Because a business plan is what something that could tell whether we would succeed on our business. It is like a compass that we can follow. If nothing would direct us, we can go wrong. All our steps, even the smallest ones that we are about to take, must be planned. All these business plans are usually placed in a business plan workbook. It carefully states all the matters that deals about our business. It is a handy thing that is so useful for us as we run our business. Something that we could look upon everyday.

What is a Business Plan Workbook?

A business plan workbook is a short book about our business plan. It contains the business plan outline. It may be made out of a small business plan or even big business plans. It has all the essential details of a business plan. It is a full roadmap to a company’s development. It may be a combined pages of all the business plan examples that you can have. Business plans examples can be well crafted into a business plan workbook. The business plan definition are also included in it. It has marketing strategies and financial statements about the business. An executive summary is carefully placed in it.

Operations plan and marketing plan are defined, and there are business level strategies. Even a startup or a small business can have a business plan workbook. It is because a business continuity plan is important with these kinds of businesses. With a business plan workbook, it would be easy for businessmen to run their business. The essentials about their business would be visible in a single workbook that they can use anytime. All they have to do is to have a printable copy of it and they can flip in its pages whenever they need to.

What are Included in a Business Plan Workbook?

A business plan workbook has certain elements that are included in it. These things cannot be omitted in this book. You must be adept in putting these things in your workbook.

An Introduction For Your Business Plan

This defines all your business idea and all your goals for the business. It tells how your idea can make your business successful and who are the people that are going to use this. It displays its uniqueness and the way it would be brought to success. The type of industry is written in it and the location of your business with the reasons why you have chosen it. It also tells the leadership advantage and the owner of the company with their skills in that business.

The Compliance With the Law

All the permits and regulations are written in this part. The kinds of tax forms that the business needs to comply are also here. It talks about the insurance that your business also needs to have. The business liability is stated here.

The Details About Your Products and Services

Your main products are described here. They tell how unique your product is. How it is set apart from others. The total packages and services are defined. It has more information so that everyone would not have misunderstanding about your product.

The Business Competition

This is the list of all your business competitors. They can be direct or indirect competitors. It tells positive things about their products and services. And then it compares to your business, telling how you can make your products and services better.

A Profile of the Market

This tells the demands about your products like the size of the market. It describes who are the probable buyer of your product and what would make them attracted to it. It also states how you are going to market your product or service and where you are going to market it. It tells whether it would reach some particular towns or it would be marketed nationwide.

The Sales Potential

All the pricing strategy are included here. It lists the product’s cost and explains how you priced them. It tells how you decided with this specific price against all the price competitions in the market. It has a chart that would show all your sales potential. It could be a weekly chart.

The Marketing Strategy

This will be all the styles and techniques about marketing. It has certain ideas that could market your product better. It has whatever tricks that could increase your sales. There is a good concept that can be applied into your business.

The Statements About Your Organization

This is a detailed description about your organization. It tells everyone who you are. It tells about the things that you do. This statement is delivered with good sentences of valuable description of your company. It lists the good things that are obvious about your business.

The Short Term and Long Term Goal

All your business goals must be written in it. These goals are the ones that you are about to achieve on the following years. This will be a guide for you to accomplish it one day. The goals must be definite.

The Business Target

A business target must be clearly deciced upon. You must know who are all the customers that you want to have. By knowing them, you can create strategies on how you can attract them to your product or service.

The Business Management

This tells how your business can operate. You will have to choose a business team that is going to work for the company. It lists all your employees and all the certain tasks that each will have to do.

The Profile of the Owner

This page reveals all the information about the owner of a company. It tells how they have built the business and their reasons for having the company. It could explain a little about their experiences with the company when they were just starting it. At the end of this part, a resume of the owner was provided.

The Financial Projections

This lists all the expenses of the company. All the monthly expenses are recorded. The bills and the salaries are included. This is an analysis of all the costs that a company has. This can be written with a table to see everything more clearly.

The Cash Flow and Balance Form

The breakeven point of the business must be included here. The cash in and cash out are put in analysis. A graph is written to explain everything. A balance sheet is also included which tells all the assets and liabilities of the company.

Tips on Business Plan Workbook

As a business plan workbook is essential in business, we should have some tips on it. These can be used to have a more effective business plan workbook.

Make a good summary. Investors usually have time to read the business summary only so make a great summary. Put all the important details in it so the investor will not miss anything. Simply with your summary, they can already know what is your business and the business deal can be complete. No time for lengthy business explanations. Your summary must be easy to understand and would attract clients to your business.Keep it brief. Your workbook must be concise. It would be hard for you to use it if it is 100-page long. No one would even read a 50-page workbook. All the details must be described in short meaningful sentences. Do not put unnecessary things in your business plan workbook. Tell directly all the purposes in your workbook and do not tell so many stories that is not needed. You may tell a little about experiences but do not make them overly long. The profiles and histories should also be brief. All your explanations must be delivered in 2-3 sentences.Consider your audience. Whatever language your using, be sure it was something that the reader would understand. Do not use jargons in your workbook. Make your workbook easy to grasp, with all your purposes and descriptions clear. If you also know who your audience are, you can adjust the tone of how you will write your business plan workbook. Writing a business plan should have the idea that everyone who will read it would be easily hooked with the designated business. It should be like ads that can make you buy a product.Always examine your business idea. Test all your ideas about the business that will make your mission statement better. If you will examine all your ideas first, you will be able to make your business plan better. You will know if your ideas will work and whether it will benefit you. All ideas may not be perfect. Choose ones that will be effective for your business.Make clear objectives. Set goals for your business. These are the things that you have to achieve. If you will not have goals, you will not have something to reach. If you will have something to reach, you will aim to attain it and will be later successful. Have objectives that will make your business run good. These objectives must be realistic and easy to do or accomplish.Be courageous in making a workbook. Good courage can put a good spirit into your work. You can be at your best and will make yourself successful. Do not get intimadated by other entrepreneur. Have a good integrity about your work and do everything decently. Do not worry if you do not have MBAs or some high degree. You can still run your business as long as you have the courage to make it run. There are persons who may have degree but may not have the talent in running a business. What is important is that you have the courage to do it.

How to Craft a Business Plan Workbook

There are ways on how to make a business plan. Here are some steps on how to write a business plan.

Step 1 First, make an executive summary.

Have a complete description of your company and whatever is your product and service. This must hold the investor’s attention. Make it short and concise. With a few sentences, state the mission of your business. Do everything so that your executive summary will be memorable. This serves as your pitch so make it succinct.

Step 2 Assess your target customers.

Who will be your customers? An idea of the kinds of people that will buy your product should be clear in your mind. Know whether your target will be small consumers or persons with businesses. If you mean to target a business, choose a prospective business. Know your target within the company. It may be the CEO or the salesperson. Consider demographics and firmographics. Know their locations, jobs, and groups.

Step 3 Be aware of the competition in business.

All business has competitors. You will be unprofessional if you will not mention your competitors. List all your current and potential competitors. These competitors are your direct competitors who has the same services like you and the indirect competitors who are in the same market with you. Write USP (direct selling proposition) that will set you apart from your competitors.

Step 4 Have a financial plan.

Put the financial information in your business plan workbook. It would be the overall expenses in your business. Get an accounting software that will help you draft your financial statement.

Step 5 Choose a good example of a marketing plan.

Your marketing plan should answer this 5 ‘hows’.

Step 6 Make your workbook simple.

Your workbook must be simply done. No one would really read complex documents. After knowing all the necessary details, transform it to simple sentences. The workbook must be simple enough and must not be something that would make anyone confuse. You must clearly state your purpose.

FAQs

How Long is a Business Plan Workbook?

The business plan workbook can be in 10-50 pages. There are workbook that reach up to 100 pages but you have to make your business plan workbook brief so that the investor will not lose interest. Some internal workbooks are short because it only includes implementation. But if you will present your workbook to new clients, it should be longer because the client needs to know everything about your business. But on conclusion, your workbook must be short but must contain all the essential details.

Where Can I Get a Business Plan Workbook?

You can find a sample of a business plan workbook in the internet. There are free business plan templates that you can use. Edit it and enter all the details about your business. Then you can print it if you want a physical business plan workbook. You can also hire a professional to make a business plan workbook for you, if you want a better workbook. They can give you the workbook instantly in a PDF or Word file.

The business plan workbook makes your business to run better. You can have a good analysis of your business. You can use it at times that your business needs extra boosting. As it contains all the information about your business, it also makes your business more professional. Make a business plan workbook and it will accomplish all your business plans.