Before you officially “open the doors” of your e-business, you need to create a business plan. Turn your business idea into a plan that will help you succeed (or you may find while going through this process that it is better to scrap the idea and come up with something better).

Putting a business plan together may seem like a daunting task. I will take you step by step through the process of creating a business plan, making the process a little easier for you. Putting a business plan together will include completing a market analysis, a competitive analysis, an advertising plan, pricing, branding, a sales strategy, and much more. This article will go over some of the basics.

You will want to consider marketing, financing, your target market, distribution of your product, finding out who your competition is, etc. In addition to considering these factors, you will want to set realistic goals for your small business.

Ask yourself the following questions: What is the purpose of your e-business? To make money, right? That’s one purpose. What are some others? Perhaps you have created or found a product that the world just can’t live without and you want to share it. Maybe you offer a service that will help others. You might have a hobby that you want to turn into a profession. Write down your purpose, whatever it is.

After you know what your purpose is, answer the following questions:
– Why am I committing my time and resources to this endeavor?
– How will I be helping others?
– What needs will this business meet?
– How will I be helping myself (owner), or ourselves (owners)?
– What “greater good” will be served with this business?

Once you have answered these questions, you can form your company’s mission statement. Your mission statement identifies your company. Keep your mission statement to a few sentences. You can adjust your mission statement as your company grows and changes, but the core values included in your mission statement should remain the same.

What is your Company’s Purpose?
What is the purpose of your e-business? To make money, right? That’s one purpose. What are some others? Perhaps you have created or found a product that the world just can’t live without and you want to share it. Maybe you offer a service that will help others. You might have a hobby that you want to turn into a profession. Write down your purpose, whatever it is.

After you know what your purpose is, answer the following questions:
– Why am I committing my time and resources to this endeavor?
– How will I be helping others?
– What needs will this business meet?
– How will I be helping myself (owner), or ourselves (owners)?
– What “greater good” will be served with this business?

Once you have answered these questions, you can form your company’s mission statement. Your mission statement identifies your company. Keep your mission statement to a few sentences. You can adjust your mission statement as your company grows and changes, but the core values included in your mission statement should remain the same.

Preparing to Launch Your Online Business-Strengths and Weaknesses

As you go through the process of planning your online business, you may not have the answer to every question we ask. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the answers now, because that is the whole point of doing this plan-to help you find and discover the areas that might sneak up and get you in the future.

Having gone through the process of putting this plan in place, however, you will be better prepared to face unexpected turns and situations. Answer the questions you can and think about the ones you can’t. There are a lot of details that will come together as you go through this process.

Part of making your online business successful is knowing your strengths and your weaknesses, along with the (potential) strengths and weaknesses of your company. What are you good at? What is your company good at?

– What are the strengths of your products? Price? Selection? Variety? Quality? Brand association?
– What are the strengths of you and your partners or team?
– What are your strengths with respect to reaching customers and telling them about your product?
– What are your leadership or organizational strengths?
– What is the vision of your company and how is that a strength?

The answers to the above questions may be the reasons you want to start an online business in the first place. You must also look at your weaknesses. Good business owners strive to identify areas of weakness so they can turn them around and make them areas of strength. It’s better for you to discover weaknesses than your competitors or customers to discover them for you!

– How will the business run from start to finish?
– Do we need to hire people?
– Where will our products come from?
– How will we get the word out about our company?
– Do we have enough money to survive the start-up phase?
– Do we have a good system in place to track orders and make sure our customers are happy?

Preparing to Launch Your Online Business…Make Opportunities & Prepare for Unfortunate Circumstances

Successful online businesses take advantage of opportunities, whether they be changes in customer tastes or preferences, unmet market needs, or market niches that have never been addressed. What opportunities do you see that make you excited about your online business opportunity? Before you start an online business, consider:

– Do you see an unmet need?
– Is this a frustration you have experienced yourself?
– Is there a common feeling that something is missing among people you know or have talked to?
– Have there been changes economically, politically, or otherwise that have set a good stage for your online business?
– Now it’s time to play devil’s advocate and imagine what elements or factors could potentially harm your online business. It is important to identify such things that could adversely affect your business in order to prepare for such circumstances. Preparation is sometimes the best defense. Consider:

How will competition affect you?
Are you able to meet anticipated demand?
What if UPS goes on strike?
Is your business seasonal, and will that adversely affect your cash flow?

If you plan on starting an online business, consider writing down your business description and strategy. By now you know your company’s purpose and your strengths and weaknesses. Use that information as you work out your business strategy.

The key element in your business description is to address how your business will meet the needs of your customers. In other words, how are you uniquely positioned to get your needed product to the right people and make money in the process?

Now let’s discuss the strategy behind your business. Consider:
– What type of business are you (retail, manufacturing, consulting, etc.)?
– Will you need employees?
– Where is your business located?
– What are your hours of operation?
– How do you plan to make money?
– What costs will be involved?
– How much money do you need to start, and how will that money be spent?

Now is the time to tout you and your team. Your confidence, enthusiasm, and vision are incredibly important to the success of your business, and to gain the confidence of investors. They are ultimately investing in YOU, so sell yourself and your team!

Consider:
Who are your team members, managers, or partners? What is their level of education? Do you or they have any experience in similar ventures or businesses? Are you particularly passionate about your products? Why? Who will be in charge of what? Who has final decision-making authority?

Every business can potentially be faced with challenges. What risks might you face in your business, and how will you be prepared to face them? Consider:

Have you in the past, or are you currently facing litigation? Do you have access to an attorney? Do you have adequate insurance coverage for your business? Who is in charge of record keeping, and how are those records stored and protected? Do you use an accountant?

Once you have a plan for your online business, you need a website. When conceiving your website, before you think about colors, pictures, or even format, take into consideration the answers to the questions above and come up with the purpose of your website. That will make your web design process a lot easier.

1. The most difficult part about writing a business plan is knowing where to start. If you have lots of thoughts floating around in your head, brain dump all of these onto a piece of paper. Once you’ve done this, it’s much easier to start organising your thoughts into categories i.e. finance, how the business will work, marketing etc.

2. Don’t be tempted to write all of your business plan at once. Work on a section for a little while and then after about 30 minutes, stop. Have a break for a little while and come back to it. Most of the really good business plans I’ve seen have been written in this way and the person writing it doesn’t get stressed by it either.

3. Have a think about whether you really need a business plan. If you need funding, you definitely need to write one. But if you don’t a two or three page summary of what you’re going to do with your business is much better than a 30 or 40 page document that you’ll never look at again. I don’t actually like the term “Business Plan”. I prefer to think of it as “planning the business” which is what you are doing. You’re saying “this is where I am now; this is where I want to get to and this is how I’m going to do it.” Much better that you think about these things rather than writing a book.

4. People mainly struggle with the market research and cash flow sections of a business plan, so leave these until last. The best way to approach a business plan is to do the easy sections first. Your business plan should have the following sections in there:

Section
Executive Summary: A summary of the business plan. Leave this until the plan is written.

A summary of the business: This bit has contact details of the business and your goals for the business (where do you see it in a year’s time?).

Management: This is where you write why you wanted to set up the business, what you hope to get out of it and why you’re the best person to run it.

The business: What is your business and how will it work?

Marketing and market research: Who are your customers, competitors and market trends?
How will you market and promote the business both on the internet and off the internet?

Financial & Funding: This is where you write your pricing strategy, any funds you’re needing and the purpose they’re needed and how you came up with your cashflow forecast.

Cashflow Forecast: The dreaded spreadsheet – more about this later.

Appendices: Anything else that doesn’t fit into the above sections

When you’re putting your plan together, start with the sections you find easiest i.e. description of the business and how it will work, the management of the business, pricing and marketing. Once you’ve done this, you’ve done over half and it’s not too bad to put the rest of it together.

5. The market research section is one of the hardest bits people have to complete. So, I would advise that you break this one down and complete it in the following order:

(a) Go to http://www.yell.com and the Internet. Look for other companies who are running the same type of business as you. Go to their websites, visit them or phone them up. What do you like about them? What don’t you like? How will you be different? What are their prices?

(b) Create a spreadsheet and list your competitors with the good bits and bad bits about them.

(c) Write a summary of your competitors and what you’ve found in your Business Plan.

(d) Now let’s look at your trends. Call into any bank on the high street and ask for a “Business Information Factsheet” about your business. Print this off and ask for a factsheet about your business. This will give you an overview of your industry and is a really good starting point. You can also research your industry by looking at your industry’s trade association – they usually have loads of different facts and figures that help you back your idea up.

(e) Finally, let’s look at your customers – write down:

i) Who they are.

ii) Where they are.

iii) What they like / dislike.

iv) Why they would buy your product or service.

v) How they will find out about you.

vi) When they will buy your product or service.

You may also want to produce a questionnaire and give this to your customers to find out their views.

For the market research section, you are trying to answer the question of “Is there a demand for your product or service?” by giving the reader facts, figures and trends to prove this. You will need to show you have been thorough as this is the area that most business plans fall down on.

6. The other area that people usually struggle with is the cashflow section. For this section it is worth you getting hold of a business plan template, which you can get for free at your local Business Link or bank. Have a look at the cashflow section.

Start with your costs – have a look at the list on the left hand side of the cashflow. Go through each item one by one and see if it applies to you. If it does, when will you have to pay for it? Let’s take an example of a phone. You will probably be making some phone calls in your business. Let’s say you will be spending £20 on this every month – plot £20 in the columns for month 1, 2, 3, 4 etc all the way to the end.

Let’s say the next item is premises and you will paying the rent of £90 every three months – plot £90 in months 1, 4, 7, and 10. Do the same for all the other items in your cashflow.
Once you’ve completed your costs, you now need to look at your sales. Work out how many customers you will have a month and on average how much they will pay. Will they pay immediately or will you send them an invoice and give them 30 days to pay? Remember your sales will vary according to the time of year so take this into account too.

Now you just need to add everything up and your cashflow will be complete.

7. I would definitely recommend that you go on a business start-up course to help you write your plan. Most Business Links (www.businesslink.gov.uk) will run one in your area and many of the local colleges do now too. They will be able to walk you through the process of writing a plan.

8. Don’t get hung up on making your plan so perfect that it never gets finished. If you think “Am I doing too much?” the chances are that you probably are doing too much, so you need to stop and evaluate what you’ve done and whether you’ve answered all of your questions.

9. You might want to think about using a professional to write your business plan for you. We’ve worked with many business owners to complete their plan and all of them have been successful as we know what lenders are looking for. We usually work with people who don’t have the time to complete it themselves, so if you’d like to work with us, please feel free to get in touch – [email protected] or call 0845 644 9371.

10. Finally if you have written your business plan and would like us to review it for you for free, please feel free to send it over. We won’t send your plan out to anyone else and we are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement if you would like us to.

The preparation of a strong and detailed business plan is essential for a restaurant business for several reasons. Firstly, you will need it to be able to convince others, such as bank managers or investors of the viability of your plans. Secondly, it will be useful to you as the business owner as a place to compile your research findings, set goals and to run some hypothetical scenarios about how the business could run if things go better or worse than expected. Below we have outlined the key components of a business plan for a restaurant start-up.

Executive Summary

This part of the report should only be about one page in length and should introduce the reader to your proposal. Firstly you can set out your personal background and why you are interested in starting a restaurant. Secondly you should include basic details of your proposal such as the location that you have or are looking for, the theme or style of the restaurant, the kind of food that you will serve, whether of not you will be licensed and the type of clientele that you wish to target.

Mission Statement

Take some time to describe the kind of business that you want to be in terms of your business philosophy and values. Think about what you really want to achieve, financially and otherwise. Consider how you want to be perceived in the eyes of your customers and by the local community.

Objectives

Set out a timeline that highlights the goals that you have for the restaurant business in the short and medium term. Gauge your progress and success by setting a variety of targets such as daily and monthly gross sales, percentage of full restaurant capacity reached on a consistent basis, and how long it takes to get the first course on the table from the point that the order was taken for example.

Ownership Structure, Management and Employees

List any people that have an ownership stake in the business and their respective interests. Also set out a management plan so that there are no arguments when it comes to making decisions if there is more than one owner. Estimate the number of employees that will be needed initially and set out a schedule to hire more as the restaurant grows in popularity.

Start-up Requirements and Operating Costs

Set out a comprehensive list of everything that will be needed for the restaurant to start as planned. Try to think of every little detail as you compile a list of equipment, building renovations, other supplies and compliance costs. You also need to estimate the amount that is needed for monthly operating costs and some entrepreneurs will allow for several months of operating costs when they calculate total start-up costs as revenue will be slow at first.

This is also a good part of the report to include details of how the restaurant startup will be funded and the sources of finance that you, as the owner have available.

Location and Competition

Set out your reasons for wanting to locate your restaurant in a specific location. Include details of all local competitors and how you propose to differentiate your restaurant in a way so as to allow you to stand out and compete with them. You should be able to show that there is a local market that is not being met by your competitor’s offerings and suggest ways of meeting this demand. It is helpful here to back up your reasoning with some demographic data or market research.

A Marketing Plan

Marketing is one of the most important factors contributing to the success of a new restaurant. Discuss your target market in detail and how you plan on packaging an experience that suits their tastes in the way of food, music, theme and atmosphere. Give details as to how the dining experience that you create will be branded with a name and a logo and how you will live up to your brands promises and reputation in a way that strengthens your brand over time.

Talk about pricing and include a list of proposed menu items with proposed prices. Consider how your prices will compare with other restaurants in the area and how the value that you offer would be comparable or better than what they have to offer. Estimate what the average customer will spend at your restaurant.

Lastly, set out some methods that you feel could work well for adverting and promoting the restaurant.

Financial Analysis

Set out some financial projections for your first three years in business. Estimate monthly cash flows coming in and out of the business and set these out in a spreadsheet. Change your figures to allow for a variety of different scenarios in the case that things go worse or better than expected. You will then have a fair idea of how profitable your restaurant will be if it runs according to your plans.

Entrepreneurs would be crazy to open a restaurant in the U.S. in the 21st century without a well thought through and researched business plan. A business plan will help your restaurant to get started off right, avoid unnecessary mistakes and to consistently proceed in the direction that you need to go to ensure that your long term goals are met.