{"id":27628,"date":"2018-03-07T16:39:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesv4.aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/"},"modified":"2018-03-07T16:39:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T22:39:08","slug":"key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Elements to Consider in Writing Your Business Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A business plan can be an essential tool for a new company or fast-growing startup. However, many leaders struggle initially with what they should include in their business plan and how to best represent their information. See what top business publications and entrepreneurs have suggested as key elements to consider in writing your business plan.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"Font__title Font__title--alt\">Writing Your Business Plan<\/h2>\n<p>In their book\u00a0<i>Write Your Business Plan<\/i>, the staff of Entrepreneur Media provide a detailed, step-by-step guide to writing a business plan.<\/p>\n<p>Several of the specific components they recommend include: the statement of your business\u2019s basic concept; several specific goals, and your strategy to reach them; the competitive advantage of your product; the market or target audience you are aiming for; information on your executive team; and your projected financial needs. See their\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/article\/239407\">blog post<\/a>\u00a0for a more detailed run down of each of these features.<\/p>\n<p>While the content of your business plan is extremely important to attract investors and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sofi.com\/personal-loans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gain funding<\/a>, the aesthetic look of your business plan can also be a deciding factor.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Lavinky at Forbes\u00a0provides a detailed explanation on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davelavinsky\/2013\/07\/18\/business-plan-template-what-to-include\/#2103a6dd7bdb\">how to style and present your business plan<\/a>. \u00a0He recommends that business leaders start their presentation with a cover page displaying their contact information to facilitate communication with potential investors further down the road.<\/p>\n<p>If investors don\u2019t have a way to contact you, they won\u2019t be able to support your business. In addition, Lavinsky recommends that entrepreneurs utilize an appendix to provide your potential investors more detailed information about your financial projections, including cash flow statements and balance sheets. Check out his\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.growthink.com\/products\/bpt\/pre-vsl\/misc\">business plan template<\/a>\u00a0to help your company get started.<\/p>\n<p>Business News Daily<i>,\u00a0<\/i>a site devoted to help small business owners on their<br \/>\nentrepreneurial journey, provides its own take on writing the business plan, identifying several elements that entrepreneurs often forget to include.<\/p>\n<p>They explain that companies which value innovation, like many startups, should emphasize how their business will revolutionize the industry. \u00a0In the article,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/homelifemedia.com\/\">HomeLife Media<\/a>\u00a0founder Justin Palmer suggests that new companies should also include a contingency plan, in case parts of their business strategy do not go as predicted. For more information,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessnewsdaily.com\/3313-business-plan-templates.html\">view their entire blog post<\/a>\u00a0on the surprising things that a business plan should include.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a brief breakdown of the different elements that top business leaders and publications recommend you include in your business plan. These are all important things to keep in mind when your company is just starting out and hoping to scale up quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Use these tools to create a detailed and specific business plan that will wow investors and help you gain funding fast. Explore these publications\u2019 websites for more detailed information and guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"cta_button_5092641_4749ea8c-4620-4270-9bd9-31229b6e665c\" class=\"cta_button Button__large\" title=\"SCHEDULE A DEMO\" href=\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/product\/demo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SCHEDULE A DEMO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A business plan can be an essential tool for a new company or fast-growing startup. However, many leaders struggle initially [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":14202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70,90,270,271,88,286,77,1],"tags":[102,91,68],"class_list":["post-27628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-planning","category-consistent-growth","category-goals","category-growth","category-leadership","category-strategic-planning","category-strategy","category-uncategorized","tag-core-values","tag-goal-setting","tag-strategic-planning"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3.1 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Key Elements to Consider in Writing Your Business Plan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A business plan can be an essential tool for a new company or fast-growing startup. However, many leaders struggle initially with what they should include\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key Elements to Consider in Writing Your Business Plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A business plan can be an essential tool for a new company or fast-growing startup. However, many leaders struggle initially with what they should include\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Align\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alignme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-07T22:39:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-Writing-Your-Business-Plan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1738\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Haley Pegg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aligntoday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aligntoday\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Haley Pegg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3218ee7a8845b33a16fd03d7bcd5ac1c\"},\"headline\":\"Key Elements to Consider in Writing Your Business Plan\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-07T22:39:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\"},\"wordCount\":464,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-Writing-Your-Business-Plan.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Core Values\",\"Goal setting\",\"Strategic Planning\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business Planning\",\"Consistent Growth\",\"Goals\",\"Growth\",\"Leadership\",\"Strategic Planning\",\"Strategy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/\",\"name\":\"Key Elements to Consider in Writing Your Business Plan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/key-elements-to-consider-in-writing-your-business-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Key-Elements-to-Consider-in-Writing-Your-Business-Plan.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-07T22:39:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"A business plan can be an essential tool for a new company or fast-growing startup. 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