First things first: your plans will change over time, so you're not supposed to write them in stone. You'll use a pencil or, better yet, your Mac to write things down. There are various reasons for writing or not writing a business plan. Businesses have succeeded and failed with or without a business plan. There are no guarantees. Business plans are a sanity test for you and your investors. When it comes to starting your own business, you will need a roadmap, a business plan. You will need a business plan to outline how you plan to achieve or “make it” for you and your family. This section covers the basics of the business plan. It is better to consult more reliable and specific business plan books, or to seek help from professionals. There are too many variables for each potential business for this book to cover. There are three levels of business plan writing: Basic plan (done over the weekend and one to two pages long) for startups. This is where you take a weekend or more to write an outline of the who, what, where, when, why and how you intend to make money. This will take a few paragraphs to a few pages. Once written, you can start the following Monday. This plan is for those who have a simple, easy idea to get started, such as a freelance writer or personal trainer. You can start a business with just a few hundred dollars and putting in some time and effort. Startup plan (4-6 weeks to complete, 5-20 pages) for large startups and established businesses. A plan like this requires more thought, research and more money to get started, in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars that will need to be invested. Although startups can use this level of business plan, it is also used by establishments...... middle of paper ...... for your questions about the data, not what it looks like. This is the next area to address. Summary or display area, you can rearrange the results to suit your message or the “look and feel” of the business plan. The summary cell may refer to a results cell, but may display information completely differently, especially if you include charts or mix various data results sources to arrive at your message. “The million dollar idea”. One of the I Love Lucy shows called The Millionaire Idea is where Lucy and Ethel go into business together selling Lucy's Aunt Martha's salad dressing. The problem is that they haven't calculated how much they would get. Ricky comes and does it for them and realizes that after all their work, they would only make a few cents. Developing a business plan helps to understand this and avoids wasting valuable time, money and reputation..