The Work From Home Blog

Mention of business plans tends to make people’s eyes glaze over and for their hand to reach for the mouse in an attempt to quickly click away. But every business, from network marketing to a new blog should have a business plan (unless you don’t plan on making any money!) It will bring your ideas out of their fuzzy state in your mind to a crystal clear view from which you can break your goals down into a step by step action plan to earning money.

There are three ways to write a business plan. One is to write it yourself using guides and templates such as the useful guides at Entrepreneur.com. This is pretty straight forward and will involve reading sample plans and then writing you own with a word processor, possibly using a template.

The second method is to download and use software to guide you through the process. The advantage of software is that they tend to use wizards to guide you through writing the plan which can really cut down on the time and effort required. Palo Alto Software make some fantastic business planning software. This is an affiliate link but I am a user of their software and highly recommend them (comes with lots of sample business plans too).

The third option is much like the second but instead of downloading software you create your plan online. This has advantage and disadvantages. There is no downloading but on the other hand you can’t access it without an internet connection should you need to. PlanHQ is a web based business planning software, it’s free to try for one month or create a mini plan online - again powered by Palo Alto software (this one is free though).

Related posts:

1. 10 free ways to promote your business online
2. Build a business with Crossloop
3. Ponoko turns hand drawn art into objects