| Thousands of business owners spend hundreds of | | | | consider writing a new 2 page executive level |
| hours writing their own business plan or spend | | | | document for each group. Highlight the items that each |
| thousands of dollars to hire a professional business | | | | specific group will be looking for in your executive |
| plan writer, all to produce a document that they never | | | | summary and then just attach your normal internal plan. |
| use. If you want to get the most from your investment | | | | Most readers will probably only read the first couple |
| in a business plan consider writing just one plan with | | | | pages of your plan anyway. |
| many executive summaries. Below you will learn how | | | | 3. Write your Own Business Plan, Pay for Professional |
| to make this work: | | | | Executive Level Documents - As a small business |
| | | | owner funds are probably tight, so consider writing |
| 1. Write an Internal, Useable Business Plan - If you are | | | | your own plan and then hiring a professional to write |
| writing your own plan shouldn't you be able to use it? | | | | various Executive Summaries for you. This way you |
| Consider writing yours for internal use and then simply | | | | will get the most bang for your buck, and be able to |
| tweaking the plan in the event that you need one for | | | | utilize professionals for your 2 page summary which is |
| external readers. | | | | by far the most important piece of your plan. |
| 2. Write Many Executive Summaries - Your banker, | | | | So to answer the question, "Is a business plan worth |
| potential investors, and grant making authorities all may | | | | the investment?" it all depends on how you use it. If |
| ask for a plan, but they are all looking to get something | | | | you want to maximize your plan's useful life write it for |
| very different out of it. Do you need to write a new | | | | internal use and then write new executive summaries |
| plan for each set of readers? Probably not. Instead | | | | to supplement it for all its various uses. |