Whether you are going to start your new business or you already have started and probably went trough the stresses and the challenges it’s interesting to review couple of tips and remember the way you have done it.

To start any kind of business in any scale you have to have a business plan. In business plan you will have the way you are going to start and run your business successfully. In one world the business plan is your roadmap for your business success.
In your roadmap you will draw a three to five years plan. Where to start, where to go and where to get.

Step One:

First item in your business plan is the summary which is the most important section of a business plan. Summary talks about the situation of your business, where it is, where it should be and why you think your plan is going to work. The interesting thing is that your business plan summary usually comes first but it’s the last item you write.
In your business plan summary you can include your mission statement, your company information, your product and/or services and summarized future plans. In summary of your business plan you can also focus on your experience, background, and the decisions that made you to start your business.

Step Two:

The second section of your business plan can be your company description which provides information on what you do, what makes your business different than others and the area your business serves. In your company description you can describe the nature of your business and the market you are going to serve. It’s so important to list the advantages your company has such as your location, professional employees, the tools and the systems your are going to use and finally the ability to bring value to your customers.
If you haven’t done an Analysis on the Market that your are going to target then you are not done yet. This is your next step to find our more about the Market and your business industry.
List every thing you know about the industry, the information about your target market such as size, characteristics, potentials. You can also list the strength of your competitors in this section and study their product line and services.

Step Three:

Ok, now is the time to review your organization and the management of your company.
This is very simple but important step and information about your business profile.
In this section you are going to draw the structure of your organization and details about the ownership and management. It’s also about the professionality of people who are going to direct your company. It needs to be clear that who does what. It’s about their background and the ability they have. You need to have acceptable reason to have some one your the board of director and their responsibility needs to be clear. Make sure you choose qualified people for all the available positions in your company.

Step Four:

The next step is to list your products and Services with detail information. Answer the questions regarding the life cycle of your products, specific benefits or your products or services.

Step Five:

Promoting your products and sale is the next step. Not that you are going to sale right away. This is about the marketing strategy that you are going to use. How you are going to reach the market, how would you grow your business, what are the ways of distributions and how you will communicate with customers. These are your marketing strategy that will lead you to sales strategy. you can have sales people in your organization or different sales plan or activities such as online sales and marketing.

Some entrepreneur may have to look for funding for their business venture. They need to prepare a funding requests that includes the current funding requirement, future finding requirement for next 3 to 5 years, the way that funds are going to be used and some strategic plans for future financial situation.

Step Six:

After you analyzed the market you need to develop your financial projections to be able to allocate resources efficiently. If you have a business already you need to prepare some data sheets showing your company income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for last 3 to 5 years.
The important thing whether you are a starter or growing business is to prepare a prospective financial data. These are all to submit to creditors to convince them invest in your business so make sure that there is no inconsistency between your financial projection and funding requests.

In the End:

In the end you need to make sure your business plan will stand out. So be clear about what you have to offer, show exactly what you are selling. Make sure you pointed the areas that you can win. These are areas that your competitors have ignored and are potential opportunities for your business.

Location:

Now that you have your business plan ready you can think about your business location.  Choose the right location  is one of the most important decisions that a small business owner will face, so it requires serious researches and planning. Factors that are important to choose a right place for your business usually are availability of customers, being close to customers, competition, being close to potential employees, space and potential for future growth, being close to your suppliers, safety and zoning regulations. Zoning regulation determines whether you can conduct your type of business in certain properties or locations. You can find out how property is zoned by contacting your local planning agency.
The process of choosing location does not end here, there are some hidden costs, income and sales taxes, property taxes, minimum wage, government economic plans etc. You may find the hidden costs some necessary items but costs like renovation, decorating, IT system upgrades etc are done on some locations and in some properties you have to spend to have them.
One of the best ways to get ideas about the location is talking to other business owners in the area.