ForumsStarting a Business

www.sba.gov the Small bussiness administration has free information. Including Business plan writing and tutorials. It is an excellent resource for the new entrepreneur. Also see the local SCORE counselors. Thewy should be located in the local community college. These counselors are retired executives. They have TONS of knowledge. Utilize it! Business plan pro is a good software program, but why pay $80 or more for information you can get for free?

Welcome to the community.

Functionally, this is one of the better business planning products available -- I think everything you could want is there.

Technically, this product can be annoying -- hangs up, crashes, and the output (printed or exported) often has format problems.

One advantage of using planning software like this is that it (in effect) asks you questions you wouldn't think to ask if you are a new entrepreneur. Yes, there are spreadsheets and templates you can download for free that provide the same advantage, and if you connect with a SCORE counselor or other mentor, he/she can probably guide you through the planning process far more effectively than software can. If you're going it all alone, however, you'd have to figure out what to download and from where -- so the software would probably save you time and be worth the price.

Another advantage of this software (for some business owners) is that it provides operational figures for similar businesses in the same industry (for instance, if you were opening a new pizza restaurant, you could see the operating expenses and ratios for other pizza restaurants -- which could really aid you in making realistic projections about yours). However, I can tell you that having data for other businesses in the education/training industry is all but useless to a small enterprise in that industry (so if you are a one or two person contract training firm or seminar provider, I don't think that feature woould really benefit you very much).

Hope that helps. Best wishes.

Thanks for the welcome and your opinion. From what you say, it does seem to have its advantages and I will definatley keep those in mind. Maybe I'll see how far I get and then if I start spending a lot of time, move toward the software. Thanks again.