Writing a good business plan

Your business plan needs to be very clear and explain your aims and how you are going to make your business successful. It should show that your idea is a good one and that it has the potential to work in practice. Your business plan should include:



COMPANY GOALS

This is a brief description of what you want to do, of how you plan to do it and who you will be targeting. You should also include your final aim - what does being successful mean in your business? Is it having lots of clients, expanding your market throughout India or providing the best service available?



DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS

This is a much more detailed description of what your business does/will be doing, of how the company functions. Who does what in the company? What activities do you carry out and who is responsible for each activity?



SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED

This is a list or description of what you will be providing your clients or market with. Depending on how your company is organised, you may want to specify who will be providing which service here of in the 'description of your business'. In one of the two sections, or in a separate section you will need to give brief details of who will be working in your business.



STAFF

If your organisation is complex you can include a separate section to describe the people who are/will be working there and their skills and qualifications.



TARGET MARKET

Here you should give an analysis of your target market, that is the people or companies and organisations you are planning on providing your services to. Who are you targeting, and why will they be interested in your services? Who else is providing similar services in the place where you want to set up your business? Why is your service different to others? Why is your business needed?



MARKETING PLAN

This is an explanation of how you are going to present and sell your services. How are you going to make people aware of your business and make them want to buy your services or products? You need to give a list of practical solutions like advertising on specific websites or in specific newspapers, contacting other organisations and/ or companies that you think will be interested, producing a leaflet or organising promotional events.



CASH FLOWS OF SET UP COSTS

This is a spreadsheet (Excel for example) which gives the details of all the things you are going to need to set up your company (computers, a printer, chairs, rent security for the first month, air conditioning, shelves…). List the item, the quantity, the cost per item, the total cost, the amount the item is going to lose in value each year as a percentage (depreciation) and the actual amount in money that it will depreciate. At the end of your list of set up costs have totals for the total cost and the total depreciation. For example:

MONTHLY CASH FLOWS

You will need to have several sections. Your outgoing costs per month should include your overheads (telephone, rent, stationary...) and your employees (list with their salaries). Your incoming per month should be detailed (different prices of each product/ service and how many of each you plan to sell/ provide each month), this should also show how your income will increase over time. When you have both sections you can then calculate when your income is going to cover your costs.