| If you're looking for investors you need business plan | | | | each person is allowed to suggest comments or make |
| help. Keep these three tips in mind. | | | | edits. Some word processing software even lets you |
| The Business Plan Is One Management Task That | | | | track each person's changes in different colors, so you |
| Cannot Be Delegated | | | | can tell which person commented that your brilliant |
| Investors do not like to hear "I have consultant writing | | | | marketing strategies were "lame". |
| the business plan," or the ever-popular "My accountant | | | | "Made Fresh While You Wait" Works Better in Dining |
| is doing the projections for me." These specialists can | | | | than In Business Planning |
| be invaluable in assisting you with the project, not in | | | | A trend today is to send an Executive Summary of a |
| taking it over and making the project their own. Far be | | | | business plan to potential investors before sending out |
| it from us to not recommend hiring a consultant to help | | | | the full document. Besides saving printing and postage |
| you. You don't not want to get into a situation where | | | | costs, this allows the entrepreneur to determine if the |
| you cannot explain part of the business plan to an | | | | investor is at all interested before revealing too much |
| investor because you were not involved in writing it. | | | | about the company. And you can sometimes get |
| Business Plans Written By Committee Seldom Look | | | | more timely responses from investors if you ask them |
| Pretty | | | | to read 3 pages rather than 50. Entrepreneurs anxious |
| It is always a good idea to obtain business plan help | | | | to get financing, though, are just writing the business |
| from the other key members of your management | | | | plan summary, and then finishing the business plan only |
| team--your marketing expert, your finance guru, the | | | | when the investors express interest. How do you |
| guy who brings the bagels in the morning--but it is not a | | | | write a summary of something that doesn't yet exist? |
| good idea for each of these people to go off and | | | | The Executive Summary is supposed to highlight the |
| work on their own independent drafts of the business | | | | key aspects of your plan. It reads better if you actually |
| plan, to somehow be assembled into one document | | | | have some aspects that can be summarized. |
| later. What you will end up with is, well, a mess. A | | | | Business plan help can be obtained. |
| better method is to work off one draft, upon which | | | | |