9 Dec 2015

How to write a standard business plan that will bring results and attract investors

Considering the stress and time taken to compose a good business plan, one may find it difficult to compose one that will bring results and attract expected  investors to finance your business. hence a good business plan is necessary so as to explore the available resources on ground for a new start up and decide on ways such resources can be harnessed by the entrepreneur to his best advantage.Business plans are necessary when starting a new venture because , the information obtained from it is comprehensive enough to describe the mission and objective of the organization.It covers the entire decision making if a new venture for the first 3 years of its establishment.

Someone practical steps are also essential when writing a business plan. A feasibility study must have been conducted before hand in other to establish whether the business is even viable or not. A good business plan must therefore be properly written in good order. It must speak extensively on the new start up introducing its purpose, the expected owners , statement of finance and capital need. It must give an industrial analysis and expose the rate of competition present in such industry.If well written a good business plan must include future outlook and economic forecasting of the product at hand.It must describe the venture itself, indicating its size, the capacity, the intended product and services to be offered in the venture. It must include about five conceptual plans for the venture. This plans include:

Production Plan: What are your intended means of manufacturing your new product, how do you intend to achieve the quality you desire using your own formulated process.You must give a detail review in the plants , machinery and equipment to be used during the manufacturing process

Operational Plan: How does the organization intend to operate its affairs,is their a specific line of action or laid own rules to be followed in the new venture. How o you intend to utilize latest technology in making your firm stand out

Marketing plan: A business report must contain necessary plans for promoting , packing and distribution of your products to reach potential consumers

Organizational plan: This is the part which completely describe the while management and background of the entrepreneur team. It describes the forms of ownership of the business, the principal shareholders,allocation of duties and functions to each principal and administrator in the venture.

Financial Plan: This explains the short term and long term financial projection of the new business by estimating the amount of capital required in setting up the coy. It expatiates the intended means if gaining this capital,the proforma cash flow and budgets to establish the new venture.

Another major component necessary for a good business plan is risk analysis which is an essential factor. When launching a new start up,the weaknesses and major causes of failure must be identified and contigency plans to escape from such failure must be developed.

We shall further consider the standard format for a complete business plan in our subsequent posts on this blog. Make sure you share with your friends on the social networks so that they can also gain the knowledge.

How to become an innovative entrepreneur - Must read!

 A psychologist once described an entrepreneur as the most innovative person on earth. He his driven by ideas and the best ways he can achieve results through a fast means.Many people often think entrepreneurs are driven by some forces which pushes them beyond the normal limit as compared to other individuals, they experiment,try to obtain and attain and accomplish their goals so as to escape the authority of others.

Hence it is required that any one intending to become successful as an entrepreneur must have a high level of initiative to start a new idea or innovation sported from a new line of opportunity in order to achieve a technological breakthrough.An entrepreneur must carry out innovative thinking , inventing new ideas daily so as to make progress in his quest to take advantage of developing a new opportunity.

Such individual must be able to set up mechanisms which will assist in sporting a new opprtunity necessary for creating a new innovation. Innovation is a new idea which is only seen by entrepreneurs who is endowed with ability to identify and evaluate business opportunities and driven to create something new.

An innovative entrepreneur must be able to easily sport dimensions of innovations, which includes activities which occurs in his industry,such activity includes ,break through in new technology,new changes in rules of the market, any change that has taking place in the environment is also an important dimension for innovation which an entrepreneur who is alert to new opportunities sees that spurns new ideas in his mind.

Some entrepreneurs use many mechanisms to trap new opportunity for growth, for instance an entrepreneur may begin to gather gather data to help in find out the weakness and inadequacies that
prevents a product from giving its users full satisfaction. This is his own way of selecting a new niche for his new business and through the process of improving in the product. He may decide to carry out a radical innovation on his new found opprtunity.

Hence from the foregoing an innovative entrepreneur must be:
Inquisitive
Ingenious
Industrious
Creative
Resourceful
foresight oriented
and be a risk taker

Why most entrepreneurs fail to succeed with their startups/enterprise

Some entrepreneurs happily launch their start ups and record success within a short period while some who have not really tightened loose end seem to record failure. This may be due to so many reasons attributed to the pre- planning processes or a poor business planning. AT each level of the business planning process, the entrepreneur must:

Determine his level of available resources ,determine if he can bear the cost of the capital and the associated consequences of an insufficient resources. This are the little bottlenecks that lead to failure if a new start up. If a poor business plan is presented such that it under estimates the capital required to start up a business, then funds channels towards salient areas like marketing may as well be insufficient thereby impeding the growth of the business.

Planning alternatives and contingency plans are also necessary things which if not put in place will cause a new start up to fail . Although the business plan helps in forecasting the future outlook, it may not necessarily be the accurate picture of the future, hence contingency plans must be put in place and an entrepreneur who does not possess the quality of decisiveness and perseverance is likely going to fail.

Team building is also affect the rate of success of a newly launch start up. If an entrepreneur does not engage in team building activities , then the workload of the new venture may definitely affect some areas in the venture.He must act like a good leader  whose motive is to organize human activities,inspire,motivate and impact loyalty and confidence to his team members.He must surround himself , with like minded purposeful, and result driven individuals.

A successful enterprise is the result of healthy relationship of individuals that make up the team.It is a collective effort of many people.hence an entrepreneur may share some of the rewards or give back to those who assisted in formulating the venture.

Hence all entrepreneurs must take note of the above points when planning a new start up that is heading for success