self employed

System

I am hopping to finish my AAT Technician level in June 07, I have been thinking of starting to do my own business doing accountancy services for companies but before i do that i was wanting to complete a business plan. In my business plan i need a list of customers what do i do here as i have no customers and only planning?

Please help!

Lee

System

Re:self employed

Part of my job is to write business plans for our clients who are looking for financial support from banks etc to get their new business up and running.

The information that I include in that business plan, generally speaking, is the following;

Name & address of proprieter
Name & address of the business
Legal status (sole trader / partnership etc)
Principle activities (accountancy services for example)
Summary of the local economy
Description of competitors
Current market & customers (if none, a paragraph to explain that you're starting out but who or what you aim to gain as clients... eg small businesses in the local area)
Proposed market vision / business opportunity (short medium and long term objectives)
Advertising / business development plans
Business controls (eg accounts / stocktaking etc)
Your background & relevant qualifications (keep it brief - a couple of paragraphs will do)
Start up costs
Sources of finance

Once I've written up all of that I will also put together a projected Profit & Loss account and a cash flow forecast for the first 12 months of trading. The bank manager likes to see that you can afford to meet all your overheads each month without coming out with negative cash flow too often.

I also put together a break-even analysis based on the projected P&L, and often provide charts/graphs to show income & expenditure.

If you've not got much clue about what your expenses are likely to be etc, but you'll be working from home, and good idea is to put 10% of your domestic gas/electricity/telephone etc down as a business cost.