How can I find help with business plans?

Answered By: Coleen Neary

Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 Views: 148

A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume… It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs sales personnel, suppliers, and others about your

operations and goals.

Ten things to consider before tackling a business plan:

Decide why you're writing your plan—what is your motivation?
Do your homework—read some books, explore web resources.
Compile your information—locate articles, financial statements.
Start typing—write down all your ideas, notes, and questions in outline form.
Write a rough draft—Flesh out the outline with full sentences and paragraphs.
Do more research—support your case with data via Small Business Association contacts, annual reports, and competitors in the chosen industry.
Think about the numbers—develop pro forma financial statements.
Write a final draft—demonstrate attention to detail with accuracy and clarity.
Get feedback—have someone else read over your plan and offer advice.
Polish your plan to perfection—include a cover page, table of contents, nondisclosure form, and an executive summary containing highlights.

From: Turner, M. C. (2006). Business Plan. In M. M. Helms (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Management (5th ed., pp. 54-58). Detroit: Gale.

Searching for Business Plans Using Library Databases

You can use business databases such as the ABI/INFORM Collection and Business Source Complete to find information about business plans. Search terms that may be useful for your research include:

business plan
business planning
business strategy
strategic plan
strategic planning

For your research, you may want to combine these terms and/or search for variations of the terms.

For example, searching for "business plan*" OR "business strateg*" OR "strategic plan*" -- with asterisks in the second term in each phrase -- will find documents that contain any or all of the phrases listed above.

Find Helpful Websites for Creating Business Plans

Bplans: Free Sample Business Plans Bplans is owned and operated by Palo Alto Software, Inc. is a free resource offering a gallery of more than 500 sample business plans

DiscoverBusiness | How to Write a Business Plan Comprehensive guide to create a business plan, including important steps in the business planning process such as industry analysis, competitor analysis, and product feature comparisons.

FindLaw This site, affiliated with Thomson Reuters, provides links to numerous resources related to creating a business plan.

SCORE: Business Planning & Financial Statements Template Gallery Business planning, finance, sales, marketing, and management templates & guide.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) | Write Your Business Plan Your business plan is the foundation of your business. Learn how to write a business plan quickly and efficiently with a business plan template.

See Also

Need Help? Contact the library