Good Business Plans

Born in 1886, Leo Goodwin, Sr. was the son of a doctor. Living in the country, his father’s mean of visiting his patients was by horse and buggy. Leo went to school and studied the field of accounting. Leo later moved to San Antonio, Texas; which is where he first entered the insurance world and put together most components of his business plan. With his wife Lillian, they began working on Leo’s dream to open his own insurance company. Working up to half a day, they barely received any salary for a few years; if any at all. Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) was founded in 1936 and serviced only military employees and their spouses. The business was in operation for several years before it received its first profit.
Leo believed that he could offer insurance to consumers at a low, discounted price by basically cutting out the middleman. He realized how much savings could be offered, "if he lowered costs in the company by marketing directly to carefully targeted customer groups, he’d be able to pass along lower premiums and still earn a profit” (Insurance, 2007).  GEICO became public in 1948 and Leo retired 10 years after. He has since been inducted into the Insurance Hall of Fame.
Two brothers, Richard James “Dick” McDonald and Maurice James “Mac” McDonald, opened the first, official McDonald’s in 1948. Its exact location was in San Bernardino, California on the corner of West 14th Street and 1398 North E Street.It was a McDonalds Bar-B-Que to begun with in 1940 before it underwent revamps and reopened as a drive-in with a smaller menu (Our Company, 2011).  Ray Kroc saw the potential of the business the brothers were running and decided to partner with them. Years later, the franchise was incorporated and the McDonald’s Corporation was born.  Fred Turner was then hired to work in Ray’s first location as a counter man and later became in charge of the operations and defined “the quality, service, and cleanliness that continue to this day” (Our Company, 2011). 
Both GEICO and McDonald’s have very well put together business plans. They, of course, contributed to each of their impressive success. When a business plan is put together, the typical next step is to look for investors. There are many types of investors they offer different services. There are critical and key components look for in a plan. The most important to me are as follows: target market, services/products offered, sales projections, legal information/ownership, and intellectual property. Each of them is important for various reasons.
The target market defines the specific niche a business will be targeting. It is important to understand who you are targeting which helps you in determining how to target them. Explaining what service or product your business offers is important because this explains how the business plans to make money. Sales projections are a component because it forecasts how well, or bad, the business is expected to be. No investor wants to donate time or money into a business that isn’t expected to do well. The business being a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a Corporation is crucial to know for tax purposes, legal guidelines, and other reasons. Also, if you are need an investor to become a partner in the business, the investor then also has a right to determine how the business should be filed. Any intellectual property the business possesses is important for an investor to be aware of. Trademarks, patents, and copyrights all hold value to the business. This can increase its status in the eyes of the investor.
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(Info. sources: http://insurance07.blogspot.com/2007/09/geico-history-highlights-government.html & http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcd_history.html Photo sources: http://www.freewebs.com/sabryan/enterthegoldenarches.htm & http://jollyjulie89.wordpress.com/geico-in-the-making/)