Writing a Business Plan

The Business Plan is an often ignored part of a small business start up, particularly if the business owner is not in need of any outside funding. However, a Business Plan is very important to the entrepreneur because it forces him/her to thoroughly investigate each aspect of the business.

The reason for a Business Plan can be either driven by an external focus, such as the need to:

• Obtain funding through Venture Capital or Bank Financing
• Attract Business Partners
• Form Strategic Alliances

Other reasons for having a Business Plan are internally focused, such as the desire to:

• Have a process that forces the entrepreneur to thoroughly analyze all aspects of the business.
• Generate a detailed action plan for the business "Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail"

Questions Answered in a Business Plan

A business plan is very important, because it forces the entrepreneur to analyze every aspect of the business. One too easily ignores those areas of the business that we are not familiar with. The Business Plan requires an analysis of all aspects and will force you to answer questions that the entrepreneur should ask but might easily glance over:

• Why are you in business?
• What is the opportunity here?
• What will you sell?
• What is the market size?
• What is the competitive situation in your City/State/Country?
• How do you stack up against the competition?
• How will the business be structured and why?
  Who are the customers?
• Why will they buy from you?
• Do you need any strategic partners/alliances?
• Who are the people running your business?
• Do you need to hire people and with what skill sets?
• Etc. etc. etc.

When you realize what you need to analyze, it seems a daunting task. However, you do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are several good software packages available which guide you through all the steps and take the menial work out of the process. We recommend one of the following programs.

Business Plan Software Review

"Biz Plan Builder Professional"

by JIAN Software

This Software is generally considered the best on the market at the moment. At a discounted price of $129,95 from the regular price of $149.95 you will get a software package that will do everything you need to write a strong Business Plan. JAIN developed Biz Plan Builder before any other business plan software was on the market and it has continued to stay ahead of the competition.

The software has the following advantages:

• Interfaces easily with MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Very user friendly.
• It is well written and has a great structure.
• It uses industry standard Balance Sheets, Budgets, P&L's etc.
• Transparent linking between spreadsheets.
• More detailed than Business Plan Pro.

The only negative is that it could have had more templates.

"Business Plan Pro" & "Business Plan Pro-Premier Edition"

by Palo Alto Software

Business Plan Pro is a very comprehensive package as well and is the most widely sold business plan software. It has been the best selling Business Plan Software for the past 8 years and has approx. 75% of the market. The combination of a list price of $99.00 and features makes it an appealing solution to the small business operator. Its most important features are:

• Very user friendly.
• Adequate for simple business models.
• Includes over 500 templates.
• Business models are based on both products and services.
• Very competitive pricing at $99.00

The only drawback is that repeated information is not linked so that a revision requires changes to be entered manually in several locations. This can be a major issue when making changes to your plan as it it easy to forget to update a field somewhere in the plan.

The new 2009 Premier Edition has addressed some of the short comings of the Standard Edition, but its list price is considerable higher at $199.95. For the small business operator, the Standard Edition provides the best value of the two Palo Alto products.

"Plan Write"

by Business Resource Software, Inc. (BRS)

BRS has several "Plan Write" programs for small businesses, including 3 version for writing a business plan. "Plan Write for Loans" is the low end version and is priced at $49.95. It only covers the minimum information one would need when applying for a loan. If that is your objective, then this program will suffice.

"Plan Write for Business" is more complete and has everything a business plan would need. It is priced at $119.95

"Plan Write Expert Edition" has everything the other version have and also includes several useful tool that will help you evaluate your business model. It also will suggest corrections when the numbers don't jibe. "Plan Write Expert Edition" is priced at $219.95

Conclusion

Both "Biz Plan Builder Professional" and "Business Plan Pro" provide excellent value for a reasonable cost. Business Plan Pro is a good solution, but if you can afford to spend a little more Biz Plan Builder Professional is a better choice. It will save you time because it makes managing revisions easier. The advantage of "Plan Write Expert Edition" is that it provides a thorough analysis and evaluation of your business model which the others don't do, but it comes at a considerable higher price.

Both "Biz Plan Builder" or "Business Plan Pro" have a 60 day money back guarantee. "Plan Write" has a demo feature on their website that allows you to test drive the software. All programs can be downloaded so that you can get started immediately.