78 | How to Write a business Plan
Quick Plan. If you’ve chosen the quick plan method to prepare a business plan (see Introduction), you need to read and complete only this section of Chapter 5: “Draft Your Business Accomplishment Resume.”
Introduction In this chapter you’ll draft two important documents for your business plan: • a special business accomplishment resume that focuses on those abilities you’ll need to start or expand your business and • a financial statement, which details the value of your material possessions.
Draft Your Business Accomplishment Resume Investors and lenders want to be certain that you have the experience, education, and desire to make your business a success. Your resume shows your backers that you can achieve your objectives. This isn’t a traditional resume that lists past jobs and the years or months you held each. More correctly, you’ll develop a statement of everything you have accomplished that has a direct bearing on your business objectives. Although you may not have owned or expanded a business before, you have accomplished some demanding tasks that are similar to the tasks you’ll undertake when you begin your business. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that good
credentials alone will get a loan from the first person you approach. When it comes right down to it, few people will part with their money unless they also have a positive feeling about you as a person. Your task is to get them to trust and like you as a businessperson. If you’re like most people, your glowing accomplishments are sprinkled with past mistakes and failures. Everybody makes mistakes, including your backers. Be honest in your resume but don’t go overboard. You don’t need to give a litany of every sin you have committed, including the time you skipped algebra class in the seventh grade. Only provide details of your errors when they’re relevant to your business plan. For example, if you ran a business for five years and eventually went bankrupt, you’ll need to mention that. Be prepared to talk with prospective investors and lenders about everything you present in your resume. The best way to build trust in a financial relationship is to communicate with full disclosure. The worst thing you can do is to lie about or try to cover up a negative. (See Chapter 10 for suggestions about how to discuss your past mistakes.) Now that that’s out of the way, let’s deal with the important, positive information: How do you demonstrate that you’re qualified to run a business? As with anything else, there are some tricks to writing a resume that will interest a potential investor. First, make a list of every job and experience in which you produced positive