Good questions Roan. There are a couple of answers to what you’ve asked.
1. The current owner of the franchise should supply you with documentation. Financial information is going to be key in your decision to purchasing the business. If they have a business plan, you should ask them to provide you a copy of it. If they don’t want to show you how the business is doing financially, then that’s a problem.
2. Should they write your business plan? No. You should write it. You’re taking over and will more than likely have your own ideas and plans on how to go forward. These ideas and plans will be independent from the current owners and should be solely your own.
3. Anytime a business is changing hands or you are looking for funding, you need to include financials. A bank or lending firm won’t give you money based on your claims that it will be successful. They need to see the numbers.

Thank you for your time and consideration to my question.
Lynn Grace

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Hi Frank,

You can find examples of all types of business plans on the bplans.com website. While you might not find a plan that matches your particular plan exactly, you’ll find the basic structure and examples of several different areas of business that should be helpful to you writing your business plan.

You could also look into our business planning software, Business Plan Pro. It would walk you through writing your own business plan, step by step.

The important thing to remember is that even if you found a plan exactly like the business you plan to start, it still wouldn’t be a plan of YOUR business. Every business is different and your best course of action is writing the business plan yourself so you make sure YOUR information about YOUR business is there.

I hope this was helpful to you.

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

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We have several sample business plans on the bplans.com website. It’s possible you won’t find a plan that’s completely tailored for your business venture, and that’s ok! Because you want to use these samples as guides and resources, not templates where you put in your company name and hit print. I suggest looking around the sample plan pages for a plan to look through.

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

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Kevin,

You have a couple of avenues available for assistance in writing your business plan. You can check out your local SBDC or SCORE offices, they’re always happy to help out new businesses. Try a consultant like Master Plans, but these can sometimes be fairly costly. You can also try software like our Business Plan Pro software. All of these resources are going to help you on the track to starting your own business.

Good luck!

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

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Zama,

Bplans.com is intended to be a resource to help you with general information and guidance. There are several free business plans on our website for you to use as guides in writing your own plan. We also have our software, Business Plan Pro, which will help walk you through, step-by-step, writing your business plan.

Good luck!

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

Business Plan Pro has everything you need to create a complete business plan. Business Plan Pro Version 11.0 is an easy step by step process, in an SBA-approved document format, complete financial plan, powerful forecasting tools and 500+ sample business plans included.

Goodluck!

Best regards,

Casi Deatherage
Palo Alto Software
Customer Care