Who Should Create a Business Plan?

Back to: How to Write a Show-Stopping Business Plan Step-by-Step

Writing a Business Plan may often be viewed as a scary or unnecessarily time-intensive task. Usually we only think about it when we want to meet a bank or investor in order to obtain funds for the project. But, Business Plans should primarily be created for you–the business owner–to help you understand whether your idea can be turned into a viable business which will support yourself and your family. After all, if your business idea isn’t going to be successful (ie make you a sustainable living) then you may want to think twice before putting all your time, effort, and funds into it.

So who exactly should write a business plan?

Take a look below and see if your particular situation is listed here. If it is, then you may wish to seriously consider it:

• You have a new or existing skill that people are clamouring for
• You have an idea for a new product or service which you feel people need
• You see a gap in the market for a specialised service you want to provide
• You have valuable experience and want to break away from working for someone else to set out on your own
• You have been offered the chance to buy a portion of an existing business
• You have been offered the chance to partner with another business (on an ongoing contractual basis)
• You have been offered the chance to buy out another business entirely
• You wish to diversify your current business to provide a new service or product
• You wish to geographically expand the reach of your current business
• You feel you need to ramp up your operations because your customer base is expanding
• Of course, the above scenarios are broad and cannot cover all possible options but you will no doubt slot into at least one of these categories – and possibly several.