First, your business plan should define and focus your objective, using appropriate information and analysis. This is going to help you to use the business plan you create as a great tool for recruiting investors, and getting banks to want to loan you money. You can also use a business plan to help you uncover any weaknesses in your plan. When you create a plan, and do a thorough job at it, your plan will quickly show you omissions or weaknesses that you could have avoided. In addition to that, you can use your business plan to help you get advice from others.

When creating a business plan, use the following checklist to help you ensure that you cover all the areas that you should cover:

1. Write out your basic business concept. This is going to mean that you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and create an outline of what it is you are going to do for your business.
2. Gather all the data you can on the feasibility and specifics of your business. This means look at similar companies, what their average profits are, what they cost to run, what their marketing strategies are and more.
3. Focus and refine your concept. This means that you need to start to get more specific.
4. Outline the specifics using a "what, where, why, how" approach. This means you are going to get into the nitty-gritty of the details of the business, do not leave things out.
5. Put your plan into a compelling format. This part is how you get others more involved in your business, get investors, loans, etc.

Once you have met those basics, take the following tips and incorporate them into a plan with a good format, they may include the following:

A Vision Statement

A vision statement should be a concise outline of your purpose and goal, which should be clear if you have used the checklist.

The People

This is where you get specific about how you and your experiences can make you an ideal candidate for the business you are starting. If you have other people in on the idea, make sure you indicate how their experiences will be applicable as well.

Your Business Profile

This is where you take the time to describe exactly how you plan to go about your intended business. Stay focused on the specialized market you intend to serve. You want to make it clear how you will be running your business, who your target market is, and more.

Economic Assessment

This is a very important part, it is where you provide an assessment of the economic side of the business, what you expect as far as competition goes, how much money you can expect to earn, and more.

Cash Flow Assessment

This is where you use your research etc. to create a one-year cash flow projection that will incorporate all your capital requirements.

With this checklist, and the proper amount of work and research, you will be able to have a great business plan, which will hopefully result in a great business.