8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

• The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
• Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
• Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this y
  Workshop Scripts: Developing the Art of Public Speaking
  A discussion recently about conducting successful workshops led me to believe that very few people have the answers. It is ironic that the very people who are supposed to have all the answers, people conducting workshops, don’t really know how to capture and captivate an audience. It’s a shame that most people are being attracted to the more alluring and energetic voice, one that may not necessarily have the correct answer.We’ve seen them on television and businesses hire them as motivational speakers, because that’s really all they do. They transfer their high energy to you and make you want to jump out of your seat and go get something done. But what it is that you want to do, you don’t even know yet. You don’t have the answer to that one. You’re just a ball of energy ready to explode and make things happen, but you don’t have a cause.We’ve seen the other too. We’ve seen the guy who knows what you need to do and how to do it. He’s the hired training officer for your company who reads through all of the directives and puts them into a language that you and your fellow workers can understand. He’s the guy who can help you get further ahead in life and really succeed at what you do, but you fall asleep in his training sessions because he never learned h
  Just as manuscripts are screened by assistants before reaching an editor, business plans submitted to financial institutions and venture capitalists are almost always screened by someone like me, a professional analyst who gets paid to "manage risk," which is MBA-speak for finding legitimate reasons not to fund your project. In this article I provide tips on getting your business plan past me and on to the people who sign checks. That's easier said than done, as research consistently shows that only a tiny fraction of business plans ever result in financing.

  Before I delve into specific recommendations, let's briefly review the purposes of a preparing a business plan.

  In practice, a business plan has three purposes and three purposes only: (1) to demonstrate the validity of your business model (including the existence of a market); (2) to establish the qualification of your team to execute your business model; and (3) to convince investors/lenders that the only thing you're missing is capital. That's it. Anything else you try to make it will detract from these goals.

  If you want your business plan to make it to the Loan or Investment Committee, consider following these 8 recommendations:

  1. Present the Right Type of Plan to the Correct Audience

  Generally speaking, there are three types of business plans: Loan-Targeted; Equity-Targeted and Operating-Only. Do not send an equity investor a loan request and do not send a lender a request for an equity investment. Operating-only plans do not seek to raise capital and thus are not discussed in this article.

  Loan-targeted and Equity-targeted business plans are quite different. Lenders are principally concerned with collateral and cash flow. They tend to give a lot of weight to the debt coverage ratio. Equity investors focus on the Return on Equity generated from anticipated liquidity events like a lucrative acquisition or initial public offering. There are other differences. For example, if you're trying to raise equity, then your business plan will likely be known as a Private Placement Memorandum. This terminology comes from Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, a federal law which applies to your business plan if you're attempting to raise private equity across state lines. This document has a specific format that investors are accustomed to. Failure to follow this format is a sure sign of a novice.

  2. Abide by the 50/50 Rule

  Your business plan should be no longer than 50 pages and no more than 50% of its content should be quantitative in nature.

  There are two compelling reasons to keep your page-count under 50 pages:

  First, whether your business plan is 20 pages or 200 pages, in most cases an analyst will reduce it to a 10-page summary called an Internal Credit Memorandum. The ICM is the only thing the decision-makers will ever see. Save the trees and save your time.

  Second, people with money to invest or lend are among the busiest people on earth. None of them have time during the business day to sit and read more than 50 pages. The ideal length of a business plan is 20-30 pages, which is more than long enough to concisely state everything you need to. In my experience, every business plan longer than 50 pages contains unnecessary filler. Filler is bad. No matter what you read in that business plan book, your business plan does NOT need to include patent applications, folded-up blue prints, job descriptions, research studies, brochures, or pictures of your children. If and when I need any of these items, I will request them from you during the due diligence phase.

  The reason you should limit your quantitative content to no more than half is because your business plan should tell a persuasive story that your numbers support. The numbers themselves are not the story.

  3. Your Narrative Must Match Your Numbers

  In many cases, the person who writes the narrative portion of a business plan is not the same person who prepares the financial portion. This often leads to inconsistencies, usually because your plan was not proofread or because one section gets updated without updating the other. A common example is where the Narrative lists executive salaries that amount to one figure but the Income Statement calculates salaries as a percentage of revenue, resulting in an entirely different figure. In addition to appearing sloppy, the problem with such inconsistencies is that they force the person analyzing your business plan to decide which of the two figures to accept. When I'm that person, I always pick the more conservative figure. That's usually bad for the applicant.

  4. Show Them the Money

  An entrepreneur once famously remarked, "If I succeed, everyone wins. If I fail, the bank loses." Your investors have heard this one too, but they're not amused. Investors and lenders are much more favorably inclined towards projects where the sponsor will be sharing the risk of the venture by co-investing some of its own capital along side theirs. They also saw the movie "Other People's Money," which may be why they instruct their analysts to discard business plans that include no sponsor equity.

  5. Pass the Acid Test

  One of the first things most analysts do with a new business plan is go straight to the Balance Sheet and check if Cash plus Cash Equivalents is greater than Current Liabilities. It's called the Acid Test. A ratio of less than 1 is a danger sign. Without getting too deep into financial theory, it's a warning that you have (or will have) a liquidity problem, or worse, a solvency problem. There are several acceptable methods of calculating this ratio. Pick the most favorable method. For most businesses, the most favorable method is to include the value of accounts receivable in the numerator.

  6. Pass the Common Sense Test

  No one wants to invest money in a profit-making enterprise that doesn't make any profits. Don't submit a business plan that projects a loss in the first few years but great profits thereafter or one where your product loses money on each sale but claims profit will be made "on volume." Even if you honestly believe that either of these scenarios will actually happen (which, statistically speaking, they won't), you will be much better off simply projecting break-even or a very small profit. The difference in dollars is negligible, but the difference in perception is critical. The main reason to avoid this is that most lenders and investors have policies against intentionally "funding losses."

  7. Real Men (and Women) Don't Use Templates

  If you're going to use business plan software to produce your business plan, then at least spend the time to make it unique and credible. Every month, without fail, I get several business plans produced by one particular software package. The reason I know this is because every one of them, regardless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

  8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

  There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

  • The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
  • Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
  • Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this ye
    Graduate Job Applications - Identify Your Transferable Skills
    Getting into the labour market after school or college is a daunting prospect and that’s without the minefield of jargon, overnight advances in technology and discriminatory attitudes.OK - Let’s bust a bit of that jargon! What exactly are transferable skills? Quite simply, they are things you can do in one area of your life which can be used somewhere else.Let’s take an example. As a student, did you get all your assignments in on time? Were you able to set up extensions if your work was late? Did you learn how to type quickly and use a number of computer programmes effectively? Did you hold down a part-time job and manage to juggle work with study and your social life?If you answered yes to all, or at least some of the above, you have demonstrated an extensive range of skills, such as effective time management, negotiating and good communication skills. Now, you may not give them such grand titles, but if you were filling in a job application form, that’s exactly what you’d call them.You’ve been picking up skills from the moment you were born. The problem is that you take most of your skills for granted. That’s something we’ve got to change! So grab a pen and paper, get yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get started.Choose any role you
    end to give a lot of weight to the debt coverage ratio. Equity investors focus on the Return on Equity generated from anticipated liquidity events like a lucrative acquisition or initial public offering. There are other differences. For example, if you're trying to raise equity, then your business plan will likely be known as a Private Placement Memorandum. This terminology comes from Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, a federal law which applies to your business plan if you're attempting to raise private equity across state lines. This document has a specific format that investors are accustomed to. Failure to follow this format is a sure sign of a novice.

    2. Abide by the 50/50 Rule

    Your business plan should be no longer than 50 pages and no more than 50% of its content should be quantitative in nature.

    There are two compelling reasons to keep your page-count under 50 pages:

    First, whether your business plan is 20 pages or 200 pages, in most cases an analyst will reduce it to a 10-page summary called an Internal Credit Memorandum. The ICM is the only thing the decision-makers will ever see. Save the trees and save your time.

    Second, people with money to invest or lend are among the busiest people on earth. None of them have time during the business day to sit and read more than 50 pages. The ideal length of a business plan is 20-30 pages, which is more than long enough to concisely state everything you need to. In my experience, every business plan longer than 50 pages contains unnecessary filler. Filler is bad. No matter what you read in that business plan book, your business plan does NOT need to include patent applications, folded-up blue prints, job descriptions, research studies, brochures, or pictures of your children. If and when I need any of these items, I will request them from you during the due diligence phase.

    The reason you should limit your quantitative content to no more than half is because your business plan should tell a persuasive story that your numbers support. The numbers themselves are not the story.

    3. Your Narrative Must Match Your Numbers

    In many cases, the person who writes the narrative portion of a business plan is not the same person who prepares the financial portion. This often leads to inconsistencies, usually because your plan was not proofread or because one section gets updated without updating the other. A common example is where the Narrative lists executive salaries that amount to one figure but the Income Statement calculates salaries as a percentage of revenue, resulting in an entirely different figure. In addition to appearing sloppy, the problem with such inconsistencies is that they force the person analyzing your business plan to decide which of the two figures to accept. When I'm that person, I always pick the more conservative figure. That's usually bad for the applicant.

    4. Show Them the Money

    An entrepreneur once famously remarked, "If I succeed, everyone wins. If I fail, the bank loses." Your investors have heard this one too, but they're not amused. Investors and lenders are much more favorably inclined towards projects where the sponsor will be sharing the risk of the venture by co-investing some of its own capital along side theirs. They also saw the movie "Other People's Money," which may be why they instruct their analysts to discard business plans that include no sponsor equity.

    5. Pass the Acid Test

    One of the first things most analysts do with a new business plan is go straight to the Balance Sheet and check if Cash plus Cash Equivalents is greater than Current Liabilities. It's called the Acid Test. A ratio of less than 1 is a danger sign. Without getting too deep into financial theory, it's a warning that you have (or will have) a liquidity problem, or worse, a solvency problem. There are several acceptable methods of calculating this ratio. Pick the most favorable method. For most businesses, the most favorable method is to include the value of accounts receivable in the numerator.

    6. Pass the Common Sense Test

    No one wants to invest money in a profit-making enterprise that doesn't make any profits. Don't submit a business plan that projects a loss in the first few years but great profits thereafter or one where your product loses money on each sale but claims profit will be made "on volume." Even if you honestly believe that either of these scenarios will actually happen (which, statistically speaking, they won't), you will be much better off simply projecting break-even or a very small profit. The difference in dollars is negligible, but the difference in perception is critical. The main reason to avoid this is that most lenders and investors have policies against intentionally "funding losses."

    7. Real Men (and Women) Don't Use Templates

    If you're going to use business plan software to produce your business plan, then at least spend the time to make it unique and credible. Every month, without fail, I get several business plans produced by one particular software package. The reason I know this is because every one of them, regardless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

    8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

    There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

    • The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
    • Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
    • Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this y
      Pre-employment Screening Services And Their Advantage To Employers
      Pre-employment screening services can provide a service to employers that they would find difficult to provide for themselves. There are many aspects of business that can be carried out adequately by companies without paying for internal or external professional services. Pre-employment screening is not one of those, and though many employers try, the consequences of failure can be very high.This is an increasingly litigious society, as ordinary people come to understand the financial benefits that lawsuits of all kinds can bring them. Injury or harm due to irresponsible or negligent hiring is one of these areas where employees can take legal action and gain financial reward for doing so.Computer fraud is becoming more commonplace as the computers themselves become more and more powerful, requiring highly specialized and trained employees to run them. Such employees frequently have access to very sensitive company information and the potential for corruption is high. Industrial espionage is a real threat, particularly to progressive and innovative companies, and those with access to certain types of information must be trustworthy.Many small businesses have failed due to the cost of poor hiring decisions, and multi-million dollar lawsuits can be jus
      rochures, or pictures of your children. If and when I need any of these items, I will request them from you during the due diligence phase.

      The reason you should limit your quantitative content to no more than half is because your business plan should tell a persuasive story that your numbers support. The numbers themselves are not the story.

      3. Your Narrative Must Match Your Numbers

      In many cases, the person who writes the narrative portion of a business plan is not the same person who prepares the financial portion. This often leads to inconsistencies, usually because your plan was not proofread or because one section gets updated without updating the other. A common example is where the Narrative lists executive salaries that amount to one figure but the Income Statement calculates salaries as a percentage of revenue, resulting in an entirely different figure. In addition to appearing sloppy, the problem with such inconsistencies is that they force the person analyzing your business plan to decide which of the two figures to accept. When I'm that person, I always pick the more conservative figure. That's usually bad for the applicant.

      4. Show Them the Money

      An entrepreneur once famously remarked, "If I succeed, everyone wins. If I fail, the bank loses." Your investors have heard this one too, but they're not amused. Investors and lenders are much more favorably inclined towards projects where the sponsor will be sharing the risk of the venture by co-investing some of its own capital along side theirs. They also saw the movie "Other People's Money," which may be why they instruct their analysts to discard business plans that include no sponsor equity.

      5. Pass the Acid Test

      One of the first things most analysts do with a new business plan is go straight to the Balance Sheet and check if Cash plus Cash Equivalents is greater than Current Liabilities. It's called the Acid Test. A ratio of less than 1 is a danger sign. Without getting too deep into financial theory, it's a warning that you have (or will have) a liquidity problem, or worse, a solvency problem. There are several acceptable methods of calculating this ratio. Pick the most favorable method. For most businesses, the most favorable method is to include the value of accounts receivable in the numerator.

      6. Pass the Common Sense Test

      No one wants to invest money in a profit-making enterprise that doesn't make any profits. Don't submit a business plan that projects a loss in the first few years but great profits thereafter or one where your product loses money on each sale but claims profit will be made "on volume." Even if you honestly believe that either of these scenarios will actually happen (which, statistically speaking, they won't), you will be much better off simply projecting break-even or a very small profit. The difference in dollars is negligible, but the difference in perception is critical. The main reason to avoid this is that most lenders and investors have policies against intentionally "funding losses."

      7. Real Men (and Women) Don't Use Templates

      If you're going to use business plan software to produce your business plan, then at least spend the time to make it unique and credible. Every month, without fail, I get several business plans produced by one particular software package. The reason I know this is because every one of them, regardless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

      8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

      There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

      • The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
      • Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
      • Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this y
        Who Could Survive the Job in Investigation
        What do you think could make you qualify as a private investigator?Just think of all the detective stories you watch on TV, and those of James Bond (Sean Connery) that your parents as teenagers themselves saw on the big screen years ago. And, at present, your own teenager boy or girl idolizes the detective-actor emoting the latest versions of recent day maze-conflict criminality.How about criminal investigators featured in the Discovery Channel solving thru most intense solicitous forensic investigations? Sounds challenging, adventurous, in pack full suspense, and a bit scary, before ending to an ultimate success solution climax.Great, but I believe it doesn't turn out to be as glamorous as everybody thinks it to be; while, scripts in movies or televisions fill it up with emotion moving spices to make the show interesting, and let appear private investigation is pressure-tense-free package commodity.If you evaluate to forego any action to do tasks as private investigator, look into every details of the job you'll encounter and think it over if the work fits you or you'll fit into the job. If such things as getting some adventurous escapades and excitement interest you, go for it. Success in any endeavor comes not from only a fragment of your d
        Pass the Acid Test

        One of the first things most analysts do with a new business plan is go straight to the Balance Sheet and check if Cash plus Cash Equivalents is greater than Current Liabilities. It's called the Acid Test. A ratio of less than 1 is a danger sign. Without getting too deep into financial theory, it's a warning that you have (or will have) a liquidity problem, or worse, a solvency problem. There are several acceptable methods of calculating this ratio. Pick the most favorable method. For most businesses, the most favorable method is to include the value of accounts receivable in the numerator.

        6. Pass the Common Sense Test

        No one wants to invest money in a profit-making enterprise that doesn't make any profits. Don't submit a business plan that projects a loss in the first few years but great profits thereafter or one where your product loses money on each sale but claims profit will be made "on volume." Even if you honestly believe that either of these scenarios will actually happen (which, statistically speaking, they won't), you will be much better off simply projecting break-even or a very small profit. The difference in dollars is negligible, but the difference in perception is critical. The main reason to avoid this is that most lenders and investors have policies against intentionally "funding losses."

        7. Real Men (and Women) Don't Use Templates

        If you're going to use business plan software to produce your business plan, then at least spend the time to make it unique and credible. Every month, without fail, I get several business plans produced by one particular software package. The reason I know this is because every one of them, regardless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

        8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

        There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

        • The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
        • Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
        • Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this y
          10 Ways to Advertise Your Business For Free!
          At some point many small business owners are left with no or a small amount of capital to promote their business. But many entrepreneurs utilize these free or low budget yet effective tactics to promote their business online and offline.1. Print out flyers or business cards and take them to your local stores, banks, beauty shops etc.2. Word of mouth never fails, so tell your friends to tell their friends.3. Make a cookie, candy or fruit basket and take it to your local store with your business cards.4. Exchange links with other sites.5. Post your brochures business cards at your local bulletin board.6. At a restaurant when tipping include your card.7. Send a press release to your local newspaper.8. Submit your site to search engines and directories.9. Give out free samples, promotional products, e-books etc.10. Write articles for others to use on their website and newsletter include your web site URL and a brief description of your services/products.
          rdless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

          8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

          There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

          • The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
          • Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it's not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
          • Don't Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company's fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this year. Does that figure refer to cash received or the value of sales contracts? Only the notes will tell. Anybody remember Enron?
          • Tell Them How Much You're Asking For. Another common mistake is not including a Statement of Sources and Uses (sometimes called a Funding Plan). This statement expressly sets forth how much funding you are requesting and what you will do with the proceeds. I can't tell you how many

            business plans I've reviewed that tell you everything but how much money is being requested.

          Extra Credit

          If you want to earn goodwill points with the person who will decide if your business plan ever makes it to the investment or loan committee, consider these optional steps:

          1. In addition to a hardcopy, email an electronic copy of your business plan in PDF format.
          2. Include the NAICS code for your industry. The NAICS code is the successor to the well known SIC code. It's what an analyst uses to look up information about your industry at commercial data sources like Dun & Bradstreet and RMA.
          3. Don't use a ring binder.
          4. Include a ratio analysis with your financial projections.
          5. Don't misspell names.

          There you have it. Following these tips may not be enough to get your business plan funded, but they will get it taken seriously. The rest is up to you.