You don’t need to feel intimidated, you can write your own business plan. People easily feel intimidated by the task of writing a plan. It seems that the financial section is especially intimidating.

A plan put structure to your research to establish if your business idea can be converted into a viable and profitable business. If you have the funds available you can pay an expert to write the business plan for you, but this might not be the best option, because:

The expert may be an expert at writing business plans but he does not necessarily have the passion for your specific business idea.

If you do the plan yourself you will have a far better idea of all the challenges and opportunities involved in your business. Therefore you will be able to take a better decision on the viability of the business

When writing a plan you need as much research done as possible. Use different resources for your research. For example if you want to open a restaurant you need to speak to as many restaurants in the area that you want to do business in as possible. Do not take what the restaurateurs say for granted. Take time to observe what is happing at the restaurants. Get an idea of customer flow for different times and different days.

Use your business plan template as a framework for your research.

All the sections of the business plan are important. Do not skip any of the sections when doing your research.

You can get help from other people for the sections of the plan that you do not feel comfortable with. E.g. get an accountant to assist with the financial section. Try to learn as much as possible in the process. This knowledge will come in very handy if you decide to go ahead with the business.

A well researched plan is a very handy business management tool. It will increase the chances of business success. A poorly researched or incomplete plan can result in the wrong decisions being made and can lead to business failure.

You can follow these steps to write your own business plan:

Choose a business plan template to use. You can use the template in the e book “Strategic Plan and Business Plan Handbook” or search the internet for your own. There are very good templates available, a lot of them for free.

Use the sections and questions in the template as the basis for your research. Speak to a variety of people. Do not be afraid of conflicting opinions.

Use an expert to assist you on difficult sections e.g. the financial section.

Once you have completed the template you have a business plan. Use the plan to decide if your business idea is viable. A proper plan can have a very positive effect on success.