by Bradford Nicoll

Created on: January 14, 2009

There are two very important aspects to the creation of a business plan; defining the mission, and charting the path. The mission encompasses the broad frame-work and vision of the company that you are going to start. The Big Picture, if you will. While the path deals with the specifics of how you will reach those goals; the fine details. These two aspects are in some ways very different, but a good business plan needs to find a way to connect the two in order to build a strong foundation for a successful company.

Most people launch their businesses with a vision floating around somewhere in their minds. The image may be fuzzy, but it is definitely there. What the business plan creation process does at this early stage is to force the entrepreneur to bring that idea into greater focus. By putting the Big Idea down in black and white it becomes possible to get a better idea of what this idea really entails. Saying an idea out loud will also help you test its feasibility. It will force you to ask questions about the details and examine assumptions that you may not have realized that you were making. It also puts that idea out there to be scrutinized and tested by friends and associates. Who, I guarantee you, will test out every flaw and potential weakness. They will also help you to discover the idea's strengths, strengths and opportunities that you may not have even considered.

From this big, if somewhat vague picture, the smaller details can begin to be refined.

At some point, the business plan process shifts from being a broad mission statement to establishing a concrete set of realistic goals and reasonable expectations. At this stage a lot of hard questions need to be asked. And answered honestly.

How much money will we need and how much can we expect to make? Who are our customers and how will we reach them? Who are our competitors and why are we better than them?

If you need money to start your business, this is the part of the plan that investors are going to look at. Closely. The people that are thinking about giving you their money care a lot more about their profit and loss than they do about your hopes and dreams. So if you are not honest here, you'll find out when you start asking for money. The most beautiful vision in the world will not get you a loan without the numbers to back it up.

These numbers will also give you landmarks to keep an eye on as your business develops, and hopefully grows. They give you targets to reach for and a way to quantify

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>