A business plan provides the framework for how an enterprise will get off the ground, but when drafting the document it's important to understand what components are necessary and what can be left out. Writing up an 100-page business plan will surely help entrepreneurs; however, it it may be unnecessary to allocate that much time to the document.

There are certain inclusions needed in the business plan to give everyone involved the intended direction of the firm, but leaving some gray area to be filled out along the way has been a successful strategy for many entrepreneurs. Here are some tips for a business plan that will allow an entrepreneur to become competitive in the marketplace.  

"I think a small-business plan should focus on a few simple, essential things," Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup, told Entrepreneur magazine. "One, what is the product or service? Two, who will buy it? Three, how will you get paid?"

Don't be too detailed
Entrepreneurs need to find their niche before knowing how their firm will become a success. Keeping this in mind, a business plan should be short and concise, but also have enough information to pique the interest of potential investors. Doing some financial forecasting as part of the original business plan is important because entrepreneurs need to look at the costs it will take to get their firms off the ground, as well as some of the expenses they will incur down the road. While starting up a business, it's hard to project sales, which is why it is a smart move for entrepreneurs to let some things fall where they may instead of planning everything. 

"We realize we have some missing pieces in our business and want to develop a plan to address those weaknesses and pursue new opportunities," Cynde Margritz, CEO of Peak Neurofitness, told the magazine. "The biggest benefit is the planning process itself."

Don't restrict the business
Writing an extensive business plan can definitely help, but it can also be debilitating by restricting growth in some areas of the firm. When starting a company, understanding what products and/or services will be best sellers is hard to predict. Seeing how the public responds to the business will give entrepreneurs an opportunity to adjust their business plans based on the success and failures they have experienced throughout the life of their firms.

"This is not to say that planning is unimportant, but a lot of people get stuck in the paralysis of planning and never actually do anything," Guillebeau told the magazine.

Business plans are surely important, but not as vital to the success of the firm than the execution of the plan. With strong leadership skills, entrepreneurs will be able to work around the holes in their plans that they left blank during the brainstorming process.

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