[.ca] The Successful Business Plan, 4th Edition: Secrets and ... (ISBN 0966963563)

The new 4th edition is outstanding.:
This is simply the best business planning guide on the market. I teach entrepreneurship classes and have used prior editions in my classes, but I'm really impressed with this new edition and how it reflects the realities of business planning in the post-dot-com era. There's a new chapter on seeking funding in a recession, which is the most frequent question I'm asked by my students now. The other thing I like about the new edition is the Excel templates for generating the business plan's financials. They work exactly like the worksheets in the book, which lessens the learning curve. BUT, you have to buy the templates separately from the publisher's website. All in all, a great update to an already excellent book. Highly recommended.

Not as helpful as I had hoped....:
I did not find this book as helpful as I was hoping. First, and most importantly, I needed more examples. There was only one and it was a service organization and I needed to see an example of a manufacturing organization where the target customer was not so geographically limited. Also, I found that the way the book is organized was difficult. I felt the book was more oriented toward helping someone sort out their thoughts and feelings about starting a business than it was focused on actually structuring and writing a business plan. What I actually need are the hard, factual mechanics of writing a business plan and I did not find it to my satisfaction in this book.

Great for someone with little accounting experience!:
I was so scared of writing a business plan that I put it off for as long as I could (nearly a year!). But my potential investor made it clear that I would have to bite the bullet. I owe Abrams a huge "thank-you" for making the business plan writing process something that could be done thoroughly, efficiently, and done well--and didn't take me too long at all. But the best part is that you can download finacial spreadsheet templates from the publisher's website!! I am the kind of person who has an idea and just wants to run with it; I have a hard time figuring out specifics and financial realities. Between the book (which explained exactly what I needed to know about target markets, competition, cost-benefit analysis and the like) and the downloadable spreadsheets (which did all of the math, and carried the numbers through to all of the projection sheets and balance sheets and income statements and such, and took care of all of the formatting--just print and go!), I was able to write a top-notch, professional-looking business plan (if I do say so myself!) to present to my potential investor, and to the bank when I go to apply for a loan! And I won't feel embarassed by my lack of experience--at least, my business plan won't convey it. Plus, it's really important to go through the process of writing a business plan (and Abrams addresses this in the book) so you can really get a good, clear, structured idea of what you're doing, how you need to do it, and why you're starting a business in the first place.

Great book, some flaws...but not enough to lose stars:
This book was well organized and some of the worksheets were a little hard to use but its still one of the better books I've looked at. The worksheets I had problems with were the financial planners. Some of them were not well explained and therefore hard to use. Overall, the book was very thorough and hopefully it will help my plans for starting a business go through. Pros: -The sample plans were the strongest part of the book because it allowed you to see how the worksheets were put together. -Very thorough book. -Leaves nothing out in terms of how to write a business plan and then how to get the money. Cons: -The book fell apart on me after reading through it a few times. For such a high quality text I expect a better put together book. -Some of the financials were not matching other sections of the sample plan to see how it was put together overall. -Some of the worksheets especially the financials were not well explained.

Best business plan book out there:
I was assigned this book for an Exec.MBA class, and it's one I'm going to keep after I sell a lot of my other books back. I've had to do business plans for the corporation I work for and for a friend's business, and I've looked at tons of books, and this is just the best one out there. If you go to the publishers website you can also get Excel templates so filling out the financial forms is straightforward and they're also best-of-breed. This is the book to use if you want to impress a boss, professor, or investor.