Planning Your Business Effectively

Starting your own business is an incredibly exciting time, especially if it is an avenue that you are passionate about, however the preliminary stages can be quite daunting as there is a lot of information that needs to be documented before anything else happens. There will need to be a formal business plan presented to the bank and/or councils to acquire the funds and licenses so, to ensure that you have everything you need, this guide aims to provide a brief overview of what needs to be included.

Executive Summary

This is the very first part of your business plan and will include what your vision is for your business, for example, if you have a coffee shop design in mind, this is where you would explain your reasons for opening a coffee shop at the premises you have chosen. It is a good idea to state if there is a specific area of interest near your chosen site, for example, a shopping district or a college or university which will allow repeat custom; you will go into this in more detail later in the plan but it is a good tactic to mention it briefly at the beginning of your plan. In this summary, include the site size, the length of the lease, start up funds and how the remaining capital is going to be funded and how you expect your company to grow in the next 3 years in revenue and net profit.

After the brief opening statement, state a minimum of three key objectives that you wish to achieve in your first year of your business along with a list of how you are going to achieve those objectives, i.e turn profits in the first month by maximising sales through aesthetics and marketing strategies.

Products

This section is incredibly important as it is the very crux of your business - the products that will bring in your revenue and build your profits. So, if you are looking to begin a cafe business, you menu would be in this section along with a list of ingredients that will be needed and any merchandise that will also be sold on site. It  is essential that you go into depth about your products, including how to prepare them, for example, if you are looking to open a coffee shop, explaining how the temperature of the milk is important to making the perfect latte shows that you are serious about the business idea because you have done extensive research.

Competition

Knowing and understanding your competition is what makes a business successful. As a business owner, it is important to display in your business plan your awareness of other similar businesses around you but also what gives your business the edge over them. If you are a small coffee shop in the same vicinity as Costa, what gives you the edge over this well-established coffee house? Why would customers rather come to you? Tackling these obstacles is important as it shows that you have considered all angles to make your business a set above the rest.