Q: Do I really need a business plan to get a business loan? — William

A: With few exceptions almost every traditional business loan source will require a business plan as part of the loan package. While non-traditional lending resources will most likely not require a plan, you would be double dumb not to complete one. Your plan should be developed and then used not only as a tool to getting funding, but also as a tool to assist you in determining just what funding terms your business can afford. Without a cash flow analysis it’s easy to let excitement and optimism lead you to commit to a bad-funding structure, which will most assuredly result in bankruptcy. Further, the plan should serve as an operating plan, a blueprint to refer to in making daily financial decisions so that at the end of the year, the amount of profit or loss is not a surprise.