How do you write a business plan?

Sitting down looking at a blank computer screen as you prepare to start your business plan can be daunting. You may want to look at some alternatives mentioned below that will make the process a bit easier.

Hire a Professional

A professional consultant will create the business plan for you, but you still have to be prepared to think through your business and understand the underlying concepts in your business idea. You will have to work closely with the consultant to ensure that he or she develops a good plan that accurately represents your business or business idea. You can find a list of business planning consultants at www.planconsultants.com.

Buy a Book

There are many good books on the market that will help you to understand what needs to go into a good business plan. You can read Timothy Berry's "Hurdle: the Book on Business Planning".

Use Business Planning Software

A good business planning software package will provide you with an outline for a well-developed, objective-based and professional business plan. Software packages will remove the problem of starting from scratch by structuring your plan for you. The software should ask you the right questions that will pull out the most important underlying concepts within your business idea. Find out more about one of the leading software package on the market, Business Plan Pro.

The End should be Happy

Many business partnerships end in disaster. Yours doesn't have to.

Marty Ambuehl and Neil Clark truly enjoy being business partners. They appreciate each other's relaxed and playful attitude toward what they do, and like the way each partner challenges the other to do better, more creative work. "We push each other," Ambuehl says. "We balance each other very well."

Still, they don't agree on everything. In fact, the co-founders of ATM Express -- a Billings, Mont., distributor of automatic teller machines -- are in the midst of a fairly significant disagreement right now. A tempting acquisition target has recently presented itself. Ambuehl sees the purchase as a great expansion opportunity, but Clark is reluctant to take such a big step. Fortunately, the twosome prepared for just such a scenario years ago, long before the ink was dry on the company's incorporation papers. Careful planning at the beginning, it turns out, has been key to the success of their partnership and their company, which generated more than $19 million in revenue last year.

Unfortunately, many partners only learn that lesson the hard way. "People go in with the best of intentions," says Richard Harroch, a partner at San Francisco law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and an adviser to start-ups. "They're more excited about getting into the business and doing it than they are about the legal details." And that can be a real danger. Left ignored, details that seem tiresome or unimportant at the outset lead to big problems -- and can even destroy a business. The stress of battling a partner is enormous, and protracted litigation can sap financial resources and cut away at the value of a company. (...contd)

By: Dimitra Kessenides