4 STEPS TO WRITE YOUR FIRST BUSINESS PLAN (Simple English)

When I started to write my first business plan, I didn’t have any idea of what I was supposed to do. This article is for those who are in the same situation right now.

Here I’m going to share my experience of writing my first business plan, tell you about the challenges I faced and the solutions I found. As a bonus, there are some useful English words and collocations for your business plan with their definitions at the end.

I wrote the article in simple English to make it understandable to English learners of different levels. All of the business terms are explained at the end of the article.

As no expert in the field of business plans, I consulted with the specialists who know the topic inside out. That helped me learn more about the structure and some important points to pay attention to.

Step 1. Research.

First of all, you should make sure your idea has a good chance of success. If you are planning a business-to-consumer (B2C) format, conduct a survey to find out the demand level in your area.?

You can start with asking the people you know if they are interested in this kind of products and services (P&S) and if they are ready to pay money to get ones.?

Also, it is possible to post the survey online, but that will cost you some money if you want to get more results.?

Another idea might be to go to your potential clients’ place of interest and conduct a survey there. That one may be a bit hard for you if you feel uncomfortable talking to strangers and getting negative replies. Anyway, the more people you ask, the more exact data you will have.

Remember to include different price ranges in your survey and ask the participants to choose the maximum price they would pay for this type of P&S.

If you already know for sure that the P&S you have in mind is in demand, search for some information about your future competitors and suppliers:?

• How many of them are available in your area??
• What exactly do they offer? Do they offer high-quality P&S? Read customer reviews to check if their customers are satisfied.?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses??
• What price range is on the market??

If you plan to employ people, check the salary levels for those positions.

To rent offices, warehouses, stalls — whatever, in the future, look at the standard prices at this stage.

Conduct SWOT analysis: analyse your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Step 2. Promotion strategies

When you are just starting out, effective promotion is key to attracting new customers. Everyone knows those jokes about marketers who make us believe that we need something, even if it is real trash. But jokes aside, without promotion you won’t go far.

Creating customer awareness is the base. This means that customers need to know about you.?

The first things you need to let people remember you is the brand name and the logo. They can tell people what you do and can make them trust you when they see your company name for the first time.

After that, try to find some companies that work with your potential clients, but are not your competitors. It would be useful to suggest cooperation. For example, they can get a commission for recommending you and sharing your flyers with their customers. If you manage to make some useful connections, make sure to include them in your business plan.

SMM is a powerful tool to let people know about you. The choice of a platform depends on your target audience.?

A website can help your customers find you online. However, keep in mind that a website will require regular investments. Otherwise, it will give information to your current customers, but might not attract any new ones.

Analyse the ways in which your pricing strategy can make people buy more and pay more. Develop a discount system.

Your clients’ convenience is another important factor. Make sure you support at least two different payment methods, as it can play a role too.

To keep in touch with your customers, make it possible for them to leave feedback. It will help you measure customer satisfaction and improve the quality of your P&S.

I have described just a few marketing strategies, but you can find much more online.

Step 3. Calculations.

The most important part of a business plan is numbers. At this stage you have to predict your expected expenses (rent, salary, promotion, materials etc.), taxes, social insurance contributions in different future periods.

When calculating prices, take into account the price range on the market and the number of purchases or clients you need to cover all the expenses and make a profit. Maybe you will have to reconsider your expenses after that.

Now you can calculate the start-up capital you need to enter the business.?

Step 4. Structure and design.

What do you imagine when you think of a business plan? Tables with numbers and colourful graphs.?

So make sure the information based on your research includes infographics apart from text. For example, create a bar chart comparing your prices with the competitors’ prices. Or use a pie chart to demonstrate the percentage of different types of customer expectations according to your survey and the analysis of customer reviews. You can present SWOT analysis as well as numbers indicating expenses, income and prices in the table form.?

It goes without saying that your business plan must be clearly structured. The suggested sections in the Forbes article ?Seven Sections Your Business Plan Should Have? by Joseph Ferriolo:

• An Executive Summary;
• Company Overview;
• Products & Services;
• Market Analysis;
• Marketing Strategy;
• Organization & Management;
• Financials.

Read the article to learn the details of the information your business plan sections should have.?

If you want to present your business plan to investors, it is necessary to accompany it with a presentation containing the main points, infographics, the main numbers, pictures of your products and other visual materials.

Here is a list of useful words and collocations for your business plan with explanations in the order of appearance in the article:

Business-to-consumer (B2C) describes the sale of products and services to single clients for their own use, rather than to businesses.

Consumer is a person who buys products or services for their own use.

To conduct a survey means to ask people questions to learn about their opinions and behaviour.

Price range includes different prices at which similar products or services are sold starting with the lowest and up to the highest.

In demand is used to describe products or services that consumers want to buy.

Your competitor is a person or company that offers products or services similar to the ones you offer on the same market.

Supplier is a person or a company that provides products or materials to make products.

Customer review is an opinion about products or services posted by a client.

Strengths are strong sides.

Weaknesses are weak sides.

To employ somebody means to pay them to work for you.

To rent means to pay or get a fixed sum of money to the owner for the use of an office, a warehouse, a stall, etc.

Warehouse is a large building for keeping things.

Stall is a large table or a small shop with an open front where products are sold.

Stage is a part of an activity or a period of development.

Opportunity is a situation or factor you can use to get something.

Threat is a risk.

Promotion includes activities to attract new customers.

To attract means to cause interest.

Customer awareness is a term used to describe how many people know about you and what they know.

Cooperation means working together.

Target audience is the people who you want to attract with your promotion.

Pricing strategy is the method a company uses to set the price of their product.

Discount system describes the conditions under which customers can pay less than a standard price.

Convenience is the quality of causing no difficulties.

Payment method is the way you can pay for something, e.g. in cash or by card.

Customer satisfaction refers to how much clients like a company and its products or services.

Expenses are money you spend on your business.

Salary is a sum of money a company regularly pays to the people who work for it (employees).

Taxes are money a company must pay to the government based on its income.

Social insurance contributions are money companies regularly pay to the government so that employees get money in case they are not able to work because of age, illness, etc.?

Purchase is the fact of buying a product.

To cover expenses means to compensate for the money you spend on your business.

To make a profit means to have some extra money after covering expenses.

Start-up capital is money you need to start your business.

To enter a business means to start a business.

Percentage is an amount of something in percent.

Customer expectations are ideas clients have about product or service benefits.

Income is total money companies or people earn including investments.

Executive is a person or a group of people who manage a company and make business decisions.

Financials are financial results of a business.

If you found this article useful, let me know with a reaction or a comment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello LinkedIn Community,?

My name is Anastasiya and I am an English language teacher who is training software developers in IT-companies to improve their English skills. I also teach individual customers who want to speak better English at levels A1-C1.?

My school English Prime is based right in the centre of Wroclaw. Both remote and in-school learning formats are available.

I speak English, Belarusian and Russian. Besides, I can understand a little Polish and Ukrainian.

Follow me for updates on new courses and group enrollment. If you are interested in private classes or have any questions about the school, feel free to contact me directly on LinkedIn.

Best regards,

Anastasiya Hatsko