Detailed Business Plan Outline

Reporters and editors don't add those links, nor will they manage them.This advertising model, like others you see on Inc, supports the independent journalism you find on this site.Its template, available as a PDF or Word download, asks a whopping 150 questions and is generic enough to customize for most types of businesses.

Every business needs to have a written business plan.

Whether it’s to provide direction or attract investors, a business plan is vital for the success for your organization. recommends that a business plan include: However, getting started may be difficult to do.

That doesn't mean you have to bust out Word and start the plan from scratch.

A template is great--you probably aren't doing anything that hasn't been done before, so it provides a proven structure for your plan. Check out these comprehensive business plan templates you can download for free to get you started: Score is an American nonprofit dedicated to helping entrepreneurs get their companies off the ground.

Recently, I shared 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups, an infographic created by Mark Vital over at Funders and Founders.

A lot of those mistakes (most of them, in fact) are the result of poor planning.You can subscribe to Kim's business growth tips by email, or connect on Linked In, Twitter and Facebook. In fact, if you're like a lot of entrepreneurs, you're probably going to find yourself pulling a few all-nighters to get one done before heading into your first pitch for funding.Because that's the thing--your business plan is a pretty important.Read everything you can about your industry and talk to your audience. A business plan, as defined by Entrepreneur, is a “written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background, and containing a projected profit and loss statement.” However, your business plan can serve several different purposes.As Entrepreneur notes, it’s “also a road map that provides directions so a business can plan its future and helps it avoid bumps in the road.” That’s important to keep in mind if you’re self-funding or bootstrapping your business.The SBA's template is available to fill out online and then download as a PDF.You can go back in and edit it as needed, so don't worry about having everything ready the first time you sit down to tackle it.When readers click on these links, and buy these products or services, Inc may be compensated.This e-commerce based advertising model - like every other ad on our article pages - has no impact on our editorial coverage.Larry Kim is the CEO of Mobile Monkey, a chatbot building platform for marketers that enables mobile messaging between businesses and customers via Facebook Messenger.He’s also the founder of Word Stream, the World’s top PPC marketing software company. It's definitely not the most exciting part of starting a business.