How to Write a Business Plan for Your Ecommerce Store. If your first thought when hearing the words "business plan" is "yuck", then you're not alone. For most people, the thought of writing a business plan brings up painful memories of past homework assignments and many online store owners view them as something only "real world" businesses and Silicon Valley startups need.
And lets face it, there's all that fun marketing stuff you could be doing like taking product photos, writing blog posts and opening social media accounts. But the truth is, the fun stuff will only be meaningful if you build your business on a strong foundation. And that's where writing a simple business plan comes in.
- 3 Get started with your business plan – www.iplanner.net Executive Summary The purpose of executive summary is to summarize the highlights of the bizplan and to.
- This resource covers the parts of the basic business letter and provides three sample business letters.
- How to write business plans, marketing plans, marketing and business strategy, with free templates, samples and examples plus more free materials for management.
Why You Need a Business Plan. Even if you don't actually need funding for your business or need to submit a business plan to anyone, there are still some compelling reasons you should consider writing one for yourself.
5. Frequently Asked Questions. What is the difference between Plan Write Business Planner and Plan Write Expert Business Planner?
Business Planning Templates. The first step in planning your business venture, clarifying your ideas, aims and objectives is to write a business plan.
For example, let's say that you're just starting out. You've created an online store, you may even be making some sales. Creating a business plan at this stage could help you see the bigger picture and chart a strategic course for future growth. Or maybe you're five years into running your business and you're starting to feel stuck and things are beginning to plateau. Creating a business plan at this stage could help you think outside of the day- to- day grind of running of your business and discover new ways to market it or new products you could be selling to boost revenue. On the flip side, maybe your business is trending downward.
Creating a business plan in this scenario could potentially help you either change the way your business works as a whole or cut your losses before you're in deeper trouble. The point is, if you haven't written a business plan, you should take the time to do so, no matter what point in your business's lifecycle you're in. And the best part? It's not that hard.
Let's look at how you can do it. Components of a Good Business Plan.
Remember, if you're just doing this for yourself, there's no need to go overboard and turn this into a major project that holds you back from launching and making some initial sales. Think of it as something designed to help open up some ideas for your business and shed light on some angles that maybe you haven't thought of yet. In the future, if you actually need to submit a formal business plan to someone, you could always use this one as a starting point and spruce it up as opposed to having to start from scratch. The key areas of a business plan include the following. Find out how defining each can help your business.
Executive Summary - While it's the last thing you will write, it's the first part of the business plan. This part summarizes the main highlights of the rest of the sections. Company Description - This is a high level overview of your company, products or services, types of consumers, and competitive advantages. Ultimately, think of it like what you would tell someone in an elevator ride about your business if you wanted them to invest in it. Also known as an extended elevator pitch.
Market Analysis - This is your research about your industry and target market. If you haven't formally defined your target customer, this will help you do so.
Operational Plan - This covers the day to day operations of your business, from location and hours to inventory and accounting. As you go through this, you can make sure that each of the vital processes in your business are running as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Organization & Management - This tells people about the main players in your business - who owns it, who manages it, etc. It will help you define all parties involved with the foundation of your business so everyone has a clear understanding of where they fit and who does what. Products & Services - This is where you describe the products and services offered by your business. You should think about them from your customer's perspective. It will help you to better sell your products and services once you've defined them using this approach.
Marketing & Sales - This is where you layout how you will reach your target market, identify prospects, and sell your products and services. While composing this section, creative marketing and sales strategies might emerge. Financial Projections - This is where you really dig in and figure out how much your business will make over the next five years. As an established business, you will include historical data and be able to make your predictions based off of that. Coming up with these numbers could be a huge motivation boost and keep you working towards a specific goal as opposed to just seeing what happens. Funding Request - This is the part of the plan where you define your outside funding needs and exactly how you plan on using those funds as well as pay them back.
Even if you're just investing your own money into your business, this can help you really focus your spending so it is all allocated and documented properly. As you can see, creating a business plan can be a huge eye- opener for your business, no matter what stage you're at. Business Plan Templates & Resources.
Fortunately, there are a lot of great resources on the web that you can use to make the business plan writing easier. Best of all, many of them are free. Here are just a few. SBA Create Your Business Plan - This guide walks you through each section of your business plan with all of the details you need to craft them.
They also have a Business Plan Tool that will walk you through the process, step by step. SCORE Business Plan & Financial Statements Templates - Fully detailed sample templates for start- ups, established businesses, and non- profits. Sample Business Plans - Over 5.
If you want more samples, you can try this (really long) Google search for industry business plan filetype: pdf - template - sample - checklist - outline - format. Just replace industry with your own to find sample PDF business plans. Business Plan Competitions. Did you know that there are actually business plan competitions annually? The winners of these competitions get funding for their small business.
And the ones that don't still get good publicity and recognition by the organizations they submit them to. Here are a few examples of the latest business plan competitions for 2. You can also search for business plan competitions on Google to find ones that are specific to your region or your industry. If you do need funding and have an awesome business plan, this could be a good way to go about getting it.
Have you created a business plan for your business? What did you learn from it?
Purdue OWL: Basic Business Letters. Parts of a Business Letter. This resource is organized in the order in which you should write a business letter, starting with the sender's address if the letter is not written on letterhead. Sender's Address. The sender's address usually is included in letterhead. If you are not using letterhead, include the sender's address at the top of the letter one line above the date.
Do not write the sender's name or title, as it is included in the letter's closing. Include only the street address, city, and zip code. Date. The date line is used to indicate the date the letter was written. However, if your letter is completed over a number of days, use the date it was finished in the date line.
When writing to companies within the United States, use the American date format. The United States- based convention for formatting a date places the month before the day. For example: June 1. Write out the month, day and year two inches from the top of the page. Depending which format you are using for your letter, either left justify the date or tab to the center point and type the date.
Inside Address. The inside address is the recipient's address. It is always best to write to a specific individual at the firm to which you are writing. If you do not have the person's name, do some research by calling the company or speaking with employees from the company. Include a personal title such as Ms., Mrs., Mr., or Dr. Follow a woman's preference in being addressed as Miss, Mrs., or Ms.
If you are unsure of a woman's preference in being addressed, use Ms. If there is a possibility that the person to whom you are writing is a Dr.
Usually, people will not mind being addressed by a higher title than they actually possess. To write the address, use the U. S. Post Office Format.
For international addresses, type the name of the country in all- capital letters on the last line. The inside address begins one line below the sender's address or one inch below the date.
It should be left justified, no matter which format you are using. Salutation. Use the same name as the inside address, including the personal title. If you know the person and typically address them by their first name, it is acceptable to use only the first name in the salutation (for example: Dear Lucy: ). In all other cases, however, use the personal title and last/family name followed by a colon. Leave one line blank after the salutation. If you don't know a reader's gender, use a nonsexist salutation, such as their job title followed by the receiver's name.
It is also acceptable to use the full name in a salutation if you cannot determine gender. For example, you might write Dear Chris Harmon: if you were unsure of Chris's gender. Body. For block and modified block formats, single space and left justify each paragraph within the body of the letter.
Leave a blank line between each paragraph. When writing a business letter, be careful to remember that conciseness is very important. In the first paragraph, consider a friendly opening and then a statement of the main point.
The next paragraph should begin justifying the importance of the main point. In the next few paragraphs, continue justification with background information and supporting details. The closing paragraph should restate the purpose of the letter and, in some cases, request some type of action. Closing. The closing begins at the same vertical point as your date and one line after the last body paragraph. Capitalize the first word only (for example: Thank you) and leave four lines between the closing and the sender's name for a signature.
If a colon follows the salutation, a comma should follow the closing; otherwise, there is no punctuation after the closing. Enclosures. If you have enclosed any documents along with the letter, such as a resume, you indicate this simply by typing Enclosures one line below the closing. As an option, you may list the name of each document you are including in the envelope. For instance, if you have included many documents and need to ensure that the recipient is aware of each document, it may be a good idea to list the names.
Typist initials. Typist initials are used to indicate the person who typed the letter. If you typed the letter yourself, omit the typist initials.
A Note About Format and Font. Block Format. When writing business letters, you must pay special attention to the format and font used. The most common layout of a business letter is known as block format.
Using this format, the entire letter is left justified and single spaced except for a double space between paragraphs. Modified Block. Another widely utilized format is known as modified block format.
In this type, the body of the letter and the sender's and recipient's addresses are left justified and single- spaced. However, for the date and closing, tab to the center point and begin to type. Semi- Block. The final, and least used, style is semi- block. It is much like the modified block style except that each paragraph is indented instead of left justified. Keep in mind that different organizations have different format requirements for their professional communication.
While the examples provided by the OWL contain common elements for the basic business letter (genre expectations), the format of your business letter may need to be flexible to reflect variables like letterheads and templates. Our examples are merely guides. If your computer is equipped with Microsoft Office 2.
Letter Wizard can be used to take much of the guesswork out of formatting business letters. To access the Letter Wizard, click on the Tools menu and then choose Letter Wizard.
The Wizard will present the three styles mentioned here and input the date, sender address and recipient address into the selected format. Letter Wizard should only be used if you have a basic understand of how to write a business letter. Its templates are not applicable in every setting. Therefore, you should consult a business writing handbook if you have any questions or doubt the accuracy of the Letter Wizard. Font. Another important factor in the readability of a letter is the font. The generally accepted font is Times New Roman, size 1. Arial may be used.
When choosing a font, always consider your audience. If you are writing to a conservative company, you may want to use Times New Roman. However, if you are writing to a more liberal company, you have a little more freedom when choosing fonts. Punctuation. Punctuation after the salutation and closing - use a colon (: ) after the salutation (never a comma) and a comma (,) after the closing. In some circumstances, you may also use a less common format, known as open punctuation. For this style, punctuation is excluded after the salutation and the closing.