Welcome to the Diversification Planner

There may be a number of reasons why you are thinking of diversification –
  • the major changes in farm funding that will come into effect from 2013,
  • a desire to employ someone in the family on the farm,
  • to use the specialist skills of a family member such as horse handling, food production or business management,
  • to get a more even spread of work over the year,
  • to make better use of your resources, whether buildings, machines or the natural environment,
  • adding value to farm produce,
  • to develop a business idea you believe in.
      - whatever your reason, pre-planning is an important step.

This CD is designed to help you think through your idea and work towards a business plan as the first step towards a sustainable farm diversification. The planner is based on workshop sessions and exercises run as part the New Options for Farm Incomes programme in Dumfries & Galloway. On the programme we worked with people considering setting up farm accommodation and nature based tourism businesses. The exercises in the planner are sequential and will lead you through some planning activities suitable for any small, farm-based enterprise.

Why write a business plan?

A business plan is the starting point for any new business. It will help you check that you have come up with a sound idea. Working up each section will make it easier to be sure that you have thought about the main issues. Your business plan can be used to explain your proposal to potential lenders or grant funders, but most importantly it is there to help you to develop your idea and to check that things are on target once you start up.

In this section you will become familiar with information you need to include in your business plan.

The amount of detail you include will depend on the scale and complexity of your enterprise. As part of this planner we have included the layout for a standard business plan for you to fill in. This plan covers all the basics, but add more detail or extra sections if they help you.

Remember, the information you put in your plan now is only a prediction of the future of your new enterprise, so it will need to be updated as you get more facts and start trading.

The standard sections in a business plan are:
  • An executive summary - this is an overview of the business you want to start.
  • A short description of the business opportunity - who you are, what you plan to sell or offer, why and to whom.
  • Your marketing and sales strategy - why you think people will buy what you want to sell and how you plan to sell to them.
  • Management and employees - your credentials and the people who will work with you.
  • Your operations - your premises, production facilities, your management systems and IT.
  • Financial forecasts - this section translates what you have said in the previous sections into numbers.

Click here to view the blank business plan.

The blank plan has brief notes to help you fill in the necessary information. While you will be able to complete some sections immediately, additional information will be generated by working through the planner. We suggest you work through the planner and complete the exercises first.

To view a selection of completed business plans from the Business Gateway site click here



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Exercises


Business Plan