Part Four:Financial Plan

Business Plan Part Four: Financial Plan. The format should be:

• A financial plan in which you demonstrate that your business can be viable and profitable. Existing businesses can use historical data, whereas start-ups will use projections based on your “best estimates.”
• Your financial plan should include the following information:

• sources and uses of capital (where your money is coming from and how you are going to spend it).
• cash flow projection.
• balance sheet (assets owned and liabilities owed).
• profit-and-loss statement (sales revenues and expenses, either actual or estimated).
• break-even analysis (how much product you need to sell to cover your expenses).

• Submit your financial plan either in paragraph format or in chart format in one to two pages.

Part Five: Marketing Research and Evaluation

Business Plan Part Five: Marketing Research and Evaluation. The format should be:

• A document in which you present evidence that a market exists for your business. In other words, you must convince investors that a large enough market exists for your product or service and that your business can be competitive in that market.
• Identify the target market of your business and state the size in dollars and units. How will you remain competitive? How will customers’ needs be assessed over time? Who are the main competitors of your business, and what are their strengths and weaknesses (refer to Milestone Two for this information)? What percentage of market share do the competitors have, and what percentage can you expect to get?

• Address pricing policy and how the business’s prices will penetrate the market, maintain its market position, and allow the business to earn a profit.

• Address promotion strategy, distribution strategy, and service policies.

• Milestone Five should be approximately 800–1000 words in length.