Getting facts for business plan

[soundimage]

Hi all,

Im in the process of writing my business plan and am near completion.

What i now need is some hard facts to back it up i.e. stats and figures.

Im in the childrens education and development business and would like numbers on what parents have spent on educational materials for their children in the past few years.

Is there a site which could help out with this? A google search showed up one site which asked for payment for the info, but was wondering if there are any free sources available.

Thanks for your help

Rob 8)

[visagephoto]

I think you may find the information you're looking for in the library, Not you're local library, but probably a larger reference? library.

[theMBA]

Rob,
You could try the ONS:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

They have stats about household spending by various categories - not sure if the granularity is sufficient for your purposes, but there might be something on what households spent on education, at least.

If you want to find out about how much schools and Local Authorities spend on various aspects of education (including materials, although, again, I'm not sure about the level of detail) you could try looking for "section 52 statements", which should be in the public domain.

[soundimage]

Thanks guys.

I did find some good info on the ONS website. Do the states and Austrailia have their own versions?

Cheers

Rob

[WakingDragon]

As you are based in London, I would also recommend using the City Business Library on London Wall. You can access Mintel and other marketing data as well as hard copies of ONS stuff.

[soundimage]

As you are based in London, I would also recommend using the City Business Library on London Wall. You can access Mintel and other marketing data as well as hard copies of ONS stuff.

Thanks WakingDragon. Is their a fee for accessing Mintel do you know?
Will give it a go tomorrow.

@bob - yeah thats a good site cheers, ive been using that to help with my plan the past week.

[Business Angel]

Hi Rob

If you're interested in a guide to writing business plans for business angels, I have a free one, just email me directly and I'll send :)

John

[WakingDragon]

hi sonic - its been about 10 years since i was last there so I am not entirely sure. However, you can view all the abstracts and the charge (if there was one) was very low.

[Cornish Steve]

Do you know any teachers? They often know all kinds of useful information.

When coming up with numbers for your business plan, be conservative and extrapolate numbers correctly (no hockey sticks). At all costs, avoid wishful thinking; be hard-nosed in your analysis.