Creating a Successful Business Plan

Details

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.

Enrollment Options:

Instructor-Led
6 Weeks Access Course Code: cbp
Start Dates* Nov 13 | Dec 18 | Jan 10 | Feb 07
*Choose start date in cart

$135.00

USD
Self-Paced
3 Months Access Course Code: T9280
No Instructor, Start Anytime

$135.00

USD

Enroll before 31th May and get high quality lamination on your hardcopy certificate absolutely free! Use your certificate to your advantage by showing your certified credentials to prospective employers and recruiters.

Syllabus

Creating Your Business Plan

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.

Analyzing Your Market and Customers

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.

Analyzing Your Industry and Competition

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.

Refining Your Business Concept

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.

Defining Your Business Model

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.

Understanding Marketing

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.

Developing Your Marketing Plan

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.

Developing Your Operations Plan

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.

Understanding Financial Statements

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.

Developing Your Financial Plan

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!

Financing Your Business

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.

Finalizing Your Business Plan

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.

Requirements

Hardware Requirements:

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

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or newer.
  • Mac: OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Instructor

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.

Reviews

About ExpertRating

ExpertRating is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company offering online certification and training services to individuals and companies globally. Over 25 million people have benefited from ExpertRating Online Certifications and assessments. ExpertRating is the winner of the Google SME Hero's award for showing outstanding use of technology in delivering trusted services to thousands of people on a daily basis. Our affordable certifications are an excellent way of demonstrating your knowledge and skills to prospective employers as well as vastly boosting your chances of moving ahead in your business or career.

Company Timeline

Since 2001

Decades of excellence

800+ Skill Tests

World’s largest test inventory

2500+ Companies

Thousands depend on use

25 Million People Tested

10 tests every minute

35 Countries Serviced

Over 1500 clients in the US

86% Reorder Rate

Satisfied clients

We deliver over 3 million online certification tests and online courses annually.

Awards

ExpertRating is a winner of the Google SME Heroes award. This award has been instituted by Google to honor IT companies that have excelled in their domain and have leveraged the internet to grow and expand their businesses in innovative ways.


ExpertRating is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company, which reflects that our courses and tests conform to the highest international quality standards. Our training material is prepared by thorough professionals with years of experience, and goes through several rounds of analysis by expert teams to help develop well-balanced, comprehensive and meaningful content.