Business Plan Pro 2002 is wizard-driven software put out by PaloAlto Software that takes you from start to finish and it is the fastest and easiest way to generate a solid plan. CompUSA retails it for approximately $99.00 and it has at least 250+ sample business plans for you to use! 

I am a new user to Business Plan Pro 2002, so I am unfamiliar with what they have offered in the past. The new features listed in their help menu are part of what makes this program so awesome. I loved the Easy Plan Wizard and used the Plan Outline almost exclusively. Better organization has improved the Plan Manger; there are some new tables, and a forecaster in the edit menu. The last two new features are the Sample Plan Browser (this is heaven sent) and the ability to export to PDF files.

A few years ago, I wrote a business plan for a business my mom and I were starting. The closer I got to my goal the more complex my business plan got. My business adviser loved it so much she suggested that I write business plans for money. That sounded like fun to me! Oh well, I’m strange.

Since that time, I have written several and they never get any easier. What do I put in a business plan and what do I leave out? What are the different sections I need to make this business plan successful? How should the different parts of each plan work together?

Having discovered the benefits of a good example I have been to The Business Plan Pro Web site many times looking at all the sample plans! Boy, what a fountain of wealth! If only I could download them and believe me, I tried!

I’ve had my eye on The Business Plan Pro program for quite sometime now. Every other week I would tell myself, maybe this payday I will purchase it. You see I get the same dizzy spells and writers block that everyone else gets when being expected to write things as personal as a business plan.

After talking to John Gaddis about the Alamo PC’s new training center that was desperately in need of business and marketing ideas. I piped up with the great idea of writing a business plan to see if I could help. I was slightly nervous when he jumped at the idea. You see I am also good at volunteering work for myself.

As I made my way to my lonely writers garret to accomplish the task of putting marketing and business ideas on paper I suffered sever and complete writers block. In frustration, I called John for help and asked him if he could see about getting The Business Plan Pro program in the interest of Alamo PC’s Training Center.

He called me back within the hour! Would I be willing to write a review? Would I? I would stand on my head and whistle “Dixie” for this program. Well, maybe not, but it sounded good. I couldn’t wait to get started. The program came within three days. 

The following is an account of my experience. 

With great anticipation, I confidently put their CD in my drive. The program loaded perfectly. Or, so I thought! When I gleefully opened the program and tried to use it, I couldn’t get the program to do anything. What was wrong? Hmm…. nothing is ever as easy as you want it to be. 

The first dialog box I saw tells me to upgrade the program. The upgrade is a big download 11.3MB file (a huge file considering that currently my connection is only 31.2. You see, I have a simple dialup connection and must suffer with inconsistent connection speeds.)

I sent an e-mail to Palo Alto and request a disk instead of downloading. I pleasantly discovered that they were extremely easy to deal with and very friendly. The CD upgrade arrived within two days. 

In the meantime, I am getting an error dialog box that claims an Error 0 message so I go in search of a solution. After scouring Palo Alto’s, Web site. I find something that says, “After running the Microsoft Windows Critical Update, Business Plan Pro generates a Run Time Error 0”.Ok, that’s great but how do I resolve this error 0?

At www.paloalto.com I eventually find a link that takes me to a link, which recommends a Microsoft link, which eventually upgraded my Microsoft Explorer. I cannot believe it! Just like magic, everything is suddenly working great. I didn’t realize it at the time but this was the entire source of my problem.

Business Plan Pro 2002 is an incredible program for the independent businessperson. They offer over 200 samples of business plans for many types of businesses that you can review in the Sample Plan Browser. 

If you read all the information on the box hoping for glimpses of the program, you will not be disappointed with the software at all. It is everything they promise and more. Their well-written manual offers many screen prints making it very user friendly.

The menu bar at the top offers the usual commands plus several different views for you to work with. This view was my particular preference because it allowed me to work on three different sections at the same time. The Easy Plan Wizard, the Plan Outline, and gives me access to the section I am currently writing.

Business Plan Pro 2002 is a very simple program to use. They offer a guided tour that allows you to practice writing your business plan and working with tables. It helps you learn how to build your sales forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow, and a balance sheet.

It seems like there are wizards for everything and I highly recommend that you use them. They are extraordinarily easy to use. The view panel on the top right offers you instructions and examples. If you get bogged down, I recommend you use the skip button. Some of these sections may seem easier after you work on your plan for a while and come back to them later.

After you complete the wizard, you must open the Sample Plan Browser. This is definitely essential! Look for a plan that closely resembles the type of business plan you are writing. This is a great way of reviewing a completed business plan and what may be expected of your plan. You will probably find some phrases or sections that will help you know what you need in your plan.
I even copied and pasted several sentences. It seemed like the easiest way to achieve my goal. If the plans they offer seem too complicated don’t worry. They just want you to know everything that you can or should use in your business plan.

I only hope that you will love using this program as much as I did. I will admit, however, that I exported my plan into MS Word and Excel XP to finish it and make it pretty. I have been teaching word for so long I am more comfortable with the design capabilities that Microsoft offers.

If you do not have MS Word and Excel then you will surely appreciate the formatting features in Business Plan Pro 2002. The printing and publishing features are also very handy. Especially cool is the download to Kinko’s (KPF) where they will print your entire plan for a small fee. This program also has the ability to work with Quicken, QuickBooks, MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

I have only a few minor complaints with the program that are barely worth mentioning. Well, why not — this is a review. I don’t understand the point in having a sample plan if you can’t use it in wizard mode. I had to open and close that section too often when copying and pasting. This is no big deal but quite cumbersome and disappointing.

The different parts of the wizard do not seem to flow well with the actual sections of the outlined business plan on the left panel. When I was almost done with my plan for the Training Center, I discovered there were several areas that I had not completed or unintentionally skipped. When I tried going back to that specific area in the wizard, I was unable to find it. Now this is a bigee in my book. The whole point in the wizard is being able to work with the examples given.

The minimum requirements for this wonderful software are Operating systems from Windows 95 to XP and Explorer 5.0 or higher. If you have at least 50MB of hard drive and you will be just fine. Business Plan Pro 2003 sells for $99.95. You can find 

Palo Alto Software
144 East 14th Ave. 
Eugene, OR 97401

Was it worth it? Absolutely!! Do I love the program? Absolutely!! Would I recommend the program? Absolutely!! Do I still enjoy writing business plans? Absolutely!!