Step 2: RESEARCH AND BEGIN YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

The Business Plan

The Business Plan is a step-by-step guidebook that is designed to help the entrepreneur move ideas onto paper in an organized, clear and concise manner, avoiding mistakes and keeping a focus on key points. Planning is your map to success in the business world by listing your business capabilities and structure of your business. Whether you are starting or buying a business, financing or re-financing a business, a business plan will be crucial in marketing yourself as an owner and successfully proposing your business activity. The Plan helps you find hidden business flaws and helps to clearly present each phase of your business. By writing your business plan, you will gain in-depth knowledge about your business, making it easier to answer the lenders questions and showing you, the owner, what is involved in your business process. Sections covered in The Plan include: the executive summary, the business description, management, employees, operations and suppliers, customer and market analysis (marketing, competition, location),strategy and plan (strategic objectives, SWOT Analysis) loan request, financial statements (general information, balance sheet, operating statement, personal finances, cash flow with assumptions).  

The Business Plan is currently available in the SBDC Small Business Start-up Kit.  

SBDCNETServices 
The research services of SBDCNET are available to the SBDC counselors assisting SBDC clients. These services are in-depth research and can include: secondary market research, primary market research demographic information, basic patent, trademark searches, and preparation of demographic analysis and maps. However, counselors do not receive legal or medical interpretations or extensive marketing lists. Mapping capabilities range from simple ring studies to more complex mapping of competitors and potential consumer markets. SBDCNET cannot guarantee the finding of specific information but will provide whatever is available. Typical turnaround is two weeks, plus mail time. As a note: knowledge of the business activity type and the business location is crucial to the SBDCNET research.