Think ahead The future is always unpredictable, but if you study your target market, your competition and the past growth of your company, you can plan for future expansion.

I recommend:  Growth Advisors provides consulting strategies to help you forecast your growth plan. The Small Business Administration (SBA) features a comprehensive guide to writing a business plan for growth. View an online growth strategies workshop from the In Business Network.

Study other growth plans Before you start writing, review models from some successful companies.

I recommend:  BPlans.com provides samples of business plans in a variety of industries. The Business Plan Archive is a library of successful plans from well-known businesses in the past decade. Look specifically at how these plans detail growth objectives.

Discover opportunities for growth With some homework, you can determine if your expansion opportunities lie in creating new products, adding more services, targeting a new market, opening new locations or going global, among others. Once you've identified your best options for growth, include them in your plan.

I recommend:  If you feel like you've hit the ceiling, consider a variety of ways to grow your business by Entrepreneur.com.

Evaluate your team Your plan should include an assessment of your employees and a look at staffing requirements to meet your growth objectives. By assessing your own skills and those of your employees, you can determine how much growth can be accomplished with your present team. In addition, you'll know when to start hiring additional people and what skill sets to look for in those new hires.

I recommend:  See if you have the skills necessary to manage growth at BusinessGrower.com.

Find the capital Include detailed information on how you will fund expansion.

I recommend:  Before you search for capital, find out how your business stands financially with a free assessment of your financial vital signs at The Kauffman Business EKG. Learn how to fund growth with internal capital and outside funding at Business.gov.

Get the word out Growing your business requires a targeted marketing effort. Be sure to outline how you will effectively market your business to encourage growth and how your marketing efforts will evolve as you grow.

I recommend:  Explore the many ways to market your business with advertising & marketing advice at Business.gov.

Ask for help Getting help from other business owners who have had success in growing a business can be the ultimate tool in writing your growth plan.

I recommend:  The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) will assign a mentor with expertise in your industry to help you write a business growth plan. The SBA also provides help with planning at its Small Business Development Centers.

Start writing Business plan software has streamlined the growth plan process. Most software programs are geared to business plans, but you can modify them to create a plan that focuses on growth.

I recommend:  PlanWrite, Plan Magic and Business Plan Pro provide templates for writing business and growth plans. Outlook Soft is a strategic planning tool to forecast growth.