Business planning not only helps you with banks and lending institutions, it contains the information you use to determine success. A business plan is also what you need to help make decisions about what to do and when to do it as you run your business. It should outline your goals, marketing plan, operational and financial strategies.

Before starting a business, you’ll need to decide on the structure of your business. Depending on your situation, you can choose to structure your business in several different ways, including as a sole trader, partnership, company, trust, association or cooperative.