5 Business Plans Help

Posted by Marcel Sim under Starting Up,
May 2, 2008

The Closet Entrepreneur: You can use any word-processor to create your business plan, yet the urban sprawl of text that results after your second or third page is enough to render the plan useless. Your business plan is supposed to be a tool that effortlessly tracks the tasks and details of your business, yet word-processors create page after page of static text which makes accessing, organizing, and updating the different sections of your business plan slow and cumbersome. Of course you could always add bookmarks, hyperlinks, and a table of contents to access the sections, yet even these items require extra work.

Finding A Better Solution

The first thing that can make your business plan more useful is separating the various sections by tabs. For example, you can create a separate tab for your vision, branding, to-dos, advertising, financials, et cetera. This way, instead of digging through several pages to find the section you’re looking for, you simply click that section’s tab.

The second thing that can make your plan more useful is the ability to prioritize specific items and reorganize sections on a page - in essence, the ability to create your own to-do and task lists.

Last but not least, being able to collaborate with business partners is a bonus as well as being able to send a Word or PDF version to a VC, Angel Investor, or Bank.

By the way, fans of GTD are probably already using something that does all these things so please feel free to share any recommended apps in the comments!

Five Applications That Will Make Your Business Plan More Useful

Taking the aforementioned wish list into account, here’s a list of readily available applications that make your business plan more useful.

1) Microsoft OneNote
2) Microsoft Word for Mac
3) 37signals’ Backpack
4) Google Notebook
5) PlanHQ

5 Apps That Make Your Business Plan More Useful [The Closet Entrepreneur]

0 Comments

Comments

Add your own comments

What next?

Digg it

Save This Page

Subscribe to GetEntrepreneurial.com

Leave a comment

Next Article: When Your Business Fails »

Previous Article: Align Your Values With Goals »

Marcel Sim is a GE Network Expert. View Marcel Sim's profile or read more articles from Marcel Sim. Learn more about the GE Experts Network.

Have an expert opinion on issues entrepreneurs and small business owners face everyday? Join the GetEntrepreneurial.com Experts Network and share your expertise with the community!

The new GE Experts Network is inviting seasoned entrepreneurs and small business owners to come on board and contribute small business advice to our community of aspiring entrepreneurs. If you have an effective way of generating sales or you know how to use social networking to connect with your customers, join us in providing wider entrepreneurial content that would benefit small business owners worldwide.

Click Here to Learn More >>

You Can Start A Business Even If You Are Cash-strapped!
Do’s and Don’ts for Starting a Virtual Assisting Business
Starting Your Own Business
Cash In Minus Cash Out Does Not Equal Profit
Ouch! There's a Lot More Than Income Taxes
Why Working For a Startup Isn’t So Risky
How to Evaluate a Franchisor’s Training Program

This article was posted to the category: Starting Up. Click here to read more articles in this category.

Ooh Local Activities » If you can find and do great, local stuff at home, why not do great local stuff that’s run by local people...

Necktie Reuse » New Startups: Narwhal Company is the inspirational idea of an everyday person that was looking to move away from the 9-5 lifestyle...

Dog’s Collar Comes with Tweets » "Puppy Tweets" dog’s collar allows dog owners to follow their dog on twitter. This plastic tag (introduced by Mattel), comes equipped with...

Friend of Trends » Trend Friend is an online (and smartphone accessible) gift idea database that allows users to quickly find the trendiest gifts based on...

Need more brand new promising business ideas and innovations around the world you wish you'd thought of? Visit CoolBusinessIdeas.com now!

Ever wanted to be the CEO of your very own Starbucks or Amazon.com? Fire your boss and be your own boss? Now you can, with BIZNESS! - the free biweekly business newsletter about new business ideas, opportunities and innovations from around the world. More than just new business trends, BIZNESS! helps the aspiring entrepreneur (you!) with small business advice, business tips, and entrepreneur resources and opportunities.

Subscribe for free now!