If you are writing a business plan you should be very attentive and concentrated because it is easy to make a mistake or omit something impor tant. Here are some widely spread mistakes and best ways to solve them:
1. Create a vision. There is a temptation to dive right into details of your business without a backward glance: evaluating products, studying market segments, and sizing up your competition. But be careful to be easily carried away by planning your business that you may lose the sight of what you are planning for. But be so kind to make a step back before you get lost in details of your business. Outline a clear vision and a consistent set of values for your company. Develop a mission statement and use it to define short-term goals and priorities. So now you can be more confident in planning your business.
2. A budget isn’t the same with plan. You can’t start building your business plan without any financial forecast. But the budget should be created under the influence of other elements of your plan. You should reproduce clear picture of your industry, competitors, customers and market conditions before you develop a budget, otherwise your numbers won’t reflect reality.
3. Don't ignore your customers. For the first sight it sounds obvious, but on the other hand a lot of entrepreneurs forget about this and run their business without researching customer’s needs and desires.
4. Don't shortchange the competition. If you suppose your firm will be the only game in town or if you don’t take your competitors seriously you are about to have problems. Study your competitors you will see what is working in your company and what needs revising.
5. Be prepared to take risks. Entrepreneurs are creating business plans with the purpose to understand and cope with them, not to avoid. That’s why a good business plan includes a forecast of possible challenges and ways to meet them. There is a difference between calculated risk and foolishness. And your plan will help you to make that distinction.
6. Get a second opinion. Vice and experienced entrepreneur can receive a benefit from another point of view. Try to find someone who can study your plan independently. This will help you to identify all weaknesses of your plan.
7. Expect the unexpected. Every business plan needs to have predictions for possible unexpected changes. This should include budgets and marketing plans with built-in flexibility; but adapting to change also requires you to accept that you might have to modify or even abandon business practices that worked well in the past.
8. Don’t forget what makes you unique. A cookie-cutter business plan might help you get started, but it won’t help you to succeed. And while it helps to look at your competitors, don’t copy their business. Learn your competitors’ strengths, but also learn how to define their weaknesses and use them to improve your own business.
9. What’s the point? Running a business requires from you hard work and struggle. But it is also desirable to include a clear set of rewards both for you and your employees. When you set objectives in your business plan, include some concrete motivation that goes beyond the satisfaction of a well done job.
10. Don’t skip the plan. Of course the biggest mistake of all possible is to fail working upon business plan in the first place. Making a business plan is hard work and there is no assurance that it will make your business succeed. But anyway, a good plan is still the best way to run your business successfully. | 
