Banks, the SBA, and even customers need to see a "snapshot" of your business, and an organized business plan can get the effect you want.

Be sure to answer:

Who are you?
What are the vital questions people want answered about you and your work?
What kind of business is it? Are you running it by yourself? Do you have a partner, are you incorporated?
Where is it? Are you operating out of your home, an office, or a building? Why?
Who’s in charge? What kind of experience and credentials do you have?
What’s the money going to? Extra tools? Advertising? An assistant?

How are you unique?
What is it about this business that’s going to set you apart from the other guys in your area? Do you have a different way of communicating with your customer, delivering service faster, making them more satisfied? You want something bigger and better than “we try to satisfy our customers” here. What’s the spark that gets you up in the middle of the night determined to make something out of this business?
It might not even be a method of service? Do you have a unique way to get clients or resources?

Who are your customers?
Take a deep breath and envision that PERFECT customer in your head. Are they home owners? Business owners?Both?How are you going to beat out big contractors and your customers urge to try and get it done themselves? How much money do they have, how do they find people to help them with problems, and what are YOU going to do get visible? Furthermore, what are you gonna be doing to stand out and grow on a year to year basis?

What’s your business worth?
There aren’t many people that feel great about their finances, but you’ve got to swallow that bitter pill and get on top of things.
How much money have you raised so far?
What techniques are you using to raise more?
What are your assets and liabilities?
What kind of big expenses are going to rock your business when you first start up, and how are you getting ready to weather them?
What’s your cash flow, current or projected?
How long are you going to take to break even?

The above was drawn from an article I wrote about business plans for handymen, but is true for all businesses in all industries.