You have an idea for a business. You know what you want to sell, who you can sell it to, and how much you stand to earn from it. There's just one more thing you need: a business plan.

Many people dread idea of preparing a business plan. They think of them as complicated, unnecessary documents that exist only to make it more difficult for them to get started as an entrepreneur. They are wrong.

Business plans are necessary because they help you "see" your business. Instead of just talking in abstract ways about your "customer base" and your "profit potential," it lets you put those things in writing and in concrete terms. It forces you to think through every aspect of your business in advance so down road you don't realize you've made a mistake that's cost you your business, your life's savings, and your job.

Besides all of that, they are also important tools for getting other people interested in your business. For one, if you've taken time to create a business plan, others will realize that you are serious about this endeavor and that it isn't just some pie-in-the-sky dream. A business plan also shows people that you are a professional and that you understand what it takes to start and manage a business. This is all extremely important, particularly if you need any type of outside funding, such as loans or investors.

So while bad news may be that you definitely do need a business plan, good news is that they don't have to be complicated. The truth is that your plan only needs to cover seven main areas and none of these areas are going to require you to write a full-length novel. These five sections are executive summary, company overview, business environment, company description, and action plan. All of those sections may sound complex, but most of them won't involve information that you don't already know.

Executive Summary

Even though this section will technically be first in your business plan, you should actually write it last because, just as its name implies, it summarizes entire contents of your business plan. Because many readers never bother to get beyond executive summary, you must make sure that it is comprehensive and well-written.

If that sounds difficult, it isn't. Just make sure to read through your entire business plan before you start writing executive summary. Make a list of information that you think is most important or that would really stand out to a reader, and be sure to include all of it in your summary.

Company Overview

When you first start your business everything can be quite confusing. There are many pitfalls and problems that are difficult to work out on your own. Choosing right business for you. How to get edge on your competitors? What to do first? How to really make money and escape that 9-5 job? These are just a few of confusing questions that face beginner. If you try to begin without help, you are setting yourself up for failure. Very few can succeed in business without someone to help you and steer you in right direction. You are indeed like a ship without a captain when you try to start a business alone

Here are a few common mistakes made by “newbies” when they first start a home-based business.

1. Starting a business without knowing who you should be marketing to. Without knowing how to target your market you can spend hours of wasted time and a lot of wasted dollars.

2. Getting into wrong business, with too much competition supply and not enough demand. If you do not get into a specialized market with high demand and less supply you are setting yourself up for failure and you will never make a decent living.

3. Believing that a free program will make you money, these are some of biggest scams on Internet.

4. Joining one business opportunity failing after a month and then joining another and another. This is how many beginners loose tons of money and valuable time.

5. Thinking that money can be made in a short time with no work, this is another pitfall too many “newbies” fall into.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have some personal guidance, somebody who can work with you one-on-one? Show you how to start right and save you all that time and money. Somebody who can help you “cut a pathway through trees.” This is where a mentor will help you, and better still a course that comes with mentoring help.