I'm starting to look into writing a business plan to help me focus on where I want to go with my photography and to help me come up with a solid plan for moving into photography full time down the road. An amazon.com search for 'business plan' brings up hundreds of books, many of which look good.

Have any of you written a business plan? Did you use any books to help you in the process? Which ones? Do you have any other advice about the process?

Hi Greg,
We are going full time end of Jan. so we hear you! An awesome friend of ours sent us the link below to help us out with writing a business plan and lots of other common sense stuff for starting a business. There's some links specific for writing a business plan also. I know this will benefit us all whether we are just starting out or not.

http://www.alistapart.com:80/articles/startingabusiness

All the best to you!

Hey....whats a business plan??? I'm an artist...don't need no plan. Seriously, I've been considering such a thing. Thanks Joy for the link. I suck when it comes to this kind of stuff. I could definitely use any help I can get!

Hey Greg:)

Right on with getting it down on Paper!!!

I've written a good dozen plans before but most of them were for businesses other than my photography. I've got my OLD photo biz plan that I've got to rework now because I'm in a whole new market (both with the TYPE of photography I'm doing and the geographic market).

I need to be looking at my bookshelf to verify names for you (which I can do later when I'm there) but one off the top of my head is "Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship."

My professors (all entrepreneurs) have all authored books and workbooks that have been very instrumental in guiding me thru the process. They're hard to come by though - usually second hand off amazon.

I'll see if I can post some sort of pro-formas or dig up some old plans (gotta go find those old floppies and CDs) that would be a good guideline. It all starts with a LOT a LOT a LOT of research so my first step is always to gather it all in one place and start calling people for info...

I have a business plan and an equally important marketing plan in place. I've done three, two for photography and a third for another business and am working on a fourth for a third business.

I don't know of any good books but there are a few great resources online. Off the top of my head I can only think of the SBA and Inc Magazine but I'll post a bunch of others when I think of them.

I had the help of a good friend and Wharton School graduate when I was forming my businesses so that is why I did not feel the need to consult any books. The best thing I was told about business and marketing plans is that they are not meant to be written and forgotten about, they should be re-evaluated and evolve as you grow.

Thanks for all the tips and links, folks. Liana, I'd be very interested in the titles of the other books that have been helpful to you. A sample business plan, especially if it is for a photography business or other similar industry, would be amazingly beneficial as well.

....okay....finally here where my books are...

probably one of the most USEFUL / HANDS-ON books I've got on my shelf (besides the one I've already listed) is one called "Total Business Planning: A step-by-step guide with forms" by E. James Burton and W. Blan McBride

Blan is an awesome guy - one of my core professors back in the days - and an amazing entrepreneur. Think I absorbed more golden-nuggets-of-knowledge in one conversation hanging out w/him than in entire courses with other professors.

Some others on my shelves (again, writen by my mentors and professors so they may be difficult to track down)....

Small Firm Fianance: An Entrepreneurial Analysis by Jerome S. Osteryoung, Derek L Newman, and Leslie George Davies (not a light read by any means)

and a 3 book series on Small Business Marketing (Strategy, Marketing Plan, Analysis) by Dr. John Kerr .... these would be the most difficult to find....



If you're looking to get right down to work, I'd see about getting a copy of Blan's workbook.... it's got everything you need to get started writing (the basics at least...you'll never get ALL you need from any book...)

I second Liana's recommendation on the book by Burton & McBride -- I used that book in my Business Planning MBA class.

One thing I'd recommend over buying books is to go to your local library and check out books on business plans -- you'll find TONS of great books and they won't cost you anything (as long as you return them on time!)

It's important to remember the purposes of a business plan: the first and foremost use of a business plan is to obtain capital...if you don't need money, your business plan becomes more of a goal setting and strategic planning tool (which is the 2nd most important reason to have and to continue to work your plan). A business plan is often confused with a marketing plan...if you have all the capital you need for operations (i.e. paying the bills and paying yourself), then your marketing plan becomes your focus for planning.

I went to Saint Louis University for my MBA -- so a lot of my resources come from their e-web (the e is for entreneurship...not to be confused with so many other terms that are preceeded with an e!). Here's a link to the e-web at SLU:
http://eweb.slu.edu/welcome.htm

Here is the section on business plans:
http://eweb.slu.edu/bp.htm

There are many links within this site that you'll probably find quite helpful. This site is the brainchild of Dr. Jerry Katz -- probably the best professor (and, of course, the HARDEST) I've ever had. He's currently authoring a textbook about small businesses and -- fun, fun, fun -- he had me write a feature about my business and the importance of sticking to your business plan. It's only a 250 word side-bar in his business plan chapter...but I thought it was pretty cool that he contacted me about it. He's also going to let me do some of the photography for the book. Okay, enough about me...

I agree with Dan about business plans being more of a formality in order to obtain capital, either through finacial institutions, or private investors...they want a business plan to see that you are serious, that you have done your homework and know what you are in for, and so they can better judge your risk ratio. Not sure if this is the type of business plan you are looking at putting together, but if it is here is a "brief" general outline (and I have found that most types of business can follow this outline).

First you need a Business Plan Summary, broken down into 1) Business Description 2)Marketing PLan 3)Organization Plan

Then, Business Description, broken down into 1)Nature of the Business 2)History of the Business 3)Legal Structure of the Business 4)Past Work Experience 5)Reasons the Business Will Succeed

Then...Marketing Plan, broken down into 1)Services 2)Distribution 3Industy 4)Customers 5)Competition 6)Position in the Marketplace 7)Image/Packaging 8)Pricing 9)Marketing Goals and Objectives 10)Marketing Strategy

Then...Management Plan, broken down into 1)Duties and Qualifications 2)Employees 3)Specialists or Consultants 4)Recordkeeping, Inventory and Finances 5)Licenses,Permits,and other Regulations 6)Sales Tax 7)Insurance 8Payment Terms 9)Operational Hours 10)Contingency Plans

Then...A Financial Plan (i.e..."see two year, monthly Cash-Flow Projections with List of Assumptions. There are no Business Finacial Statements since this is a start-up business. See Personal Financial Statement. See Personal Income and Expense worksheet.")

Then...Attachments (i.s. credit apps, iincome tax returns, copies of collateral documents, etc)

Then...Start-Up Expenses

Then...List of Assumptions, broken down into 1)Sales 2)Cash Out for Goods 3)Cash Out for Goods

That is just a basic outline, any questions on what more of a breakdown per subtopic, feel free to ask.

Business plans are a chore and I have found that unless I need one for capital investors, they are not that helpful (just me personally) unless you have trouble staying on track. I tend to keep mine in my head. I do think keeping some sort of an outline for goals to reach and how to obtain those goals is useful. Benchmarking is a very useful tool (a must) in the business world and it is hard to benchmark for future projects if you have no data on past ventures/business.
Looks like you have been given some good sources in some of these posts. Here in Maine there is an organization made up of retired businessmen/women who donate their time to sit and give advice, help in planning or anything you may need help in doing. It's great, maybe there is such a thing where you live. Great resources also from Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov), US Business Advisor(www.business.gov), US Census Home Page(www.census.gov), to name a few. Lots of sources out there. Hope this helps in some way. Good Luck