The first thing you must understand before writing your business plan is that your plan is a marketing document. It is not a 50-page dossier explaining everything there is to know about your business.

In the preliminary stages of crafting a business plan, conducting a thorough industry analysis is paramount to understanding ...

For many academics, summer is traditionally associated with open stretches of time and ambitious writing agendas. Many of us put off writing articles and book proposals during the year in anticipation ...

Unless you plan to seek financing from a bank or private investors, your bakery business plan as a finished product is actually less important than the process of writing it. Writing the plan forces ...

The marketing plan is an essential element in any business's long-term success. The marketing plan helps to shape the needs and objectives of the company by identifying what, how, when and so forth ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the franchising, restaurant and food services industry. An executive summary is a short but powerful document that ...

An executive summary of your marketing plan gives a brief overview of how you intend to reach your target audience and drive conversions. Here's what you should include. A marketing plan is essential ...

An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link A pitch deck is not a plan. For all of the popularity of pitch decks, business plans still serve an important function for entrepreneurs who are ...

A business plan is a concept that many startups think is either unnecessary or just a nice-to-have. It's often seen as an annoying extra bit of admin that's simply keeping you away from the fun of ...