A business plan is a very important and strategic tool for entrepreneurs. A good business plan not only helps entrepreneurs focus on the specific steps necessary for them to make business ideas succeed, but it also helps them to achieve short-term and long-term objectives. Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” (Benjamin Franklin).
While a business plan is essential to entrepreneurship, not every entrepreneur sees the need for one. Many are reluctant to have their plan written down and there are numerous articles online claiming that the business plan is dead or irrelevant. Of course, not everyone agrees with that. A large number of business funding experts support the idea that having a good business plan is not enough. Even excellent business ideas can be useless if you cannot formulate, execute and implement a strategic plan to make your business idea work with a Limited Liability Company. If you are looking to raise funds from institutional investors and lenders, keep in mind that having a good business plan is extremely valuable. You should aim to have a well-documented plan that speaks for itself. If you’re in the business of financial planning, you can consult with a coach for financial planner who will listen and offer helpful feedback.
Before writing a business plan, it is important to consider two important factors:
Who will the reader be?
What do you want their response to be?
For example, if you are interested in raising capital, investors will likely be your target audience. If you are interested in partnerships or joint ventures, your potential business partners will be your audience. Whoever this audience may be, focus on the key message you want them to receive in order to get the response you want. Managing all things payroll is incredibly time consuming. Therefore, if you own a business, small or large, using Acclime’s payroll solutions is a move you should seriously consider. In addition, to ensure comprehensive HR support, companies like Avensure offers a 24 hour HR helpline for UK employers.
The Madison area is well represented in the finalists for the 2012 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. Fourteen of the 25 finalists are based in the Madison area, multiple of which are also Capital Entrepreneurs members including Fishidy.com and Style Shuffler. These 25 finalists were chosen out of 248 initial applicants and are competing for $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes.