“So, you want to start a business? Well, you're going to need a business plan. Not a business concept, not a business idea, a business plan. For a small business, a plan will help you secure investments and loans. You know, the stuff that gets you up and running. And some mid-size companies write business plans because they need a guiding strategic vision.
There's a lot that goes into writing a business plan, but today we're just tackling the essentials. If you're more of a reading person, check out the full article. If you want to follow along, download our business plan template. And don't forget to hit like and subscribe to see the rest of our series, Ready, Set, Goals.
Right now, we're going to help you craft an overview of your whole business. It's called an executive summary. It's all based on who your target customer is, why they're dissatisfied with their current solutions, what your product or service is, what problem it solves, and what makes it different from the competition.
To show you how it's done, we're starting a business right here right now, and we're calling it: Laura's Landscapers. The first step is answering, who is your business for? We learn this through market research, which is a fancy way of saying who's buying what we're selling? For example, Laura's Landscapers is about high-end ecologically-conscious renovations for backyards. So we need homeowners with high disposable income. We're zeroing in and calling them wealthy baby boomers or members of generation X between the ages of 35 and 65.
Now, let's take a look at what the market is currently offering our potential customers. This will require doing a little digging on our competition. Look at your competitor's websites, read their mission statements, explore their About Us page. Call their mom. Well, don't—don't do that, but do compile all the information into a spreadsheet. This is called a competitor analysis table. At Laura's Landscapers, this is what we found out about our main competitor: Yuki's Yards has no environmental certifications. I sense an opportunity.
This brings us to talking about our product or service. What are you going to do differently? How will you stand out from the competition? What unique benefits, production process, cost will you offer and most importantly, how does your product solve key customer problems? At Laura's Landscapers, we offer a high-end, eco-friendly landscaping service - something that our market research told us was much desired and not widely available to our target demographic.
So, there it is. The completed framework of our executive summary. All that's left now is to write it out in all its glory. Notice we've identified our target market, the current solutions that exist in the market, our service and the problem it's solving, as well as how it's different from competing services.
That's a nice executive summary, but there's always more. A well-written business plan goes far beyond the executive summary. Head over to our article "How To Write a Business Plan" for a detailed outline of your next steps, including the all-important compiling of financials, a vital step to acquiring funding and making key decisions as your business grows. Now you're well on your way to a thriving growing business.”
