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Business planning: Where to begin
 Even
if the most writing you've ever done is a letter to your grandmother,
you can put together a business plan these days. There is a lot
of help available. Call your local bank and they'll tell you exactly
what they look for in a plan. Lots of free assistance can be found
by calling Small Business Development Centers, local business
incubators, Service
Corps of Retired Executives volunteers or by contacting the
Small
Business Administration.
There are even software packages that print out documents,
complete with charts and graphs, after you enter your company's
data. One example is the Business Plan Pro, developed by Palo Alto
Software. Check out the company's sample
plans and perhaps register to use their Plan Starter online
and test business plan ideas for free. The site is not secure, though,
so be careful not to upload any real-life financial information
that you would prefer to keep confidential.
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