Business Plan Formats

There are several different types of business plan formats. However, remember that a business plan is a resume of your business. So all these formats can boil down to the following questions:

1) What service or product are your going to sell?
2) Who are the potential customers for your service or product?
3) How are you going to sell your service or product?
4) How are you going to financially start and grow your business?
5) How are you going to manage your business?

To address these questions, an entrepreneur can write a business plan in a format like this one:

Sample Business Plan Format:

1) Cover sheet
2) Statement of purpose
3) The Business

• Description of the business
• Legal Structure
• Product or Service
• Management Team
• Operation
• Business Insurance

4) The Marketing Plan

• Target market
• Competition analysis
• Pricing
• Advertising and promotion
• Sales strategy
• Industry trends

5) Financial Documents

• Loan applications
• Capital equipment and supply list
• Balance sheet
• Breakeven analysis
• Pro forma income statement
• Pro forma cash flow statement

6) Supporting Documents

• Personal resumes
• Owner's financial statement
• Copies of leases
• Copies of licenses and other legal documents
• Letters of references

The financial documents for a mature company may be different from those of a start up company. And of course, you can write your business plan in a total different format. The key issue is to address the five basic questions listed above.