Part 1: Developing a Business Plan

2. Have these people worked together before? If so, explain.

Develop a resume for each owner and key employee.

Complete the personal resume. Each resume should contain the person's name and title.

Name:

Telephone:

Address:

Social Insurance Number:

Date of Birth:

List all responsibilities, experiences, education and background directly related to this business.

Identify any outside consultant and advisors.

Most enterprises need outside help at one time or another but particularly during the start up phase. Examples: finance, tax, legal, insurance, accounting, computers, web site, human resources, management consulting, planning and so on. By using advisors, owners can concentrate on managing the business, leaving the ever changing rules and regulations to the professionals.

For advisors to be of maximum benefit you must be prepared to accept their advice. This valuable advice might not be as expensive as you think and it can pay off in the long run.

Complete the business skills matrix.

The following exercise helps you identify the areas of business expertise where you need to seek assistance. For each skill area, check the adequate knowledge column with an I to indicate that an insider (owner or key employee) has the skill or an O to indicate an outsider has the skill. For each skill area where you have not indicated adequate knowledge, check either the assistance needed or education needed column with an X.

Management Skills	Adequate Knowledge	Assistance Needed	Education Needed
Accounting & taxes
Planning
Organizing
Finanical management
People management
Time management
Personal selling
Promotion
Decision-making skills
Cost controls
Personnel policies
Pricing

Business Support Checklist

I. Implementation of the business plan. Put a yes or no beside each element.

1. Finalize financing

- Confirm equity
- Arrange commercial equity
- Arrange other financing

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

2. Negotiate

- Partnership, shareholders' agreement
- Leases
- Insurance coverage
- Other

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

3. Establish supply source

- Credit terms

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

4. Acquire

- Inventory
- Equipment
- Furniture and fixtures

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

5. Construction of facilites

- Construction management
- Manage cost over runs
- Equipment installation
- Layout of store, business

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

6. Price merchandise

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

7. Hire staff

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

8. Establish accounting systems

- Bookkeeping systems
- Montly cash flow
- Monthly operating projections

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

9. Marketing and advertising

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

10. Establish credit, collection policies

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

II. On going operations

1. Prepare montly income and cash flow statement

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

2. Compare actual to projections

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

3. Revise montly financial projections

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

4. Advise client on corrective action

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

5. Analyze accounts receivable, collections

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

6. Set up inventory controls

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

7. Set up operating cost controls

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

8. Carry out general trouble shooting

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

9. Train client to understand the above

III. Assessment of business performance

Provide client with business performance assessments on a montly, yearly basis.

Do you need outside help for this activity? Yes or no

Consultant Proposal

Prepare a business support plan to address each business support identified. Include a description of the work to be completed, the resource people to be used, the number of days, the schedule, and estimated costs. Include the names and telephone numbers and relevant qualifications of all resource people assigned, such as an accountant. Attach this document to your business plan.

List all of your existing and planned business advisors

Business Advisors
	Name	Company	Telephone
Accountant, Bookkeeper
Tax Advisors
Bankers
Solicitors
Insurance Agents
Consultants
Other

Continue to business labour

<Previous page

Return to table of contents