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  • Business Plan?

    I want to write a business plan but I have no idea how to do it. Could ya all point me in the right direction. I want to start with just a basic cut and trim service with spring and fall cleanups.

    Thanks

  • #2
    www.sba.gov Check out this link.

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    • #3
      Read this article I wrote on business planning ...


      Business Planning in Three Easy Steps

      by Phil Nilsson, Green Industry Consultant

      What if we had all listened to our grandmothers years ago when she told us to save 10 percent of every paycheck we ever earned? What if back then we had invested that money in growth stocks? What if at an early age we had given serious thought to exactly, precisely who we were, where we were going, and how we would get there? What if after having understood and analyzed those things we could see clearly as to how to position ourselves in the world (For example, choosing a career field or business that was right for us and focusing our energies and time on an exact target because we knew what it was we were after.)? Well, I'm sorry to say that I didn't do all those things - but then again I guess it's never too late to start. There is always tomorrow - at least until we run out of them.

      Business planning, or better yet personal planning (because you are the business), is a good idea. Anyone who has lived long enough to make some bad choices in life will testify to that fact. So if you're not dead yet - and I'm assuming you're not because you're reading this article - it's never too late to plan the remaining portions of your life, like reinventing yourself. Hindsight is 20-20, and as we all go along in time, planning gets easier because of the mistakes we have already made. Now we can avoid making those mistakes again ... hopefully.

      THREE STEPS IN PLANNING...
      Business happens in three steps.

      You get the work by selling it.

      You do the work by producing it.

      You manage inputs and outcomes all along the way.

      The more of an expert you become in selling, producing and managing, the better the expected outcomes. The better you plan and manage, the better your chances of hitting profit and growth levels above average. Why is that? When you plan, you improve your odds. I don't know of any "average person" who gave it an "average try" and achieved extraordinary results. The grade of "A" is reserved only for those who do their homework. In fact, in the landscape industry, about 70 percent fail at it. Those people came into the industry, took a casual look around, took a lot for granted, didn't do their homework and became history. The other 30 percent learned, applied and survived.

      WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?
      Lots of people are under the impression that business planning is about accounting spreadsheets, budgets and all kinds of number-related issues. That's part of it, but it’s merely the end result of having done a lot of soul searching in looking ahead. The real benefit of planning is to uncover those aspects of business that you need to learn more about, filling in the blanks to see the whole picture. What is it you should know but don't? What do you need to do to become an expert and enhance your chances of developing your business so it provides you with a meaningful source of income?

      Think of the entire process as a series of college courses with "X" amount of credits needed to graduate. Planning involves a lot more than just knowing the numbers. Look at your business and each part of it as course content. To help you see the many subjects that need to be addressed, study the diagram below. These are the many things that make up your business. It's broken down into the three sections of getting the work, doing the work and managing the business.

      Get The Work ... Do The Work ... Manage The Business

      Get the work
      Service Offering
      Competition
      Selling Technique
      Advertising Methods
      Pricing Strategy
      Contract Proposals
      Customer Service

      Do the work
      Plant and Facility
      Equipment
      Personnel
      Operating Methods
      Quality Control

      Manage the business
      Work Measurement
      Costing Methods
      Business Direction
      Financial Outcomes
      Accounting
      Taxes
      Evaluation
      Regulations
      Contingency Plans

      MASTER BUSINESS PLAN.
      The master business plan above is like an outline of college courses on how to succeed in business. It’s a lineup of individual areas of study. Your business will eventually test you on each item on the list. You could know how to sell but not be good at doing the work. You could know how to do the work but have a deficiency in costing and pricing the work. You could be good at pricing, but when it comes to managing people, you may not be so good.

      Business planning is to fill in the blanks of knowledge and expertise so that you form a complete picture. The plan asks you to be honest with yourself. Do you have a handle on each of the areas required? That's the real purpose of planning: finding out what you don't know and then taking the initiatives to learn. It's not easy. Unlike big business where each area of expertise is departmentalized into such departments as sales, marketing and management, small business people must wear all of those hats. That's the problem - you need to become an expert at so many disciplines. Business planning helps you recognize what the requirements are. The rest is up to you.

      Phil

      P.S. This article was originally published in L&L Mag

      __________________

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