How to create a business plan to take to the bank?

Some banks give you templates and you must build the business plan according to them. Others accept any kind of template as long as it covers the important things like (market, competition, operations, financial aspects, accounting, legal,etc.)

You can also hire a consultant to help you or get a business plan software, there are quite a few out there.

Give 'em what they want. In other words discuss it with the lender. This may seem to be the wrong way round but treat them as your "customer" find out what they need & provide it. Your business will probably not need every aspect to be considered that you would find in a template, so doing lots of work on the plan upfront could waste a lot of your time. Be interactive as the plan is evolving. Get feedback. Go to several banks. Find out who gives you the best guidance.

It took me all of 3 seconds to find this. Must try harder.

http://www.bdc.ca/en/business_tools/business_plan/default.htm?cookie%5Ftest=1

Research, research, research â€“ this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* Writing a Convincing Business Plan by Arthur R. DeThomas Ph.D., Lin Grensing-Pophal
* The Definitive Business Plan: The Fast Track to Intelligent Business Planning for Executives and Entrepreneurs (2nd Edition) by Richard Stutely
* The Complete Book of Business Plans: Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan (Small Business Sourcebooks) by Joseph A. Covello
* The One Page Business Plan with CD-ROM by James T., Jr. Horan

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

According to the book â€œThe ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans: How to Prepare a Business Plan That Others Will Want to Read -- and Invest Inâ€ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446694150/powerhomebizguid by Garrett Sutton, below are some tips to make a winning business plan that can get funding:

- Money follows management. Investors look first at the people involved in the company. If you are just starting out and donâ€™t have relevant experience, investors expect to see that you have an experienced team of advisors and employees helping you in the business.

- Make sure you â€œsellâ€ the one reason your business will become profitable.

- State clearly the strategies you will employ to get the word out about your business. Your business plan must show how you will leverage the Internet, public relations, viral marketing, and other strategies to attract customers.

- Present realistic estimates of the time, energy and costs of building a successful business. Do not underestimate or overestimate revenues. While investors know your numbers are simply guesses, they want to see that your numbers are within the â€œrange of reality.â€ Be careful of your financial statements: this is one area where you can easily lose credibility if presented poorly.

- Benchmark similar companies to show that youâ€™ve done your homework and researched the market.

- Your Executive Summary is your calling card. If it is not a winner, investors may not even read your entire plan. Emphasize your own as well as your teamâ€™s track record in the Executive Summary.

- Before sending your business plan to lenders and investors, send it out first to a few in order to get feedback. Youâ€™d want to correct your plan if someone tells you that youâ€™re way off mark, rather than have a potential investor tell it to you and lose the chance to get the funding you need.

Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:

- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html

You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:

- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&ToolPage=bps_main.asp
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_m.asp
- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html
-SBA Business Planning Guide http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- Small Business Advancement Center http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/businessPlan.pdf
- Sample Business Plan General planning guide created by the Canadian Business Service Center. http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=CBSC_FE/display&c=GuideFactSheet&cid
- Business Plans Index - A subject guide to sample business plans and profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. http://216.183.184.20/subject/business/bplansindex.html

Some recommended books are :

- Business Plans Kit for Dummies
- The Complete Book of Business Plans : Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan
- Writing Business Plans That Get Results : A Step-By-Step Guide
- Business Plans For DummiesÂ®
- Your First Business Plan : A Simple Question and Answer Format Designed to Help You Write Your Own Plan

Hope that the above resources help

Go and see a buisness start-up advisor at your local Enterprise Trust for free advice. They run classes on how to draw up a business plan. If you are unemployed you should be entitled to free access to all the courses they run. Incidentally you are not obliged to them in anyway if you go on these courses (government funded).

Hope that this helps you.

I did mine on PowerPoint.
Not saying it's good, but if you have it as part of office it's a good place to start.
It has a template - just fill in.
It took me some time as I wasn't really prepared and had to source information.

get your business ideas on paper in an understandable way take it to the bank and say "how do i turn this into a plan that will allow you to lend me money"

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