| To write a business plan for a new salon, | | | | and order of sections. Successful plans follow the |
| entrepreneurs often look for sample plans on which to | | | | basic business plan outline, which you will find described |
| base theirs. Great care must be taken to make sure | | | | more or less the same way in most books and |
| that the sample plan is high quality and worthy of being | | | | websites. This standard outline leaves nothing out, |
| used as a sample in the first place. Many websites | | | | covering all of the areas investors want to see. If you |
| proclaim that they offer sample business plans and | | | | see major deviations from this outline in the sample |
| here are some ways to know if the plan you are | | | | plan you are looking at, be warned that this either had |
| looking at is worth the paper it is written on. | | | | to be an exceptional plan to overcome its odd outline |
| Proofread and Edited | | | | or it was written by someone who ignored the basics. |
| Before even getting into the content of the sample | | | | Clean and Simple Look |
| plan, look to see that it is proofread, devoid of typos | | | | A successful plan will have a clean and attractive |
| and spelling errors, and edited for grammar, repetition, | | | | graphical look. You shouldn't see numerous fonts and |
| and clarity. Anyone who is serious about writing | | | | inconsistent headings which can make the plan look |
| business plans know that there is no greater | | | | more childish. You certainly shouldn't see clip art which |
| immediate turn-off to a potential funder than poor | | | | is not specific to the business and does not add |
| proofreading and editing. You wouldn't leave typos or | | | | anything to the plan. Graphics should either be charts |
| bad grammar in your résumé and your | | | | or graphs which provide a clean representation of |
| business plan is just that - a résumé for | | | | important information, relevant photos of the business, |
| your intended business. If the writer of this sample | | | | its location, team members, or competitors, logos of |
| says this was a successful business plan, read no | | | | the business or its competitors, or other images with a |
| further if you find it hasn't been carefully prepared. It is | | | | clear reason for their relevance to the plan. A plan |
| highly unlikely that the plan received funding in that | | | | which doesn't follow these basics is tipping you off that |
| case. | | | | the content within may not be the best to serve as a |
| Standard Outline | | | | sample for your salon. |
| Creativity should not generally enter into a plan's outline | | | | |