Agricultural Consultants Business Plan

The initial management team depends on the founder himself, with little direct back-up. There will be a Board of Advisors, made up of the investors plus a few key members of the Affiliate Network, that will help make management decisions. The business is immediately scalable, and the founder has several recruits in mind that would be valuable additions to the firm. The organizational structure will eventually include several partners at an equal level, with junior-level associates reporting to those partners. If a revised plan calls for more immediate partners, and/or as the firm grows with the new industry, attracting top-quality management personnel should not be excessively difficult.

6.1 Personnel Plan

In addition to the founding partner, Ryan O’Connor, an associate consultant and a secretary will be hired at the outset. As we grow, we will hire on additional consultants, an accountant, a marketing person (including web design), and other staff professionals if necessary. The 2004 salary schedule is presented in the following table. The monthly total payroll is also shown. Salaries of partners grows at a healthy annual rate, while those of other positions are assumed to grow at a lower annual percentage (for the purposes of this plan). The base compensation of all partners will be the same. In the future, a bonus system (rewarding sales generation and other initiatives of the firm) could be developed.

The Profit and Loss table shows the increase in sales, gross margin, and operating expenses, relative to the 2004 baseline year.

Sales increase faster than operating expenses, because the largest operating expense is salary. Sales are assumed to gradually increase during the three-year period without a drastic increase in salary, since the work can be done without new hires.