How do you make a business plan a business?

[Renee Allen]

What can I do to make my business plan more inviting? I have an idea for a business that is a money maker but I can not get anyone to invest in it or give me a loan. I am not understanding what I am doing wrong. Is there some sort of advice any of you can give me to help my business plan "pop". It needs to scream SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!! The business would operate at 100% capacity from the minute it is built. I think my major problems are 1: no money for colatoral; 2: not a very good credit score at all (but my partners arent bad!) 3: no actual experience in the field I am wanting to persue (but I do have the knowledge to hire the right people that can do the best job, my job in it would be making sure the place is running at full capacity) and 4: NO MONEY!!! I know, I know, it takes money to make money. Would someone be willing to look over everything I have and see if they can help me fix it?

[Jon Holdman]

prallen, I assume this business is the drug rehab business you discuss here: http://forums.biggerpockets.com/viewtopic.php?t=15786. This is a tough business. My wife works in this area. Your "customers", meaning the people who need the rehab, won't pay any significant percentage of your costs. Most of your income will come from private, local, state, or federal contracts or grants. Your business, as the leader of this effort, is really running the agency. Writing grant applications, administering staff. Doing the rehab work will fall to your employees or contractors.

Have you actually worked in an agency like this? You'll need that experience in order to know how the processes work. Ideally, you would have already been an ED (executive director) at an agency before you try to create one of your own. I know it can be done. Some of my wife's friends left their agency and started one of their own. But they already had the experience and contacts under their belt.

Frankly, this is a dirty business. The need is so large, and the available funding so low. That means all agencys spend a large effort dealing with fundraising, grant writing, and trying to convince people with money to fund them and not someone else.

Jon