Are you a budding entrepreneur or eager to grow your business? Regardless of whether you are just a start-up or intend to grow your business, you need a business plan. The roadmap to success, this is essentially an answer to a list of questions.
The business plan needs to answer an array of questions like where would you like to see your business in the coming years or what is the level of profits and revenue you expect to generate by that time. You also need to throw light on the number of employees you expect, the number of locations it would be in and its likes.
Business plan is one of the most critical aspects of business and even a small error can cause a significant setback from where you will find a tough time to get back. In case you are looking for funding options, you can't afford to get the valued information misrepresented anyway.
Here are a few mistakes you must avoid while setting a business plan.
Not Framing a Business Plan
There are several business houses who avoid the idea of framing a business plan. According to some, they are not seeking for an investment and for the rest, they are too busy to formulate a business plan.
If you are not framing the business plan because you are not seeking an investment, let me tell you, business plans aid in finding your upsides as well as downsides, making a provision to take action well before you are in trouble.
If you are putting it off because you have other work to do, understand that busier you are, higher is your need to come with a solid business plan.
Spelling and Grammar Mistakes
You can't afford to make spelling or grammatical mistakes in the business plan. This can create a bad impression. The way an individual writes, tells people things about the writer.
If you are sending the business plan to an investor, spelling and grammatical mistakes are a real put off. The investors often try to judge the company they would be making an investment in through the business plan. Though you need not use very fancy words, the idea must come across properly.
Different entrepreneurs have different writing styles. If your writing style is authoritative and fluent, there is little chance to face trouble. Make sure that you do not appear confused in your business plan. This will bring down the chance of the investors to make an investment.
Before finalising the business plan, make sure that you go through the whole write up properly.
Inclusion of Too Much Detail
Most investors have a clear idea of the things they are looking for. Do you think that the investors have the time or the patience to go through a 100-page business plan?
No.
They are simply looking for a few points. In case they find the points, it is great. In case they don't, they just keep the plan aside. There are many people looking for investors. The investors have little time to go through your 100-page plan.
Remember that you are not trying to impress your readers or show them the depth of knowledge you have. You are just trying to get the investors know of the business goals. If you can't bear to part with so much information, you can add them as a reference. This will allow the readers the privilege to go through them if they are really eager to do so.
Vague Plan
You can't afford to write a business plan vaguely. You need to include management responsibilities, specific details, milestones as well as budgets. Don't keep it vague.
In case you cannot disclose the details, try to summarise your idea. Keep the details separate and the readers can go through the documents after they sign a non-disclosure agreement. However, remember that most of the venture capitalists will prefer not to sign these documents and thus your business plan stands high chance to be discarded.
By avoiding the above-discussed mistakes, you stand a better chance to reach out to the venture capitalists. You can also take the help of the company formation agents to get assistance in better formulation of the business plan.
Contributed by http://www.companywizard.co.uk/
