[grizzly0925]

Originally Posted by airedale

Longtime small business mentor here, including 6+ years with SCORE.

A business plan is A Good Thing. As you say, OP, figuring things out and getting them on paper. But it's not the first thing.

The most popular mistake I see is people getting all cranked up with LLC formation, Tax and Employer ID numbers, logos, ... maybe even some equipment, without ever talking to customers and scoping out competitors. Hopefully you have not skipped this step. Who will your customers be? What do they want to buy? How will you attract them? Who is the competition? What is your unique selling proposition that will make your business superior to theirs? .... and on and on and on.

I had a couple of guys who wanted to own laundromats. They did all the book research; census tract data, density of rental housing, average household size, etc. and identified a number of really promising locations. When they got in their cars and checked out the locations, there was a laundromat at every one! Subsequently talking to a supplier of laundry equipment, they were told that the only feasible way to get into the business was to buy someone out. The market would no longer support new entrants.

I'm seeing this with food trucks in our market. They are so popular with entrepreneurs that the used truck market is zero. Huge demand, no supply. Well I happen to believe that the food truck market here is saturated. The ones that appear to be successful have allied themselves with micro-brew tap rooms, parking outside on a regular or even constant basis. Without this type of connection, I think financial success of an un-aligned food truck is questionable. But ... the tap room market is also saturated and I am expecting a significant shake-out. So bye-bye to the food trucks serving tap rooms that disappear.

So .. in connection with a business plan, you have to be out there locating and talking to customers, locating and scoping out competitors, checking local laws and regulations, etc. The best business plan in the world will not save a business that hasn't found a viable market for its product.

Re templates: score.org has a number text and spreadsheet templates for free download.

Thanks for all this insight! I am definitely trying to evaluate a target base and where I am going to be. I have spoken with a few "competitors" I think my market will be niche but good enough aiming more towards a unauthentic "texaque" feel to things. Not much of that around here but I feel I can market for a demand. We will see. I will give those templates a look and began the other processes, have for sure been looking into local laws etc.