Written by Aaron Colman info@ibasics.biz http://www.ibasics.biz

In beginning, people hunted animals... grew crops... and lived close to people they worked for. In fact that was one of big plusses in working for someone else. If you worked for a local king, his castle and guards would protect you from outside armies, while providing a means to settle domestic disputes.

As time went on, governments became less about getting work done and more about collecting taxes and providing for general welfare of it's people.

In corporate age, people would come to work for a central agency and that organization took on many of same roles as kingdoms of old.

Times have changed some. Today, with advent of a wide-spread Internet some tasks can be done by people anywhere in world. If this trend continues, many projects will end up having it's work "distributed" across a large area. This is known as outsourcing.

Outsourcing has become very controversial as many people feel that their jobs are being shipped overseas with no potential for getting a new one, but there's a definite upside to domestic outsourcing.

Domestic outsourcing is different from off-shoring. Domestic means that you're outsourcing to someone else in same country or area. Not only are you providing for your local community, but there's a real cost-to-benefit increase in staying in a local jurisdiction. When you offshore to someplace far overseas, there's not a heck of a lot you can do if they decide to blow you off. It's just not feasible to take someone to court overseas for a few thousand dollars. This means that outsourcing projects overseas comes with a definite increase in risk associated with decrease in cost. This shouldn't be surprising as most increases return come with added risk... but there is a reliable way to improve your returns without adding this risk. And that is...

Domestic Outsourcing.

Domestic outsourcing IS wave of future. Large corporations are being overtaken by large waves of competition from smaller, more efficient, organizations. While some large industrial applications can never be outsourced, many can be.

Here are some things to consider when outsourcing a project:

The Pros: The biggest decrease is in cost. If you have only a small project that needs done, why go thru hassle of hiring someone and paying all of those taxes and related fees? Not to mention potential legal issues of hiring a staff. Liability issues, discrimination laws, list is huge.

The simple answer is that lenders and investors (I'll call them "readers" from here on out) are looking for "good deals". A "good deal" is one that offers reader a reasonable rate of return for risk assumed. The complete answer is that you should write a plan that a reader will want to read and then get it to reader(s) who are looking for your type of project and levels of risk and return. This article deals with first part of equation - how to write a business plan that readers will want to read.

Readers want plans that clearly, accurately and completely allow them to make an initial determination about project. Here are steps needed to write that plan:

To paraphrase a real estate expression, three most important things about a business plan are research, research and research. While other things are important (even critical), ultimately your plan will live or die on quality and completeness of your information. For that matter, you're about to risk your time and financial future on a project - how much information do you want to have? Step one:

1. Become expert in your project. Learn everything possible about:

a. The customers to whom you will sell (your market).

b. The competition.

c. The actual costs of operating your business (get quotes).

d. The actual results of similar projects.

e. Your industry.

f. The project's physical location(s) and it's impact (if any) on project.

g. The people who will be key to project.

(You are welcome to use as a guide questions that we use with FundablePlans to query a business plan. It is available via e-mail at http://www.fundableplans.com/how-to-do-a-business-plan.html )

If you've followed above, you've now got a mound of research - sticky notes, web pages, reports, quotes, etc., etc. But, what does it all mean? Step two:

2. Analyze. (Hopefully) when you first got idea for your project there was a sense of excitement and a feeling that "this is a sure winner". Now is time to see if your feelings were well founded. With a critical eye, do a "SWOT" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on your project. Determine what you are able to do to capitalize on S and O and minimize W and T.

Steps one and two may have changed somewhat your "sure winner" feelings - which is good. (If not, you either have hit upon next "sliced bread" or you need to redo preceding steps). Presuming that your research and analysis shows a worthwhile use of your time and money (and that of your readers) move to step three: