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Smart Start: The Essential Guide to Business Planning download
DOWNload your FREE GUIDE
Thinking of starting a business?
If you’re interested in starting a business, but don’t know where to start, you are in the right place. Over the past three decades, I’ve consulted with hundreds of entrepreneurs in a wide variety of industries including: restaurant chains, manufacturers, ecommerce businesses and marketing firms. Whether you’re starting a new business or expanding your business, preparing a comprehensive business plan is an essential tool that will help you succeed. Now, you can get my five-part business planning series absolutely FREE:
SMART START: The Essential Guide to Business Planning
your Free business planning guide
SMART START Guide Part 1: Market Research and Competitive Analysis
The SMART START Guide is a five step Framework for Starting Your Business
Here is what you will learn in the Smart Start Guide Part 1
Here you’ll learn about the importance of conducting thorough market research and competitive analysis and how to use that information to determine the viability of your business idea, product or service.
- Determine your target customers, understand market demand, and analyze your competition.
- Identify the demographics of your customers and their preferences.
- Choose your business name and location based on market insights.
- Complete your Target Market Profile Worksheet
- Use SBA.gov resources for detailed research guides and data.
Learn about Startup costs,
sources and uses and finaNCIAL statements
SMART START Guide Part 2: Preparing Financial Projections
In Part 2, you’ll learn the step-by-step process of determining your working capital. This step is essential because it will help you identify how much cash you will need to start your business. Next you will learn about break-even analysis and prepare a Sources and Uses Table. In many respects, Part 2 is one of the most important parts of business planning.
- Determine the amount of startup capital you need.
- Conduct a break-even analysis to understand when your business will become profitable.
- Create a Sources & Uses of Funds schedule to map out where money will come from and how it will be spent.
- Prepare your financial Projections.
- See SBA.gov for funding options including loans, grants, and investors.
your Free business planning guide
SMART START Guide Part 3: Understanding Legal Business Structure
LEARN HOW AND WHERE TO FILE DOCUMENTS TO START YOUR BUSINESS
In Part 3, we’ll discuss choosing the right business structure. This deals with many legal and compliance aspects of starting a business and we will also explain what documents are needed to operate your business.
- Legal Structures: Sole-proprietorships and LLCs to S-Corps and C-Corps and Pros and Cons of each structure
- Operating Agreement or Corporate Bylaws
- How to obtain your Federal and State Tax IDs (EIN).
- Apply for licenses and permits specific to your industry.
- Open a dedicated business bank account to separate personal and business finances.
hERE IS WHREE IT ALL COMES TOGETHER
SMART START Guide Part 4: Writing Your Business Plan
This section will guide you through the process of writing your business plan and what components are essential to the plan. Your business plan is a tool that should be used throughout the life cycle of your business. Think of it as a living document that you can amend and change as your business evolves. This guide will help you understand the different sections of the Business Plan.
- Executive Summary: Define your business, the management, team and description of the business.
- Company Description: What is your industry. Give the who, what when where, how and why about your company.
- Market Research and Competitive Analysis: Who are your customers, build a profile, how many competitors?
- Operations Management: This is the nuts and bolts of how you plan to operate your business.
- Define your product offering: Who, what, when, where, how, and why of your products or services.
- Sales and Marketing: What the sales and marketing strategy? How are you going to get customers?
- Financial Projections Summary: This shows the financial viability of the business that you are opening.
your Free business planning guide
SMART START Guide Part 5: Funding Options for Small Business
TYPES OF FUNDING AND WHERE TO GET IT
Now in Part 5, Funding Options for Small Businesses, we will discuss how to finance your business. In this section, we’ll discuss loan types (term loans and lines of credit) as well as sources of financing like banks and other funding sources. By the end of reading this guide, you’ll have a good understanding of the different funding options available to start and fund your business. You’ll learn the basic requirements for each type of funding and where to go to secure that type of funding. Sources of Capital that are available for small businesses.
- Bootstrapping – self funding with personal savings and friends and family
- Angel Capital – securing funding from accredited wealthy investors
- Venture Capital – used for businesses experiencing exponential growth.
- Bank Financing (traditional Loans) – Requirements and types of funding available.
- SBA Guaranteed loans – These are loans made by banks, guaranteed by SBA
- Other Sources of Financing – Family Office, Crowd Funding
- Finally, you’ll learn about getting paid using Electronic Payments (Credit Card Processing)
So let’s get started!
