How To Write A Business Plan: Part 3 "The S.W.O.T. Analysis"

Moving along in our series on "How To Write A Business Plan" we are now in section 3 of the business plan, The SWOT Analysis. 

See the full video "How To Write A Business Plan: Part 3 "The S.W.O.T. Analysis" " below:



This section of the business plan is optional, as explained in the video, some of my clients do not want it in the business plan because it may shine a negative light on the business plan.  Regardless a company will be at a huge advantage if it systematically draws out a SWOT analysis for its' business venture.  So what is a SWOT analysis anyway?

A S.W.O.T. Analysis is a look at the (1) strengths of a company or business plan (2) weaknesses of a company or business plan (3) opportunities of a company or business plan and (4) threats to a company or business plan. 

The best way to explain this is to give you an example.  To stay within my core competencies I will quickly develop a SWOT analysis for my business plan writing service on my website at NicholasCoriano.com:

Strengths:
  • My experience writing over 200 business plans.
  • My finance degree to help my clients with financial projections.
  • My law degree to help clients build a business plan that has limited legal liability.
Weaknesses:
  • My current status as a sole proprietor and lack of team.
  • My geographic location may lead some potential customers to not hire someone far away.
  • My full workload on most weeks does not allow me to take on more clients.
Opportunities:
  • The world-wide reach of the internet allows to me market to a greater number of potential customers.
  • Proper search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can lead to cost effective marketing.
  • The use of interns can lead to potentially working with more clients.
Threats:
  • Well established consulting firms may compete with my services and increase their marketing budget making it harder for me to reach my target customer.
  • Software like LivePlan or other business plan building software may lead customers to write and develop their own business plan.
  • Organizations or VCs may stop requiring a business plan leading to lowered demand for business plan writing services.
Ok, as you read through this SWOT analysis certain things should become clear; your threats and weaknesses are also the places within your business plan or idea that can be converted to strengths and opportunities.   For example the weakness of being a sole proprietor can lead to an opportunity to hire interns and expand the business. You can have a SWOT analysis that is a simple as what is above or a full report totaling 10 pages.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  What is helpful about the SWOT analysis is that you will be able to explain throughout your business plan how you will capitalize on your strengths and oppurtunies and fix or hedge your weaknesses and threats. 

We are moving along with our basic outline of a standard business plan which has the following sections:
If you need help developing or writing your business plan, feel free to reach out to me.  Hope this was helpful,

The PushYourRank Team
Posted By: Nicholas Coriano

About The Author: Nicholas Coriano is a Business Plan Writer & Entrepreneur, Web Developer, Social Media Marketer, SEO Consultant and the founder of this blog, www.NewYorkWebsiteDesignCenter.com, and many other online businesses.  While developing websites for his own businesses and marketing his entrepreneurial ventures online, he began blogging useful tips and "how-to" articles on PushYourRank.com for reference purposes.  To retain Nicholas for help with your business plan, website launch or product launch, email PushYourRank@Gmail.com