Why A Business Plan Is Important When Applying For Funding

Starting a small business in Canada is something a lot of Canadians dream about. More importantly they dream about starting a successful Canadian business that will thrive in the current economic state. Time and time again, small businesses have to shut their doors because they simply have run out of money. Small business owners need to be applying for funding. While this is every entrepreneur’s nightmare there are many ways to avoid this terrible situation.

One of the key ways to keep your business alive is making sure there is enough capital and funding to allow production to resume. For many entrepreneurs starting out, there seems to be too much pride in reaching out for funding or for potential investors. This needs to stop, as there are many wealthy organizations and people in Canada, willing to invest in a business that they think will be successful.

If you believe in the product/service you will be selling and know it is going to make money, you definitely need to start telling people about it and gathering funding.

There are so many grants and funding bodies across the country that it can be quite difficult to know what one will work for you. We offer a great tool at CanadaStartUps in our Funding Database. This database offers a look at over 1500 sources for funding from the government to private investors. Once a member, you will be able to look at all of these sources and narrow down where you are going to reach out for funding.

However, the only way you will ever be successful in getting funding for your business is through a strong business plan. A business plan is the most important thing to have when applying for funding. A business plan is made up of three integral pieces:

The Basics Of Your Business

This is where you lay out the current heads of your business, what product or service you are offering, your long and short terms goals, and what your mission is.

Why Your Business Should Exist

This aspect of your business plan is where you prove why your business is going to be successful. This has all of the current market research and outlines the biggest competition you will have. It is proving why you will make money over the largest people in the market already.

Money, Money, Money!

The last aspect, and one of the most important for obtaining funding, is all about your budget. It will break down the numbers so investors can see that eventually they will have a return on their investment.

The biggest reason a business plan is the most important thing when applying for funding is it gives you major credibility. No one is going to give entrepreneur money if they do not have a firm business plan that they can trust and believe in. We offer our “Business Plan Builder” tool to allow an entrepreneur to create a professional looking business plan that is easy to do, and will have all the requirements needed in order to obtain funding.