Hi aspiring entrepreneur, do you need investors? Looking for a mortgage? Do you want to apply for a grant? Or has the time just come to do a self-analysis of your startup? Are you expanding your business? Looking for new markets? Seeking the next level in your business? These are all times that you need an entrepreneurship report.
Here are first tips below that you must follow while building your business report.
Professional: Internally it should be well structured with an index, page numbers, headings and bulleted paragraphs that explain the complex matter. Plenty of graphics break up the boredom of too many words. Externally it should be expertly bound and have a colorful and attractive cover page. It stands to reason that full company details and contact information should also be on the front cover.
Charming. Written in a way that encourages the reader to assess the possibilities of entering the business. Take care of the writing style, be concise but not brief and certainly not so wordy that tiredness beckons. Keep to the point, remove extraneous information that does not support your business planning or business model. Avoid jargon and if you must use initials to ensure that the first example is spelled out completely with the initials in brackets afterward.
Progressive. You have to be creative, but with some restraint. It is best if you tell a story but not one that is found in the fiction section of a library. If the business you propose does not invite big flourishes, save them. It can be counterproductive to distract the reader. Creativity is important as long as you highlight something about the business and is there to keep the attention of the reader. Creativity must only be used to paint a picture of how the business will operate in the future.
Right. Clarity is fundamental, but so is accuracy and truthfulness about the current state of your company and its future aims. A little bit of license is offered by the reader but they do expect you to be truthful about your figures, customer numbers, and state of the production of your goods.
Organized. Guide your reader through your business plan and put supporting documentation within the appendix of the report. Although the key information should be in the main sections of the report, in the appendices you can include secondary data, market study results, resumes of professionals and any letters from a recommendation or favorable report.
The last ingredient that will hold your business report together is CARE. Your report is not just something you have to rush through in order to get your funding. It is the description of what your business looks like now and what you want it to look like in the future. Most reports start at about 20 pages long for a small business to a maximum of 50 pages for a business seeking major funding. Whatever the size of your business plan, and please practice writing complex ideas in a simple elegant manner, it should be written with care – after all a good business plan is a roadmap to company success!
