YOUR LEGAL COMPANION | 3If a series of #### symbols appear in a
box in a spreadsheet, that means that you
will need to widen the column in order to
display the numbers.)
Meet Antoinette
In an effort to make sense out of the
thousands of types of small businesses,
I have roughly divided them into five
main ones: retail, wholesale, service,
manufacturing, and project development.
All the financial tools I present can be
used by all five. However, for the sake of
simplicity, I follow one particular retail
business—a dress shop. In so doing, I
illustrate most of the planning concepts
and techniques necessary to understand
and raise money for any business.
As you read through the text you’ll
meet Antoinette Gorzak, a friend of mine.
Antoinette wants to open a dress shop,
and she has allowed me to use her plans
and thought processes as an example of
a complete and well-prepared business
plan for a retail store. You’ll find parts of
her plan presented in different chapters as
we discuss the various components of a
complete business plan.
Getting Started
Before you sit down to write your plan,
you’ll want to gather together these
essentials:
• a word processor
• a calculator or computer spreadsheet
program
• a good supply of 8½" by 11" paper
• several pencils and a good eraser, and
• access to a photocopy machine.
Now, here’s a word about revisions and
changing your plan. I firmly believe in
writing your first thoughts on paper and
letting them rest for a day or two. Then
you can edit, expand, and revise later to
get a more perfect statement. In this book,
I show examples of Antoinette’s writing
process. (I’m grateful she’s such a good
sport.)
Most people discover about halfway
through writing their plan that they want
to change either their assumptions or some
of the plan they’ve already written. My
best advice is this: Complete the plan all
the way through on your original set of
assumptions. That way you can see the
financial impact of your ideas, and it will
be much easier to make the right changes
in the second draft. If you start revising
individual parts of the plan before you
have the complete picture, you’ll waste
a lot of energy. If you’re like me, you’ll
rewrite and edit your plan several times
once you’ve finished the first run through.