Introduction Most individuals, at some point in their lives, have had the desire to start and run their own businesses. The decision on whether such a business is to develop into a large one or not lies on the owner. Managing a small business entails a lot of things and, as such, the owner needs to have managerial expertise that enables the business to run and achieve its goals and objectives. The growth of a business depends on the ability of the owner to manage it through the different external environmental conditions some of which are not predictable and, as such, may result in adverse situations. External environment include such factors as political, social, legal, and economic. Economic environment entails an organization’s access to financial resources. Financial resources are always scarce and, at any given time, a business is in need of more finances to effectively carry out its operations or even to expand its revenue base through investments (Hodgett, 1995). While large organizations have different options available to them for sourcing for financial resources such as debt, ordinary shares offer, and issue of debentures and so on, a small business in need of extra finances only has debt as its only source of income (Vander, 1994). Obtaining debts from such lending institutions as banks and venture capitalists is, however, not an easy task for small businesses. This is because of the risk exposure associated with the small businesses’ poor credit worthiness. A viable tool that a small business can use to source for finances to cater for its growth is by the use of a business plan. This essay discusses the essence and viability of a business plan to a small business that seeks to expand its operations so as to contain its rapid growth. Elements of a business plan A business plan is a document that presents the actions that the business plans take in order to achieve its short-term and long term objectives. The document incorporates both the managerial, operational and financial action plans and the timelines that have been set in order to achieve specified goals within a specified time frame (Longnecker, 1991). A good business plan comprises of seven important components. These include an executive summary, market analysis, description of the company, the business organization’s structure, marketing management, the company’s product, and the financials. An executive summary is a snapshot description of the entire business plan. Looking at the executive summary, a person should be able to have a concise overview of the whole business plan. If the goal of the company is expansion, the executive summary presents the decisions that have been taken, are being taken and those that will be taken to ensure that the company achieves its goals and objectives. This section tells the reader of the business plan why the management thinks that the business will ultimately be successful. Market analysis is usually a brief description of the market that the business operates in. The analysis may include the external remote environments that present either opportunities or threats to the organization. For a business plan to appeal to the reader, the market analysis sh