Creating a Successful Business Plan

Transform your business ideas into a solid plan to secure financing and support long-term success. This business planning course will guide you through the steps to create the key components of a business plan. You will emerge with an initial draft that you can use as a resource for the next step in your entrepreneurial journey.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$190

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$175

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Starting May 14 | June 11

Details + Objectives

Course code: cbp

Learn to transform your business ideas into a tangible plan to secure financing and support long-term success in this online business plan writing course. By documenting your vision through a well-crafted business plan, you will significantly enhance your chances of obtaining funding while maintaining strategic focus.

This business plan course will also guide you through the key components of a business plan, and you will emerge with an initial draft to start your entrepreneurial journey.

What you will learn

Explain the purpose of a business plan
Identify the sections of a business plan and their contents
Conduct research and analysis to refine your business concept
Explain how projected financial statements and financial ratios are developed and used
Create a draft business plan
Identify resources to support the process of refining a business plan

How you will benefit

Locate resources to support you in creating a business plan
Identify the information needed to present in your business plan to promote confidence in your business model and secure funding
Refine your business concept to create a stronger business plan and support growth

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

If you're seeking to transform your business idea into a business plan, you are embarking on a very exciting but often daunting journey, full of potential and possibility. Whether you're starting a new business, wanting to scale an existing business, or just hoping to develop a plan to help you manage your business, you are in the right place! In this lesson, you'll learn about different types of business plans and the typical sections you might include. You'll also discover which information is essential to various audiences, allowing you to adapt your business plan to meet their needs. The most exciting takeaway from this lesson is learning how to locate resources to support you on this journey.

The first step in developing your business plan is to conduct research and analysis so that you can better understand your target market and hone your business concept. In this lesson, you'll learn about the kinds of information you need to analyze to identify the characteristics of your potential customers. This analysis drives your choices of product and marketing strategies.

In this lesson, you'll continue your research and analysis, but with a different focus. Competing effectively requires a deep understanding of your industry and competition. In this lesson, you'll learn to gauge how your business is positioned within the industry and how your products or services compare to the competition. This analysis will provide enough information for you to begin developing your pricing strategy.

It's time to put your research and analysis to work! In this lesson, you'll use what you learned about your industry, target market, and competition to refine your business concept. Your analysis will inform decisions about the intent and focus of your business. We'll start at a high level and identify your vision, mission, goals, and objectives. These components will guide and focus your decisions as you create your business plan. You'll also identify your unique value proposition that differentiates your product from the competition and communicates its value to customers.

Get ready; it's time to move into the core of your business plan! In this lesson, you'll identify your business structure and start building a team of experts who will provide invaluable feedback as you develop and implement your business plan. You'll also begin the exciting task of describing your products by discussing their target market, costs, prices, competition, sourcing, and distribution plans.

Your proposed marketing strategies are a critical part of your business plan. In this lesson, we'll cover some marketing topics you need to understand as you develop your marketing plan. You'll learn about the decisions needed to refine your strategies for the 4Ps: product, price, promotion, and place. We'll discuss strategies for your brand, pricing structure, promotional mix, and distribution channels.

Now that you understand what to include in your marketing plan, it's time to start drafting it. You'll begin by defining marketing objectives that will guide your pricing, promotional mix, and distribution strategies. You'll also make some decisions about your marketing budget and staff.

Your operations plan will describe the processes you use to deliver your product, whether it's a tangible good or a service. You'll discuss the daily operational requirements related to equipment and staff. You'll also describe your plans for inventory and supplier management, quality control, and compliance. Operations planning may sound tedious, but if you take the time to analyze your business processes and establish plans for these areas, the result will be a more fine-tuned version of your organization and how you deliver your product.

Business owners are often intimidated by financial data and statements. Don't worry; after this lesson, you'll be more comfortable with the financial information you need to include in your business plan. We'll introduce three important statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows, and you'll learn how projections are developed to create these statements for a new business. We'll also consider several important financial ratios for securing funding and evaluating performance after startup.

The financial plan may be the most important part of your business plan. While all the other sections help communicate your business model, the financial plan demonstrates its viability. The projections in this section of your plan should reflect all the research and decisions you've made about your business and products. If your financial projections are clear, accurate, and fully supported by your research, you are well on your way to creating a successful business plan!

Even if you are not seeking funding for your business, you'll still benefit from this lesson. We'll talk about the different types of loans, government programs, and grants available to businesses and show you how to learn more about these financing options. You'll also learn how to access funding and other support from venture capitalists, angel investors, or business incubators.

Congratulations, you're finally ready to start compiling a draft of your business plan! In this lesson, you'll combine all the sections you've labored over so diligently. With the addition of an executive summary and your supporting documentation, you'll have a complete first draft. All your hard work and commitment during this course have led you to this exciting milestone! You're not done yet, though. You'll need to thoroughly review your business plan yourself and garner feedback from your trusted team of advisers before you're ready to present your plan to potential investors, lenders, and other stakeholders.

Instructors & Support

Kris Solie-Johnson

Kris Solie-Johnson, chancellor and president of the American Institute of Small Business, best-selling author, educator, speaker, and mother of three, is an energetic and passionate entrepreneur. Her books are in public libraries, high schools, colleges, and military bases both nationally and internationally. Solie-Johnson has an MBA in Venture Management from the University of St. Thomas and over 19 years of experience helping entrepreneurs reach their goals quickly through joint venture partnerships, creative marketing programs, and innovative financial options. She's dedicated to motivating and inspiring owners to achieve beyond their dreams.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 10 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Microsoft Word or other word processing program (not included in enrollment).
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

I can't begin to tell you how much this course has helped me. For the last 14 years, I have been shying away from writing a "Business Plan." After having everything in place, I still had not written a plan, but alas, now it's done. I just have to refine and get it to read and present professionally.

I finally have a three-dimensional package and not just a "thought."

I have a small business and thought I would take this class to start up something new. I now have the knowledge that I would need to tackle that feat. During the lesson on customers, I spider webbed an idea to make my business more customer centric. I simply offered another low overhead service to my largest client. The spider web exercise led to three large markets opening up for me. I am now projecting to gross last year's income times 4. What an investment! Thanks again for the great ideas.

My business plan has been a struggle for me; however, I knew the importance of creating my own. Since completing the class and having the printed material to refer to, I know I will have a final first draft that will be useful, inspiring, and a true picture of my company. The class has provided incredible direction to great informational websites that would have taken me endless hours to locate on my own. I'd like to thank Carol for her excellent presentation and material.

Our Business Plan was praised by our lender, who helped provide necessary funding. The Plan proved extremely helpful in ensuring that we considered all the bases before we opened.

The course brought up important professional and personal isues. It has been an extraordinary experience and one that I never would have anticipated. It has made a monumental difference in my life and marriage - giving me confidence and energy to move forward in pursuit of my vision.

The course was much more than I expected. It taught me much more than how to write a business plan. The course/instructor taught me how to think like an entrepreneur and gave me great advice on how to make my business successful. I was clueless about starting my own business before I completed this course, now I am confident and focused.

The scariest part about starting my own business was giving my two-week notice, but with all of the preparation that is shown through our plan, I think it's now going to be the most exciting part.

This was a great course and as a business owner, I had an opportunity to see how I could have approached my business differently - do more research about the business and funding.