business plan operation

FIRST HAVE A TITLE PAGE !!!
The title page should have your company name, your tag line, your name, and “Business Plan” “Operations” on it. Do not use terminology like “we have incurred expenses”. Don’t talk in the past tense.

OPERATIONS

SPACE AND EQUIPMENT

•    Briefly make a list of all the equipment, furniture, fixtures and vehicles you will need to run your business, and associated costs. (Include the items you already own and those you need to acquire.)  Justify your needs. (by the way these are CAPITAL ASSETS, or LONG TERM ASSETS). Put these numbers in your financial spreadsheets.
•    If yours is a retail or consumer service business, draw a layout of the store using one of the links provided, identifying entrances, windows, displays, cash, and so on. If there is a wholesale or manufacturing component to the business, sketch a layout of the work and storage areas, identifying all equipment and explaining the use of each area. This can go in the body of your work or as an appendix.
•    How much will you have to spend on renovations/leasehold improvements ?

LOGISTICS

•    Explain your systems for buying, ordering, and storing any supplies that your business will depend on. How much will these systems cost ?
•    Identify any subcontractors or suppliers that you intend to use. Explain the services or products that they will provide and the details of contracting arrangements that you will have with them. Be sure to include any professional advisers you may use, such as accountants or lawyers. How much will they cost?
•    Put these costs into the appropriate area of the financial spreadsheets.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

•    Briefly explain and/or chart the process that you will use to complete a typical client or customer transaction. A customer contact sheet may work well here.
•    Explain any methods or systems you will have for ensuring quality of your product or service. How will you handle customer complaints?

SYSTEMS

•    Explain the paperwork and/or software systems that you will use to control your business in terms of scheduling, inventory, billing, work progress, client records, and accounting. Also provide any Gantt Charts or flow charts that would help your business.
•    Put these costs into the appropriate area of the financial spreadsheets.

ORGANIZATION

•    Explain who will do what, who has what authorities, and who is whose boss. If you have one or more partners, briefly describe who does what. If you will have employees, attach an organization chart along with quick job descriptions for each major job.
•    Explain the hours your company is open for business.
•    Explain how and when you, any partners, and employees will be compensated (hourly, salary, drawings). Do an actual one-month schedule of a typical month that accounts for the hours worked and pay earned for everyone on the payroll (don’t do payroll calculations, just show how much gross pay per person)
•    Employee wages are FIXED expenses EXCEPT if the wages go up and down when sales or production go up or down.
•    Put these costs into the appropriate area of the financial spreadsheets.

REGULATION

•    Identify any registrations, licenses, or permits that you will be required to have for your business. This includes master business license, incorporation costs or proprietorship costs and any other regulation-related costs
•    Identify any professional groups or business associations that you will belong to and explain the reason for your membership. (CFIB, BBB, Chamber of Commerce, Note any fees.)
•    Put these costs into the appropriate area of the financial spreadsheets.