Tips For an Entrepreneur

Great potential entrepreneurs should start with a great business plan which will lead to adequate funding as well as better guidance to their team. These tips will help to create that great business plan.

Seek Expert Help

In the world of business plans there are those that are prepared by professionals to the entrepreneur's specifications and there are those that are created from scratch by the entrepreneurs themselves. The first category have the advantage of being carefully reviewed by experts, containing deeper and more detailed research, and having strategies that have been tweaked and improved. Furthermore, experts, such as business plan consultants, know what funders are looking for in a business plan and can pass that expertise on to you. Although it is always possible to create your own business plan that holds up, you will be fighting an uphill battle against professionally prepared plans, so it is in your best interest to join the pack.

Think (Hard) Before Writing

The first time that you consider how your marketing or operations will work should not be when you sit down and put pencil to paper on that section of the plan. Your marketing, operations, and other business activities should all stem from a unified strategy and the competitive advantage you seek to create. You should craft these elements and receive feedback on them well before the time comes to write. The writing itself should be a simple process after the detailed preparation you have done.

Use a Flexible Financial Model

If you create your own Excel financial model you may find that, once you have developed the financial statements, it is painstaking to make simple changes to the underlying assumptions because of the way it is set up. If you are not extremely experienced with Excel formulas this is a distinct possibility. Instead of creating the financial model from scratch, find an appropriate and customizable financial model, whether from a business plan template or another source, which will allow you to play with different numbers. The financial model should allow you to make simple changes and see the effects automatically populate through the linked income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. The software exists to do this and you are wasting valuable time if you do not seek it out and use it.