No business should go straight into writing a business plan, because it requires a certain amount of detail. And as with IBP, operational planning is rolling and continuous, reviewed in a monthly cadence of meetings for product and service, demand, supply, integrated reconciliation and management review, thus allowing business leaders to identify future performance gaps and make effective decisions to close them in plenty of time.
However, if you do intend to obtain a working capital line of credit or a business loan for your operations then you are going to need to complete a full analysis of your market, your competition, and how you intend to differentiate your home based business from that of other people in the market.
This is why market analysis is a key section of your business plan, whether or not you ever intend for anyone else to read it. It should include an overview of how big you estimate the market is for your products, an analysis of your business’s position in the market, and an overview of the competitive landscape.
Although the prospect of writing a business plan may seem intimidating, it doesn’t have to be. As long as you take some time, include essential information, and follow a handful of simple steps, you’ll be on your way to creating the perfect business plan.
Business plan – this is now rightly a very general and flexible term, applicable to the planned activities and aims of any entity, individual group or organization where effort is being converted into results, for example: a small company; a large company; a corner shop; a local window-cleaning business; a regional business; a multi-million pound multi-national corporation; a charity; a school; a hospital; a local council; a government agency or department; a joint-venture; a project within a business or department; a business unit, division, or department within another organization or company, a profit centre or cost centre within an an organization or business; the responsibility of a team or group or an individual.