The best business-plan templates for you

Starting or expanding a business? Looking for small-business loans, venture capital, angel investors or other financial backing? Then you need a business plan, plain and simple. Every successful startup begins with a sound business plan.
But why start from scratch if you don’t have to? By using a sample business plan, business-plan template or helpful business-plan software, creating a buttoned-down business plan that does what you want it to will be a lot easier. No matter what your business idea, there’s probably a sample business plan or template that you can adapt to your own circumstances and needs.
Even if you plan to work from samples or templates, however, you should still consider using business-plan software to put the pieces together. While there are many business-plan software choices available, Business Plan Pro (Palo Alto Software) has been the No. 1 seller for many years.
The standard desktop edition of Business Plan Pro is $99, while the Premier edition, which contains more sample plans and features, is $159. There’s also an online version called LivePlan that lets you do everything online, from anywhere, with no contract. The online version is sold on a subscription basis for $19.95 per month. It will help you plan your strategy, pitch for funding and track your progress.
And here’s a big plus: Business Plan Pro comes with over 500 sample business plans.
If you’re strapped for cash, check out Bplans.com (also from Palo Alto Software) which offers hundreds of free sample business plans and business-plan templates. Free business-plan templates are also available from SCORE (www.score.org). And since they come from SCORE, you can be certain they are well done and high quality. Free downloads include a business-plan template for a startup, as well as an established business, and a “quick start” business plan.
Other helpful templates you can get for free from SCORE include: competitive analysis, startup expenses, opening day balance sheet, financial projections, breakeven analysis, bank loan request, cash flow statement, profit and loss projection, and sales forecast. At the SCORE website, look for “Business Plans” under the “Startup” tab at the top of the page.
You’ll also find a large selection of business-plan templates and sample business plans – both free and for purchase – at DocStoc.com.
Whether you start from scratch or use a template, remember these keys to creating a good business plan:
• It should be simple – which means easy to understand.
• It should be detailed and specific. Your goals, objective, benchmarks, competitive analysis, market overview and other key items should be concrete and measurable.
• Be specific about what actions the business will take, with specific completion dates, who is responsible, and budgets.
• Your business plan should be realistic, including your sales goals, expense estimates, market-size projections and milestone dates. Unrealistic plans fall apart quickly. •


Founder of BizBest, Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@bizbest.com.

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