Why do I need a Business Plan?
The number one reason to have a business plan is for you, so that you have clarity of vision of who you are, what you’re doing and where you’re going.
The second reason, is to help raise capital. No private investor or a lender is going to give you the money you need without a business plan. You need to be able to show to other people that you know what you’re doing and where you’re going. You need to know where it starts, where we break even, where we’re profitable, what’s my reserve and all of the details. You want to give them a clear vision so they can buy into or lend to you.
What are the 5 Ps?
- People. Me, you, whoever is inside and operating within this business. The first thing a lender is going to look at is, who are the people involved? What experience do they have that is related to what they’re giving the money for? What do you do now that relates to what you’re raising the capital for? And if you don’t, who else can you put inside your Business Plan as an advisor? A team of people is better than one person.
- Product. In your business plan you have to lay it out. What is it that you’re doing? Is it a product, a service, Is it whatever? You need to explain that clearly. With senior housing we’ve got it down to a T. We know exactly what it is.
- Position. Are you the most expensive and that’s what makes you better than everybody else? Or are you the least expensive, which makes you available to everybody and everybody, however you don’t want to be the cheapest because then you’re always battling on price, and to be at the top? There’s very few clients or customers at the top. The best position is to be a high quality, somewhere above the middle. That’s what we call the sweet spot.
- Projections. If you’re buying an existing business, there’s a past, a present, and there’s the projections into the future. The projections are, this is where we’re at and this is where we’re going. I’m going to encourage you to be conservative. Whatever you think it is, reduce it a little bit more. Don’t go overboard, make it more conservative to give you some breathing room so that you can under promise and over deliver when it’s all done.
- Plan. An exit plan is one of the key elements that most people miss. That lender doesn’t want to know how much money they’re gonna make. They need to know their money is safe. They need to know there is a purpose. A two to five year exit plan means their money is committed for two to five years and our plan is to either sell or refinance once that business is stabilized. And that investor wants to know that they’re going to eventually get out of that deal. So two to five years on an exit plan is that key.
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