Business Plans and Proposals

SAMPLE PLANS, TEMPLATES, TOOLS, BUDGETS, AND MORE

This Inc. Magazine site provides detailed information about all the sections of a business plan and what they should contain.

This About.com site contains links to many excellent resources for business plan development.

An article in Entrepreneur Magazine presents information on the seven standard sections of a good business plan, and emphasizes three essential requirements.

This is an incredible resource for business plans. There's a plan for nearly every conceivable type of business. The plans are presented in alphabetical order by type and within 10 volumes, so you'll need to poke around a bit to find a plan that meets your needs. But it's well worth the trouble.

There are several calculators on this site that you can use to calculate start-up costs, cash flow, and break-even. There are also links to templates and sample plans.

Of course, the Small Business Administration (SBA) website has business plan info. There's a template and articles on essential elements of a plan, finding a niche, and more.

From Yahoo!, a selection of business planning information and sample plans.

Downloadable templates in Excel for monthly and yearly cash flow projections and income and expense calculations.

Business planning, marketing planning, and business strategy information, advice, and software. Features online interactive business consulting, sample small business plans and outlines.

Go to this site to use its free automated business plan program. You'll get online help in preparing written text and a financial forecast, and you can generate a scoring sheet for your plan to see how it compares with other plans. You can also share your plan with colleagues and download a formatted version of the plan you created. There are paid versions as well, but why not try out the free version.

A commercial banker describes the most common mistakes that he has seen over the course of his career in reviewing business plans.

Do you need to prepare a business or sales proposal? This site will help you get that new client, or sell your products or services to a current client.

This Interactive Business Planner takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a business plan, beginning with the Executive Summary and including such essential elements as plans for marketing, operations, start-up and implementation, as well as financial projections. The Planner also provides information about why each question is essential to your plan, suggestions on how to gather research, as well as providing examples. Free registration is required to use the Planner, but you'll find it well worth it.

An amazing collection of many sample business plans for products, services, start-up and established businesses, home businesses, brick and mortar, non-profits, and more.

Sample plans for many types of businesses.

Winning business plans from the Moot Corp competition. There are more than 25 plans covering internet services, business services, and products. You can also review presentations in the categories of Best Executive Summary, Best Business Concept, Best Proposed Offer, and Best Financial Tables. You should also check out the "Guidelines" at the top of the page for informative marketing, financial and other articles.

This sample plan provides guidance for preparing the cover sheet, executive summary, and information on the enterprise, market, operations, organization, key risks and time lines, and financials.

A very comprehensive site from the University of Colorado Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. It contains a business plan outline and description of each section, tips, worksheets, templates, spreadsheet tools, reference links, and sample plans. See also the "quick start" and "feasibility studies" sections.

This free resource mirrors the major sections of a business plan, enabling you to point and click your way to the information you need to write and improve your business plan. Each section includes a synopsis of the basic ideas and concepts to address in that section of the plan, as well as common mistakes to avoid.