Pages

Monday, June 26, 2017

Professionally Written Business Plan versus Self-written Business Plan



If you read my previous article on various business plan options available to Nigerian entrepreneurs, you’ll understand why I’m writing this piece. I made a promise that I will expatiate on this topic with a review on why you should choose either a professionally written business plan or self-written business plan and I even went further to discourage my readers from ever patronizing any business plan writer who specializes in selling ready-made/already written business plans.

Today we are here to find out what makes professionally written business plans and self-written business plans the best two options for people seeking funding for their startups or expansion of their existing businesses here in Nigeria. If you didn’t read that article you can follow this link best business plan options in Nigeria to find out more about the article.

Kindly note that in this article I am assuming that anyone who wants to write his/her own business plan has exceptional research and writing skills and can present a standard business plan at least to a reasonable extent for it to be called a bankable business plan.

What makes professionally written and self-written business plans the best options?
These two options from my experience are the best for Nigerian entrepreneurs and I will give you 7 reasons why they stand taller than the other available options;  

1. They are both current with market/economic realities

The market situations in all economies change slightly over 5 to 10 years and drastically over 10 to 20 year periods such that certain trends, marketing approaches, market situations and buying factors which were relevant in the past suddenly start losing their relevance and influence on how the market will respond to a new product, market opportunity or strategy. Other business plan options don’t do much especially in researching the current and emerging market situation and economy to arrive at their assumptions.  

2. They contain the most accurate assumptions and forecasts.     Compared to all the other business plan options, these two options tend present more accurate assumptions and forecasts. This is very invaluable when preparing sales forecasts, financial projections and personnel planning. 

3. They tend to contain more thorough analysis.                                Professionally written business plans and self-written business plans also have a meeting point in that they tend to be more thorough with analysis. Usually there are visits and revisits of ideas already penned down as the research begins to unearth new ideas, findings and data 

4. Most precise research available.                                                These two business plan options also tend to ask the most pensive research questions that will give the writer a solid direction and flow when carrying out market research especially in determining market size, consumer behaviours, competitive analysis and cost effective marketing strategies.  

5. Offer plenty of room for corrections and improvements
Due to the dynamic and open approach in clarifying facts, there are many opportunities to change, improve and even alter aspects of the business plan that don’t seem to measure up with realities on ground. Other business plan options are less flexible. 

6.  Achieve greater funding results. 
From my experience, the business plans which achieve the best results in terms of receiving bank loans, attracting investors or achieve very concrete financial and marketing results are those written in person by either the entrepreneur or a professional business plan writer.  

7. They are both tailored to your specific business need. 

Unlike other business plan options which don’t consider your specific business needs, a custom made or self-written business plan looks at your specific business needs – the opportunity, your company setup requirements, corporate goals, growth strategies and personnel plan. The other business plan options fail to be customized satisfactorily in this way.

What to expect from Professionally Written Business Plans.
A Professionally written business plan usually involves the hired professional business plan writer asking you background questions about your business to serve as an initial guide in preparing your business plan. The procedure is for him/her to use this information in preparing you a business plan which is suited to your very business needs and with excellent research skills present it a very persuasive way to command respect and action from the intended target. The deadline for submitting a professionally written business plan varies but should be anything from 5 to 20 working days.

What to Self-written Business Plans  
The self-written business plan on the other hand is a straight forward thing since you already know your business, have industry information/data and experience in organizing resources to achieve results for your business, the only real challenge may be in terms of lacking analytical tools, finding the right business plan format to work with, access to market research findings and opinion of other consultants when criticism and review is needed to present a final document. But an excellent research work can cover all lapses so that in 20-40% of the time self-written business plan is just as good as a professionally written business plan – it all boils down to the research skills of the entrepreneur.

Professional or self-written Business Plans: Which Option?

I honestly cannot answer this question for anyone because if as an entrepreneur you are really good at research and have excellent writing skills the only thing stopping you is your busy schedule. If you have the time to write it my advice is go ahead with it.  If you lack the research or business writing skills then it’s better to outsource your business plan writing to a professional – with proven track records.

You can hire such a business plan writer to prepare your custom made, bankable business plans by simply calling: 0803 206 4106 or email: paulonwueme@gmail.com

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The Best 6 Business Plan Options for Nigerian Entrepreneurs

There are many business plan options Nigerian entrepreneurs seeking to start and/or expand their businesses should know about. These 6 business plan options have very specific benefits and implications which must not be overlooked and they also serve as options for which every entrepreneur should use in his/her funding application.

The best two options out of these 6 business plans are; the self-written business plan and the professionally written business plan. If you ask me I would suggest you write your business plan yourself if you have the time, the skills and the required knowledge to put ideas into a persuasive report. This is usually the best business plan option available - I will delve more into them to show why they are the best options when preparing business plans in my next article when I will be reviewing both of them.

The Best Business Plans for Entrepreneurs in Nigerian
Here goes the shortlist, kindly pay attention and remember them as they will go a long way in helping you achieve your funding goals;

Self-Written Business Plan

This is a business plan by you for you. The entrepreneur looking to approach a bank or raise funds from investors is the person writing the business plan himself/herself.

The good thing about the self-written business plan is that you are in full control over how it turns out, whether it turns out to be bankable (acceptable to both banks and investors) depends on if you have the right format, analytical skills and imagination to write it to achieve your aim eventually. Another good thing is it comes cheap at no cost to you apart from the time you put into writing it.

The negative side is you may have to sacrifice productive time doing the business plan yourself plus your inexperience in writing bankable business plans may count against you.

Professionally Written Business Plans


These are business plans written by experienced and skilled business oriented writers. They are professionally written because the writer is experienced and often times works with a network of other writers, researchers and officials of banks. 

One good thing about this option is that you can have bankable business plans written in record time which will save you a lot of research and analytical stress, plus offer you the convenience of doing more productive things with your time. Another good thing is they can write persuasively and present very organized, reliable and concise work that banks and investors are looking for.

The main disadvantage is that they are expensive - since they will have to forego other things to prepare your business plans. The other disadvantage is that you have limited control over how your business plan will turn out. 

Already written business Plan

This is a business plan which has already been written, all you do is purchase it then edit it to suit your requirements. There are many people who do this but I personally will not recommend or encourage you to buy an already written business plan for any reason.

First there is the issue of relevance and trends. For example, an already written business plan for sale prepared in 2010 for on the setup of a crèche is not useful in 2017 because a lot of things have changed with regard to the regulation, setup and management practice of crèche in Nigeria, therefore if you purchase it you will be wasting your money.

Secondly there is the issue of whether the business plan will be customized to your particular need. When you buy an already written business plan, the writer isn’t thinking about whether your intended business will be located in Akure, Abuja, Lagos or Jos. He will write a generic business plan which won’t also consider the company structure and capital requirements for your own business. 

The worst part is when the so called business plan writer claims you can submit that business plan to any bank, investor or financial institution.That has to be one of the worst jokes ever. The meaning of this is that you will end up paying for something that will be useless to you and will just be a waste of your time.

Software generated business Plan


This is a business plan generated by specially designed software and there are many companies that specialize in doing this. These business plans are very useful when you are under pressure to deliver a business plan in a short time. With a software generated business plan you can write one in less than 24 hours. All you have to you do is answer the questions the software asks, then it produces, arranges and structures every other thing for you.

But there are many problems with using this option. One of the problems is that software can’t reason like humans. While they may be programmed to ask you questions and you just fill in the blank to supply the finishing you still have to bother about things like how to access and analyze industry data that is something the software cannot do for you.

Online Sample Business Plan


There are business plans you can copy, download or study to prepare a standard one to submit to banks or investors. These business plans are similar to the already written business plan except that this time they are available for free. The main source of online business plan samples is bplans.com.

The first major advantage is that it will save you time when writing and researching your own business plan. The second advantage is you will have a standard format to work with. But there are problems too. The top problem is that it is usually outdated just like the ready-made business plans. Secondly, there is the danger of plagiarism if you aren’t original enough to write standard write-ups, there is a good chance you may leave somethings unchanged even when you paraphrase the business plan to make it look different. This is something which many banks and investors won’t find funny.

Business Innovation Canvass


This is an innovation which is often used for business plan competitions. Examples of business plan competitions that use this kind of business plan are YOUWIN and TEEP.

They are question based business plans which usually try to elicit short responses from applicants to get an overview of your business. These types of business plans are designed for micro and small sized businesses, not medium or large sized businesses. Mind you these are not detailed business plans and they are not suitable for submission to specialized banks and institutions.  

In my next article (should be ready on June 25th) I will be reviewing both the custom made business plan and the self-written business plan. My aim in that article will be to dig out specifics from both so that you will be better informed on the best two business plan options you can work with. 

Are you in search of a professionally written business plan prepared by an expert with proven track records? Give me a call: 0803 206 4106 or email me: paulonwueme@gmail.com to have one prepared for you.