Looking to start a new business? If you want to succeed you need to have a solid plan. While writing a business plan can be a daunting task, you don’t need a fancy business degree in order to craft a good one. But you do need to have vision, passion, organization and be willing to put in a lot of hard work. Whether you want to write a business plan for yourself, the bank or to show potential investors, you’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll learn how to create a strong business plan as well as learn from common mistakes that can hurt your chances of success. Below are 25 tips to writing a business plan from the pros. "You should be writing your business plan with a clear idea of who you are targeting (bank or potential investors) so that you can tailor your business plan accordingly, similar to how you would tailor a resume to a specific job application. Research the bank or potential investors and understand how they work, what they’ve invested in previously and most recently and clearly outline the synergy with your business." -- Liat Tzoubari, founder and CEO, Sevensmith "A great new business plan outlines how a business plans to solve a problem, how much it will charge for that and how much it will cost to solve that problem. It also includes why the business has the right group of people and assets to best solve the problem, how it will let people know that they are solving this problem, and finally how the business will get people to pay to have that problem solved." -- Steven Benson, CEO, Badger Maps "My best tip for writing a business plan is to take a step back while you are brainstorming, and come up with strategies that will help you avoid falling into those traps that make so many other businesses fail. You should ensure that your business plan accomplishes these three goals: 1) Appeals to your target customer audience, 2) Differentiates your business as unique, 3) Communicates your value propositions in an articulate manner. "When a new or young company presents financial projections, lenders and investors will want to have data which supports the company’s financial assumptions. Where did the company get its numbers for gross profit and amount of inventory it will need to purchase? If the company is using industry benchmarks, it will gain more credibility in the eyes of investors than saying the company made reasonable estimates. How can you get this data in your business plan? LivePlan offers this functionality as part of its online business plan software or you can comb through U.S. Census Bureau data for free. "Don’t forget to also direct clients to your website! Bluehost will give you a domain, web hosting, email address and more." -- Marc Prosser, co-founder, Fit Small Business
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