Write Your Business Plan | Part 2 Overview Video Learn the key questions to ask yourself early in the process.

Funding for your startup can come from a wide variety of sources: friends and family, venture capital, angel investors and SBA loans, just to name a few. And a good business plan is going to help investors understand your vision.

But before you start raising money, one of the most valuable uses of a business plan is to help you figure out if this idea is worth it. While it can't exactly act as a crystal ball, a well-executed plan is going to illustrate if this is a viable idea before you spend a penny.

There are financial and lifestyle realities you'll need to contend with to launch and run a business, and here are some key questions to ask yourself to see if this is a realistic endeavor:

• What initial investment am I going to need to launch?
• What are the projected profits of the business in the first few years?
• What kind of salary or profit distribution can I expect to take home?
• Do I have evidence that I'm providing a solution that customers actually want?

• Can I hold onto my day job while I get this business up and running?
• Do I have a financial and emotional support system to help me through the startup years?
• Is this a concept I'm truly passionate about?

Be honest with yourself as you answer these questions to help gain clarity if this is an idea that you really want to go all-in on. Entrepreneurship takes a good amount of fearlessness and risk-taking and luck, but taking time to ask yourself the tough questions and arming yourself with as much information as possible is going to give you the best chance of success.

Continue reading this section to learn about building out your plan or order a copy of Write Your Business Plan from the Entrepreneur Bookstore.