Intro
Your business plan writing shouldn’t be a discouraging process that lasts weeks or even months. Being an entrepreneur, you simply lack that time and you do not have the energy for this. Business plan writing just demands a certain level of knowledge and a methodology to guide you through the process in a step-by-step manner.
In this article, we intend to do exactly that – to give you tools that will help you with this challenge. It’s not just about learning what a business plan is, but how to build the plan so you can complete it quickly.
Is it possible to create a good business plan in one day?
The answer is YES, it is possible to write a business plan in one day! Actually, most people we’ve seen not only come up with plans but also started their own business over a weekend during Startup Weekend events, these are always entertaining and full of energy. So if you already have a good idea of what business you want to start, or if you have a strong sense of the business you’re already running, then writing a business plan in a day is definitely doable.
Just before we proceed to the methodology you will use to write a plan in a day, here are some things to keep in mind:
Be aware of the reasons for writing a plan and what it is for
A business plan often comes in many shapes and sizes. The audience and the purpose of your plan will determine what sections you need to include and what you should ignore. As an example, if you are doing an internal business plan to figure out how you will expand, you can skip all the sections about the background and team members. On the other hand, if you are writing a plan for investors, they will want to know about the team behind the business.
Supplementary points are not awarded for the length
In general, a rule of thumb for business plans is that the shorter the better. It should be written to the absolute minimum. In this context, we cannot make a comparison with the homework you write for school that has a minimum word count. A business plan is intended to communicate your ideas as simply as possible.
Keep your confidence
Remember that the large majority of business owners and entrepreneurs do not have a degree in business or accounting. Just like you, they have a bright idea and the persistence to transform that idea into a business. Business plan writing doesn’t require special knowledge or an advanced degree. It only requires knowing your business.
One day is enough! Get 6 steps to create a business plan!
Based on these tips, here are the 6 steps you need to follow to successfully write your business plan in one day.
1. Survey the market before you start writing
This is probably the most important part of your business plan – the market survey section. This is where you describe who your potential customers are and why they need and want your new product.
One reason this section is so important is that a business is useless without customers. Understanding your customers is the key to a successful business and this step should not be ignored.
Once you understand your customers very well, writing this section of the business plan will be quite simple. You will need to describe who your potential customers are, what their interests and needs are, and their demographic information like age, gender, economic position, professional position, etc. You may also need to look at your customers’ psychographic data, in fact, it is a great idea to describe your customers’ attitudes, dreams, or aspirations.
In case you haven’t spent much time thinking about your customers yet, doing this job before writing the business plan will make the drafting process substantially smoother. On top of that, understanding your customers and their specific needs is the key to a long successful business. When your service or product matches the needs of your customers, you have as a result, the so-called “product-market fit” term introduced by the famous investor Marc Andreessen.
This assures that your customers become loyal, as repeat purchases are often the main driver of business success.
2. Briefly explain each section of your business plan
Similar to building a house, the construction of a business plan requires you to put a solid foundation. By creating an outline for your business plan, you’ll want to start your day so you have a solid starting point for your plan and identify all the building blocks that you need in order to complete your plan.
A standard business plan contains the next sections:
- Detailed executive summary
- Description of products and services
- Market analysis
- Marketing and sales plan
- Organisation and management team
- Financial statements
In each of these sections, you can create sub-sections. This will help you to match the needs of your business.
There are several sub-sections that you may need to describe, for example, if your business is selling digital tools that you buy from a third-party supplier, it will be important to describe your supply chain in the Product Description section. But if you are planning a restaurant business, sections such as supply chain and distribution will not be important and you will have other key sections dedicated to the location and marketing.
Check out a detailed business plan outline and download a business plan sample.
3. Consider samples of business plans
Now that you have the outline of your business plan, the next step is to analyse some examples of business plans. By doing this you will get an idea of the language people use in business plans and get inspired.
Never plan to copy a business plan sample. This is never a good idea as every business is so unique. However, being aware of what a completed business plan looks like is a very useful part of the planning process.
Discover our library of over 500 business plan examples.
4. Build your plan based on your knowledge
Once you’ve done all the groundwork, it’s time to start writing your business plan. The key point is not to start from scratch and work systematically from the beginning till the end.
Starting instead with the parts you are most familiar with. In general, the description of the product or service is a good spot to start. It is likely the part you really understand the best. Moving from there, proceed to the second part you find yourself most comfortable with.
Doing this will give you a good start to the writing process and help you remove some of the simple work. In this way, you won’t get blocked prematurely and be discouraged by a harder part.
A hint: keep the absolute summary for the end. Since the executive summary is a summary of your whole plan, you’ll probably want to finish everything else before you resume it.
5. Keep financial statements very simple
Financial planning looks daunting, but it shouldn’t be. Keep it simple and add more detail as you go.
Have a sales forecast
A sales forecast is the best way to start. Just make your best guess about future sales on the basis of what you actually know and what you hope for. Smart sales forecasting means thinking of a “bottom-up” sales forecast. Estimate how many potential customers you think you can reach in a month and what percentage of those potential customers will purchase from you. Discover more details on sales forecasting in our guide.
List and describe your expenses
In the next step, switch to your expenses. Once again, if for some reason you don’t know the exact amounts, this is okay. Estimate expenses such as rent, insurance, salaries, marketing, etc. You can keep improving your forecasts as you learn more about your business and get more detailed statistics. Have a look at our guide on tax returns for more details.
Control your cash flow
At this point, you need to make sure that you always have enough cash on hand to do business. To make it easier, you need to draw up a cash flow forecast. It is right that doing this can be a bit complicated, but you can definitely save time by using business planning software. If your focus is to have the plan done in a single day, the software can reduce the hours you spend in the forecasting process. It will also ensure you don’t have to worry about spreadsheets and custom formulas.
6. Assign someone to revise your plan
By working with a business associate you can considerably speed up the planning process. The adoption of a ‘divide and conquer’ approach will help you work through the planning process and make writing a plan in a day doable.
However, for those who don’t have a work partner, find a friend or family member who is interested in reading your work during the time you spend with them. Inviting someone to review your plan gives you not only valuable feedback but also makes your writing commitment real. Once you have someone else ready to work with you, it will be much harder to postpone or leave writing your plan for another day. In the same way that it’s always easier to go to the gym with a friend, planning is always easier with a partner or helper.
In Conclusion
The fact that someone is reviewing your plan will also help you detect weaknesses and errors. By assuming you write your plan out of order, as advised, it can be easier to make mistakes as you go back and forth. A helper who reads your plan to you as you are developing it will help make sure your plan is consistent once it is completed.
Discover what is outsourcing and how it can help grow your enterprise in the following article: The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
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