Advice: Business Plans: How To Write A Business Plan Yourself/Atlanta (Practical Advice)

I am a business plan writer/developer in the Atlanta and Georgia area, and online elsewhere. Writing and developing business plans is much of what I do daily. While I enjoy putting the plans together and crafting them for people, it is understandable that some new entrepreneurs want to try and write their own business plans, and then later just let someone like myself touch them up.

Writing Your Own Business Plan?

If the new or expanding venture is not too complicated and doesn't involve large loans or investments, this can sometimes be done. Several times a year I simply edit and proof business plans made by others. But, the question remains: How to write a business plan yourself, to begin with?

It is impossible to teach precise know-how and experience and feel in a blog piece, but I can provide some plan basics applicable in Atlanta and everywhere else. 

Business Plan Writing Preparation

You must put in a few hours of research, whether or not you even write the business plan yourself. That is a given. GOOGLE. Your unique or clever strategy must be validated in context of the environment in which it will be applied.

If you really want to enter the endeavor, you will enjoy it anyway! After all, the new company is your unique idea (or you and your partners), no one else's. It is important to love or at last like what you do to be successful at it. (Make sure to download photos to sprinkle about the pages, also.)

Business Plan Sections/Information

You need a cover page that has all the basic info - name of the enterprise, location, logo, slogan, photo, address, e-mail, phone, owners/managers and their contact info, etc.

Next, depending upon the length, you may or may not have a table of contents, with sections and sub-sections, etc.

Following is the executive summary. This does NOT mean a traditional summary of what your idea is, or the plan conveys. The executive summary is a mini-business plan of its own, touching upon all categories included in the main body of the business plan that follows. It is generally about 25% to 35% of the total plan's length.

After the ES, we get to the meat and details of the business plan - the main sections. The order and lengths and details/sections vary. (The ES is derived from this info.)

The following sections/categories or sections are typical, requiring moderate amounts of information:

1. Background-Origin/Mission/Vision/Slogan. 
     (Location Details).

2. Key Personnel/Owners (small bios).

3. Products/Services Offered & Pricing.

4. Marketing Plans/Advertising/Target Market.
      (Demographics)

5. Competition Details/Your Differentation.

6. Operations/Guidelines/Distribution.

7. Employees/Personnel Requirements.

8. Financials/Projections/Money                          
    Usage/Inventory.

9. S.W.O.T. Analysis (not always).

10. Persuasive Conclusion.

11. Misc... 

It is imperative that the plan be crisp, neat, informative, compelling, and make good sense. The grammar and spelling and word selection also need(s) to be near-flawless. This business plan is your first big test "as a business," for investors and creditors. ~ JIMMY HALL (HJimmy577@aol.com )

At Jimmy Hall Writing Services /Atlanta (404-580-1501) I write/develop/and edit-proof business plans. Feel free to call me concerning your prospective endeaver and plan. I carefully craft Mini-Business Plans, SBA Plans, and Full-Length Business Plans for clients, and edit/proof their versions as well.