By William Lebrun

Having a great idea in theory, and being able to pull it off in practice are two wildly different things. It's very easy to start a business that you think will work, but to avoid making big mistakes one of the best things you can do is to write a business plan. If you are able to write a plan of action about your idea or business, then it is probably worth your time. Below are some key steps to follow when writing your business plan:

1. Concentrate On Clarity
Your business plan is not the place to insert massive amounts of technical jargon, the best way forward is to concentrate on presenting your ideas clearly so that almost anybody could pick up your business plan and understand it.

2. Understand Your Audience
How you write your business plan depends a lot on who you think will be reading it. If you are looking for investment, you have to ensure that you are to the point and at the same time you need to include as much relevant information as possible.

3. Ask For Advice
There are many people you can ask for advice, including small business advisors, but you can ask just about anyone you know for their views on your business plan. Getting a second opinion is often a good idea before you start planning your business's future.

4. Address Possible Issues
There are always going to be problems when starting your own business, unfortunately unless you have solutions to these problems you will probably not succeed. If you are able to work out solutions to your problems in the business plan, the idea could well be successful.

5. Give Numerical Information
By giving specific figures about your business, it will be much easier for possible investors to understand how the business will scale. Information you should include ranges from start-up costs, to number of employees.

6. Talk Money
Unless you can show that your business is going to make money, the idea probably has very little mileage. Even if the monetization comes after the initial stages of development, you still need a plan for the future of your business in terms of revenue and profit.

7. Understand Your Competition
Ignoring your closest competitors is probably the biggest mistake you could possible make. The fact is, unless you have a way of confidently outclassing your competition, you are entering a market for no real reason. This is another great way to know if your idea has any mileage, because you'll instantly be able to see whether you are going to be able to handle the competitive nature of your market.

8. Set Your Goals
Where do you really want your business to go? If you can lay out a plan for tenfold growth of your business, then it is going to be a much more attractive business model than if you could only plan for twofold growth. By laying foundations which lend themselves to scaling the business, you will receive much more interest from investors and will understand how the future of your business could unfold.

A business plan is a reasonably easy document to write, since it takes very little skill to write a strategy behind a business. However, there is skill in justifying your idea and ensuring you have a strong foundation for your business, by writing a solid business plan you can ensure your idea not only works, but has a future.


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