Writing a Business Plan
A Third Age Small Business feature
by our Business & Employment Editor

Starting out in business with no clear Business Plan is bad enough when you’re in your 20s or 30s and have plenty of time to learn from your mistakes and start again. But starting out in business on a wing and a prayer when you’re in your Third Age is a recipe for disaster, to say nothing of being more than a little foolish.

A Business Plan is a like a roadmap – it tells you how to get from A to B, allows you to estimate the time it may take to get there, the cost of the journey, the obstacles you might face on the way and it enables you to plan your route accordingly. Starting a business without a Business Plan is like setting out on a long and arduous journey in the middle of the night to an unfamiliar destination without a roadmap or at the very least a passenger to help you read the road signs. The journey might be an adventure, but if you want adventure go and learn to bungee jump. And least you’ll know the cost and can assess the risks before you make the leap into the unknown!

A Business Plan is not just for your own benefit. If you need to raise finance any prospective lender will expect you to produce one. It needs to be credible, concise and compelling.

Any Business Plan should always include:

• A summary of your proposed business
• The nature of the business (your product or service)
• The market for your service or product
• The potential for your product or service
• Forecast profit figures
• How much finance is required
• How you proprose to repay any borrowings
• Marketing – how you will sell your product or service
• Operational details – where, when and how you will operate your business
• The management – who you are, what you have done, who else you will employ

The above list provides just a brief summary of the elements you will need to incorporate into your Business Plan. For more detailed information, we are happy to recommend Business Plans Kit for Dummies by Steven Peterson (CEO of a top management training company), Peter Jaret (an award winning author and journalist), Barbara Findlay Schenck (a business and marketing consultant) and Colin Barrow (venture capitalist, entrepreneur and best-selling author of many business books including Starting a Business for Dummies).

Don’t be put off by the title, this excellent book is packed with templates, worksheets, assignments and checklists to help you kick–start the Business Planning process. It is a nuts and bolts, easy to ready, easy to understand guide to evaluating and invigorating your commercial strategy, no matter how big or small your business, and includes an interactive companion CD-ROM.

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