A home business plan is the most important thing that you could ever write when starting a home business. It will provide you with direction and focus that will lead to your success. Whether you are writing a complex plan, like the ones used to secure funding, or a simple one to be used merely as a guide for action, business plans should contain these basic parts:
Overview Summary: This encompasses the business model that you are setting up, from the general idea of the business, to the specifics of the products and the advantages that you will be offering.
Mission Statement: This is the written statement of the purpose of your business from which your strategies will be formulated and guide your actions in managing your business.
Company Information: This should include information about when and where your business was registered, its legal structure, how it functions, etc.
Product or Service: Describe what you are offering, its advantages over the competition, how it is different from the competition, etc.
Market: Who is your target market, what are the demographics, how are they geographically spread, how will you reach them, how do you plan to market your business?
Competition: Who else are offering the same product or service that you are offering, how are you different from them, what part of the pie are you targeting, why do you think you can still have a piece of that pie?
Liability / Opportunity: What are the risks that you see and how you plan to overcome them? What are the opportunities that you can take advantage of?
Management: How do you plan to manage your business and who are the people involved? What are the skills and experiences that these people, including you, have?
Capital Requirements: Are you taking out a loan to finance your business, or do you have a nest egg you can take out from?
Financial Plan: Your projections on revenues and expenses. How profitable do you believe the business will be. Should include an income statement, a balance sheet and cash flow.
Appendices: All supplemental information are on this part.
Remember that the more organized you are in setting up your business, the better are your chances of succeeding. So make a plan, try to stick to it when all is well, and do modifications or adjustments when it isn’t.
Marge, also known as The Happy WAHM, is a virtual assistant who turned her passion for entrepreneurship into a worthy endeavor of offering complete business solutions to CEOs and business owners around the world. She turned her back on a thriving corporate career to become a hands-on mom and created a lifestyle that allowed her to build a homebased career, homeschool her children, and still have time to pursue her passion for arts and crafting.
She only posts her content on her website, TheHappyWAHM.com. If you see this content on someone else’s site then it is NOT by any means authorized.
