Free Business Plan Templates - What Are The Advantages

A great resource when starting up a new business is using a free business plan template. While professional business planning is available, it is much less expensive to use a prepared template.

The biggest challenge when starting a new business is creating a business plan.

You will need your business plan to gain funding, to plan your management and to generally get your business started.

With a wide range of free business plan templates available online, be sure to search for one that suits your business. There is no point using a plan designed for an accountant's firm when you are starting a fast food franchise.

Plans suitable for Windows users are available as MS Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. While Excel can be daunting if you are not familiar with it, business plans on Excel are often very good to work with. Since Excel is one of the best spreadsheet programs out there it is well worth learning how to use it.

Once your free business plan template is downloaded, take your time to look it over so you understand it. Keep your business information handy so that you are not searching for it when you need to input information.

A sample template will cover all of the different areas in which you should prepare your business plan.

You will need to create a strategy and marketing plan. Then you must account for profit and loss. You will need a balance sheet and a cash flow statement. A cash balance graph clearly shows your financial status while operating ratios allow you to make good comparisons of your business efficiency. Finally you need an executive summary to tie it all together.

If you've never made a business plan it may seem impossible. Fortunately a template will walk you through the process.

While you can make adjustments as necessary, the sooner you start using your plan template, the more you will get to know how it works. As you adjust your ideas they will be reflected in the plan.

When your business plan is complete you can use it to present your case to possible investors. If you can, get an experienced friend or business acquaintance to look it over first.

Your friend can point out any weak points and help you finalize everything. With a free business plan template you will easily be able to adjust your plan as necessary and get your business up and running. Louis Zhang, businessplans4 dot com