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Business Planning
Have you or someone else you know ever been asked to write a business plan, fearing that spelled the death of a new idea? It doesn’t need to happen to you. On this page, I will spell out:
- What is a business plan
- Why do you have to write one
- What are the typical components of a business plan
- How to write your business plan
- Where you can get help if you have questions
Few healthcare professionals receive training during medical school, residency, or fellowship in business planning. However, knowing what goes into a business plan improves your ability to collaborate with the team writing your business plan and increases your chances of obtaining the necessary funds to implement your new idea, even if you lack the time or background to write a business plan.
Whether you need a business plan to start a new business, capitalize on a research finding, or develop a new program or clinical service line, the process of writing a business plan follows an established format similar to writing a consultation, in which you present the risks, benefits, and alternatives.
Writing a well-crafted business plan will focus, clarify, and justify your request for scarce resources, and, thus, increase your chances for successful funding and execution.
Executive Summary
A well-written business plan offers a plausible, coherent story of an uncertain future. Thus, a concise, well-written, enthusiastic, one-page executive summary offers a great opportunity for you to create a positive first impression. If you state your request clearly and convincingly, people will want to partner with you.
Typically, the executive summary contains the following six elements:
- The Business Concept describes the unmet need you plan to fulfill, the services or products you plan to provide, and the benefits of those services or products
- The Market Analysis describes the people for whom your service or product is designed
- The Competitive Analysis describes alternatives to your idea and the reason that people will come to you rather than anyone else
- The Business Strategy describes your unique selling proposition (USP) and how you define and measure success
- The Financial Requirements describe how much money you need and how you will use that money to achieve your goals
- Operations describes your key personnel, compensation and benefits, space and equipment needs, and how you deal with unforeseen developments.
That describes briefly the elements of the executive summary. I hope that after reading this page, you are excited to bring your business plan to life.
Dr. Cohn is the author of Business Plan Writing for Physicians (Am J Surg 184(2):114-120, 2002). If you would like to contact Dr. Cohn for a 15- minute complimentary evaluation re: your business planning needs, please click here.