Developing Your Business Plan

Creating a business plan is the essential first step to getting your business off the ground. It is also a valuable roadmap as you seek to grow your business. Our advisors will aid you in crafting and refining your business plan or you may use our Business Plan Template. SBDC advisors leverage our proprietary tools to help our clients fully understand their markets. 

There are a few aspects to consider when creating your business plan:

Who is your target audience?

How will you reach your audience?

Have you identified funding opportunities?

What is the market need for your product or service?

Our Tools

GrowthWheel: By signing up for no-cost advising with CTSBDC, you will have access to GrowthWheel's unique set of visual tools. Working with you business advisor, you can perform cash flow analysis, determine market feasibility, strengthen your sales process, and identify key stakeholders to your business. Contact an advisor today to get started.

Analyzing Your Business Financials

Analyzing your bottom line will help you better manage your business and understand the key influences on your profit. As a CTSBDC client, we will discuss your financial strengths and weaknesses so you have the data to make effective decisions. 

If you find yourself asking any of these questions, CTSBDC may be able to help:
Should I expand/limit my product offering?

What are my funding options to start a business?

What are the considerations I need to make in order to ensure a secure financial future?
How can I best manage my cash flow?

Taking your business international

You've created a successful business here in Connecticut and now you're ready to take it global. Trying to determine which geographic market to target? Strategizing about how to prepare for this operational extension? Need help securing the funds? 

Connecticut Small Business Development Center has advisors who are certified global business professionals and can help you start exporting or reach new markets with your products. Our advisors can help whether you are new to exporting, expanding into new foreign markets, or importing.

If you are new to exporting, please check out our Import Starter Guide and our Export Readiness Assessment.

Our Tools

Euromonitor International: By signing up to receive one-on-one advising from CTSBDC, you will gain access to this international research tool that connects your goals with global opportunities. Research analysts around the world leverage knowledge of the local market, fluency in the local language and access to the best sources to bring you truly global research.

Marketing

Connecticut Small Business Development Center works with our clients to help develop a complete marketing and sales strategy to drive more effective customer acquisition. CTSBDC business advisors work directly with you to better understand your goals and ensure your marketing efforts are aligned to strategically execute those goals. We work with you to create a strategy that ensures you're targeting the right people, with relevant content that appeals to them. This will include clear guidelines, division of roles, competitive position, understanding of customers, and sufficient allocation of resources-and in turn it builds a better business.

CTSBDC may help you evaluate: 

Branding strategy: A well-defined and executed brand strategy leads to a consistent brand message, a strong emotional connection with customers, and higher brand equity.  Is this in-line with your target audience?
Digital marketing: Your company’s framework for success. Are you utilizing digital platforms effectively? CTSBDC can help you build the right foundation, attract more traffic, generate more leads and grow your business.
E-commerce strategy: If your business is an online store which is selling products or services, you might be interested in helpful advice on how to reach more customers using E-commerce strategy. A strategy is a summary of how your store is planning to achieve its goals and improve its position in the market. This might include Google Ad Words, social media advertising, viral videos, influencers marketing, SEO, emails, coupons, blogs, data analysis and automation.

Contact an advisor

Research

CTSBDC will guide you how to take a data-driven look at your industry peers and will help you develop a business plan that takes this information into account. Through working with your CTSBDC advisor, you will create an operational workflow which will help navigate strategic business decisions.

CTSBDC uses a number of tools to help small businesses including: 

IBIS World: This cutting-edge tool provides industry research and specialized reporting to help you expand your business

IndustriusCFO: Get industry benchmarks to help you make strategic decisions

Esri Business Analyst Online: Providing location-based data, this powerful tool can help you identify new opportunities

Resources

Connecticut Small Business Development Center connects small businesses with resources to help reach their goals. CTSBDC can connect you with local economic and government officials and other technical resources within the small business community.

Those resources include our network of partners:
UConn Family Business Center

CT Department of Economic and Community Development

CT Department of Revenue Services

CT Department of Labor
CT Department of Consumer Protection
CT Secretary of State
Chambers of Commerce
Accelerators, Incubators, Maker Spaces, and Shared Work Spaces

Intellectual Property

Protecting your intellectual property as you start or expand your business in domestic and international markets may be critical to your business' future success. Connecticut Small Business Development Center can help you identify the type of protection best suited for you and how to obtain this protection. The CTSBDC will serve as an introduction to IP and introduce steps in developing an effective IP strategy. We can help you determine:

Why having an IP strategy is crucial & should be included in initial business plan to ensure alignment with a company’s short- and long-term business objectives.

What are patents and why they are important to protect ideas and inventions.

Discover how Federally Registered Trademarks protect words, symbols designs & slogans that are used to identify source of goods or services.

How copyrights are so vital for the protection of most valued creative works.

The importance of using a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to meeting with manufacturers, investors, or buyers to protect a company’s proprietary information.

There are many valuable resources available to learn more about intellectual property protection, including:

United States Patent and Trademark Office: CTSBDC Business Advisors will work with you to prepare your patent application

Innovation and Technology Resources

The Connecticut Small Business Development Center links private enterprise, government, higher education, and local economic development organizations to provide high-quality training, confidential consulting, and market and industry research to Connecticut’s small businesses. CTSBDC provides specialized services to researchers, entrepreneurs and firms by assisting them to identify, develop, and commercialize their technologies. This includes individuals and firms engaged in engineering, biosciences, information technology, agriculture, and similar high tech areas whether it involves research and development or the innovation of existing technology to be applied in new ways. One-on-one counseling (at no cost to the client) is available to science and engineering oriented companies engaged in research and development, technology transfer, technology licensing and development, as well as companies seeking to pursue SBIR/STTR or other government contracts.

How can CTSBDC help you prepare for SBIR/STTR?
Receive personalized guidance on application and submission

Connect with our network of technology professionals to leverage their expertise

Access post-award resources for continued funding and grant management