A Standard Business Plan Outline

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Chapter 2: Pick Your Plan - Page 2.5

A Standard Business Plan Outline - 3

Outline order and sequence in a standard business plan.

Where the process is covered in this book.

7.0 Financial Plan: 7.1 Important Assumptions; 7.2 Key Financial Indicators; 7.3 Break Even Analysis; 7.4 Projected Profit and Loss; 7.5 Projected Cash Flow; 7.6 Projected Balance Sheet; 7.7 Business Ratios; 7.8 Long-term Plan

Financial Analysis: The Bottom Line, covers the Profit and Loss and General Assumptions tables.

Fundamentals: Initial Assessment, includes the Break-even table as part of the Initial Assessment.

Cash Flow and the Cash Flow table are discussed in Financial Analysis: Cash is King.

The Balance Sheet table is covered in Financial Analysis: About Business Numbers.

The Business Ratios table appears in Financial Analysis: Finish the Financials.

Long-term plans are discussed in Strategy and Tactics: Make it Real.

Form Follows Function

As we noted in Fundamentals: It's About Results, business planning is about results. Make the contents of your plan match your purpose and adjust the outline to match your type of plan.

For example, if you are developing an internal plan for company use, you don't need to include a section about the company. If your plan focuses on existing products or services and is intended for internal use only, you may not even need to include the details about the products.

Another example that comes up frequently is the level of detail required in your market analysis. Business plans looking for investors need to have some convincing market data, but a plan for a small business, to be used mainly by a small group of people close to the company, may not need as much research. Is there an opportunity to improve the company and the plan by learning more about the market? If so, then do it. If not, it may be overkill.

Sample Business Plans

Sample business plans can be an excellent resource to help you get started writing your plan. You can see how the outline shown above looks when it is completed, and how businesses in different industries present their information to their best advantage. Two sample plans are included in the printed version of Hurdle, and can be accessed by clicking here.

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