Inventors business plan

You need a business plan. Creating a comprehensive detailed business plan forces you to make decisions that need to be made, requires you to research and determine all those little details that need to be addressed, from the day to day office expenses to the cost of packaging for your invention, product, or service.

By the time you've finished your business plan you should have a pretty good idea of all of the expenses involved in your undertaking, including the cost of manufacturing and marketing your product.

You will have knowledge about your competition, about the pricing structure for your product, the lines of distribution, cost of advertising for the various types of media campaigns, and even the cost of your product liability insurance.

Will your product need code approvals from Underwriters Laboratories (UL), IAMPMO, NSF, FDA, or one or more of the multitude of such agencies? How much will that cost and what is involved? Your plan will spell it all out.

You'll know the retail price and the profit you will make, and you will have a timeline to follow. Make your plan concise and professional, and detailed enough to convey a sense of credibility.

If you are going to raise money to finance your invention, product, or service company, you will absolutely need a business plan. Potential investors want to see everything down on paper.

In general your business plan should include most or all of the items listed below.

Cover sheet
Statement of purpose of the plan
Table of contents
Description of the business
Marketing - how you plan to market your product or service.
Competition - demonstrate a thorough knowledge of your competition
Operating procedures - describe how your business will operate.
Personnel - introduce your key personnel
Loan applications - if any
Equipment and supply list - list all of your equipment and supplies
Balance sheet
Breakeven analysis
Spread sheet with cash flow for at least three years - monthly for the first year and quarterly after that.
Assumptions upon which you based your projections

The specifics of your business plan depend heavily on what type of business you are going to be operating. Whatever kind of business it is, you will find tons of information about how to put a business plan together online.

Just begin a search for business plans and review lots of samples and read the advice that you find, and then get started.

When you run into a problem that is difficult to solve, be glad you found it while doing the plan, not after you are already in business.