Looking for a business plan?

While looking through our Google Analytics, I saw a trend for the keyword 'Business Plan'. Almost every conceivable combination of business plan templates, professional business plans, free business plans, and sample business plans has been used to find MyEntre.Net. Maybe we are not doing a very good job of getting the word out there that we have free business plan examples here on MyEntre.Net? We've got sample business plans for the following specific types of businesses:

• Business Plan for a Computer Repair Business
• Business Plan for a Construction Firm
• Business Plan for a Day Spa
• Business Plan for a Graphic Design Company
• Business Plan for a Photography Company
• Business Plan for a Real Estate Brokerage
• Business Plan for a Restaurant
• Business Plan for a Retailer
• Business Plan for an Internet Cafe

Perhaps you are not looking for an example of a business plan, but rather need assistance creating one? There are a number of other resources available to you as an Iowa small business owner. One of the first places to check out is your local Iowa Small Business Development Center Consultant. The Iowa SBDC provides free one-on-one consulting on a variety of start-up business topics, like how to craft a business plan and what things you want to make sure you include. SBDC Consultants will also review any plan you have drafted and provide you with valuable feedback on areas that are strong and areas that may need improvement.

If you're looking for a quick-and-dirty way to create that first draft, the Small Business Administration has a great online free business plan creator that will outline the major business plan components, then generate a downloadable document for you. Also available via the MyEntre.Net business resource library, is the business plan guide which includes a generic outline of what elements to include in your business plan.

Another reason to create a business plan, outside of the many reasons outlined in this previous post about the importance of a business plan, is that it can be profitable via business plan competitions! Right now, the 2011 John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition is accepting applications from businesses four years old or less. The top award for their business plan competition is $25,000 with $15,000 and $10,000 second and third prize awards, respectively. Hurry though- this contest ends April 1st! To find others, do Google search of Business Plan Competition and explore all of the results that spring up! Of course, you should evaluate each competition to make sure it is legit- but there is certainly opportunity out there to make some money writing something you may already be creating.

This blog is a repost from MyEntre.Net, read the original post here.