A business plan is often prepared when:

* Starting a new organization, business venture, or product (service) or
* Expanding, acquiring or improving any of the above.

There are numerous benefits of doing a business plan, including:

* To identify an problems in your plans before you implement those plans.
* To get the commitment and participation of those who will implement the plans, which leads to better results.
* To establish a roadmap to compare results as the venture proceeds from paper to reality.
* To achieve greater profitability in your organization, products and services -- all with less work.
* To obtain financing from investors and funders.
* To minimize your risk of failure.
* To update your plans and operations in a changing world.
* To clarify and synchronize your goals and strategies.

For these reasons, the planning process often is as useful as the business plan document itself.

Also read:

Who Needs a Business Plan? (You Do)
Types of Content in Business Plan

Business plans appear in many different formats, depending on the audience for the plan and complexity of the business. However, most business plans address the following five topic areas in one form or another.

1. Business summary -- Describes the organization, business venture or product (service), summarizing its purpose, management, operations, marketing and finances.
2. Market opportunity -- Concisely describes what unmet need it will (or does) fill, presents evidence that this need is genuine, and that the beneficiaries (or a third party) will pay for the costs to meet this need. Describes credible market research on target customers (including perceived benefits and willingness to pay), competitors and pricing.
3. People -- Arguably the most important part of the plan, it describes who will be responsible for developing, marketing and operating this venture, and why their backgrounds and skills make them the right people to make this successful. Ideally, each person in the management team (and key program and technical folks) are indicated by NAME.
4. Implementation -- This is the how-to section of the plan, where the action steps are clearly described, usually in four areas: start-up, marketing, operations and financial. Marketing builds on market research presented, e.g., in a Market Opportunity section of the plan, including your competitive niche (how you will be better than your competitors in ways that matter to your target customers). Financial plan includes, e.g., costs to launch, operate, market and finance the business, along with conservative estimates of revenue, typically for three years; a break-even analysis is often included in this section.
5. Contingencies -- This section outlines the most likely things that could go wrong with implementing this plan, and how management is prepared to respond to those problems if they emerge.

In many cases, an organization will already have in its possession some of the information needed for preparing a business plan. For example, in the case of nonprofits, grant proposals often contain some of this information.
More Basics on Business Planning

What Do We Need -- Strategic or Business Plan?

Preparation for Planning a Business Venture (nonprofit or for-profit)

Before you start a major venture, there are several considerations about yourself that you should address. This manual guides you through those considerations. Then the manual guides you through the major considerations you'll have to address when you complete your business plan. The manual includes numerous links to other free resources as the reader goes through each section of the manual.