The items posted so far, look to be an annual budget, which is somewhat different from a business plan, altho the budget will become integral to the plan. To be successful, in the longer term, you need at least a semi formal business plan wrapped around that budget, and, it will need to be a formal plan if you intend to borrow money against the business plan.
To develop a full plan around that budget, is not difficult. Altho my experience is not in commercial beekeeping, I've done a few business plans in my lifetime, and executed on them. I have operated my own business for the last 15 years, which has done well enough that we live comfortably from it. As well, I sit on the board of directors for another company. It's a larger company, with a management board, and I provide the top level management advice for my own particular area of expertise. For my own business, which operates debt free, we have an informal business plan, which I can modify on the fly as it suits. For the other company, which is operating in conjunction with bankers, the plan is formal, and all parties 'sign off' on the plan quarterly. The important detail to remember, the plan is made 'in advance' when you are thinking clearly, and, needs to be thought out well enough, that when ca-ca happens, you dont find yourself in a situation where rash decisions need to be made, but rather, refer back to the plan, and execute on the 'if this happens' action plan that was pre-determined. All areas of major risk, should have an 'if this goes bad' stanza in the business plan, and, a road to recovery for that event.
To write a plan for your beekeeping endeavor, you need to start by stepping back, and asking a bunch of high level questions, which will apply to whatever business you decide to head out on, be it beekeeping or basket weaving, you still need to answer a few personal questions that will become the fundamental driver of your plan.
1) Where am I today?
- Do you have a family to support ?
- Are you married ? Intending to become so in the forseeable future ?
- Where do you live? How much does this cost monthly / annully ?
- Why do you want to embark on this business ? Is this a field you have a passion for ? <<-- VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION
2) Where do I want to be in 1, 3 and 5 years ?
- Will you have a family to support in 5 years ?
- Will you have a spouse that is 'good' with the time / energy requirements of running this business ?
- If so, will she be able to cope with the financial stresses in a bad year ?
- How large will the business be at each of the points, 1, 3 and 5 years ?
Answer all of these questions, and, those answers become the framework for how you can build up a plan, with timelines, to get from your starting point, to your desired end result. Note, none of these questions involve actual dollar amounts, but, the answers will become the basis for the philosophy of how, and why, you operate the business the way you do. Contrary to popular belief, a business plan is NOT a boilerplate thing that comes from an academic source. A well thought out business plan is a very personal document, which becomes a roadmap for how you get from point A to point B. An informal plan will give you personal guidance when you have to make important decisions, whereas a formal plan used to gain financing, will become the basis of the 'report card' your funders use to judge progress, and release of future funding (both input and payment schedule) decisions. A formal plan involving external funding, often leaves folks with little choice at some decision points, you cannot just change direction without approval of the lenders.
When you have all the answers to the questions above, the next step is to make up a timeline for execution. For each of the first 5 years, specify a growth and revenue target, then develop a budget, for each year, as you have laid out in the budget built up so far. For this endeavor, if it was me writing the plan, I would not base decision points on calendar timelines, but, rather on the growth metrics. The current operation is 150 hives, with a goal to grow to some number, which would be large enough to support a migratory operation. As others have pointed out, you need a semi-load of bees to start down that route, and, two is better. So, in your timeline, you place 'start searching for migratory customers' at the point which says 'have 2 semi loads of bees'. That may be in year 2, or it may not happen till year 4, depends on the growth mechanism you choose.
Once you have the 5 years rough plan written up, on a year by year basis, with a budget for each year, it's time to go back and re-visit each year individually. You have a number in there for 'honey retail', which is the single largest source of revenue. That cannot be a single number, it's got to be a range, from worst to best case, with a normal case somewhere in between. Using our local area as an example, average harvest for commercial beekeepers last year was 10 pounds per hive, ie, honey crop was almost non-existant. How will a bad year like that affect your plan ? Do you have a way of surviving that possibility ? Since honey production is your primary revenue source, you really need to have a plan of action in place for a crop failure in each of the 5 years moving forward. For the honey production, the primary risk is weather, so note that down clearly now, and make it an integral part of your long term plan, how to survive the crop failure.
On some of the other items, you need to assign a risk factor to each revenue source. The original plan showed some revenue from selling queens, so, you need to ask some hard / honest questions about selling queens and nucs. From my reading here on beesource, queen sales are drivin by price, and reputation of the producer. Do you have a reputation that will allow for a premium pricing model? Will you be able to sell enough to achieve the revenue goal ? Or, will have have to produce twice as many and price them lower? If you do that, can you find buyers for that many ? Producing nucs, can you afford to sell them, or, will they be required for your growth model ? Can you afford to NOT sell them ? Do you have a market lined up for the propolis sales ? If so, leave them in the 'Expected Revenue' column. If not, move them to the 'Planned new revenue sources' column. Keep in mind when you do those numbers, planned new sources dont always pan out, assign it a higher risk category, and, write a stanza about how to overcome the problem if that revenue source doesn't pan out.
Something I would suggest you do, and again, this will help you make a very personal decision on how to move forward. The goal is growth, and there are two methods of achieving that growth. Behind door number one, you can grow organically, splitting hives and expanding. This route may be possible without borrowing a lot of money, altho the 2013 financial projection you have, doesn't include woodenware for expanding the hive count. The other route, borrow a bunch of money, buy everything, and start out with a much higher hive count. On your timeline, that will trigger the 'go migratory' decision point much earlier in the plan, but it'll shift the financial model considerably, because it adds significant debt servicing obligations. So, to figure this out in a way that suits YOU, personally, write your overall plan twice, once via the organic growth model, and once via the 'borrow and buy' growth model. Compare the risk, and reward value for both models, compare the timelines, and ask yourself a very personal question. Am I comfortable with the risk/reward model in each case. When you do that, the answer to a question that's been bantered back and forth here about borrowing, will become obvious to you. Not everybody will see it the same, and input from others is great, but, only YOU can make the final decision on what is right for your own move forward.
Again, I will draw on my own experience. My business is sound, and has allowed us to reach a point of living in a house, where the mortgage got burned last summer. We have two vehicles, nothing owing on either. We have a comfortable lifestyle that we enjoy. Conversly, the other business where I sit on the board, is running on the borrow and buy business model. The financials look good today, and I believe we can make that business a success, but, the risks are much higher.
And on that note, one final bit about your financial projection, there are a couple glaring items missing. Pay yourself. There is no allowance in that statement for putting food on your table. Where is the money going to come from when you stop at the grocery store, and buy a loaf of bread ? Can you go the whole year without eating ? I doubt it, so, factor into that plan, you need to take some of that revenue, and use it to cover the necessities of life, food and lodging. If you dont have that covered in the plan, no banker will take the plan seriously. You may well start the first few years with 'outside job' as the revenue source, and that's fine, but, if that's the plan, put it in your plan. Another item that is glaring in it's absence, administration. At a bare minimum, you will have to file tax returns, even if no tax is owing, and that's going to cost some money to have an accountant do things up properly. Unless you thoroughly understand bookeeping already, you are well advised to hire an expert in that area. A good accountant will save you far more than they charge. The exception to that, is only when you are unprofitable, but, nobody starts out intending to be unprofitable, so, hire a good accountant to help you keep that money come tax time.