Home Budget 2007 Company Profile Services Accountancy Zone Business Zone Tax Zone IR35 Update News Articles Feedback Search Legal Notice How To Find Us Business plans - Operational factors In this section you will describe the current state of your product or service and your plan for completing its development. This is also where you familiarize your reader with how your product is created or your service delivered. You should include details of development costs, location and labour requirements. Development Describe the current status of your product or service and what remains to be done to make it ready to be marketed. Include a schedule detailing when this work will be completed. Include obtaining a patent/trademark/ copyright, or other steps that are important to the development of your business. It's just as important to consider development questions if your plan is for a service business. You still have to set up offices, make plans for fielding calls, get stationary and business cards, conduct market research, gather references and so on. An investor will only provide money for a business he or she understands, so walk the reader through the stages of production from the inception of the idea to when it can be sold. With a service company, describe the process of delivering the service. Comment on whether you intend to make or buy components and why you have decided on any particular course. Outline the cost of the production/service delivery process. Be sure to include labour, materials, consulting fees, and the cost of professionals such as accountants. Labour Requirements Your management team is outlined in the management section. This section provides details of other labour you will need to start up and run your business. Address how many people you require and what skills they need to possess, and be sure to cover the following issues: Is there sufficient local labour? If not, how will you recruit. Is labour trained? If not, how will you train them. Cost of labour, current and future. Plans for ongoing training. Expenses and Capital Requirements You must also create three financial forms that will build a foundation for the Financial section of your plan, namely, operating expenses, capital requirements, and the cost of goods. Generate spreadsheets for the year in which you establish your business as well as projections for two years after. To complete this section properly we recommend you seek our help to ensure that the figures "add up" and are presented properly. Operating expenses include marketing costs, administrative costs and business overheads. Capital requirements will cover the amount of money you will need to procure the equipment used to start up and continue operations of your business. The cost of goods for a manufacturing business will be the cost incurred in the manufacturing of the product. For a retail or wholesale business, the cost of goods (sometimes called the cost of sales) is the purchase of stock. [ Business Zone Home · Previous - Business Plans - The Market · Next - Business Plans - Sales And Marketing ]