The 24 Hour Business Plan: 2nd Edition

Johnson, Ron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712677798 ISBN 13: 9780712677790

Publisher: Random House Business, 1997

This is a new and updated edition of a bestselling book which has set thousands of owners of small and medium sized businesses on the road to success. It shows you how, in 24 working hours, to build a thoroughly professional business plan which will be useful in two main ways, it will convince your bank and other potential financial backers that you are serious about making your business work, and it will help you and your team to focus on the essentials of that business and how to bring your aims to fruition. The second section of the book contains a blank business plan which the reader can copy and complete to form a perfect presentation pack for his or her business idea.

Review:

Business Planning can be a real headache for first-time writers. What should you include? How do you gather all the information? And, perhaps most importantly, how can you ensure that your financial forecasts are as accurate as you can make them? In this guide, Ron Johnson reveals all.

While its title might imply that you can get a good business plan together in a weekend, this is not, by any means, a 'quick-fix' book, and Johnson does not offer shortcuts or easy options. His emphasis is on research, preparation and careful construction of the plan and successive chapters walk you through the stages in logical sequence. Example business-plan pages, tables for you to complete, check lists and a myriad of questions will help you get your thoughts in order, while the surrounding text explains what you should be doing, and why, at every turn.

The book is very easy to read. Johnson explains jargon and 'business-speak' using an informal, almost chatty, style. There are plenty of examples of how you might go about things depending on the nature of your new business, and pointers towards good practice. Questions pop up almost relentlessly, helping to ensure that you really have thought everything through. To round things off, the final chapter of the book is an outline business plan which you can fill in to make your own.--Sandra Vogel

Book Description:

A step by step guide to building a business plan which will help you to define the aims of your organization and which provides a compelling means of convincing financial backers that your idea is worthy of their support.