How important is it for a new entrepreneur to have a written business plan in hand before seeking out financing sources and why?

Well, a great question. Having a business plan is actually more important than the loan application because before you make an application for a loan you really need to have that business plan. The business plan needs to be your vision as to why you want to start this business and where you're going to go with it.

You typically start with an executive summary because at some levels not everybody is going to read every single page. You need to have the executive summary that talks about why you're going to start this business, what you're going to do with it and then you need to describe your product. You need to describe the competitive environment you're in. Talk about competition. Talk about cash flow, because in your business there is probably going to be seasonality. You need to talk about any financial headwinds that might come about, what might the difficulties be and how would you as an entrepreneur be able to weather those headwinds.