How to Write a Business Plan
Getting Started Before you sit down to write your plan, you’ll want to gather together these essentials:
• a word processor
• a calculator or computer spreadsheet program
• a good supply of 8½" by 11" paper
• several pencils and a good eraser, and
• access to a photocopy machine.
Now, here’s a word about revisions and changing your plan. I firmly believe in writing your first thoughts on paper and letting them rest for a day or two. Then you can edit, expand, and revise later to get a more perfect statement. In this book, I show examples of Antoinette’s writing process. (I’m grateful she’s such a good sport.) Most people discover about halfway through writing their plan that they want to change either their assumptions or some of the plan they’ve already written. My best advice is this: Complete the plan all the way through on your original set of assumptions.
That way you can see the
financial impact of your ideas, and it will
be much easier to make the right changes
in the second draft. If you start revising
individual parts of the plan before you
have the complete picture, you’ll waste
a lot of energy. If you’re like me, you’ll
rewrite and edit your plan several times
once you’ve finished the first run through.
