When hiring someone to write your Business Plan...

**learning4kids** · 03-25-2010 07:35 PM

When hiring someone to write your Business Plan is there some kind of disclosure or privacy form you can have them sign stating they will not steal your idea or plan? Also how would it work if they did try to use your plan just alter details?

**Carlos™** · 03-26-2010 01:09 AM

Honestly, if I were you. Having someone else write it for you leaves out the passion you have for the business...so I think writing your own business plan is better than having someone else do it for you. In order to have a successful business isn't always the idea, its the time, dedication, consistency, the persistence, the drive, and most importantly, the passion to make it work.

**StockDC2** · 03-26-2010 02:13 AM

Originally Posted by Carlos™

Honestly, if I were you. Having someone else write it for you leaves out the passion you have for the business...so I think writing your own business plan is better than having someone else do it for you. In order to have a successful business isn't always the idea, its the time, dedication, consistency, the persistence, the drive, and most importantly, the passion to make it work.

I completely agree with this statement. My team and I just finished writing our BP and let me tell you, if we had hired someone else with this task, much of the passion and know-how that we have in the business would have been left out. Always remember, you know your business better than anyone else.

**Tzarkov** · 03-26-2010 03:29 AM

Originally Posted by StockDC2

I completely agree with this statement. My team and I just finished writing our BP and let me tell you, if we had hired someone else with this task, much of the passion and know-how that we have in the business would have been left out. Always remember, you know your business better than anyone else.

I totally agree with this position. Being yourself there allows your expertise and passion to be translated into the BP, and that is an important factor for its success. If you feel uncomfortable with writing the more technically oriented sections, then the best way I think, would not be to contact someone else to write the BP for you, but hire them to providee you with aditional expertise on these more obstruse topics, say a marketing research team of proffesional to measure the market size or growth, or a financial analyst to help you with the feasibility of your cash targets.

I think the best way is to have a balance between your idea and other people adding their expertise to the project. With time you will find that one of the critical skills of management is to be able to leverage on your team skills without rendering yourself expendable in the process.

**B. D.** · 03-26-2010 08:11 AM

I have to agree with the rest of the people above and especially Tzarkov. With my company we had a similiar problem with having someone else trying to write our BP and what made it even more problemsome was the person writing it was a close friend of my designer.
This caused a number of problems, for one he didn't have the same passion as we did nor the mentality of a business owner. So, for him, there was no sense of urgency to complete the BP. Second, it did take us out of the loop for gaining valuable experience on really making sure we know how our business works. When we finally decided to write our BP it raised up various different points on how we could or should do things and help put a different perspective on our business. We do, however, now have a different person we can consult to make sure we have all our technical aspects in line but, the person we use does this a profession and is paid.

Hope this helps!

-Barry

**guidemesingapore** · 03-26-2010 02:23 PM

Yes you should always get a non-disclosure as well as non-compete agreement signed before getting someone to write your business plan. While I agree with above posts that the passion will be missing from the plan, it is ok to hire a professional to polish the business plan and make sure you don't miss out on anything. You can always work closely with the person you hire and express your thoughts to him and let him pen it down.

**Lambo** · 03-27-2010 09:36 AM

you can leverage other peoples expertise when hiring them to do a business plan. You should be involved in the areas which you have knowledge, but if you don't know how to do financials, then its okay to hire someone provided that you work with them and dont let them do all the work.

Its all a learning process!

**SmoothEntrepreneur** · 03-27-2010 04:04 PM

You can have them sign an NDA, but as I have said numerous times, I would strongly recommend you write your own business plan. The actual process of research and writing the plan can help you so much. Then, if you need to make it more professional if you are planning on bringing in other partners or investors, then you can hire someone to touch it up.

**ernest1918** · 03-27-2010 08:34 PM

by writing your own business plan you would know everything that would go into your business and sure it is hard to write it but it really does show passion towards your business....yeah I know this has been repeated in the last posts but I thought I would need to chime in too

**StockDC2** · 03-30-2010 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by Tzarkov

... If you feel uncomfortable with writing the more technically oriented sections, then the best way I think, would not be to contact someone else to write the BP for you, but hire them to providee you with aditional expertise on these more obstruse topics, say a marketing research team of proffesional to measure the market size or growth, or a financial analyst to help you with the feasibility of your cash targets.

I think the best way is to have a balance between your idea and other people adding their expertise to the project...

Wow, I never thought about it that way. This is probably the best advice in this thread!

**forwardbound** · 03-30-2010 11:22 AM

I actually think it's okay to have someone assist you with your business plan, especially if you plan on finding investors, banks, or family members to invest. A business plan that is poorly written could possibly hurt you as a start up. Personally speaking, I have conducted all of the necessary research for my business, competitors, and the industry as whole. I know exactly how I plan to run my business but writing this information is not one of my strong points. I decided to hire a freelance business writer to assist me. Therefore, what some people would be able to do in 2 weeks, could take me 4 months! Why wait that long? If you do hire someone, I do suggest that you work closely with this person and make sure it is the way you want your business ran and not someone else's idea. Good luck!