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5 Reasons You Need a Business Plan
12/17/2018
By Allen Gutierrez, SBA Official, Here are 5 reasons why you need a business plan:
1. It will help you steer your business as you start and grow.
2. It’s not as hard as you think.
3. It will help you to reach business milestones.
4. It can help you get funding.
5. There’s no wrong way to write a business plan. Traditional business plans are more common, use a standard structure, and encourage you to go into detail in each section. Traditional plans tend to require more work upfront. Lean startup business plans are less common, but still use a standard structure. They focus on summarizing only the most important points of the key elements of your plan. They can take as little as one hour to make and are typically just one page. Because knowing where to start can be challenging, the SBA has tools to help make writing a business plan less intimidating and time consuming. The SBA offers a Business Plan Tool that helps simplify the process. The tool consists of eight easy-to-follow steps to help create a well-prepared plan. To learn more about putting your business plan together, go to the SBA’s online Learning Center and take the self-paced course on How to Write a Business Plan. The course explains the importance of business planning, describes the components of a plan, and provides access to resources and sample plans. You can also take a look at the SBA’s Business Planning Guide for more information and to view business plan templates. If you want a more hands-on approach, you can get assistance from an SBA resource partner to help complete your business plan. Working with a mentor or counselor from SCORE, a Small Business Development Center or a Women’s Business Center can help with all aspects of starting, growing or expanding your business. About the Author: Allen GutierrezSBA Official
As Associate Administrator of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, Allen Gutierrez is dedicated to enhancing the nationwide network of offices, business executives, and mentors that support current and aspiring business owners as they start, grow, and compete in today’s global market.
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