Creating an Effective Business Plan

This workshop will help you create a business plan to guide your business through the start-up or growth phase, a search for capital, or any other endeavor your small business undertakes.
We've distilled the typical business plan into seven key elements listed below. For each and every element you will find a description, instructions for creation, for many, tips for avoiding common pitfalls. But reading about something isn't always enough, so we have also provided "Toolboxes" full of samples, worksheets, and glossaries that will clarify and walk you through the process.
To make sure you are ready to create the best possible plan for your business you can experiment on someone else's business
Try it Yourself

This workshop will teach you to create a compelling business plan through a series of exercises that will test your ability to create some of the plan's most important elements. By partaking in these exercises, you will hone the business plan writing skills you possess and learn about the areas in which you need some improvement.
Each step of the way you will be working on a business plan for a company called Bella's Biscotti. Bella's Biscotti is a start up - founder Bella Lettini - that will sell wholesale biscotti to gourmet shops in Metro City and its suburbs. Its five-year plan is to extend its distribution to gourmet shops across the country and eventually to upscale national home furnishings chains. Bella's Biscotti will set its Italian cookies apart from its competition with unique flavors such as Macadamia Nut and Black Currant. Its unusual flavors and attractive packaging will justify a price slightly higher than the competition's.
In each step of this exercise you will be presented with three choices for how an element of the business plan should read. After reading the three choices, pick the one that sounds best to you. You will then be able to read why the answer you picked is right or wrong. When you are done learning on Bella's plan, you will be ready to create one of your own. Select one of the elements below to see the relevant exercise.