Chapter 9 | Editing and Finalizing Your Business Plan | 165
the franchisor provides you about the operation. Or let’s say you have invented a revolutionary new gadget. You’ll want to include a copy of the patent, patent search, or patent application to support your claims. The key to deciding what to include is whether the information helps the reader understand your proposal. Include proof of statements a lender or investor would be likely to question—for instance, horseshoeing is a growth industry. Do not include support for obvious statements—for example, people like ice cream. Don’t be afraid to edit by cutting and pasting, as long as you don’t unfairly change the meaning. Here are several things that you should commonly include in your appendix: • prior years’ financial statements if you are expanding an existing business (profit and loss statements and balance sheets from at least two prior years) • copies of proposed lease agreements • copies of bids for any needed construction work • plans for construction work • drawings of business signs or logos • a list of what will be purchased for your opening inventory • key employees’ resumes, if available • copies of any newspaper stories or other publicity you have received which relates to your business. This is particularly important for people who are entering service businesses, where they are their own main product. Finally, organize your material in a logical order and include a table of contents for the appendix.
Antoinette’s Dress Shop: Table of Contents for Appendix 1. Annual Survey of Business Conditions, New City Chamber of Commerce, January 19, 20__ 2. Bank of New City Economic Forecast for 20__ 3. Article from September 27, 20__ issue of Woman’s Monthly concerning the need for specialized clothes for the working woman 4. Newspaper articles and picture of Antoinette when she put on a large and successful fashion show for working women at the Rack-a-Frax Department Store 5. Copy of proposed store lease (critical pages only, others available on request) 6. Planned fixture layout for Antoinette’s Dress Shop 7. Antoinette’s Dress Shop sign drawing and bid, Smith Sign Co. 8. Leasehold improvements bid for shop, Jones Construction Co. 9. Quote from Meyer Supply on dress racks and cash register.
Create Title Page and Table of Contents Every business plan should have these two pages: