Your Business Plan - Simple and Basic

If you've been in business at least 5 minutes, you've heard that you have to have a business plan.  What does that mean exactly?  A 30 page document that looks like a legal brief?  A set of post it notes?  Neither. Both.

Your business plan doesn't have to be complicated when you are first starting out.  It just needs to answer the following basic questions to keep it simple:

1. Who - Name of your business & how are you different from other businesses in your industry
   
2. What - What do you want your business to accomplish? What's your mission statement?
   
3. When/Where - Where do you see your business in 1, 3, 5 years
4. How - How do you plan to accomplish those goals? (What are your plans for marketing?)

Now, if you are trying to obtain funding to further your business or get any other type of assistance, it will have to be more professional and detailed, including a detailed Executive Summary and detailed marketing plan.  But for the sake of aligning your business in the direction you want it to go, a simple one pager will suffice with simplicity.

I realize that what I've just listed is not a Business Plan in it's professional format.  However, the purpose of this blogs is to help newbie business owners with little finances to start somewhere.  As your business grows, you can go for more of the "professional" stuff.

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One of my small business websites is located at www.FreshRadiantSkin.com
If you are a woman of color, this site is for you.