Activity

USS Biz Trek Activity #21: A Plan of Action

Entrepreneurs are very enthusiastic about their money-making ideas. When they get exciting new ideas for businesses, they are often tempted to blast off into space and start looking for customers. This haphazard way of doing business sometimes gets entrepreneurs in trouble. Sooner or later, they start losing customers because they don’t keep good records or they run out of money to buy necessary supplies.

Experienced entrepreneurs know that writing a business plan and following a step-by-step plan for growing a business is the best way to build a solid company. Read the story of Raging Bulls and see how the young owners of this company learned the importance of a business plan — the hard way. Then return to this activity and get ready to log on.

Loggin’ On

Turn to a new page in your USS Biz Trek log and title it "Steps for Writing a Business Plan." Then use this page for taking notes as you get ready to begin writing a plan for your business.

Step 1: Go to Activity #22 and review the outline for writing a short business plan. Then go to Activity #23 and review the outline for writing a comprehensive business plan. Print copies of both of these outlines.

Step 2: Go to Activity #24 and visit the Websites that provide additional business plan outlines or templates. Print copies of any forms you might want to use.

Step 3: Compare all the business plan outlines and choose the plan that best suits your business needs. Then begin gathering the information you will need to write your plan.

Step 4: Create your business plan on your computer, so you can update it as often as you like. Remember that writing a business plan almost always requires additional research. You can continue to explore the rest of the USS Biz Trek lessons while you are doing research and completing the final draft of your business plan.

Step 5: When you finish your plan, ask some of your fellow ‘treps to read your plan and suggest ways to improve it. Keep working on your plan until you are satisfied.

Finished?

Rocket back to Lesson 7

Rocket forward to Activity 22