Does anybody know of any free resources for setting up a business plan?

Excel spreadheets/Tutorials/Books etc...

There was a 'starting your own business' type of thread just before christmas. did you see it? it may have some useful info in it.

Yeah found some. Cool Thanks!

Originally posted by Strix
There was a 'starting your own business' type of thread just before christmas. did you see it? it may have some useful info in it.

The basic parts of a business plan:

Executive Summary
A good executive summary should demonstrate:
- A business concept that makes sense
- A clear plan for success
- A capable management team
- A clear, specific and definable market
- Significant competitive advantages
- A solid and credible summary of the financial projections
- A excellent chance for investors/lenders to receive a healthy return

Table of Contents
- Very few investors will read your plan from front to back – instead they will normally jump around looking for the details they need to make an informed investment decision
- Organize the table of contents to make it easy as possible for readers to find their way around your plan
- The table of contents should list all the major sections within your business plan, and also be broken down into discrete sub-sections

Company Description
This section of your business plan should outline your company’s basic background information and business concept
It should cover:
- Legal description
- History of the company
- Current status
- Future goals
- Key management

Vision and Mission Statements
- Your vision statement defines your long term dream it should not be achievable i.e. should be always just beyond your reach, but what you constantly strive to attain.
- Your Mission statement is what you intend to become or accomplish – it should be challenging but achievable
- A well-written mission statement demonstrates that you understand your business, have defined your unique focus and can articulate your objectives concisely to yourself and others
- A mission statement isn’t just for the readers of your business plan. Instead it should be viewed as the guiding principle for your entire business
- A good mission statement is compelling, passionate and energizing

Industry Analysis (inc. Competition)
- What is the size of your industry by both revenue and number of firms
- Discuss the characteristics of this industry such as growth trends, units sold, or employment
- What are the barriers of entry for your industry?
- Provide a general explanation of the distribution system for products and services in your industry
- Is your industry highly regulated?
- What role does technology play in the growth and future of your industry?

Competition
- The competitive analysis section of your business plan is an objective overview and comparison between your company and your competitors
- Identify your direct and indirect competitors – outline their strengths and weaknesses from an unbiased perspective
- Many first time business plan writers don’t realize that investors want to see that other businesses are profitable and successful in your chosen market
- No company operates in a vacuum – don’t assume you have no competition e.g. EMI has Sony, Tesco has Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, and Waitrose

Product / Service Description
- The product/service section is one of the most important parts of your business plan – it’s your chance to clearly explain your products/services, identify their features and benefits and discuss what needs or problems they address in the market
- Product: what it is, what it does: design, cost, quality, capabilities, technological life-span and patent protection
- Service (s): what they are, how they work, what need they address in the marketplace

A marketing plan for your product / service
- The marketing section should demonstrate that you clearly understand who your customers are and how your products/services directly meet the needs of the market
- Market size, trends and potential – don’t assume that everyone is a buyer
- Demographics
- Pricing, strategy and positioning
- Advertising
- Public relations and promotions

Appendices
- Include here material which is not central to the business plan but which provides evidence in support of your business case e.g. descriptive analyses of market trends, statistics etc.

Hope this helps.
Jon

Wow!!! Thats brilliant, thanks!

Hi Jon,

That's a good outline - are you professionally involved in such stuff?

Also, anyone on this thread interested in an 'Entrepreneur's Meet'?

Joe

I am quite intrested, if we can make the numbers up. I dont have very much to offer at this moment, but an awful lot to be gained

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Hi Jon,

That's a good outline - are you professionally involved in such stuff?

Also, anyone on this thread interested in an 'Entrepreneur's Meet'?

Joe

Thanks Joe. Yes, I'm a freelance business consultant by profession.

Cool!

Let's see what we can do to get something together.

Leave it with me for a wee while, and let's see about a get together in March maybe? INitially to see what sort of thing people want and then whether we've got the people to do it.

Talking to the Business Angel's network and such might be good....hmmmm....lots to think on. Let me run with it for a week or two.

Joe :)

Here is a usefull site i recenlty came across:

http://www.bplan.com/

They have some sample plans for different industries.

good luck!

If you go onto HSBC website they have a starter pack for people setting up new businesses and it is really good. It incudes advice and a CD Rom which has a business plan template too.

I'm tryin to set up a business too and have found it useful. Hope it helps.

Hey Joe.

I'd be interested in attending an entrepreneurs meeting if you want to set one up.

I may be able to offer some advice to other members through my own past experience.

I may also pick up some useful tips along the way myself.

Let me know,

Cheers

Dan

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Cool!

Let's see what we can do to get something together.

Leave it with me for a wee while, and let's see about a get together in March maybe? INitially to see what sort of thing people want and then whether we've got the people to do it.

Talking to the Business Angel's network and such might be good....hmmmm....lots to think on. Let me run with it for a week or two.

Joe :)

Any news on this Joe? And, out of interest does SheffieldForum have a business plan? After all, it is operating on an affiliate revenue model.

Ask Geoff about the Forum - please contact him / e-mail him direct with that sort of stuff.

Re the meet - yes, it will happen in March.

I'm just rather busy and am not bothering to post until I'm ready to roll!

Thanks for the interest,

Joe

I'm in the process of setting up a business at the moment. Along my travels I came across this site: http://www.senta.co.uk/ which I hope to make use of in the near future. The dti website also has some really useful stuff, http://www.dti.gov.uk/for_business.html with lots of flashy questionairres which tell you if you need to pay tax among other things.

I ordered the hsbc packs from their website: http://www.hsbc.co.uk and they are pretty useful.

I would be extremely interested in a meetup!

Regards,

Grant Bowskill

I'd also be interested in a meet but work most nights (that's one of problems of being an entrepreneur!!) so hope I can make date & aplologies in advance if I can't!

I've mentioned this on another thread but I went through Senta which was really useful when I was setting up my business.

Their help enabled me to get some funding from a bank which I couldn't have done it without.

It's all free and they support you for the first two years in case any issues crop up. They have regular check ups with you as well as a monthly networking event which is good for promoting your business as well as meeting other business people who are in the same boat.



Mike

I suspect that most banks would offer software for the new entrepreneur. Some will offer free banking - you might want to hold off opening a business account for as long as possible to take advantage of this when you start.

Any news on the meeting yet? :)