A great business plan is the cornerstone of a successful business. A plan lays out in detail how your business will achieve success, in a realistic, organized manner. It is also a living, breathing document: your plan can remain vital through the process of establishing and growing your business, changing and adapting as necessary to shifting circumstances.

While there is no single way to produce a truly effective business plan, the following components can be extremely helpful as you develop your company.

A Strong Executive Summary

An executive summary tends to serve as a comprehensive introduction to a good plan. It lays out, in compelling detail, what a new business will look like, why it is a valid idea, and how it can achieve success. It should be well-written and convincing to potential investors and should sketch out a description of a business — and its potential future course — in meaningful detail (without necessarily listing every piece of data to back it up). In short, it should explain what your business is, and why it should exist.

Careful Market Research

Quality research is essential to a compelling business plan. Your plan should demonstrate significant industry knowledge (ideally gleaned through both research and experience). You should know relevant trends, recent and longer-term history, and future projections. You should also have a clear sense of local markets and potential competition that may arise in the course of business. Data is essential for driving home the message that you have what it takes.

A Description of the Product or Service You Will Offer

The idea that your business is based around should be spelled out in clear and effective detail in this section of your plan. It should be concrete — not vague — and should identify what sets the thing that you offer apart.

Funding Request

In some ways, the funding request is the most significant component of your plan, and what the rest builds towards. The request you make should be carefully calibrated: realistic enough that a bank or other lender will plausibly offer that sum, but sufficient for what you need. Above all, it should be a clear amount backed up by details from the rest of the plan.

The attributes above can be essential as you work to develop your plan. Remember that a plan can be dynamic: as circumstances change, so should the plan. Following the general outline described can be enormously helpful in building a new business.