Traditional business plan

If at some point you are going to require financing, investment or borrowing you will need a more in-depth or traditional business plan. It is not imperative that you follow a specific business outline, instead you can divide the plan into parts to better suit the particularities of your business.

In general, traditional business plans are the most common, which use a predefined structure divided by sections. They usually need more work and are more extensive.

Sections of the traditional business plan

The traditional business plan uses some of the following features as an outline:

Summary: This is a section that you are going to find most commonly in the traditional plan of a larger company. You should keep in mind that depending on the size of your venture you should just make sure to make certain points clear to anyone who wants to know more about your business:

• What is your company about?
• What is its purpose?
• Why is it going to be a success?
• What do you do?
• What services or products do you offer?

Financial data about the company and your prospective growth plan (in case you are going to require financing).

Business Description: This is the next section of the traditional business plan, which usually follows the summary. This section is used to provide more in-depth information about your business. In this section you should be as specific as possible about your company's objectives and the problems it solves. State what kind of superiorities you have over the competition:

• Do you have experts in your team?
• Have you organized your business with a work team?
• Have you found a suitable location?

Perform a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).

The business description is the section where you clearly delimit all the advantages and strengths of your venture. It is where you describe clearly and in detail the aspects that define you. It clarifies vital questions such as the object of the company's work, the location of your company, whether physical or digital, and what makes your business stand out from the competition.

You have to make sure that the language used in this document is simple and clear, so that any type of reader can understand it. Don't focus so much on the length of this section, whether it's a few paragraphs or multiple pages, the important thing is that anyone reading it can learn in depth about your company and its mission.

To make it easier to understand, let's divide the description into several parts.

Brief history of the company: You start first with the legal name of your company, the way it is registered. Then you can describe in more detail the history of your venture, so that the reader knows how you came up with the idea of creating the business and the background of how you started. You can use these questions as a guide to fill out this part:

• When did you start the business?

• What was your inspiration for starting the business?

• What obstacles did you go through in starting the business?

Location: In this part you will delineate and describe where you are going to park your business. Is it going to be located in the digital space, with a website or in a physical location. You should also make it clear why you decided to choose a specific location.

Objectives: Your business objectives comprise the short, medium and long-term goals of your business plan. Include answers to questions such as:

• Where do you see your business going?

• What do you see as the future of your business?

You should also break down in this section the steps you will take to achieve your goals. These objectives are quantifiable by concrete data, such as sales over a period of time, or the degree of customer satisfaction.

For example, you can detail that in order to meet one of your objectives you expect to double your customer flow in the next year. Or you want to increase sales by 40% in the next 6 months.

Vision and mission: Here you will describe your main reason for starting your venture, its guiding values and the principles that govern it. You should not be long in this section of the description, try to be as concise as possible, in 30 words or less.

Business Atmosphere, Strengths and Resources: Include information about the general atmosphere of your business, what makes your business stable and prominent in the marketplace and the aspects of it that will keep it viable over time.

You should also clarify whether you will be working alone or with professional partners. If you have specialized personnel, since their experience is taken into account as one of the possible strengths of your business.

Subsequently, you should explain the structure of your company. If you are going to organize your company as a sole proprietorship, you are going to have several partners or other types of organization. Make it clear why the type of organization you chose works for your venture as opposed to others.

Keep in mind that many lenders and financial institutions will not lend to businesses less than 2 years old, so mention in your description whether your business is new or established.

Industry Description

In the industry description you should begin with a brief and simple explanation of the industry your business is in. Detail the current situation of the industry, its possible prospects and potential in the future.

Make projections about the possible fragility and expected changes in the future of the industry, both for the worse and for the better. And how you will act on these potential changes and take advantage of them.

Market research

Next, I advise you to include the market research that you should have already done to build your business. Anyone who wants to invest in your business needs to know in depth the prospects of your market segment.

A detailed competitive analysis will help you clearly demonstrate what other ventures are doing in your corner of the global market and what their strengths are. Take into consideration market trends and how they are successfully adopted by the competition:

• What are they doing that works for them?

• Can your company do it better?

Management and Organization

It should be clear to anyone reading your business plan the basic structure of your business and who will be its leader. Detail if you have already constituted the legal framework of your company, if you plan to do it and how you are going to conform it. All this depends on the country where you live, since the laws of establishment of companies differ a lot.

Usually in the process of making the traditional business plan of large companies, the organizational chart of positions is used for this step. This clearly defines the hierarchy of positions in the company.

If initially only you will be at the head, it is advisable to demonstrate your competencies. You can include your resume, to demonstrate your experience, and convey more confidence to the reader in your leadership. Also include the competencies of other experienced members who work with you or coaches and mentors who are supporting you in the process.

Services or products

Now you will clarify the services or products you plan to market. Define whether you are planning intellectual property, which may include copyrights or patent applications, if you have any.

In case you are also in the process of developing and researching your products or services, detail it also in the description. Also include any inquiries you make regarding financial projections.

Marketing and Sales

Outline in detail what your marketing and sales strategies are. There are many ways to approach your marketing strategies, you must make sure that yours has room for adaptation and innovation.

The purpose of this part is for you to clearly break down the methods you will use to attract consumers and how you will keep them loyal. You must delineate the steps that will be taken to make a sale.

Financing

This section will be used in case you need financing