BUSINESS PLANS sources of info on Business Plans

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The are many many sources on the Web for information about what to put in a Business Plan + many government and corporate courses that tell you the best ways to order the information. The personal experience of Prof. Richardson is that the best way to orient your business plan is to decide who is the reader and what is the purpose.
1. some plans are for the purpose of borrowing money, so you will emphasize how you will make money, and pay back the investor
2. other business plans are "operational" - meaning they focus on being able to explain what you will do, when you will do it and who will do what

People who take marketing courses will know the 4Ps and the 6 environments - these are the fundementals of making a plan and sometimes it is just as simple as listing
  o product
         - product features
         - target market segmentation
         - branding
            etc.
  o price strategy
  o promotion objectives
         - mass advertising
         - publicity
             etc.
  o place and location, etc.

It is also common to use the phrase "the 3 M's", meaning Money, Management, Materials - as a way or ordering your info

You should probably have a heading for the 5 or 6 environments that effect you and discuss how you will address these environments.
Begin with the Competitive Environment because that is the one that will have the strongest influence on your success.

  o Competitive Environment
  o Economic Environment
  o Technological Environment
  o Geographic Environment
  o Social / Cultural Environment
  o Political / Legal / Regulatory Environment
 
 

	There are many government resources online for business plans - this one to the left comes from British Columbia. This information comes from federal levels, provincial levels and even municipla government agencies have business plan info.
	Here is another fairly good example of a Business Plan, but you will notice that it does not have the exact same headings as other examples - this is because the particular headings and categories of information you put in a business plan depend on who the reader is. If the reader is a banker, they will be interested in slightly different categories than an Angel investor, or a potential JV partner.

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Business Plans: Advice

Many of the banks have business advice on their web site - see the screen capture to go to the BMO page about Business Plan basics

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- see the screen capture to go to the RBC page about Business Plan basics

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- see the screen capture to go to the AMEX page about Business Plan basics

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sources of information

newspaper and magazine articles which sometimes give summaries of a business situation and provide quotable quotes industry association information on customer base, number of outlets, etc. eg. a real estate company can give demographic information languages and dominant culture in an area of Toronto eg. number of businesses doing that activity, Canadian Restaurant Association e. /www.torontotourism.com - the Toronto Convention and Visitors Association could tell you the number of hotel rooms in Toronto eg. Hotel and Restaurant Suppliers Association at www.afhr.com eg. Toronto Automobile Dealers Association can give info about new cars sold in Toronto www.thetada.com government sources of information, licenses held, institutions, permits sold, etc.

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There are thousands of web pages about starting a business - some offer advice - some offer to sell you products and services. This page offers information to help entrepreneurs with their business start-up. Many tips describing the  fundamentals for a home based (SOHO) or office based business. Read profiles of successful start-ups  companies, learn how government agencies like the SBA can help and understand the importance of well  defined objectives.

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