You have always wanted to be your own boss.  You are tired of the 
mindless meeting and the office politics.  You've come up with a 
great idea for a new business that your friends say "can't miss." 
So, what's stopping you from leaving your job to start your own 
company.

Like most budding entrepreneurs, you probably realize that you 
need a plan.  If you seek financing through a bank or an 
investor, they require you to have a business plan.  Even if you 
will fund your new venture with your own money, you would be ill-
advised to proceed without some form of a plan.

But you have never written a business plan and you have no idea 
where to start.  You've come to the right place. I will cover my 
recommended approach for starting your plan.


Business Concept

Your business concept is a brief description of the products and 
services you will be offering.  It should answer these three 
questions:

1. What products and services does my company offer?

2. What needs of the target market (intended customer) will your 
   products and services satisfy?

3. What competitive advantages will your products and services 
   have?

Write a draft of your business concept with these three questions 
in mind.  Don't fuss over writing a perfect business concept at 
this point.  You will probably make several revisions to your 
concept in the course of preparing your plan.  The goal here 
should be to get your concept into written form.


Exit Strategy

It may seem counterintuitive to start your plan by devising your 
exit strategy.  But presumably, your company will be a going 
concern—you expect it to continue beyond your retirement from the 
company.  Therefore, you should write your plan with an exit 
strategy in mind.  

Examples: 

* Selling a portion or all of the company

* Passing the company to a family member

* Passing the company to your employees

* Selling shares of the company in the public markets

Choose your exit strategy carefully; it has tax and financing 
implications and will affect other important decisions, such as 
choosing the right legal form of organization for your company.


Market Research

Before you launch into writing your business plan, you need to 
gather data on your company's industry, market, and competition. 
Start by identifying your company's industry.  I suggest using 
the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to 
determine your industry.  This will help you more clearly define 
your industry. The NAICS code will also save you time gathering 
research information.

Once you have determined your industry, you are ready to begin 
gathering data on your industry and your market.  Some of the 
main questions to consider include:

 * What the industry trends?

 * Who is your competition?

 * What market segments are being underserved?

 * Who should you include in your target market?

 * What impact will technology, legislation, and seasonality 
   have on this industry and market?


You should conclude your market research by evaluating your 
competition.  Performing a competitive analysis simply means 
comparing your products and services to those of your 
competitors. Doing this will help you align your strengths with 
the opportunities in the target market. A competitive analysis 
should help you answer questions such as these:

 * How are your products and services superior to your 
   competitors'?

 * How are your products and services inferior to your 
   competitors'?

 * Why will customers abandon your competitors to buy from you?

 * How can you reach new consumers (those being served neither 
   by you nor your competitors)?


SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Analysis is a straightforward assessment of internal 
factors (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external factors 
(Opportunities and Threats) that could affect your business. 
Your SWOT analysis should help you answer question such as:

 * What special skills does your company possess?

 * Do any of your products or services have unique features that 
   make them more attractive to customers?

 * Do you have a superior location?

 * What crucial skills does your company lack?

 * In what ways are your products or services inferior to your 
   competitors'?

 * Are there any emerging technologies that could benefit your 
   industry?

 * Are any markets in your industry underserved?

 * Are there any opportunities to form key partnerships with 
   suppliers, buyers or competitors?

 * How easily can new competitors emerge?

 * What is the threat of a large competitor moving into your 
   target market?

 * How tightly regulated is your industry?

 * Do economic cycles severely affect your industry or target 
   market?


Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list of questions to 
consider for your SWOT analysis.  However, it should stimulate 
other questions that lead you to identify more strengths, 
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Once you have completed your SWOT analysis, you are ready to 
begin writing your business plan.  

Preparing to write your business plan is no small task. Putting 
your concept in writing, gathering research, and analyzing the 
data can be intimidating.  

But the preparation can be worth the effort.  It will help you 
refine your business concept.  It will prevent you from making 
some costly mistakes.  It will force you to think about your 
company more objectively and strategically.  Most importantly, 
the preparation will increase your chances of writing a 
successful business plan. 

Jeff Beckley is the managing partner of Beckley, CPA
http://www.beckleycpa.com and is President of Market8, LLC, 
http://www.marketeight.com, a leading provider of business plan 
products including FinancialPlanMaster and BPlanMaster. Including
his 15 years experience as a newspaper executive, he has 
extensive experience in a variety of business disciplines 
including sales, marketing, distribution, call centers and 
finance. Jeff's Contact Email: mailto:jeffabeckley@yahoo.com