If you have been researching information about starting a home business, you may have read about the importance of a business plan and why every business needs one.  If the thought of writing out a complex document intimidates you, you may be surprised to learn that a one-page business plan is sufficient for many businesses, especially when the business is new.

To keep things simple, you can start out by writing a mission statement.  Your mission statement will describe the reason your business exists.  Your mission statement can help you create your business brand and should be incorporated into your marketing materials.

Some questions to ponder when writing your mission statement include:
* What is my business?
* Why does my business exist?
* Who wants the product or service I offer?
* What can my product or service do for them?

Once you have created your mission statement, you can start writing out your business objectives.  Your business objectives are the things you want your business to accomplish.  A sample objective would include “to increase my business revenue to $20,000 per year”.




The next step is to write out your business goals.  To be effective, your goals should be clearly defined and realistic.  You should also set time limits on your goals rather than leave them open-ended.

You will want to set out various goals for yourself, such as a one-month goal, three-month goal, six-month goal and a yearly goal.  As you achieve these goals, you can revisit your business plan and change things as needed.

After you have established your goals, you can develop your plan of action for achieving them.  Writing out your plan of action for each goal will help you focus your efforts and accomplish your goals in the time frame you have set.

You will also want to include some information on how you plan to market your business.  Your target market is the group of people you want to promote your business to.  By clearly defining who they are, you will be able to make the most of your marketing efforts. 

For example, if you decide your target market is stay-at-home moms who home school their children, you will want to seek out marketing opportunities in magazines, websites, and other media that are also targeted to that market. 

You can also write out marketing goals, such as how many press releases you would like to send out each month, if you would like to become an exhibitor at an expo, or if you would like to try viral marketing by writing a special report.