When you first start up a business and you are looking to get funding of any kind, you will need to have a well written business plan in order to get anywhere and if you are not confident in writing one yourself a great alternative is a professional business plan service. Even if you are a talented and well versed writer, unless your occupation is as a current or former business plan writer, than you are probably better served seeking help.

Perhaps you doubt this sentiment and feel as though you can tackle a business plan all by yourself. Here are some reasons why a professional business plan service will write a better business plan than you:

• Experience: Many business plan services employ business plan writers who have been writing business plans for years. This is simply a skill that can’t be learned overnight. Just as you may be the best at what you do, a business plan writer is the best at what they do. A professional business plan writer will not only be able to write well, but they will also know what potential investors are looking for in regards to the business plan itself.

• Time: In business you can never have enough time. By hiring a professional business plan service to write your business plan, you will be able to focus on the many other things that come with owning a business. Even if you could effectively write your own business plan, with everything else that is likely to be on your plate, you would probably not complete your business plan in a very timely manner.

• Complexity: Okay, say you get though the actual writing of the business plan. You still have to deal with the financials. This can make even the most level head absolutely spin. However, the financial section is probably the most important part of your business plan and will be the part that many investors flip right to.

• Guarantee: Any quality business plan service will offer you a guarantee of some sort. Typically, if you are not happy with the way that your business plan turns out, then it will be re-written until it is to your liking. If you write your own business plan and then end up with something you don’t like, you are stuck, unless you want to write it again.

Yes, you can go about writing your business plan on your own, but is it really worth it? You can also pull your own teeth if you have a toothache, but you are probably better off by going to a dentist and seeing what they have to say.

By hiring a professional business plan service you can be sure that your business plan will be the best it can possibly be. While it will cost you money to do so, in business, you have to spend money to make money. Though in this case it may be that you have to spend money in order to borrow money.

Why do so many home-based businesses fail? There can be many reasons. Is it a sluggish economy, a faulty product, a service offered that is no longer considered to be in demand, or many a combination there? Even as it is quite possible that some or all of these may have a contributing factor in the demise of a home based business, more often than not you will need to take a closer look at the home based business entrepreneur for answers. These answers are worth paying attention to if you want to be successful in any business endeavor. You can not afford to ignore this part of business management.

Amazingly, quite frequently it is the very entrepreneur who is operating the business who may have more of a hand in the demise of the business than you would at first suspect. For example, the entrepreneur who fails to start out the business with a logically defined business plan in many ways simply plans to fail. Without clearly outlined goals and benchmarks, it is very hard to gage the efficacy of an ad campaign, a product line, a marketing strategy, or even a presentation methodology. This is a very important consideration for anyone in business.

Add to this a failure to properly research what the effects should be – versus what they could be – and it is clear that many a home based business entrepreneur pays too much attention to the nuts and bolts of running the business and not enough to the administrative and strategic end of it. Granted, entrepreneurs cannot be whiz kids at each and every aspect of the business experience, but it is vital that a business owner intent on remaining in business will understand her or his strengths and weaknesses and then seek to counteract the weaknesses by finding others who can provide the tasks that would normally be hampered by these drawbacks. At the same time, the individual will have the opportunity to focus steadily on exploiting the strengths she or he had identified, thus ensuring that not only will the business be run efficiently but to the maximum benefit possible.

Last but not least, making personal accountability part of your home based business plan requires a clear understanding of your goals and what you will do to achieve them. If you have no goals, there is no accountability. If there is no accountability, then the temptation of playing hooky and procrastinating vital activities is hard to circumnavigate. Such procrastination will of course lead to the business’ not getting to be on the cutting edge of the business niche to which the product or service appeals.

Failure to be on the cutting edge automatically lumps the business with the bulk of the competition – a position that makes it so easy to get lost in the shuffle. Add to this a couple of bad months or maybe an even minor market setback and you will have no reserves on which to fall back on. In effect, your business is doomed to fail.

Every new business owner knows that a business plan is critical – it is drilled into them by potential investors and every banking officer they meet. So why is something that is so important to the launch of a new venture so difficult to write? Good question! In this article I will try to address when you should go out and hire a business plan writer versus taking on the task yourself. First time entrepreneurs often cringe when sitting down to write their business plan. Some spend 6 months agonizing over each period and comma, and even worse others spend 6 months procrastinating and do nothing. So let’s break it down and see where / when a business planning company should be brought in:

Who will read your business plan and why?

First you need to really understand the purpose of your business plan and who your audience (reader) will be. This is an important point as a business plan being written for a 0,000 loan is VERY different than a document needed for a million round of venture capital! Since this article is focused on first-time small business owners, I will focus on preparing business plans raising less than million in capital. For this “startup” or “seed” business plan 30-35 pages are perfect. You are not expected to deliver a thick book (and no one will read it anyway!). Once you have this down, you can honestly assess which sections you are qualified / comfortable writing and which may need consulting help.

Here is what you should write on your own

It is important for you to write a basic draft / outline of your business plan. Without this direction you are probably asking too much of your consultant. Once you have your thoughts organized on paper you can see what you are comfortable completing. Here are a few suggestions:

Executive Summary: Draft the opening of your business plan – then hire a pro to come in and re-write it. Your executive summary will be read first and first impressions are critical!

Marketing: You need to write your own definition of your target customer / audience. For the market research on industry growth and fancy charts go ahead and hire a consultant.

Competitive Analysis: You should put together the first draft of this section, as it is almost as important to understand your competitors, as it is your customers. If you find a consultant that is an expert in your field, then you can work together and add to your initial list.

The Dreaded Financials

This is the most difficult part of a startup business plan, as you are making projections and assumptions on products / services that you have not even produced or sold yet! If you are stuck on this section you can hire a business plan consultant to just assist you with completing your projections (income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet). Figuring out the cost of goods, delivery costs, and return rates can be simplified by breaking them down into a “light” spreadsheet. Next you need to understand your startup and operating costs – items like electricity, travel, phone expenses, etc. Again just organize these and your consultant can make all the fancy charts and graphs. Just make sure you understand all of the assumptions – for example if you are opening a retail business, you should not look towards your consultant to “guess” your rent – go out and meet with a realtor and come back with real data. If you work closely with your consultant, the financials are a great section to bring in professional help.

Managing Expectations

Now that you know a bit more about when to hire a business plan writer you also need to manage your expectations. You can’t expect a ,000 business plan to have 20 pages of competitive analysis and a full-blown marketing strategy! If you carefully work through which sections of your business plan need outside help and then manage your consultant closely, your final document will be a success! My next two articles will focus on “How to Find / Hire a Business Plan Consultant” and more importantly “When to Fire your Business Plan Consultant!”

A well-developed and executed communications plan can have a tremendous impact on employee morale and overall business success. It all starts with a solid plan that can be written when you ask and answer the essential questions.
What is the message? Sounds basic but if the message you want to send is not clear in your own mind it’s doomed to fail. Corporate office-driven messages tend to be communicated in broad, values-based statements that are not action focused. Employees read them and they have no clue what they should do in response. When starting your plan don’t proceed until you can clearly state the central point of the message so there is no question as to it’s meaning. Test it with a few people if there is any doubt.