Is there a difference between a business plan and a business model? Yes! Read on to see how business planning is a sub-set of your business model.

1. BUSINESS MODEL VS BUSINESS PLAN

2. What is a business model?

3. The proprietary method used to acquire, service, and retain customers

6. Equally important is a Business Plan…. What is a business plan? A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals What does it contain? Executive summary, business description/overview, market research, operations plan, financial plan and project management plan, marketing plan etc

7. Let’s investigate the first three items in a plan.. What is an executive summary? Typically a 1-2 page document that summarizes the whole business plan for the reader to efficiently and quickly understand the overall business idea What is a business description? Highlights the business type, proposed business location(s), products/services offered, unique value proposition What is market research? Entails target market, SWOT analysis, market size, market positioning, survey results and risks analysis

8. Let’s investigate the next 4 items in a plan… What is an operations plan? Typically entail manufacturing and production information, facilities, inventory, distribution and maintenance/service What is a financial plan? Discusses required funding, cash-flow projections, income and balance sheet statements, scenario/sensitivity analysis What’s in a project management plan? Team experience/skills, staff hiring requirements/plans, organizational structure and key project milestones What’s in a marketing plan? Marketing strategy, marketing channels, marketing budget, marketing milestones and marketing working structure