Somewhere in most of us, there seems to be a desire to have your own business. Somehow we hope that if we get that one really good idea, that things will just fall into place. This includes us getting the right people together, the money together and then potentially have a shot at making our mark on this world on our own terms. Very often I sit down and talk to start up business clients, potential clients and friends about their ideas and there seems to be one thing in common: almost no one has ever really done a business plan and therefore have a harder time focusing on what's important and how to communicate this. We have all heard about "value proposition," but how do you really build out the rest?
In my career I've had to build out quite a few business plans; several while working at a language company as we were adding new services like translation, interpretation, distance learning etc. and also when working at Morgan Stanley. The truth is there is no right way to create one however all business plans aren't created equal. I do believe the simpler it is, the better it is for you as you're the one who needs to communicate your concept.
It wasn't until I went to Toronto in the beginning of March of this year to attend a fantastic two-day workshop at Mars, a Canadian Incubator, (http://www.marsdd.com/venture-services/) that I really saw a template that I felt was easy to understand and useable by all when they were in very early stages of idea development. It's just a "business model canvas" instead of an actual full blown business plan. I think this overview is really all that you need.
I was able to find this Business Model Canvas on google drive which is fantastic because you can actually fill it out, share it, save it, etc. The template on googe drive also provides more explanation for what each section is really asking you about.
https://drive.google.com/previewtemplate?id=102mOZQmMxs0CslmNsPZ5KCNQwAIh9rh4baYgT0VWNAA&ddrp=1#
If you would at all like to fill one of these out and get some feedback, I'd be more than happy to take a look and give some suggestions or ideas! Just share it with ashly.bauserman@finerfinance101.com.
Good luck!