Customer Reviews

Tips and Traps For Writing an Effective Business Plan

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I've read a lot of business plan books over the past two years. And as a result I've pretty much stopped writing book reviews for the new ones pumped out on the market. There's only so much that can be said about how to research and write a business plan. And I think the market on such books is already saturated. It would be nice if the new books written on the subject would be tailored for specific businesses, i.e., a law firm, an accounting firm, a donut shop, or a fancy restaurant. But that's just me thinking out loud.

I am writing a review for this book because I think it is better than most and it has been recently published. I highly recommend this book for wanta-be entrepreneurs to read and use in pursuing their dream to be an entrepreneur.

It covers all ten sections of a standard business plan well. And it includes a Part IV entitled "Special Considerations for Specific Businesses" that I have not seen included in other business plan books. Definitely a plus for this book. See the online TOC at Amazon for the specific businesses covered.

I had a little problem with Chapter 4 entitled Market Analysis. For me it did not focus enough on studying your competition. You need to know who your competitors are and how much gross revenue they bring in. If you can get (or estimate) this information, then you can fairly easily estimate what your new company's gross sales or revenues will be at the end of year 1, year 2, and year 3. This is because your business plan should provide for a market share estimate at the end of years 1-3. If the market amounts to $5 million in gross revenues a year, and your company will have 5% of the pie in year one, 15% in year 2, and 30% in year 3, then it's easy to calculate your expected gross revenues. And kowing your gross revenues goes a long way in helping you prepare your Pro Forma Financial Plan (Chapter 9).

I would have liked Chaper 9 more if it had included some coverage of the following two resources that your public library should have:

Risk Management Association's Annual Statement Studies (RMAHQ)
Financial Research Associates' Financial Studies of the Small Business (FRASSB)

These two just-listed resources will provide you with much information for your financial plan if you know what your gross revenues will be.

Also, the instant book was a little light on how to actually do the research for your business plan. Consider the following two books:

Successful Business Research (ISBN: 0974080136)
Market Research Made Easy (ISBN: 1551806762)

All in all, this is a wonderful book on business plans. 5 stars!