After you show that the company breaks even, you should include future investments of the profits. Once a company breaks even, it doesn't usually pay back the investors and then fold-up. What would be the point of that? Instead, once a company breaks even and the cash flow becomes positive, there should be a plan in place for reinvesting some of that money back into the company. Investments might include investment in human resources, in equipment, in marketing and advertising, or in growth through acquiring other companies.

Include a plan for investing in these four areas. Show how investments into employees will result in further profits over time. These profits might result from lower turnover, less employee theft, or a better human resource department that can screen the best potential employees. Whatever you see the potential benefits as, try to quantify the benefits in terms of profit.

There is a "rule of thumb" in business that says you should re-invest at least 50% of your profit in advertising. Advertising is the investment that keeps on giving. If you spend $200 on a radio ad, it can bring in $1000 worth of business. Do a nice job and the word of mouth from that $1000 worth of business can grow to much more. When trying to include returns from advertising money into your financial plan you should definitely have a professional accountant and a professional advertiser look over you figures.

Investing in improved communications is a low risk way to increase profit. It doesn't cost that much money to improve a website, make nice business cards, or even develop a brochure. However, these items are a part of the "first impression" that is so important when doing business. At some point during your first five years in business, you will want to re-invest some of your profit into improving your first impression. You can do this by hiring a graphic artist to rework your company logo or by having a copywriter write up the text in your newsletter or on your website. These jobs can be hired out as piecework or you might consider adding communication specialists to your staff.

No matter what sort of investment you plan to make in your company, include those investments in the financial plan portion of your business plan. Lenders are not just interested in the start-up budget. They also want to see how you plan on turning a profit into even more money. To do this, you much re-invest most of the profits into the business. Show where all the money is going and make a projection concerning how that money will be returned and the risks involved in each investment. Keep in mind that you are preparing you business plan for business people. They will expect you to take some risks in order to grow your profit margin and increase your cash flow.