Introduction to Business Plans

Let's dive right in and look at various approaches you could take when creating a business plan!

Start by doing an online search for "business plan templates." Review at least THREE different templates to see the type of information they ask for. We won't be creating a fully fleshed out business plan in this course, but it's important to know what goes into completing one.

As you examine the options here, think about what your dream business might be. For this exercise, it doesn't need to be entirely 100 percent realistic, but it should be grounded enough that you can talk about what would actually go into some of the day-to-day processes involved in running your business. Overall, remember that the closer your proposed business is to something you'd actually like to do, the more useful the exercise will be for you; if you are having trouble answering the questions we've provided, you may have veered too far from reality and should bring your idea back down to Earth a little.

Now that you have an idea of your proposed business, answer the following questions in a word processing document. Your answers should be briefno more than one or two short sentences. Include the question with your answer, so that your teacher knows which question you are answering:

1. What are you selling?
2. Who will buy it?
3. How will you make money from this project?
4. How will people learn about your business and become customers?
5. How will you measure success?

Feel free to be creative with your answers, but keep to the goal of impressing potential investors! If you are proposing a non-profit, that means you'll need to focus on how funding will be maintained and how your organization will have a measurable effect on the communities it serves.

Next, answer the following questions about obstacles your business might face. These address serious elements that we'd want to implement as we developed a real business plan:

1. What kind of information systems planning does your business require? Do you need to factor in cloud computing, data security, team communication and collaboration tools, etc.? Describe at least two information systems planning solutions you'd need for your business, and how it ties into the specific business environment you'd like to run. In other words, saying "we will have Microsoft Office running on all our employee's computers" wouldn't be adequate, since it's a generic answer that doesn't speak to the specifics of YOUR business. Remember that you can search online for possible tools or software suites to inspire your answers (for example, if your business relies a lot on tracking a bunch of customer information, there are specific tools that help with that!).
2. What kind of business ownership category (sole proprietorship, corporation, or non-profit, etc.) would you want to use for this business, and why?
3. What kind of legal considerations do you need to consider? Will your business raise any licensing and permitting issues? At the federal level, you can just check to see if your business covers one of the items on this list of licenses and permits. If your business is on this list, note the activity you're engaged in that requires a federal license and which federal agency you would apply to. As for state licensing, knowing exactly which laws apply is complicated, so you can just submit a link to your state or governing territory's website which covers that information. For example, if you are running a business out of Alabama, you'd link to the Alabama Department of Revenue, Business Licensing.
4. Are there any intellectual property concerns your business will need to handle? For example, will you need to protect the image of a corporate mascot, an invention, a specific logo or branding image, or any other resource that will be vital to the business?