SCORE counselors advise and guide entrepreneurs and small business professionals with their ventures. Here is some of their advice for getting started:

- Do a SWOT Analysis on your business and yourself: Examine your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is a good idea for all small businesses.

- Find examples of business plans on score.org

- SCORE suggests there are five essential elements of a business plan: Introduction or executive summary, marketing plan, operating plan, financial plan and supporting documents.

- Gather information for your business plan. Along with researching your industry, you might find these sites helpful in your research: www.score.org; www.sba.gov; www.bizstats.com; www.smallbusiness.dnb.com; www.manta.com; www.myflorida.com; www.irs.gov/business. Then talk to prospective customers and assess the competition.

- Supporting documents could include: contracts, credit reports, legal documents, lease agreements, letters of referene, personal financial statements, resumes of management team.

SOURCE: scoremiami.org

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