How many investors out their have a business plan?? i’m curious. I want to do one and i know i need to do one. but researching out how to go about do it became overwhelming. and i don’t think i’m at that stage to have one. ( i haven’t made my 1st deal yet)
jarci
Go to your local bank and ask them to help you put one together in order to apply for a business loan. If your banker is helpful, he/she will guide you every step of the way. Obviously because they believe that in the end you will be given a loan - which is business for the bank.
At the very least you will get a list of what information is requried by the bank to be included in your business plan. You will also need a good book keeper or accountant/CPA to do your financial statements. There are 3: Income Sheet, Expense Sheet and Cash Flow Analysis.
Good luck!
If there is a community college in your area, the SBA (federal agency Small Business Administration) sponsors classes in how to run a small business. One of the things they teach is how to write a business plan, and how to use that business plan to borrow money to get your business off the ground.
The classes are very good; very nuts and bolts, with no theoretical stuff that you won’t have much use for.
The classes are (or at least used to be) a requirement before the SBA would approve a loan for a new business, so it shouldn’t be too hard to track down where the classes are being held.
How many investors out their have a business plan?? i'm curious. I want to do one and i know i need to do one. but researching out how to go about do it became overwhelming. and i don't think i'm at that stage to have one. ( i haven't made my 1st deal yet)
I certainly have a business plan and use it for two purposes:
It has be valuable on both counts.
I want to do one and i know i need to do one. but researching out how to go about do it became overwhelming.
There is no one format or design for a business plan and it sounds like you’re making this FAR too complicated. A business plan can be anything from a few notes on the back of a napkin to a
500 page book for a large corporation. The napkin version can be valuable as a personal guide, but probably won’t impress the bank! The 500 page version is almost certainly inappropriate for a small real estate investing business and the bank would think you’ve got a screw loose if you presented something like that with an application to buy a rental property (and they would be right).
Even a plan for a multi-million dollar entity doesn’t need to be complicated or elaborate. As an example, a few years ago I was paid to write a business plan for a quasi-government entity that was involved in a multi-million dollar project. They were using the business plan to sell the project to other private and public entities. As part of my instructions for writing the business plan, they wanted it to be about 15 pages in length. Why only 15 pages? Because they wanted the recipients to read it!!! The whole point to this story is that writing a business plan doesn’t need to be complicated and shouldn’t require a lot of research.
There are many easy ways to write a business plan. Office Max has some inexpensive software for business plans. This is basically a “fill in the blanks” type software, that will allow you to write a business plan is an afternoon. There are also many books available on the subject - try typing in “writing a business plan” in the Amazon.com search function! The point is that IT’S EASY!
Good Luck,
Mike
I have business plans (I save them all when I update them, which I do frequently). I agree that it doesn’t have to be elaborate (unless you are presenting it to a bank in the hopes of getting financing - but that’s a whole other subject). You don’t have to wait until you have a deal to have a business plan. For me, it is a changing document that I update regularly. Don’t stress about it, you can simply start with knowing the answers to a few basic questions:
*Are you going to try Real Estate Investing?
*Or are you going to commit to Investing in Real Estate?
*Why are you getting into Real Estate Investing?
*What exit strategies are you considering?
*What are your short term/mid term/long term goals?
*How are you going to find deals?
*What are you going to do every single day to move towards your goals?
*How many offers are you going to make every day/week/month?
All the best,
Chris Parks
While business plans are great, don’t wait to figure out how to write one to start the business. Also, when you do write one, don’t fill it out for the sake of filling one out. Make sure it mirrors how you want to run your business. I’ve seen many use templates online that has nothing to do with what they are doing.
I suggest you develop a personal financial plan before a business plan. The financial plan will help you determine how much money you need, for what, and when. From there you can determine where real estate fits in. Obviously, we all want to make as much money as possible as fast as possible. Your focus will be vary however as a function of your available cash, available time, and risk tolerance. These come first from a financial plan and once you understand them, your direction will be clearer.
As you are writing your plan I think you should also be living it… People will say I can put “X” dollars a month to towards marketing or this or that… In my opinion you should try saving the money you plan on spending before you actually begin. This way you know if you in fact can spend the resource.
Once you determine that you can feed your new career then begin… As for personal income you should never expect to earn useable personal money for at least six months.
Michael