Research shows that roughly half of all start-up businesses fail within the first three years, and the majority of failures happen because business owners aren''t prepared enough to deal with the challenges that can affect them. In other words, they haven''t done enough planning.

Creating a business plan should be one of the first things you do when you think of starting up a company, and it''s an important document to turn to time and again as your business develops - especially in these difficult financial times. Accessible and easy to read, the Good Small Business Planning Guide shows readers how to:

What the Guide Shows You

Plan their business strategy

Pitch their plan to raise funds

Spot problems in advance and work out how to deal with them

Update and refresh the plan for different audiences