Business Plan Outline That Works Simple and Effective Part 3 - For more
on online sales and distribution models see the guide from Yeoman Technologies
which I have also included. Marketing Model How do you plan on getting the word
out about your product or service?Jessica from Shoestring marketing offers a
great 60 page guide about how to market your product or service on a budget,
which you can download in exchange for your email.I have included a link where
you can get that in the resources link below this Post.Team Who is on your team,
why are they rockstars, and who is responsible for what. If you have outside
advisors include them here.Financials This is where you try and predict your
monthly revenues and expenses and how those will grow over time.
Focus on
the next 12 months.Founders almost always underestimate how long it is going to
take to reach profitability and how much money they are going to need to fund
their business. While its the job of a company founder to be optimistic, it's
important for this part of the plan that you are realistic.For a great
layment's overview of how to put together your business plan financials seethe
3 Post series by the founder of Palo Alto Software and Tim Berry which I have
included in the resources link below this Post.How to Expand Your Business Plan
When Needed After going through the above process you should have somewhere
between 15 and 20 slides giving you a solid overview of your business and how
it will be run. If you are planning to raise money then for some sources (such
as friends, family, and certain venture capitalists)this may be enough.
If you
plan on trying to get a loan from a bank then what we outline above is a good
start but you are likely going to need to have a written plan to go along with
it. For this we recommend the business planning software by Live Plan which you
can find on in the resources link below this Post.If you prefer to go the free
route then I have included some templates from the folks over at SCORE in the
resources link, as well as some other great resources for setting up your
business plan. That's our Post for today. If you have any comments or questions
please leave them in the comments section below. Also be sure to see the next
Post in our series on how to start a business which covers how to raise money
for your business.