Creating a Successful Business Plan

Turn your business ideas into a solid business plan to keep your venture strategically focused. With the support of your instructor and a network of like-minded students, you will work through all major components of writing a business plan to emerge with your first draft in hand. This critical first step is the most difficult one on the path to small business success.

Lesson List:

• Lesson 1 - A Strategy for Success
  Meet several leading entrepreneurs and determine if you have similar passions and skill sets. You will discover that business plans are not just for funding your dream, but for guiding it along the path to success.
   
• Lesson 2 - Defining Your Business
  Start to mold your business. Develop a vision and a mission for your enterprise. Define and refine your product or service, and you will uncover your niche. This is the fun part of the journey—your only limitation is your imagination.
   
• Lesson 3 - The Role of the Customer
  Successful companies focus not on the products and services that they offer, but on the customers that they serve—on many levels. Learn to position your company to be customer-centric, and how to move that customer from satisfied to loyal (and perhaps even an advocate for your business).
   
• Lesson 4 - Structuring Your Organization
  Structure your organization so it's in the best position to provide your product or service to your targeted customers. You will discover the role that change plays in your entrepreneurial evolution. 
   
• Lesson 5 - The Marketing Plan
  Explore the marketing section of your business plan. Discover the features and benefits of your product or service, and you will begin the ongoing task of market research. This is where you can differentiate your product or service from that of your competition.
   
• Lesson 6 - The Competition
  This lesson will explore three separate areas of marketing. First, learn about your competitors so that you can better position yourself and discover just how solid your business ideas are. Then, address one of the most difficult issues of new business—pricing. Finally, you will become a SWOT agent—analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
   
• Lesson 7 - Marketing in Action
  Join a panel of outstanding marketing, public relations, and graphics experts who are also entrepreneurs and believe in the power of networking. Explore graphic design, logos, image, public relations, and guerrilla marketing, as well as marketing in action.
   
• Lesson 8 - Operations and Manufacturing
  Tackle operations and manufacturing concerns.
   
• Lesson 9 - Understanding the Finance Section (Part I)
  Takes a bird's eye view of the financial section of a business plan. Briefly explore the capital equipment list, the balance sheet, and break-even analysis.
   
• Lesson 10 - Understanding the Finance Section (Part II)
  Discover three additional financial components of the plan: the projected income statement, cash flow, and historical financial records. 
   
• Lesson 11 - Financing Your Business
  Focus on funding and financing opportunities. Find out where to locate traditional, and not so traditional, sources of funding.
   
• Lesson 12 - The Final Document
  Write an outstanding executive summary. You will receive a few important document formatting tips, and you will learn what supporting documents you should add to your final business plan. You now hold all the keys to the doors along your entrepreneurial path. 

Upon registering, you have six weeks to complete the program.

Course Dates and Times

 Course Hours: 24 Hours

This workshop is offered through our continuing education online partner.