You wouldn’t build a house without a plan right? Well, with business its the same thing, planning provides the foundations that you can then build your business upon.

- Money follows management. Investors look first at the people involved in the company. If you are just starting out and don’t have relevant experience, investors expect to see that you have an experienced team of advisors and employees helping you in the business.

- Make sure you “sell” the one reason your business will become profitable.

- State clearly the strategies you will employ to get the word out about your business. Your business plan must show how you will leverage the Internet, public relations, viral marketing, and other strategies to attract customers.

- Present realistic estimates of the time, energy and costs of building a successful business. Do not underestimate or overestimate revenues. While investors know your numbers are simply guesses, they want to see that your numbers are within the “range of reality.” Be careful of your financial statements: this is one area where you can easily lose credibility if presented poorly.

- Benchmark similar companies to show that you’ve done your homework and researched the market.

- Your Executive Summary is your calling card. If it is not a winner, investors may not even read your entire plan. Emphasize your own as well as your team’s track record in the Executive Summary.

- Before sending your business plan to lenders and investors, send it out first to a few in order to get feedback. You’d want to correct your plan if someone tells you that you’re way off mark, rather than have a potential investor tell it to you and lose the chance to get the funding you need.

Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:

- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html

You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:

- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
- VFinance – View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&ToolPage=bps_main.asp
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_m.asp
- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html
-SBA Business Planning Guide http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- Small Business Advancement Center http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/businessPlan.pdf
- Sample Business Plan General planning guide created by the Canadian Business Service Center. http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=CBSC_FE/display&c=GuideFactSheet&cid
- Business Plans Index – A subject guide to sample business plans and profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. http://216.183.184.20/subject/business/bplansindex.html

Some recommended books are :

- Business Plans Kit for Dummies
- The Complete Book of Business Plans : Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan
- Writing Business Plans That Get Results : A Step-By-Step Guide
- Business Plans For Dummies®
- Your First Business Plan : A Simple Question and Answer Format Designed to Help You Write Your Own Plan

Most businesses don't fail because of inadequate training though. As you pointed out, it's more about lack of planning. I ran my own small businesses for a few years, and I made sure to only hire people that didn't need any training!

Is your concern that businesses fail because of no proper training programs?

Also. dont forget to study your competitors. know why people bring thier pets there.. Dont follpow what your competitor is doing.. but you have to do something in order to differentiate your service from your competitors.

Also, SCORE is invaluable in that old school retired business people give you advice and direction.

And last but not least, the SBA stinking blows. They tout how they help small business, minorities, women, etc…
but from personal experience, you need to have mass collateral to get SBA backing.
I went to open a salon. I had an immaculate business plan that I developed with SCORE and the Small Business Development Center at the local level. My credit score was 780. I owned 2 houses with approximately $100,000 equity between the two of them. I had over $60,000 in savings, a 401k, iras, stocks, bonds, etc. Net value far exceeded what was "required". I didn't want to use my savings or refinance my houses to open a salon. I wanted to borrow $125,000.

Because I was not buying the building in which I opened my salon, I was turned down by 10 stinking banks – all telling me that if I'd buy the building (yeah right…it's a huge strip mall) that they back me because THEN and only then, would they feel as though I had the proper type of collateral to make them comfortable. Oh – and they would only lend me $250,000 or more toward buying the building to establish my salon. WTF?

Long story short, I used my own savings for my buildout, leased my equipment and told the SBA to freaking bite me. Been in business 5 years, I paid off all my leases after 2.8 years and myself back the buildout money the following year – and all profit is now mine.

When I first started my research and my business plan, an accountant told me that less than 1% of all businesses that ask for SBA backing get it. I didn't believe him then, but after being 86'd by 10 top banks, I believe him now…Phuck the SBA.

If I can do it on my own, anybody can.