Many women are so confused by the words – “Business Plan”. What is it? Who do I show it to? Do I really need it? What is it really going to do for me?

A business plan is a written blueprint for your business. It describes a summary of what your business is about and it’s goals. It also outlines how your business will function. The term “business plan” was first developed by bankers who wanted a detailed report of how a business would result in profits before they would make a decision on lending money. Today, no business banker will even entertain a business loan application without a business plan.

In a nutshell, the answer is yes, you really do need a business plan if you really want to build a solid foundation under your home-based business.

I guess the reason so many women procrastinate in doing a business plan is because they think they have to come up with some imaginary figures and statistics about their business which is of course very scary for anyone. This type of plan is known as an Executive Business Plan. This plan is shown to banks, SBA and other lenders who you may apply to for a substantial loan. Usually, this type of business plan must show a 3-5 year projection of how much money your business would make if they should lend you a specific sum of money. Although you will need this type of business plan should you wish to expand your business, the most important thing for you to know now is where you will be in the next 3,6,9 and 12 months.

One of the best form of business plans to start out with is the “Working Business Plan”. This plan answers the 5 “W’s” – Who, What, Where, When and Why.

There is no pre-required length that a Working Business Plan should be. Just remember that you aren’t writing to impress, you are writing to address the important issues of starting your business. This plan is just for your planning purposes and can be expanded later on into a full executive plan.

The following outline will help you in processing your thoughts and writing your Working Business Plan.

1. Mission Statement – What is the goal of your business. What purpose does it serve.

2. Objective – What will the outcome be for your business as a result of your mission. (ex: K.G. enterprises will gross over $50,000 it’s first year with a 5% error margin on its documents).

3. Management – Who will run the business and what qualifications does the person have. What additional skills or resources are needed? What are the names of others that might be able to serve as mentors or help you in grooming your business for success?

4. Service/Product – What products or services are being offered? How will they be produced. If you are selling a product, how much of the product will you need in stock? Do you have the start-up capital needed to purchase the produce? If no, how will you raise the capital needed?

5. Customers – Who are your customers? What area are they in? Is this a service or product they will want to buy? Do a typical profile of a repeat customer.

6. Competition – Who are your competitors? Where are they located? What are their prices? What services or products do they sell? How could you do better?

7. Marketing – How will you market your business? How much money will you need to market your business? How is your competition marketing their business? Do you need business cards, brochure, stationery, fliers etc.?

8. Office Set-up – What are your daily office procedures, what will you do each day that will result in the sale of your service or product? What bookkeeping system will you use and how often will you input your information in the system? Do you need a bookkeeper? What supplies do you need? What type of furniture do you need? What office equipment will you need? Where will your office be?

9. Finances – HOW MUCH MONEY WILL YOU NEED FOR THE FOLLOWING?

$ Your Income

$ Advertising/Promotion

$ Bank Fees

$ Business Insurance

$ Business Lease/Rent

$ Internet (include website, hosting etc.)

$ Supplies

$ Postage

$ Printing

$ Telephone

$ Training

$ Utilities

$ Marketing/Advertising

$ Equipment

$ Furniture

10. Networking – Who needs to know about your new venture and why? What contacts do you need to have? Why do you need to know them? What can they help you with?

Contact Management

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week.

Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

Establish a good contact management system for yourself. Today, keeping a list of contacts on paper is not efficient. A good contact management software will be needed. If you currently use MS Office, you should have MS Outlook already installed and it will serve the purpose nicely. Other popular contact management software are ACT and Goldmine. Regardless of what contact system you have you must be willing to update your system at least twice per week. Evaluate how you will manage you contact system. Make sure to schedule this in your planner or palm.

11. Sales The number of clients you service or products you sale will give you a true picture as to whether or not you are having success with your business. But first, you must have a measurable sales goal in achieving this success. Start by evaluating where you want to be in sales for the first 3 months, 6, months, 9 months or one year. By doing this you will be able to re-evaluate your business plan every three months and determine if you need to improve in marketing etc.

12. Starting Date – Set a starting date for when you want to begin your business or put into place this working business plan. Make sure you have printed material available for all services or products offered. Also evaluate and follow-up with yourself daily for the first month to ensure that you are following your own plan. After 30 days, follow-up on a weekly basis and then monthly from that point on.

13. Remember, no plan will work unless you are willing to put it into action!

About the Author:

Trina Newby is a Business Consultant, CEO & Founder of Women About Biz, a membership organization that provides small business resources, tools and networking opportunities for women.

Trina Newby is President and Founder of Women About Biz, a powerful and effective membership-based network for Businesswomen. Let us show you how to grow your business.

y focused business plans target intermediate goals required to reach the external goals. They may cover the development of a new product, a new service, a new IT system, a restructuring of finance, the refurbishing of a factory or a restructuring of the organization. If you are a business man, and are looking out to allure more potential customers you should register your self in small business directory. Post your products and its product review in all popular small business directory, so that you draw enough of traffic towards your website. It also allows a customer buy products online soon after he/she has viewed the product. In reality a business value is only really worth what a person is willing to pay for it. Other considerations are; cash flow, assets, liabilities, growth potential and risks. The terms and conditions of the lease, the state of machinery and how many staff are employed, the list really is endless.

Externally focused plans target goals that are important to external stakeholders, particularly financial stakeholders. Make your product attractive to all. The listing of your web site in small business directories is the basis of all marketing campaigns. Search engines love to find links towards your site and reward it accordingly. The more varied the links, the greater the reward. Social book marking of your web site also helps in achieving back ward links towards your site. Seek out for link building service, and get your site submitted to a huge database of small business directories. In addition to this, article writing, also helps gain good traffic towards your web site. Write it your self or get it written by experts and post them in the article directories. Proper research, good timing and a good amount of luck should help your business being one of success stories.

Choose those services which fit your budget well. You’ll get a list of small business directories, both paid and free, listed by state, industry, niche, and other categorizations. EXPERTS recommend that you list in every directory that applies to your business. Find online a huge list of local small business directory opportunities to help you attract local customers for your business.

Ethical search engine optimisation company can boost your rankings in the search engines and advise you on the realistic terms you should be targeting. Similarly Small business directory will be a good source for targeting your business web sites and to promote your products. Get your web site noticed. Reach out to the small business directory services to get your self noticed by your potential customers.

Platinum author, Get all your tips related to business directory guide from: B2B E-Commerce Directory

Life insurance is a great way to protect your family financially should anything ever happen to you. You may want to consider getting a life insurance policy if you are married, have children, or other people depend on your income for support. 

There are a number of different types of life insurance policies available, and finding which one is the best for you and your family can be a challenge.  Here are some of the different types of life insurance policies out there.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is perhaps the simplest and cheapest type of life insurance available.  This type of life insurance is considered temporary and provides protection for a certain period of time, usually 1-30 years.  If the insured dies before the end of the term, his beneficiary receives the face value of the policy.  If he does not die by the end of the term, he does not receive anything.  At the end of the term life insurance period, you can choose to extend your policy or convert it in to a permanent life insurance policy.  If you choose to renew, your life insurance premium will most likely go up.  Most people argue that term life insurance gives you the most value for your money. You can compare free term life insurance quotes at ELifeInsuranceSaver.com

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance, also called permanent life insurance, is basically term life insurance with an investment component that allows your policy to build cash value that you can borrow against.  The investment could be in stocks, bonds, money markets, etc.  Whole life insurance is very expensive because of the investment commissions and fees you are charged, and there is no guarantee that your investment will even make any money.  As with term life insurance, your premium will be the same over the life of the policy.  Three common types of whole life insurance policies are universal life, variable life, and traditional. 

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance policy that combines a term life insurance policy with a tax deferred interest accumulating savings account.  People that feel they need life insurance into their 70s and 80s would benefit from this policy because it allows adequate time for substantial savings growth.  It takes a while for this type of policy to build considerable value, and you might not be able to save much in a shorter amount of time.  If you feel that you do not need life insurance for that long, you should consider getting a term life insurance policy and finding another way to save for retirement and the future.    

There are lots of different life insurance options out there.  This is a very important decision for you and your family, so take your time.  You can compare free life insurance quotes from various companies for different types of policies to see which one is best for you.  The more research you do, the more knowledgeable you will be, and the better chance you will have at finding the perfect life insurance policy.

Michelle runs ELifeInsuranceSaver.com a site that allows you to compare life insurance quotes from multiple insurance providers by filling out one short form.

Many of us find that we are in need of fast cash much before our next payday. It may be because we had to buy a gift for a loved one, to celebrate a special occasion, to fund repairs or due to any unforeseen emergency. This leads to a very problematic situation, known to all of us. Getting a cash advance immediately can be the best possible solution. But how? No fax payday loans can serve your purpose.

Understanding No fax payday Loans:

No Fax Payday Loans can be a convenient and instant means of securing the cash that is needed. People opt for this loan as they are hassle free, impersonal, and easy to obtain and have no credit checks. Consider getting a No fax payday loan if you are in need of immediate cash, have a bad credit history and you wish to secure an easy loan with no collateral.

Features:

People may secure a cash loan ranging between £100 and £1500. A fee of £15 is charged for £100 usually for duration of 14 days. For faster access to cash, the fax-less applying and processing of payday loan is done. This saves your precious time that is taken to fax documents to a regular payday lender.

Applying for the loan:

Customers will have to fill in an application giving information such as their name, address, email, phone number and details about their job. The information will be verified and the loan deposited in their checking account on the same day in a matter of hours.

Repayment and Caution:

The loan can be repaid on time if the customer authorizes the lenders to withdraw funds electronically or they may be rolled-over for a fee. By delaying the deadline by which the loan must be paid back, you deliberately allow interest rates to severely add up. The situation may get worse than it was, before you opted for the loan.

People should use No fax payday loan prudently. People have to realize that loans such as this are temporary solutions and not long-term solutions to their financial troubles.

Andrea Fletcher is an MBA with a Master’s in Finance. She has an expertise in writing on topics related to finance. Here she shares her views on no fax same day loans , no fax payday loans, no fax loans. For more information log on http://www.nofaxpaydayloans.org.uk