who assumes what responsibilities, how much each one will earn, etc.
The Business Plan can even represent the commitment that each partner acquires with respect to the others. Obviously, whether or not everyone takes what was discussed seriously or not is another very different issue.
The Business Plan is a marketing tool. As often happens, you do not have all the necessary resources to start your adventure. You must seek external financing and public or private aid.
In most cases, the Business Plan is what allows you to show external investors what the idea to develop is. Even if you have a prototype of that fantastic product that you plan to commercialize, professional investors will ask for more information about the business.
In fact, you will be very curious to see how the promoters are going to solve, precisely, all the non-product related aspects of the business (ie: marketing, financing, etc.).
A coherent and “professional” Business Plan shows that the entrepreneur or entrepreneur takes the matter seriously and is qualified to carry out the project. It also shows that the founding team is balanced and in control of all fundamental aspects of a company.
How To Write A Plan De Empresa Or Plan De Negocios
The Business Plan is primarily a written document. The use of word processors and spreadsheets is already sine qua nontools. While other formats for a Business Plan could be imagined, it is best to initially focus on the content of the Business Plan rather than the form.
The Business Plan is aimed mainly at the entrepreneur himself or herself. A simple document formatted as simply as this very document you are reading may be appropriate. When the time comes to present the project to third parties, ways to make it more attractive will be sought.
As we have said, one of the utilities that the Business Plan sometimes has is to be able to show it to third parties. When this is necessary, it may be convenient to use models, prototypes of the product/s, multimedia presentations, videos, etc. However, one must not make the mistake of trying from the outset to “deliver a good job with an impeccable presentation.” The Business Plan must be a document for internal use. It can then be adapted for presentation to third parties.
Content
The Business Plan must contain all the necessary information to try to guarantee the correct and complete development of the business. Scholars on the subject have more or less reached a consensus on which aspects of the business should be discussed in the plan.
Most plan templates have these sections:
.Project summary
.Presentation of the Promoters
.Business Idea Analysis
.Plan de Marketing
.Production plan
.Organization Plan
.Economic-Financial Plan
.Commissioning Plan
.Contingency Plan
We will use this model to address, in more detail, these aspects one by one in future notes.
As we have already indicated, there will be projects in which it is necessary to include other sections or in which all the previous sections are not necessary.
Thus, for example, if the entrepreneur does not intend to show his Business Plan to anyone, the initial summary does not make any sense, although it may be useful as the basis of his audio logo.
This initial summary, or executive summary, which is written after the entire plan has been written, is intended to make life easier for professionals who must evaluate a large number of plans in order to award a grant or award funding. They read the summary and if they find it interesting then they go ahead with the entire Business Plan.
In any case, a balanced plan in all these aspects is proof that the entrepreneur has worked on all the fundamental issues of the company. If the plan presents some imbalance in one aspect, it is very likely that later the company will suffer precisely in that matter.
An effort must be made to systematically address each and every one of the chapters of the plan and, above all, maintain coherence and a common general vision among all of them.
Revision
The main mistake that many entrepreneurs make in relation to the Business Plan is to give it up at some point. Once the company is up and running and seems to be starting to work, the entrepreneur no longer has time to “dedicate himself to putting his plans in writing.” He already did it once when he created the company.
Now what you have is a running business and there is no time to waste. Sometimes you just can’t really find the time to review the plan.
But think of it this way, would you invest money in a business where the promoter doesn’t even have time to reflect on how things are being done and what the future of the business will be?
Well, that’s what an entrepreneur does in that situation. Every day when he gets up and goes to his company to work, he is actually investing in that type of business.
It is evident that if the Business Plan must be used to control the business, in the sense of checking whether reality is close to or deviates from what was foreseen, the entrepreneur must find time to review it and analyze the causes of the deviations that occur. -that there will be and if not, something extra is happening-.
On other occasions, the person is satisfied with his work, and with the company running, decides to expand the business or launch a new product, or any other expansion maneuver, curiously, it does not even cross his mind to analyzing this change from the perspective to create a new “business within a business”.
Since the company provides money and there is already a structure in place, it will be easier to manufacture and sell this new product.
But, who will be the clients of this product? How will it be manufactured? Where will the money for the operation come from? How will it affect the image of the company? Doesn’t this sound like the analysis that is carried out in a Business Plan?
In fact, in large companies -and not so large- when a new line is opened or a new business is entered into, an analysis of this type is carried out, although it is usually called a Business Plan since it is not going to create a new company.
When dealing with the sections of the Business Plan, the occasions on which a plan should be reviewed depend a lot on the business and the entrepreneur himself. There will be obsessive ones who will review it every morning; systematic, that they review it every month; Or don’t worry, they will do it once a year.
Each entrepreneur is the most appropriate person to decide what to do with their business. After all, that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about making your own decisions.
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