Preparing a business plan

One of the most important things to have in place when applying for a small business loan is a business plan. A good business plan will not only assist you in obtaining financing, it will also help you thoroughly analyze your business and, hopefully, give you an opportunity to fix flaws or problems before they occur.

Most business plans include an Executive Summary, company description, a description of the product or services you intend to sell, an analysis of your market and how you intend to reach that market, strategy and implementation, description relative to any internet marketing, organizational chart, projected loss and cash flow.

Putting together a complete business plan can be complicated if you have never prepared one before. The following is a list of business plan resources that we have found very helpful:

Inc.com provides an excellent, thorough section touching on almost every aspect of creating a business plan.

The Small Business Administration offers a small business planner including information and resources that will help you at any stage of your business lifecycle. This a is a self-paced tutorial.

You can take a look at sample business plans and pick up great tips

In this article, a banker describes 5 business plan mistakes and how to avoid them