Next is the statement of the vision statement and the mission statement. The vision statement is a description of the business as the owner envisions it in three years, and five years. Use the magic wand approach. If you could wave a magic wand and make the business anyway you would want, what it would be like. This needs to be very detailed stating things like “you’ll be operating out of a building which you own. You run five trucks in your business have ten employees, and you are no longer working directly but managing the business. You will be able to afford to take a vacation trip each quarter of the year. The business will be generating gross sales of $1.5 million and net profit of $400,000 a year.” This vision statement will serve as a target you can aim at to achieve.
The mission statement is not a description of the business. The mission statement is a statement about the guiding principles with which you will operate your business. Examples are, “We believe our employees are our most important asset we have and we treat them as such,” and, “We are dedicated to insuring that our customers are satisfied with every transaction and product they buy. We will do any thing necessary to satisfy the customer.” You can have one statement, or many, which ever you choose.
The next section can be the operating statement. This describes how the business works, how the process of making the products or services occurs from ordering the materials to make the product or service. Break the process down into logical segments. For example, Order entry, operations, production, finishing, and delivery to the customer. You must assign someone to be responsible for each major section and each sub section. For example, there needs to be a person responsible as the Chief Executive Officer who is in charge of everything. There needs to be someone assigned the responsibility of accounting, bookkeeping, and cash flow management. Some one must be assigned the responsibility for the operation of the business including production. There needs to be someone responsible for marketing. In some cases there will need to be someone assigned responsible for other main categories like information management.
In some cases you may be the only person in the business so you will be responsible for each of the major areas. If there are two or more key employees, assign divide up the major responsibilities among them. Any task or responsibility left to everyone will be done by no one.
The reader of the business plan will be impressed that you have thought through very carefully how the business will operate including many of the key details. This will show the reader that you have the ability to think, analyze, and have attention to detail. Remember, you are trying to impress and convince the reader you are a capable, responsible person and will probably be a good risk for an investment. Remember, your are selling him.
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