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Has anyone actually made a successful business using their own Business Plan?

Has anyone actually made a successful business using the business plan they created on their own? If so, could you recommend some books or material useful to your successful business plan? Anything helps! Much appreciated!!! Im actually planning on starting my own store (non-work-at-home business)

Public Comments

1. I have. The best book I used was "The Successful Business Plan; Secrets & Strategies" by Rhonda Abrams with a foreward by legendary venture capitalist Eugene Kleiner. I used a few editions of this book. Lengthy, but very clear and concise. I own 3 companies, each started with my own business plan. All started with individual bank loans, but after the 2nd year, things get easier if you pay the bank back on time. The hardest part is getting your capital together. If you don't have any, then the hard part is raising it. Besides that, all i can say is make sure your target demographic walks past your intended location ALOT. Do research, and more reseach. Play devils advocate with yourself, and then pitch the idea to a person who clearly disapproves and find out why. Always use the lowest projections be them financial, sales, or marketing response.
2. trust yourself.................... Go for it........do not look back......
3. Even if you're going into writing your own business plan with no prior experience, you're far better off having a plan in place than not. Business plans are like resumes, there's not one specific way they have to be written. What's important is that you've done your homework and covered your bases. Getting outside help, e.g. assistance writing it from your local SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) chapter can definitely help, but isn't strictly necessary. Your plan should cover: 1. The Market A. Who are your customers? How are they defined (age, income, geographic location, gender, etc.) How many of them are there? What are their current habits/preferences? B. Who are your competitors? How many of them are there? What are your points of competitive (dis)advantage vs. each of them? How will you sell against them? 2. Details of the products/services you intend to offer, including how you'll price them 3. Your marketing strategy: How will you promote your business? Where will you sell your goods/services? Your store? Other retailers? Online? At trade shows? Some combination thereof? 4. Your organizational information: what kind of business are you? Sole proprietorship? LLC? S Corp? Partnership? How are the various functions of the business being handled and by whom? HR? Marketing? Production/service delivery? etc. How are you handling banking? Payroll? Insurance? Logistics? What assets do you already have? What do you still need? 5. Finance: How are you obtaining the capital necessary to start your business? What are your projected revenue & expenses for the first year or two? If you've got all that, you've got a pretty solid business plan, regardless of who wrote it or how it's specifically formatted.