The Business Plan

Whether starting a business or growing the one you have, a business plan serves as a roadmap and can help secure needed funding. In this course, you evaluate the many aspects and potential hurdles of the business and build the Business Plan, one step at a time. This practical, hands-on approach encourages you to immerse yourself in the vision and planning aspects of your business. Focusing on the most critical components of the Business Plan enables you to uncover hidden risks and assess the business from a marketing, management, and financial vantage point. Agenda Unit 1 Getting Started—Refine your concept and begin your plan. • Prepare your concept statement—What, Who, Why, When, and How. • Identify product/service features and benefits. • Identify limitation, liabilities, and regulations. • Write your Business Description and evaluate it against a Business Description checklist. Unit 2 Prepare the Marketing Plan • Conduct an industry and competitive analysis. • Perform a market analysis and identify target markets and a market penetration strategy. • Identify your pricing strategy. • Write your Marketing Plan and evaluate it against a Marketing Plan checklist. Unit 3 Prepare the Management and Financial Plans • Identify key people and positions, duties and responsibilities. • Determine funding needs and sources. • Create sales and expense estimates. • Write your Management and Financial Plans and evaluate them against checklists. Unit 4 Complete the Business Plan and Assess Business Feasibility • Polish the plan and add final elements—Cover Page, Executive Summary, Table of Contents. • Evaluate business plan against checklist and identify items in need of additional work. • Assess business against feasibility checklist. • Identify next steps.