Before you start writing your business plan, think about the following five important considerations:

1.      Realize that there is no one correct way to write a business plan.  Each business is unique and each has different characteristics that should be identified, described, and explored.  No one business plan template can serve the needs of every business out there.  If one were developed, it would be thousands of pages long and contain hundreds of sections which may be relevant to only a minority of the business ideas out there. 

If there is a section in the outline or software that you don’t think applies to your business idea, simply omit it from your business plan.  Be careful though, there are some sections that every business plan should not be without...it is up to you to customize the information to fit what is relevant to your project.

2.      DO NOT worry about the length of your plan.  Again, each business plan is unique and businesses have varying levels of complexity, even for companies within the same industry.  A manufacturer of apparel will have a longer and more complex plan than a designer and distributor of apparel who will outsource production.  The point is that your specific business idea will determine the length of a plan.

3.      Be as clear and concise as you possibly can.  Do not use flowery language – you are not writing a novel.  There will be no awards for literary ability.  Also, stay away from industry jargon or slang terms.  Write your plan in a manner that anyone with an eighth grade reading level can understand.

4.      Remember that most people who will be reviewing your plan will not read the entire document from front to back.  Your plan should be written so that the reader can get a general idea from the Executive Summary, a detailed description from the first paragraph or two of each section and technical detail from the remaining paragraphs in each section or the appendices. 

For example, if a person reads your executive summary and wants more detailed information on the target market they would page back to the “Market Potential” section to get more detailed information from the first couple of paragraphs.  If they want further breakdown of the target market or physical data of that market they should be able to read further beyond the first paragraph to find selected technical data on the size and growth of your potential market. 

5.      Back up assumptions with hard data and information that can be inferred from research completed in your exploration of the idea.  Do not just say you will be the best, fastest, or cheapest... explain how you will achieve more sales, better service, lower costs, etc.   

This will help you when it is time to project sales and expenses while providing justification for your expectations.  It is important that you describe why a feature of your business is important and explain the benefit it will provide you or the customer. 

Finally, providing assumptions will make your financing organization confident that your financial projections are based on solid data rather than just a best guess.