How to write a business plan?
Please i need free indeep suggestion.
free software for writing a business plan
free documentation that explain how
people that can help me for free
Thanks
Good Answers (38)
Daniele, Good Morning!
There is a software called Palo Alto, it is not free but it is not very expensive. In my oppinion it is the most complete Business Plan Software.
Palo Alto is easy to use, you just have to fill in the answers and it will build your Business Plan.
For further information:
http://www.paloalto.com/
Regards,
Alexandre Silva
Links:
Frank L.
CFO Benelux at Nassau Indus Deur B.V. - Nassau Door nv/sa
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Dear Daniele,
I have my own templates about how to write a business plan. I am constantly writing and revising BP’s.
Feel free to connect with me and I will assist you with all the aspects. I will even write it for you to start with. This means that you need to be legally protected before I can start with the BP.
And I will do it for free.
Best Regards
Frank
Clarification added August 24, 2008:
After the great idea and before the business plan, you have to ask yourself 4 questions:
1) Do you have a real passion for your new venture? If you focus, you increase your odds for success.
2) Do you have somebody with whom you can share your ideas, challenges, frustrations etc… It would be helpful that you can confide in somebody (like a friends, “significant other”, family member), as you cannot rely on the pro’s.
3) Are you confident (SURE) that this is what you want to do? This will also increase your chances for success.
4) In case of answering the past 3 Q’s positive: Are you cash-strapped or not? (forgive me for asking this, hope you do not interpret this as impolite). In case you are cash strapped, maybe better to approach VC (angel – seed) capital rather sooner than later. In this case, be careful, as you want to decide what will happen with your company (according to yr BP).
Last remark, be sure all the IP’s are registered (if applicable) correctly. If it works, be careful for patent infringements. Don’t focus on cashing in now. The money will come. The less VC’s money you need to use, the more money. But in both cases, the money will come. Focus on the idea and business (customer minded – how to add value for the customer).
Now forget conventional wisdom and write your business plan (or ask me to do it?). In this case, the 3 most important areas in yr business plan, should be (to my opinion): (1) your team, (2) market opportunity, (3) competition, or barriers to enter, or substitutes. Why should somebody use this?
CHeers
Frank
Clarification added August 28, 2008:
Conclusion:
Free software for writing a business plan: I will send you separately.
Free documentation that explain how: I will also send to you
people that can help me for free: me
All the best
Frank
Donald D.
Manager
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Microsofr Office Online has some 1st class templates for How to write a business plan for start-ups as well as established businesses.
If you have difficulty connecting to the site, let me have your email and I will send you a copy of a couple I have.
You should be able to complete the plan with the guidelines contained in the document
Regards
Donald
Links:
Venkataramiah A.
Consultant
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Refer below links
Links:
Dr. Archana R.
Qualifications eAssessment Advisor at ACCA
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Hi Daniele
I am sure you will get immense positive response on your question and a large number of links to software.
Since business plan is going to be an ongoing activity and any ignorance can prove costly, I suggest a little investment in a book by Richard Stutely's "The Definitive Business Plan: The fast-track to intelligent business planning for executives and entrepreneurs."
It is a good resource to have at hand while attempting to create a business plan.
In the meantime, I can answer any questions on financial terms, their meaning and significance.
Best wishes
Archana Raheja
Jerry E.
STEM Education | Insurance
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Buy the book.... One Page Business Plan.... via Amazon.
Jay F.
Strategic Mgt. Technology Exec; technology transfer & commercialization; technical advisor; technology policy advocate.
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Why "free?" I've been writing business plans for more than 20 years. Start here: http://tinyurl.com/6a3nt7 and then find one that someone else has written and follow it as a guide and an outline. Writing a business plan for a business, especially your own business, is an important experience. You can "hire" someone (I note that someone has already offered to write one for you for free), but a good business plan, assuming that you have done your homework could take weeks of work (that equates to thousands of dollars worth of time).
Good luck.
Devesh D.
Management Consultant | Business Coach | Speaker | Mentor | Entrepreneur
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Daniele,
You should look for Govt. and Non Govt. resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs, like local chamber of commerce.
Linkedin is a good start, try advisorgarage, gobignetwork, and similar networks to find a business consultant ready for pro-bono work.
The last thing you wanna do though is to buy a software for business planning purposes unless you need this business plan simply for the sake of having a business plan on the shelf :)
The better approach is: you should write a rough draft of your idea and everything what you think about it. Bounce these ideas at others and gather unique perspectives, feedback and more ideas, document that too. Lay out your monthly fixed costs ( rent, wages etc) along side your variable costs and then compare it with your prospective income sources. Run this schedule for at least 24 months. Use this schedule to see how much money you can go down for before the business works. Do you walk away 5 grand down after 6 months, or do you get lumbered with a hard to sell, expensive to keep, lease? Figure out, what happens if you reduce your income. Do a break even analysis - what is the lowest level at which you can make it work. Try to write something why and how sure are you that you will do better than anyone else who is doing the same. If you're the only one doing or planning to do this the chance are either the idea is not profitable or even you don't know where and who is doing it? So do more research about the business and try to figure the realistic bottom line for the business. All this analysis and work above was for your use. If you still want to do it -
Then draft a business plan using the free resources like Microsoft template and many more available in the market - this draft initially should include what you have done that makes you sure this will work. This may simply be - I have a contract, I know the business, there will be more, or it may be a thorough market research, traffic counts, industry statistics and the like. Put the schedule we did in the first place, into a spreadsheet,and lay out the rest in whichever format you like.
In my opinion, this is the most economic and realistic approach to write a business plan and not an off the shelf software which will give you a me-too business plan which to me is of no use as neither am I convinced nor can I convince any investors with that kind of auto-generated plan.
Best of luck!
Devesh
Links:
Kim R.
Executive Board at National Atheist Party
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I would suggest that your review why you are doing a business plan. They are NOT required and not all successful businesses have them. Are you trying to get funding from someone . . . that is really the ONLY reason to have a business plan.
Arun S.
Coach - Author : Life & Executive Leadership | Architect : Sharp & Smart Businesses | Trained Lead Auditor : ISO 27001
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Write your own thoughts.
Dont share them.
Who knows you will come up with the next Googleplex plus.
Arun
John S. R.
Hallym University
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Good day Daniele,
Aside from recommending that you check out Palo Alto’s B-Plan program (which I regularly suggest for this purpose) the local Chamber of Commerce might be a possible (networking) resource.
Ciao,
John S. Rajeski
Links:
Michael C. D.
Senior Supplier Contracts Manager at Flextronics
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This link would seem to be helpful.
http://www.sba.gov/hotlist/businessplans.html
Eric S.
Energy Efficiency and Asset Optimization advisor
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There are several elements to a good business plan and a good software will help you outline the document with a good structure. Personally, I think that there are hundreds of books at a good bookstore that provide better value than a software. Nevertheless, the most important part of a good business plan is feedback. Collect feedback from trusted respectable individuals that will tell you what they think... the people giving you feedback must not be concerned with offending you.
If you want a solid business plan ask people to challenge it.
Ashley G.
Publishing Director at Agency Editions, Inc.
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I really think you are off on the wrong foot. The only reason to be in business is to make money. But you have to spend money to make money.I wouldn't trust anyone to run a business who wanted people to work for free. Also, I notice that your question consists of fragmentary thoughts not formed as sentences, but your name doesn't indicate English is a second language for you. The first skill required for writing a business plan is the ability to write clear, rhetorically correct sentences. If you need that sort of help, be prepared to pay for coaching or write it in your first language first.
Here's my free advice on how to write a business plan.
First, describe who will buy your product or service and why. No business can survive without customers.
Next, ask if you and your team know anything about the audience and the infrastructure that serves that audience. Have you sold to them in the past?
Next, confirm that the only purpose of the venture is to make money, and it is not a way for you to escape from your day job or to allow you and your team to work at some tasks they enjoy. No one will back a venture so the founders can enjoy doing "a day job" on their own.
Then do the numbers to show that the seed investors will have an exit strategy that will get them a 500 times return on their money.
All those "business plan" packages just blur these fundamental requirements, but once you get the point, they can be helpful in organizing a formal document.
Links:
Raj [.
Looking for a senior person in education industry to mentor me in designing school software.
Contact me for a effective biz plan ...www.connectdot.co.in
Mogens T.
Entrepreneurship Evangelist
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Hi
If you want to get an overview on how to start a business, a good place to start is at www.dynamicbusinessplan.com. From here you can develop your own idea using the framework you read about in Link no. 1.
As a framework to build your own business - and to satisfy the information need from the bank - you should fill out the business plan template which you can download in a word document.
The business plan template asks you about 80 business questions. Answer the ones you find relevant for your kind of business.
You find the business plan and budget templates in Link no. 2
ys
Mogens
Links:
A business plan has many formats but shares a common group of elements. The one you write for yourself is different from one written to secure financing, or key employees. The place to start is not "which software to use" although that will be very helpful later.
You need to tell a story, or better yet, view it as a movie screenplay. If you can fill in the four elements below, you are well on your way to starting writing one.
The Title- The description of what your core idea is has to be compelling and not "just like all the others". Why are you different?
The Star Studded Cast- Your Customers. Who is going to give you money? Why? Why Them?
The Thrilling Action-The plot details -Money In and Money Out- financiers love this part- but in simple terms, explain the money coming in and the money going out.
The Big Finish- Answer the question Why You Will Succeed? A good crisp answer here is the capstone.
I have seen plans go forward without these key elements explained simply and clearly, but the ones who do have a better shot at accomplishing their goals.
Michael L.
Owner, FreedomFire Communications and Telecommunications Consultant {2,000+ Connections}
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There's some information and recommended resources listed at Small Business Resources Cafe. Link provided.
Links:
I graduated with a degree in Entrepreneurship and one thing we did as students was reach out to the local businesses who either needed an updated business plan or who never created one. We worked one-on-one with the business owner and their staff and did all the research to create the plan. You may want to contact your local university to see if you could get involved with something like that - and it is at no cost to you. If that is not an option, you will have to write your own business plan if you want it done for free, however, it will take a great deal of time, energy, and research. If you want a good business plan and you want it done right, for the sake of your business and time, pay to have someone do it for you - even if it is just $200 to a newly graduated student.
There are a number of resources. I think if you go to businessplans.com you'll find a number of models. Or, just google "business plans" or "How to fill out a business plan." If there is a small business development center or a SCORE chapter near you, they can probably help you.
Links:
Free is always good. Remember though, that if you are using the plan to generate investors, it can often be like a resume. The purpose of the resume is not to get the job, but to get the interview.
My experience with the plan (for investors) is that it helps to know with whon you are rpesenting it to. They may be more interested in the management team or the market potential then other factors. ALso most investors will have specific questions relating to the project (like an interview) that you should prepare for.
Best of luck with your quest.
Andrew Birnbaum
Kenneth L.
Retired Aerospace Contracts Manager, MicroMentor Volunteer and Founder "Smalltofeds"
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Please see below links
Links:
Raman V.
Global Industry Marketing Manager, IBM Energy & Utilities, Systems and Technology Group
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Thanks for the question. It also hlped people like me. Good luck. A lot of information here that is very useful.
Rob B.
Global Sales and Relationship Management PHOTON Consulting
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Andrew,
I would suggest buying "Business Plan Pro 2007" software avaialble on Amazon.com for $80. I have used it for all of my ventures. Not only does it help to create a comprehensive plan but it asks questions that you may not have considered while developing an idea or business outline.
Links:
Simon F.
Partner at Dequity Partners Pty Ltd
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Hi Danielle, Business Plans have one thing missing that we all seem to have forgotten....the word "ACTION". A daily, weekly or monthly Action Plan is all that is really required unless you are looking to convince someone in the professional world (client, bank manager or investor) to part with some money. I work with all kinds of business owners to grow, improve and solve problems in their business and one thing I do is ignore a glossy business plan. Know where your money is or will come from along with where and when it will go and add this knowledge to the vision of where you want to be in a set period of time. Tick off every day what you did to make it happen. There are lots of free templates out there if you really do need to convince the outside world and I am impressed by the responses to your question. Great that lots of people are helping each other in this forum. Simon
Andy C.
CEO and Chairman, International Alliance of Guardian Angels NZ Charitable Trust
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There are excellent free resources for this and other business issues on the New Zealand government's business support website. Check out the link below.
Links:
Allen L.
Independent technical documentation professional
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Most business plan instruction and guides are written for those who are attempting to get financing. If your writing a business plan as an organization tool you might like my short form business plan. I’ll be happy to send you a (free) copy If you send me your contact information. Laudenslager@mac.com
This is the template I use for my class on writing a business plan for a local community college adult education class
Hello Daniele,
As a small business owner myself, I reached out to a GREAT service and have found nothing but success with them.
SCORE
http://www.score.org
-It is a great asset to have.
-It is a FREE service to use the website.
-You can get FREE mentoring.
-I've paid for classes, but that has been for an intimate venue that has specific focus. But either way, it was not expensive at all.
-When you go to the site, on the left hand side you can click on "Business Tools" and you'll be right on track with what you need.
-You'll have more resources than you'll know what to do with, but luckily most of it is self-explanitory. (But the Mentor is there for when it's not)
-A great part of having a business plan is the pride of knowing that you worked on it yourself, and in it, you will be able to focus on the parts of your business that you know to be amazing.
-I have gotten A LOT of assistance from SCORE, including how to go about financial backing.
It's definitely worth your time. Good luck out there.
Kanya
Druhin D.
at McKesson
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Since you did NOT mention the context, i am assuming that you are starting up a business and want to write up a plan for investors. Then i would suggest you invest your valuable time in building your business rather than wasting time writing plans. Plans work only if you are already successful.
This is a catch-22 situation.
Investors want a profitable business that they can nourish and make it even more profitable. They do not want start-ups anymore. Unless of course, you know someone who is ready to take the risk. Or else, you are on your own.
Try searching CNN personal finance and you will see what i mean.
