A Starter Business Plan
By: Joshua M. Warne
English 102
Section 16292
July 19, 2008
A Starter Business Plan

There are three basic steps to writing a
business plan:
1. Defining the business
2. Preparing the mission statement
3. Writing company goals
Defining the Business

Kenichi Ohmae simplifies this well in his
book The Mind of a Strategist and refers
to it as “The Strategic Triangle” or 3 C’s of
the business.
◦ The Company
◦ The Customer
◦ The Competitor
Defining the Company
1.
Describe the products and services.

2.
Mike McKeever in How to Write a Business Plan
recommends writing a problem statement and
then describing how the products and services
solve that problem.
Identify the key employees.

Another McKeever suggestion is to write an
accomplishments resume that will highlight the
experience, education, and successes of each
employee.
Defining the Customer

To begin refer to the problem statement
and answer the following questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Who faces the problem?
Where do they face the problem?
When do they face it?
Why do the face it?
Verify results with a F-I-N-D interview.
 Facts  Issues  Needs  Dreams (Chambers)
Define the Competitors

Learn about the market place (Covello and Hazelgren).
◦ How many competitors exist?
◦ How do their products and services differ?
 Price
 Quality
 Reliability

Impress the reader by explaining all of the
competitive advantages that exist over
the competition (Bangs).
Preparing the Mission Statement
“…the organization’s unique genetic identity…” (Chambers)

A successful mission statement should:
◦ Describe the business
◦ Be clear, concise, and easily understood
◦ Communicate the activities, values, and
direction of the company
◦ Be inspirational and memorable to readers
◦ Believed in by every employee
◦ Tie into company goals
◦ Be appropriate for years to come
Mission Statement Vision

A good statement should express the
long-term vision of the company and set
boundaries for:
◦ Decision Making
◦ Key Objectives
◦ Creating Strategies

This instills trust and confidence in reader
about the future of the company (chambers).
Mission Statement Focus

The focus should be on the market.
◦ Employees, products, and services change
◦ Technology improves
◦ The market remains stable due to needs

This will enable the company to avoid
“boxing” itself in.
◦ Shows an understanding of the big picture
◦ Recognizes the problem and
◦ Demonstrates a long-term commitment (Berry)
Writing Company Goals

Consider the following points when
writing the company goals:
◦
◦
◦
◦
The strategic planning process
Situational or SWOT analysis
Writing S.M.A.R.T. goals
Goals solidify the business plan
Strategic Planning

The advantage is full cooperation and
participation:
◦ Includes every key employee
◦ Utilizes team brainstorming and decision
making
◦ Develops communication skills, trust, and
respect
◦ Unifies the team with common goals (Meyers)
SWOT Analysis
An Internal and External Snapshot of the Company (Wikipedia)

A technique developed by Albert
Humphrey to help a company identify:
◦ Internal
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
◦ External
 Opportunities
 Threats
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
A plan for achieving and measuring success (Meyer)
 Specific-
a clearly defined action
 Measurable-
 Attainable-
results tracked by numbers
humanly possible
 Realistic-
true to the situation
 Tangible-
identifiable to the senses
Solidifying the Business Plan

Clearly written goals help the reader:
◦ Gain confidence in the plan
◦ Envision the employees being successful
◦ Believe in the mission statement
◦ Invest time and money in the company
◦ Share a positive outlook of the company
A Starter Business Plan

In three simple steps:
1. Define the business
2. Prepare the mission statement and
3. Write the company goals
“With a clear definition of the business, an inspirational,
memorable, and understandable mission statement, plus a list of
well written specific goals any business, large or small, can have a
functional business plan.” – Joshua M. Warne
Works Cited

Bangs, David H. Business Plans Made Easy. 3rd ed. Entrepreneur Press, 2005.

Berry, Tim. “Writing a Mission Statement.”Bplans.com.
<http://articles.bplans.com/index/php/business-articles/writing-a-businessplan/writing-a-mission-statement/>

Chambers, Dennis K. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Writing Business Plans and
Proposals. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008.

Covello, Joseph A. and Hazelgren, Brian J. The Complete Book of Business Plans.
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Inc, 1995.

McKeever, Mike. How to Write a Business Plan. 6th ed. Consolidated Printers Inc,
2002.

Meyer, Paul J. Effective Supervisory Management. The Meyer Resource Group, 2001.

Ohmae, Kenichi. The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1982.

Wikipedia.org. “SWOT Analysis.” 12 July, 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis>