One of the questions that many women ask is "How do I find someone to write my business plan?" The best answer is to look in the mirror. Although it is always good to have someone with business planning expertise review your completed plan, you will do much better writing the bulk of it yourself. By writing it yourself, you will become an expert in your own business. You will know all of the industry trends, all about your customers, and all about your business as a whole, including the things that you don't wish to include in your business plan. If you let someone else write your business plan for you, you miss out on a tremendous learning opportunity. Although it will be somewhat time consuming, if you're interested in success, it's well worth the time you will spend.

When you actually sit down to begin developing your business plan, there are some general guidelines that you can use to make the entire process easier for you. Be sure to refer back to these on a regular basis. By doing so, you will save yourself a lot of time and rework.

To develop an effective business plan, make sure you:

• Use a typewritten 8 1/2" x 11" format. Use a loose-leaf binder to package the plan and to facilitate any revisions.

• Begin with a cover sheet that includes the name, location, and telephone number of the business, and the name of the person who wrote the business plan.

• Keep it short and crisp without compromising the description of the venture.

• Keep it simple.

• Organize it appropriately with a table of contents, logically arranged sections, and appendices.

• Identify a target market and demonstrate evidence of marketability.

• Demonstrate the benefits of your product or service to the user or customer.

• Orient the plan toward the future. Attempt to develop forecasts of developing trends and use these forecasts to help you describe what you intend to do - not only what has been done - over the next three to five years.

• Do not be too optimistic in estimating sales potential. Develop scenarios that will describe the best case, worst case, and most likely case. Base sales estimates on market analysis, not on production facilities. You can then develop production needs from that information rather than vice versa.

• Highlight current and potential problems and demonstrate how they will be overcome. By identifying problems ahead of time, you will also enhance your credibility with investors and lenders.

• Demonstrate that you have an effective management team; that not only does it have necessary business skills to manage the venture, but also that it can work effectively as a team.