The Arthur Young Business Plan Guide

One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make in preparing business plans is producing a "canned" finished product that diminishes their credibility. This book will go a long way to help you sidestep this pitfall. The text gives you a context for your plan; that is, it discusses what the end user is looking for. It is general enough to cover most agendas and specific enough to provide practical advice. Even though this book was published nearly 15 years ago it is not dated by changes in technology. It sticks to the time-honored basics. I have reviewed many texts and templates in my consulting practice, and this is the best guide that I've seen.

This is a great book. Simple to the point advice about developing a business plan.

This book says it all very concisely, no fluff. I've written three business plans with it. Read a chapter in the book, write a chapter of the plan. The examples are very good. I just hit $1MM in sales on my third try - I give this book a lot of credit for helping me get organized.

I think this book does of a great job of succintly outlining the dos and donts of business plan writing. I also think that the example plan is most instructional. The only thing it could do better is to put in a sample business plan that is based on a services model, rather than a products model. It also could touch on the Internet as a special information resource.

If you're looking for something more than "Business Plans for Dummies" but don't need a textbook this is the book for you. Reads quickly, gives some pertinent details. A sample plan is used to illustrate components and the author comments on its strong and weak points.