Customer Reviews

How to Write a Business Plan (4th Ed)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was disappointed with this book because I had thought it would be broader and relate to all kinds of businesses. But this book is very specific to the entrepreneur starting up his or her own business, only. Its examples are mostly of home-based businesses or small sole proprietorships. The writing is sometimes condescending and assumes you know nothing whatsoever about finances and investments (which may be good for some readers). It includes several chapters of additional information for start-up companies which take up a significant portion of the book and have little or nothing at all to do with writing a business plan. I feel like this book is mistitled and would be better named, "Mike's Guide to Founding and Funding your Own Business."

If you are a biz start-up novice and aren't sure what you need to do to get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper in a logical, well-organized manner...you need this book. If you have a business plan to write and think you might get hung up on the finance section...you need this book. If you have an idea for a business and don't know what to do next...get this book.

While this book may not be for the MBA grad, it is for the entrepreneur who is breaking on the scene with a dream that they have to make happen. How to Write a Business Plan must have used as it's mantra, "baby steps, baby steps in the right direction." Take a project that can be overwhelming and use this book to go through the process in manageable steps.

Napoleon Hill said it and so did Robert Kiyosaki...every successful business starts with an idea. Are you ready...why just sit there thinking about your great idea...why not go ahead and make it happen?!?

I gravitated towards this book after realizing that my business idea did not fit easily within any of the prepackaged business plan software. The idea of writing the financial forcasting projections and tables on my own was quite daunting, but following this book I not only understood how to write the plan, but learned a great deal about small business financials in the process. I had use the software in the past and I had not learned a thing. Here, for the first time I actually understood why a good business plan is important, aside from being a tool for getting people to lend you money, as an actual tool to making the business work. I highly recommend this book to anybody that wants to learn a bit more about financial planning before setting out to accomplish their dream. Personally I am very grateful to have found this book, as it made a hard job easy to do. Thanks Mike, your book is a winner.

While writing a business plan, I spent two intense weeks with this book, reading and writing furiously every day. I came to understand phrases that had eluded me such as cash flow, profit and loss forecast, and gross profit percentage. It took me step by step through the process using simple, highly readable language, and short and interesting examples. The tear out forms in the back for filling in numbers are invaluable, and for the first time, while filling in the profit and loss forecast, the term "bottom line" took on real significance. The author also includes other extensive resources for new business owners and an excellent index. Scattered throughout are axioms and pieces of advice that I found truly helpful. Whether I succeed with this business or not is still up in the air, but it won't be for lack of having a good business plan!

The book is a step-by-step guide on how to write a practical business plan particularly for entrepreneur starting a business. The reader is guided through the interrelated elements of a typical plan. These elements are the mission, market, competition, self-evaluation, opportunities, objectives, strategies, programmes, goals, resources and financials. The book has several examples from actual strategic plans, making it easy for the reader to understand the subject fully. The course is easy to follow and will help you think through your business and come up with a bankable business plan.

This is a well-written and thorough self-help book that will lead you through the business plan writing process. After reading the book, its several examples and worksheets, you should be able to present a convincing business plan with well-laid out financials that should be convincing, understandable and impressive to banks and investors.

The book is an excellent companion for the entrepreneur that is well worth having.

There are plenty of basic books on the market on how to write a business plan: but how many come branded with the Nolo Press badge of authoritative presentations; and how many provide an accompanying cd-rom with spreadsheets to help forecast cash flow, sales revenue and profit and loss - plus three sample business plans which can be plugged in and modified for personal needs? It's a step-by-step primer no entrepreneur should be without!

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Much below Nolo's usual standards.

This book manages to describe the mechanics of a plan while avoiding all of the underlying business thinking.

Starting and running a business isn't about the document - it's about the thinking and planning and decision-making captured in that document. This book provides no guidance to the novice on how to really think about starting a business, and is a gross simplification of the process.

The accompanying spreadsheets and forms also disappoint, in selection (three very limited sample plans), content, and layout. At least this part would have been so easy to do better. Not a lot of effort went in to this book

I was so impressed by this book! I currently own 3 retail stores and I co-op a warehouse. I was looking to expand but many banks would not touch my business based on the current economic issues. This book saved me so much money on advice and attorney fees...Definitely well worth the price. I recommend this book for newbies and pros!
Best of Luck,
RL Miles
Chicago Book Closeouts

Date: January 29, 2011
Title: How to Write a Business Plan 10th Edition
Author: Mike McKeever
ISBN 10: 1-4133-1280-2
ISBN 13: 978-1-4133-1280-5
Pages: 288
Publisher: Nolo
Cover: Electronic Advance Reading Copy
Reviewer: Yolanda M, Johnson-Bryant- Literary Wonders!
Rating: 5 Stars


How to Write a Business plan by Mike McKeever is another valuable tool from Nolo, one of the leading online legal resources.

Mr. McKeever provides a simple no-hassle guide to understanding why it is important for a business to have a business plan in place. This title goes beyond the essentials of business plans and challenges current and future business owners to ask themselves if starting a business is something they really want to do.

This guide gives its readers suggestions and sources to fund their business and raise money.

How to Write a Business Plan also gives readers tips on how to compile a marketing plan as well as a personnel plan. Included in the book are valuable resources, both online and offline, as well as an accompanying CD-ROM to help the process come together.

Nolo has published yet another tool that anyone who is thinking of starting a business should add to their toolkit.

I have this amazing idea for your business, and seeing as I can't get any sign-ups for my "Amazing Ideas for Your Business," a $999 one-day seminar conveniently located in that spare back-room of my office (well, it's convenient for me), I'll unveil it here.

1. I have one of those amazing ideas I have all the time.

2. Er . . . things happen, and a business starts.

3. The business brings in huge amounts of money and takes absolutely no amount of my time.

Now, I may be hearing you say, "What a load of #*^@%," and you'd be right. Or that's my new approach after reading this book (but I still have the materials for the old seminar, and I'd rather not Xerox something new). And what was the first think I learned from this book? It's that you have to make a detailed plan that convinces yourself.

When you realize that Step 2 takes a huge amount of work, you begin to appreciate what Mike McKeever has written. There's a whole chapter on "Do You Want to Run Your Own Business," and you have to be very honest when you fill this out. From this I discovered even though I've been self-employed I still didn't have the willingness to run a business, and I guess I was just lucky that there was a huge demand for teaching computer skills that everybody seems to know today.

Also, I didn't have to raise any money, so no-one with a financial background looked at my plan. McKeever's book shows that the second person you have to convince is a banker (after your family). The rest of the book is devoted to writing a business plan that's detailed enough to show you'll make a profit. This is a big reality check for the aspiring entrepreneur.

McKeever finishes with a list of resources for beginning business owners. In typical Nolo Press fashion, this has dozens of places to get advice, and several of the books I recommend are listed here. I'd suggest that you get the only book by Michael Gerber worth buying, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, along with a general purpose book on setting up a business, like Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition (Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need).

I recently read an article on the major shut-downs of 2010 that were initially thought to be great ideas. While going into business is never risk-free, it looks like a few of these enterprises could have saved themselves trouble by examining their business plan more closely. I suggest you go to a local company's site and look for investor news. That should take you to a financial report where, under "competition," the company's lawyers list all that could possibly go wrong. You might want to look at your own predictions and decide what you'd do if something unexpected occurred, like a national chain selling the same products as you opened up next door.

I'd also suggest you read, Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America, and see if you're not taken in by upbeat thinking that convinces you that no matter how bad the circumstance, no matter how close a path you're following to those who failed, somehow you'll succeed where they didn't.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, and I know several people who've started their own business and are doing well, but there seem to be an awful lot of dreamers who end up in the bankruptcy court. With a little preparation, and a well thought-out business plan, you can avoid that. So, good luck! (which of course you won't need).