NEW! Get more 5-star reviews with Stargazer® ⭐️
Learn More
Writing a business plan is not an easy task, nor does it take very long. However, most entrepreneurs fail to include enough detail in their plans, which are then considered uninteresting and boring.
When investors review your plan, they will likely spend some time reading and focusing only on the parts that have lots of details. These details may be significant, but if you do not emphasize the steps towards your goal, what motivation will there be to read them?
By writing short and simple versions of each section, your audience can focus more on developing their own ideas while also getting the important information.
This article will help you write short and simple business plans by using strategies such as introducing new concepts, emphasizing milestones, and use of bullets.
Now that you have determined that your goal is to open your own business, the next thing will be to determine if this is actually feasible. You can’t launch into business unless you know whether or not you have enough money to keep yourself alive for at least six months.
It’s very difficult to survive in business without adequate funding, so make sure you don’t put your dreams onto hold because you don’t believe you have enough money.
Many people get their hopes up about starting a business only to be discouraged when they run out of cash and have no choice but to accept help from family and friends.
If you feel like you’ll never have enough capital, then it’s better to stay within job boundaries than risk failing as an entrepreneur.
Now that you have determined how you want to organize and run your business, you will need to make a list of everything else you need to do to get started. This includes listing all the products or services you will offer, finding space for your business, investing in start-up supplies and equipment, and more!
You should also think about whether you would like to hire employees or if you plan to be self-employed. Both types of businesses require similar documents so we will not go into much detail about those here. But remember, even though it is tempting to add things to this short plan as you go along, doing so may put off others from reading your plans because they feel there is too much information.
Keep it simple, neutral, and straightforward. Do not use fancy terminology unless you are very familiar with these terms. If you are looking for inspiration, check out some of the simpler business plans online.
The Introduction or General Overview
The general overview is an important part of any business plan. This section should tell who you are as a company, what products and services you offer, and how your business will succeed in the market.
It can also include some inspiring stories about yourself and the company. When writing this section, make sure it does not sound too formalized and instead express your self-confidence and passion for your business.
The introduction should clearly state what your business is and what makes it unique. Make sure to emphasize these points while still making the document readable and concise.
After you have determined what business you will run, now is the time to consider how you will market it and who you will market it to. This can be done through social media postings, advertisements, word of mouth, or all three!
Running a restaurant requires lots of advertising. You must put up signs for openings and closings, spread announcements via social media and word-of-mouth, and place ads in local newspapers and magazines.
Likewise, starting a bed and breakfast needs advertisement space in hotels around the area where guests can view pictures and descriptions of the house. People spend large amounts of money traveling, so if you offer a comfortable stay with quality services, there should be many people willing to pay enough to keep you busy.
The same goes for running any type of business; you need to advertise to get more customers.
Planning your marketing strategies ahead of time will help you save time and energy in the long run. Before opening your business, think about the types of businesses like yours that are successful and pick some ideas you would like to try.
When writing your short business plan, you first need to make sure that you have conducted adequate research about your product or service. You should know what types of products are similar to yours and how they market themselves.
You also want to be clear on who your target audience is and whether there are other companies out there that are competitively close in quality to you.
After making sure that you have done all of this groundwork, the next step is to create your marketing strategy. This includes deciding where you will advertise (social media, printed materials, etc.), when you will promote yourself, and how much you will spend on advertising depending on the size of your market.
Your final task would be to conduct sale events and gather feedback from potential customers and current clients.
The second part of any business plan is establishing the internal structure of your company. This includes who will be in charge, how many people you have, what departments they will lead, and what functions they will perform. You can also include what kind of policies you will have as well as what systems you will use for communication.
It is very important that everyone knows their job responsibilities inside out so there are no questions about them. Make sure to test these skills before going live! Once everything is ready, organize all documents and notes using an easy-to-access system.
This article has focused on the more general parts of the business plan, but now we move onto the more detail oriented ones.
After deciding what you want to do, who you are going to help, and what time frame you plan to be in business, now is the time to assemble your dream team!
Finding your ideal business partner can make or break your success as an entrepreneur. You will need their support both in good times and bad, and investing in someone’s future career could pay off big-time for you.
While it may sound cliché, honesty is the best policy when looking for partners. Being honest with each other about what you expect from each other will keep you focused on moving forward together instead of pulling away because you don’t feel like you get enough credit for all the work that has gone into the project.
Also, remember that not everyone gets along well and works out partnerships.
As mentioned earlier, being able to describe who your audience is and what they want can help you write a short simple business plan. You do not have to be talking about marketing strategies for hours, but knowing your market will give you insights into their needs and expectations.
It’s also important to consider how much of a budget each potential customer has. Most businesses that fail did so because they were unable to fulfill their financial obligations.
Competing with other companies in the marketplace takes time, energy and money. Figuring out which products and services are needed and what price people are willing to pay is a great way to conserve resources.
