If you are thinking about starting a home – based business, writing a business plan is hopefully something that is near the top of your to do list. When you want to write your business plan, you can find resources on the internet which can not only provide you with sample business plans to get you started but which can also guide you to information that can help you to think through the various aspects of your plan. One of these online resources is bplans.com.
One great thing about bplans.com is that they have a huge collection of sample business plans, so you can view something which is on point for the particular business that you want to start. Even if they don’t have a sample for the exact business you are thinking of starting, they probably have something very close to it. They also have a free business plan template. While I would not suggest that you simply print out a template, fill in the blanks, and call it done, I would say that a template is a great place to begin if you are new to the business planning process. You can use it to get the basics in order and then look at sample plans for businesses that are similar to yours for ideas on what other types of information you should include in your plan in addition to the items that were covered by the template.
Bplans.com is about much more than just business planning, too. They have a great blog, with articles written by Tim Berry. Tim is a successful entrepreneur whose successful ventures include Palo Alto Software, Bplans.com, and others. His blog posts contain wonderful information that can be of use to anyone who is starting or running their own business.
Please note that I have received nothing from bplans.com in exchange for mentioning their web site here. The site is just one of many business planning resources on the internet, but I like the way that the site is organized and I found a lot of helpful information on there. Hopefully others will find it to be as helpful of a resource as I have.
Photo by greenfinger on morguefile.com.