Business Plan Questions

Steve · #1 02-09-2005, 12:42 PM

What would you add to this list of business plan questions?

Business Description
- Give a one paragraph description of your business.
- Where is your business located?
- What services does your business offer?
- What value does it add to the marketplace?

Management Abilities
- What are your qualifications?
- How will your experience contribute to the success of your business?

Business Strategy
- What is your business strategy?
- What are the strengths of your business strategy?
- What are the weaknesses of your business strategy?
- What are the key strategic opportunities you have identified in your marketplace?
- How will your business take advantage of these strategic opportunities more effectively than your competition?
- How do you intend to maintain your competitive edge?
- Describe the key challenges you face and how will you overcome them?

Legal Structure
- Will your business operate as a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or an LLC?
- How will your legal structure decrease your business's exposure to risk?

Financial
- How much will you personally invest in your business?
- How much money are you seeking from banks?
- How much money are you seeking from private investors?
- How long until you plan to break even?
- How long until you plan on making a profit?
- What will your start-up costs be? Be specific, describe each and the cost.
- What is your sales forcast for each month of the entire year? List each month's goal.
- What will be your monthly operating expenses? Be specific, describe each and the cost.
- What will your monthly fixed costs be? Be specific, describe each and the cost.

Mission Statement
- What is your business?
- How will your business succeed?
- What values are important to your business?
- How does your business improve the lives of your customers' and employees'?

Marketing Slogan
- What is your marketing slogan?

Market Analysis
- What are the positive NATIONAL trends that will affect your business?
- What are the negative NATIONAL trends that will affect your business?
- How will you take advantage of the positive trends and deal with the negative trends?

- What are the positive REGIONAL trends that will affect your business?
- What are the negative REGIONAL trends that will affect your business?
- How will you take advantage of the positive trends and deal with the negative trends?

- What are the positive LANDSCAPE INDUSTRY trends that will affect your business?
- What are the negative LANDSCAPE INDUSTRY trends that will affect your business?
- How will you take advantage of the positive trends and deal with the negative trends?

Customer Analysis
- What is your current customer base?
- Who are your target customers? (age range, education level, occupations, average home value)
- What zip codes do they live in?
- What do your customers want?

Competition Analysis
- Who are your competitors?
- How many employees do they have?
- What is their estimated sales volume?
- What services do they offer?
- What is the quality of their product?
- What is the price range of their product?
- Who are there customers?
- What are their strengths?
- What are their weaknesses?
- Are they a direct or indirect competitor?

Labor
- How many employees will you start with? Full or p/t?
- What will the hourly labor wage paid to employees be?
- What will your total annual labor hours be, see below?
* Jan total billable hours =
* Feb =
* Mar =
* Apr =
* May =
* Jun =
* Jul =
* Aug =
* Sept =
* Oct =
* Nov =
* Dec =

* Yearly total billable hours =

Equipment
- What equipment will be needed?
- How much will it cost to obtain this equipment?
- Where will you store the equipment?
- How much will it cost to store the equipment?

Advertising / Promotion
- How will you advertise or promote your business?
- How much will you spend doing each per year?

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Steve · #2 03-03-2005, 01:31 PM

Lawn care business tips

Types of expenses.

Different expenses you will want to include in your business plan.

Rent/Mortgage, Utilities, Insurance, Gas, Equipment Payments, Equipment Maintenance, Advertising, Truck Payments, Phone/Cell/Internet, Office Supplies. Or others.

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