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Diving into the planning process gives you a better understanding of your financial needs too. That’s crucial if you decide to apply for loans or grants in the future. Plus, knowing your business inside and out means you can create better proposals for your products or services to close more deals.
Are you concerned you'll need to be an expert in business or accounting to start? Don't worry. Anyone can create a business plan. In general, most people use a pretty standard business plan template to begin.
You’ll want to include these components in your business plan
The executive summary is the first page of your small business plan document. It gives an overview of your business, including your mission statement, the products or services you offer, the company's ownership structure, and a general summary of your business plans.
Next comes your company description. Here, you'll list your company's legal name and structure, ownership, and its address.
This section is a summary of your industry and how your product or service fits. You can look at current market trends as well as projections for the future.
Here, you'll give a full overview of the target market where you plan to sell your product or service. Be specific, especially when thinking about your competitors' strengths and weaknesses and how your product or service will fill a need.
Your operational plan will provide a business model showing how your company will operate. It should include the ownership structure and the roles of the management team and expected employees, if any. Be sure to include outside resources you might need, for example, an accountant for your small business , lawyers, etc.
In this section, you'll also want to include any real estate and logistics needs for office space or production and any special equipment or supplies to get your product manufactured.
Your sales and marketing plan could have a couple of sections. First, you want to cover the products and services you will offer in detail. Include your pricing models, the costs to make your products, and how you plan to sell and distribute your goods.
Get detailed on the marketing side here. Today, digital marketing plays a crucial role in growth. Many solopreneurs and mom and pop shops rely on social media and their business website to sell goods. Consider that and other methods you plan to use to promote your brand.
If you plan to seek funding , in the form of investors, a bank loan, or grant, for example, this section of your business plan is very important. Highlight here how your business can become profitable and grow over time.
Include estimates of your cash flow, income statements, and balance sheet. From there, you'll be able to estimate your finances over the next three to five years.
As you get started, your appendix might be a little thin. Once you've determined your idea can become a viable business and you've gotten started, use this section as a place to keep essential documents.
These documents can include:
If you decide to apply for business funding, you'll need to have these documents handy and included in your business plan. Make sure you have a system for record-keeping to keep everything straight.
Now that you know what goes into your small business plan, you can start filling in your template with real information. Here's how.
The most time-intensive part of getting your business plan set is the research phase, and the more research you do, the better.
You'll need to compile research on your industry, as well as your direct competitors and the audience you’ll target.
Go deep in researching your industry and competitors -- it can have many benefits. A deep understanding of the industry matters, especially if you need to set up manufacturing and distribution channels.
And it never hurts to learn more about your competition, including their strengths and weaknesses. That can help highlight opportunities for your brand.
Financial data plays a huge role in getting your business plan up and running, so don't cut corners here.
Remember, as you start to run and grow a business, money matters. So, you need to find a way to keep track of it all. Accounting software, such as QuickBooks , can help you monitor everything from the expected billable hours you'll have to pay accountants or contractors, such as freelance web designers for your site or writers for your marketing, to invoices and inventory.
Once you have a full and realistic picture of your finances, you can start planning your projections.
With your research and data in hand, you can start writing your business plan, section by section. Something to remember as you write: keep it concise.
Most business plans end up being around 7 to 20 pages, depending on the type of business. For something relatively simple, such as a solo consulting firm, you don't need to worry about manufacturing and logistics in your operational plan section, for instance.
While this is the first part of your business plan, it's generally the last thing written so that you can sum up everything in a few concise paragraphs.
Business plan example
To help you get started with your business plan, here's an example. This plan is an example template from the Small Business Administration (SBA).
An example of a business plan on the SBA website. Image source: Author
You'll start with the executive summary. You can see that this one gives a quick overview of the company, product, and customers.
An example of one component in a business plan on the SBA website. Image source: Author
Next is the company description page. The company has noted its primary members and its legal structure for tax purposes.
In the market research or market analysis section, the plan details more than you see in the executive summary. You'll find more in-depth descriptions of the industry as a whole and the target market. The plan also outlines its competitive advantages over similar brands in the industry.
An example of the service line in a business plan on the SBA website. Image source: Author
The operational planning section is pretty simple too. Since the business is a consulting firm, all product lines are services, with no assembly required. So there's no need to list manufacturing, shipping, or logistical needs or concerns. It’s just a description of services with pricing.
An example of a business plan’s marketing & sales section on the SBA website. Image source: Author
Since this is a small, service-based business, the marketing and sales plan is quite simple. It lays out a simple strategy for growth as well as some marketing channels the company plans to use and the person in charge of most of the selling.
An example of the financial plan section of a business plan on the SCORE website. Image source: Author
SCORE, which offers a network of free business mentors nationwide, has more detailed instructions on what you can include in your financial plan.
Creating a business plan is a great way to stay focused and on course. Starting a business is an exciting time, but it's also easy to get distracted. With a business plan, you have a roadmap that can help guide you through the ups and downs of getting your business up and running.
Liz Froment is an SMB financing expert writing for The Ascent and The Motley Fool.
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2 Mailchimp Partners on opposite sides of the globe offer their advice.
So, what does a successful small business plan look like? How do you know that you're accounting for any and every possibility down the road? Well, honestly, you can't. What you can do is research, ask a lot of questions and seek sage advice from those who have been through it. Fortunately, we've got the latter part covered for you.
Meet Mailchimp partners , Kelly Vaughn and Danny Phillips . Kelly is the founder of The Taproom Agency based in Atlanta. On the other side of the world, in Australia, Danny is the director of the CX agency, Arkade. Both Kelly and Danny are small business owners dedicated to helping others execute their plans.
If you're really ready to commit to creating your plan, hold yourself accountable by writing it out.
"The first thing is to actually build out that physical plan," Kelly says. "Have it down on paper. Having it all written down on a true business plan is really helpful. You might be diverging from the those plans at some point, but you always have something to refer back to as far as, 'this is where we started, this is what our goals were.'"
We pulled Kelly and Danny away from their busy schedules to chat about the 7 things to keep in mind when you're putting your small business plan together.
Yeah, we know doing taxes is about as fun as watching paint dry, but don't start any business plan without handling that first.
"The first thing everyone needs to be thinking about is taxes, especially if they're based in the U.S., and how it's going to affect their annual tax return," Kelly says. "Thinking about that now versus after you're already starting to make money, you'll set yourself up on the right foot."
While you're at it, set up your legal and business accounts.
"Registering as an LLC basically separates your personal assets from your business assets where if, absolute worst case scenario, something happens, and you're sued or something like that, it makes it so that your personal assets are not actually accessible in that kind of situation," she says.
Is it an outline? Do I create a slide deck? Are their templates? Danny says he uses Lean Canvas , but find what's right for you.
"One of them will speak to you and your sensibility and your attention to detail, or your short attention span like I have," Danny says. "If one format doesn't work for you try a different one. One thing might look good on paper, but when you actually try to put your own thoughts and ideas and projections into it, it might not stack up. It might not be that your idea is wrong, or your plan's wrong, it might be just the format of that plan isn't quite right."
You're going to be juggling a lot at the start. Stay on track of your North Star(s), and remember what's driving you toward them.
"I think when you're doing your business plans and setting up the basics, knowing what you do stand for and what you don't stand for is important," Danny says.
Knowing that, as well as developing your S.M.A.R.T. goals will keep you honest about what your business is and where you want it to be.
"What are your goals for your first 6 months," Kelly says. "Your first year? Your first 3 years? What is it going to take to acquire those? Who are the stakeholders involved in this business ? Is it just you or are you serving certain clients? Are you selling a product, or products? Having it all written down on a true business plan is really helpful."
If you're not going into this business alone, document who you need and why you need them.
"You need to make sure you write every single person's job description as if you were hiring for that position," Kelly says. "This way everyone knows exactly what their role is in the company."
And always remember: "It should be more out of necessity rather than head count," she says.
"In my case, the best thing I ever did was find a mentor for myself," Kelly says. "She's very good at setting me straight when I start to veer off of a path that I shouldn't be going down."
Forming partnerships early on is also important.
"If you don't have your own business partner to bounce ideas off of, then have some sort of trusted advisor or mentor that's been through this," Danny says. "Articles like this help, but I think having someone that knows you and can critique your work in a sort of safe way and give you that constructive criticism is valuable."
Not a numbers person? You're not alone, but it's crucial that you're keeping tabs on cash flow, and writing that into your plan.
"Spend enough time on your business plan to make sure that you understand your true costs, your costs of goods, or just the ins and the outs," Danny says. "Make sure you do your accounting, even if it's rough. Just be really careful with not banking for your own time and effort. You can loan your effort into the business, but you can't pretend that it's viable when it's only viable if you're putting in 20-hour days."
Both Kelly and Danny say get use to revisiting, tweaking, and revising your plan on at least a quarterly basis.
"One thing will be true: if you look back every 3 years, you won't recognize the business you were," Danny says. "Even if you've only been a 2-person operation for 20 years, every 3 years, when you look back, you won't recognize yourself," Danny says. "If you're not open to change, you'll generally be a victim of it. So build into your plan the ability to pivot, the ability to change, the ability to adapt."
At the end of the day, the plan, guidebook, map—whatever you want to call it—are words on paper. Ultimately, according to Kelly and Danny, that's all they'll ever be until you put them in action.
"Once you start you're going to have like this reality of, 'Oh I thought this was how things were going to be,' or 'I was completely wrong about who my target customer is,'" Kelly says. "A lot of things can change and you're not going to know all these answers until you actually get started."
Dannys says to not overthink it.
"I've seen so many people that have been paralyzed by possibility, and months and years go by," he says. "You've just got to get it down on paper and make sure it makes sense. Check it with a couple of people that you trust, and start."
Published: July 01, 2024
I believe that reading sample business plans is essential when writing your own.
As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, it’s easier for you to learn how to write a good one.
So what does a good business plan look like? And how do you write one that’s both viable and convincing? I’ll walk you through the ideal business plan format along with some examples to help you get started.
Table of Contents
Business plan format, sample business plan: section by section, sample business plan templates, top business plan examples.
Ultimately, the format of your business plan will vary based on your goals for that plan. I’ve added this quick review of different business plan types that achieve differing goals.
For a more detailed exploration of business plan types, you can check out this post .
The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.
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Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas. If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business.
You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .
Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.
You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. In my opinion, internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.
A strategic business plan is another business plan that's often shared internally. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.
When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.
Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.
I’m going to focus on a startup business plan that needs to be detailed and research-backed as well as compelling enough to convince investors to offer funding. In my experience, the most comprehensive and convincing business plans contain the following sections.
This all-important introduction to your business plan sets the tone and includes the company description as well as what you will be exchanging for money — whether that’s product lines, services, or product-service hybrids.
Information about gaps in your industry’s market and how you plan to fill them, focused on demand and potential for growth.
An overview of your competitors that includes consideration of their strengths and how you’ll manage them, their weaknesses and how you’ll capitalize on them, and how you can differentiate your offerings in the industry.
Descriptions of your ideal customers, their various problems that you can solve, and your customer acquisition strategy.
This section details how you will market your brand to achieve specific goals, the channels and tactics you’ll utilize to reach those goals, and the metrics you’ll be using to measure your progress.
This is where you’ll use plain language to emphasize the value of your product/service, how it solves the problems of your target audiences, and how you’ll scale up over time.
This section describes your pricing strategy and plans for building revenue streams that fit your audiences while achieving your business goals.
This is the final section, communicating with investors that your business idea is worth investing in via profit/loss statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets to prove viability.
Okay, so now that we have a format established, I’ll give you more specific details about each section along with examples. Truthfully, I wish I’d had this resource to help me flesh out those first business plans long ago.
I’d say the executive summary is the most important section of the entire business plan. It is essentially an overview of and introduction to your entire project.
Write this in such a way that it grabs your readers' attention and guides them through the rest of the business plan. This is important because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.
There are two main elements I’d recommend including in your executive summary: your company description and your products and services.
This is the perfect space to highlight your company’s mission statement and goals, a brief overview of your history and leadership, and your top accomplishments as a business.
Tell potential investors who you are and why what you do matters. Naturally, they’re going to want to know who they’re getting into business with up front. This is a great opportunity to showcase your impact.
Need some extra help firming up your business goals? I’d recommend HubSpot Academy’s free course to help you set meaningful goals that matter most for your business.
Products and Services
Here, you will incorporate an overview of your offerings. This doesn’t have to be extensive, as it is just a chance to introduce your industry and overall purpose as a business. I recommend including snippets of information about your financial projections and competitive advantage here as well.
Keep in mind that you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. The executive summary should be clear and brief, only including the most important takeaways.
This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template . What makes this executive summary good is that it tells potential investors a short story while still covering all of the most important details.
Our Mission
Maria’s Gluten Free Bagels offers gluten-free bagels, along with various toppings, other gluten-free breakfast sandwich items, and coffee. The facility is entirely gluten free. Our team expects to catch the interest of gluten-free, celiac, or health-conscious community members who are seeking an enjoyable cafe to socialize. Due to a lack of gluten-free bagel products in the food industry currently, we expect mild competition and are confident we will be able to build a strong market position.
The Company and Management
Maria’s Gluten Free Bagels was founded in 2010 by Maria Jones, who first began selling her gluten-free bagels online from her home, using social media to spread the word. In 2012 she bought a retail location in Hamilton, MA, which now employs four full-time employees and six part-time employees. Prior to her bagel shop, Maria was a chef in New York and has extensive experience in the food industry.
Along with Maria Jones, Gluten Free Bagel Shop has a board of advisors. The advisors are:
Our Product
We offer gluten-free products ranging from bagels and cream cheese to blueberry muffins, coffee, and pastries. Our customers are health-conscious, community-oriented people who enjoy gluten-free products. We will create a welcoming, warm environment with opportunities for open mic nights, poetry readings, and other community functions. We will focus on creating an environment in which someone feels comfortable meeting a friend for lunch, or working remotely.
Our Competitive Advantages
While there are other coffee shops and cafes in the North Shore region, there are none that offer purely gluten-free options. This restricts those suffering from gluten-free illnesses or simply those with a gluten-free preference. This will be our primary selling point. Additionally, our market research [see Section 3] has shown a demand for a community-oriented coffee and bagel shop in the town of Hamilton, MA.
Financial Considerations
Our sales projections for the first year are $400,000. We project a 15% growth rate over the next two years. By year three, we project 61% gross margins.
We will have four full-time employees. The salary for each employee will be $50,000.
Start-up Financing Requirements
We are seeking to raise $125,000 in startup to finance year one. The owner has invested $50,000 to meet working capital requirements, and will use a loan of $100,000 to supplement the rest.
Example 2 :
Marianne and Keith Bean have been involved with the food industry for several years. They opened their first restaurant in Antlers, Oklahoma in 1981, and their second in Hugo in 1988. Although praised for the quality of many of the items on their menu, they have attained a special notoriety for their desserts. After years of requests for their flavored whipped cream toppings, they have decided to pursue marketing these products separately from the restaurants.
Marianne and Keith Bean have developed several recipes for flavored whipped cream topping. They include chocolate, raspberry, cinnamon almond, and strawberry. These flavored dessert toppings have been used in the setting of their two restaurants over the past 18 years, and have been produced in large quantities. The estimated shelf life of the product is 21 days at refrigeration temperatures and up to six months when frozen. The Beans intend to market this product in its frozen state in 8 and 12-ounce plastic tubs. They also intend to have the products available in six ounce pressurized cans. Special attention has been given to developing an attractive label that will stress the gourmet/specialty nature of the products.
Distribution of Fancy's Foods Whipped Dream product will begin in the local southeastern Oklahoma area. The Beans have an established name and reputation in this area, and product introduction should encounter little resistance.
Financial analyses show that the company will have both a positive cash flow and profit in the first year. The expected return on equity in the first year is 10.88%
For more guidance, check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary .
2. Market Opportunity
This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Ask and answer: Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will my product fill that gap?
To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, SOM analysis , a SWOT analysis , and perform market research on your industry to get some insights for this section. More specifically, here’s what I’d include.
I like this example because it uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.
Example: The market for Doggie Pause is all of the dog owners in the metropolitan area and surrounding areas of the city. We believe that this is going to be 2/3 of the population, and we have a goal of gaining a 50% market share. We have a target of a 20% yearly profit increase as the business continues.
Since we’re already speaking of market share, you‘ll also need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you’ll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another.
My favorite part of performing a competitive analysis is that it can help you uncover the following:
I like how the competitive landscape section of this business plan shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location. This demonstrates useful experience in the industry, helping to build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.
Competitive Environment
Currently, there are four primary competitors in the Greater Omaha Area: Pinot’s Palette Lakeside (franchise partner), Village Canvas and Cabernet, The Corky Canvas, and Twisted Vine Collective. The first three competitors are in Omaha and the fourth is located in Papillion.
Despite the competition, all locations have both public and private events. Each location has a few sold-out painting events each month. The Omaha locations are in new, popular retail locations, while the existing Papillion location is in a downtown business district.
There is an opportunity to take advantage of the environment and open a studio in a well-traveled or growing area. Pinot’s Palette La Vista will differentiate itself from its competitors by offering a premium experience in a high-growth, influential location.
Use this section to describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience? I’d recommend building a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear about why you're targeting them. Here are some questions I’d ask myself:
I like the example below because it uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.
The Audience
Recognize that audiences are often already aware of important issues. Outreach materials should:
Message Content
Here, you‘ll discuss how you’ll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. I think it’s helpful to have a marketing plan built out in advance to make this part of your business plan easier. I’d suggest including these details:
This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. In my opinion, it works because it offers a comprehensive picture of how they plan to use digital marketing to promote the community.
You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.
This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of my favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.
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To write a business plan for a small business, start by writing an executive summary that briefly outlines your business. Follow that with a company description that explains your business in more detail. You'll also want to include sections on your target customers, how your business will be structured, and what products or services you will offer. Finally, conclude your business plan with a section on your marketing strategy and also a funding request for potential investors. For help writing each section of your business plan, read the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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Need support creating your business plan? Check out these business plan examples for inspiration.
Any aspiring entrepreneur researching how to start a business will likely be advised to write a business plan. But few resources provide business plan examples to really guide you through writing one of your own.
Here are some real-world and illustrative business plan examples to help you craft your business plan .
The business plan examples in this article follow this template:
Your executive summary is a page that gives a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. It’s easiest to save this section for last.
In this free business plan template , the executive summary is four paragraphs and takes a little over half a page:
You might repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, social media profile pages, or other properties that require a boilerplate description of your small business.
Soap brand ORRIS has a blurb on its About page that could easily be repurposed for the company description section of its business plan.
You can also go more in-depth with your company overview and include the following sections, like in the example for Paw Print Post:
Your mission statement may also make an appearance here. Passionfruit shares its mission statement on its company website, and it would also work well in its example business plan.
The market analysis consists of research about supply and demand, your target demographics, industry trends, and the competitive landscape. You might run a SWOT analysis and include that in your business plan.
Here’s an example SWOT analysis for an online tailored-shirt business:
You’ll also want to do a competitive analysis as part of the market research component of your business plan. This will tell you who you’re up against and give you ideas on how to differentiate your brand. A broad competitive analysis might include:
This section of your business plan describes your offerings—which products and services do you sell to your customers? Here’s an example for Paw Print Post:
It’s always a good idea to develop a marketing plan before you launch your business. Your marketing plan shows how you’ll get the word out about your business, and it’s an essential component of your business plan as well.
The Paw Print Post focuses on four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place. However, you can take a different approach with your marketing plan. Maybe you can pull from your existing marketing strategy , or maybe you break it down by the different marketing channels. Whatever approach you take, your marketing plan should describe how you intend to promote your business and offerings to potential customers.
The Paw Print Post example considered suppliers, production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.
The financial plan provides a breakdown of sales, revenue, profit, expenses, and other relevant financial metrics related to funding and profiting from your business.
Ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy’s financial plan breaks down predicted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.
It then dives deeper into the financials to include:
You can use this financial plan spreadsheet to build your own financial statements, including income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement.
A one-page business plan is meant to be high level and easy to understand at a glance. You’ll want to include all of the sections, but make sure they’re truncated and summarized:
A startup business plan is for a new business. Typically, these plans are developed and shared to secure outside funding . As such, there’s a bigger focus on the financials, as well as on other sections that determine viability of your business idea—market research, for example.
Your internal business plan is meant to keep your team on the same page and aligned toward the same goal.
A strategic, or growth, business plan is a bigger picture, more-long-term look at your business. As such, the forecasts tend to look further into the future, and growth and revenue goals may be higher. Essentially, you want to use all the sections you would in a normal business plan and build upon each.
Your feasibility business plan is sort of a pre-business plan—many refer to it as simply a feasibility study. This plan essentially lays the groundwork and validates that it’s worth the effort to make a full business plan for your idea. As such, it’s mostly centered around research.
Building a good business plan serves as a roadmap you can use for your ecommerce business at launch and as you reach each of your business goals. Business plans create accountability for entrepreneurs and synergy among teams, regardless of your business model .
Kickstart your ecommerce business and set yourself up for success with an intentional business planning process—and with the sample business plans above to guide your own path.
How do i write a simple business plan, what is the best format to write a business plan, what are the 4 key elements of a business plan.
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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice.
Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .
A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.
A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:
Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.
While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.
For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .
The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:
If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.
Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.
Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.
In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.
Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:
Function | Audience | Type of Business Plan |
---|---|---|
Serve as a loose guide of objectives and timeline | Internal | Lean |
Serve as a detailed, brass-tacks blueprint of business goals and timeline | Internal | Traditional |
Serve as a strategic document with a narrative focus on organization-wide goals, priorities, and vision | Internal | Strategic |
Earn a company loan or grant | External | Traditional (with focus on financial documents) |
Attract investors or partners | External | Traditional/strategic (with focus on financials, as well as support departments, such as marketing, sales, product, etc.) |
To test a business or startup idea | Internal | Lean |
There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.
A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.
In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.
The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:
See our roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.
The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:
In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:
In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:
In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.
In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.
Questions to answer in this section are as follows:
In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:
Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts.
Start by answering the following questions:
This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:
Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years.
While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:
Download Business Plan Template
Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet
This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.
For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy.
If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.
A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.
Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .
Download Simple Business Plan Template
Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Smartsheet
Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.
Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates .
A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.
While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:
Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.
See our wide variety of startup business plan templates for more options.
A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.
In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.
Download free financial templates to support your business plan.
Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.
Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.
Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.
“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”
Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”
While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.
Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.
A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships.
Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.
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Last Updated: August 8, 2024, 7:52 am by TRUiC Team
Writing a business plan can be an intimidating endeavor. Whether you’ve decided to start a business , or you already have a business and need to write a business plan to apply for a loan or to pitch to investors , we cover the process in-depth.
Recommended: Our business plan generator walks you through topics like marketing and financial projections so that your business is prepared to succeed.
The traditional business plan is typically a 20 to 40-page formal document that describes what your business does, what your objectives are, and how you plan to achieve them.
It lays out your plans for operating, marketing, and managing your business, along with your goals and financial projections.
There are many different types of business plans, depending on the stage of your venture and the purpose of your business plan. In the earliest stages of your business idea, you may want to start small with a three-sentence business plan , or perhaps by sketching out a lean canvas or business model canvas .
Once your business idea has been developed, you’ll be ready to begin writing your business plan .
Writing a business plan requires you to think through all of the key elements of your business. This gives you insights into the challenges you’ll face and the strengths you bring.
A business plan is also often requested by lenders or investors when you are ready to seek financing.
While many companies do not need a formal business plan unless they are planning on seeking investors or applying for a business loan , writing a business plan has extensive benefits.
The process of writing your business plan allows you to take an in-depth look at your industry , market , and competitive position . It helps you set goals , determine your keys to success , and plan your strategies . It also allows you to explore your financial projections and manage cash. So, even if you do not need a formal business plan, the process of planning may still reap huge rewards.
You need to think carefully about who is going to read your business plan.
Although you might begin writing a business plan only to convince yourself, there are a number of stakeholders who may end up reading your business plan.
Your plan might be read by your:
Outside the organization , the following stakeholders may want to read your business plan before they decide to do business with you:
Think about your primary audience when you are writing your business plan. What are the aspects that are most important to them? This is where you will want to put the majority of your focus.
For example, lenders will be most interested in your financial projections — your cash flow statement and balance sheet.
Investors might be most interested in your business model, the uniqueness of your product or service, and your competitive advantage.
Partners, your senior management team, and current employees might be most interested in your strategic plans- your vision, your operational plan, and your organizational plan.
One great resource you should check out before sitting down to write your business plan are sample business plans in your industry.
Not only will you have the opportunity to gain insights on your industry and your competitors, you also might be able to find troves of industry and market research that will make conducting your own analysis of the industry and market much easier.
To find example business plans in your industry, try searching the web for “ your industry business plan example.”
Once you have spent some time looking at sample business plans in your industry, it is now time to start writing your business plan . An easy place to begin is by outlining the major sections you will need in your plan.
What you need to include in your business plan will depend on the type of business you are creating, your business model, and who your intended audience is.
Common business plan sections include:
Not every type of venture will require every one of these sections to be included in their business plans. However, most business plans will at least include an executive summary, venture overview, a description of the products and services, and some form of financial projections.
As suggested in its name, an executive summary is a summary of the key points in your business plan . This is your first chance to convey to readers the what, why, who, and how of your business or business idea.
Although there is no set structure for an executive summary, a good executive summary should summarize :
If you are writing your business plan for the purpose of acquiring funding , you will also need to discuss the amount of funding required, the purpose of the funds, as well as how your investors will get paid back.
The executive summary should be clear and concise . Ideally, this section should be one to two pages and typically follows either a synopsis or story approach, depending on the intended audience.
In the synopsis approach, you would provide a brief summary of each of the key sections of your business plan. In the story approach, your executive summary reads like a narrative, allowing you to tell the “story” of your business or idea.
With either approach to writing the executive summary, the information you want to convey remains the same. The executive summary needs to provide an overall picture of your current business or business idea.
The executive summary should include:
The executive summary should also include:
Although the executive summary is the first section in the business plan, because it is a summary of the rest of your business plan, it is often written last.
The venture overview is a top-level depiction of your company.
It contains the:
The first part of your venture overview is a description of your venture.
The description of your venture should include what you do (a brief description of your products or services), the value you provide to customers, your current operating status or a brief history of the venture, and a short description of the industry or niche in which you compete.
After describing your venture, a vision statement is a very simple, 5 to 10 word sentence or tagline that expresses the fundamental goals of your firm. Good vision statements reflect your company’s long term passion and purpose, often in a way that evokes emotion.
Take a look at the vision statements below for some inspiration:
Disney — To make people happy. Oxfam — A world without poverty. Stanford — To become the Harvard of the West. Marriott — To be the #1 hospitality company in the world. Microsoft — A computer on every desk and in every home; all running Microsoft software.
After having crafted your vision statement, you should also create a mission statement. A mission statement explains your company's goals in terms of what you do for your customers. A good mission statement should tell your reader what your company does, who you do it for, and why you do what you do.
Check out these excellent examples of compelling mission statements:
Patagonia — “Our Reason For Being: Build the best products, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”
Trader Joes — “Our mission is to give our customers the best food and beverage values that they can find anywhere and to provide them with the information required to make informed buying decisions. We provide these with a dedication to the highest quality of customer satisfaction delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, fun, individual pride, and company spirit.”
Facebook — "Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them."
In this section of the business plan, break down your most important short-term and long-term goals and objectives.
Aim for five to seven of your most important short and long term goals.
This subsection of your venture description should be kept short. You will come back to your goals at the end of your business plan.
However, your key short-term and long-term goals should be highlighted early on in your business plan as well. The rest of your business plan will act as evidence of how you plan on achieving your goals.
Your keys to success are your insights into what it takes to be successful in your industry, market, or niche.
Your keys to success can include several of the most important milestones that you will need to accomplish in order to achieve your goals.
These may include providing high quality products and services, your ability to attract customers or users and gain market share, or even your ability to develop the technology to deliver your products or services.
Your keys to success may also include the major milestones that you will need to reach along the way in order to achieve your vision. You will come back to your milestones and objectives at the end of your business plan.
The product or service description section is where you will go into detail in describing your products or services.
Not only will you describe your product in more detail, you should also discuss the uniqueness of your product, and what gives you an advantage over your competitors.
These are the three main parts of the Product (or Service) Description:
Uniqueness of product, competitive advantage.
In this subsection of your business plan, describe the products or services you will provide, why they are a fit in the market, and how you will compete with similar products and services.
Begin by clearly describing the products or services you will provide. Make sure to explain the features and characteristics of your products and services. Your product or service description does not have to be highly technical. Rather, in addition to describing the features, focus on highlighting the advantages and benefits associated with your products or services.
Also, let your reader know why your product or service is needed. How does your product or service differ from those offered by your competitors? How does it better fill your customers wants and needs?
This is where you tell your reader why your solution is unique. Is it different from everything else out there? How is it different? Why would potential users choose your product or service over your competitors? In order to stand out, you need to distinguish yourself in some way.
To describe your product or service’s uniqueness, you may want to come up with a unique value proposition (or unique selling point). A value proposition is a short description of what you do, who you do it for, and how this benefits them.
A value proposition is similar to a mission statement. However, it differs in that a mission statement is written from the perspective of the company, while a value proposition is written from the perspective of the customer.
Your value proposition should be the center of your customer messaging. It should be front and center on your website, in your marketing materials, and in your advertising.
Here a few examples of great value propositions:
Dollar Shave Club — A Great Shave for a Few Bucks a Month. No Commitment. No Fees. No B.S.
Unbounce — Build, Publish, & A/B Test Landing Pages Without IT
Freshbooks — Small Business Accounting Software Built for You, the Non-Accountant
Skype — Skype Keeps the World Talking, for Free. Share, Message, and Call - Now with Group Video on Mobile and Tablet Too.
What makes you better than competitors?
Does your competitive advantage come from superior products and services, customer service, technical support, logistics, price? What are the factors that give you an advantage over your competitors?
Clearly defining your competitive advantage is important.
Your competitive advantage is not just some abstract concept. It is at the core of how you deliver value to your customers. Your competitive advantage lays the foundation for your business model and should be a key component of your strategic plans.
Common areas where businesses find competitive advantages include:
The industry and market analysis is the “big picture” view of your industry and market.
Conducting an industry and market analysis is going to take a good deal of research. You will likely need to research your industry, your competitors, and your customers. But do not rush through this section of your business plan.
A good understanding of your industry and market is critical to your success. By understanding the forces at play within your industry, you will be better able to find additional ways to create value that will allow you to succeed in the current and anticipated competitive environment.
Conducting an industry and market analysis can be intimidating, especially if you do not know what to look for or how to find the information you need. In the next section, we will discuss what should be included in your industry analysis. Then, we will tell you where to begin looking.
The industry analysis is a big picture analysis of the industry you will compete in. What does your overall industry look like today? There are a number of insights that will help you assess the attractiveness of your idea and form a big picture view of the industry and segment you are considering competing in.
Key insights to be alert for include:
To arrive at meaningful insights from your industry analysis, try to find answers to the following questions:
Now that you have a better idea of what to look for, you will need to know where to begin your search. There are a number of great free resources to begin looking for industry research. However, the first step is to determine the industry you are in.
While by this point, you should have some idea of the industry you are in, it is not always so clear. You could try an internet search to see what information you can find on your industry, but you will also want to find the NAICS code. You can do a NAICS Code Lookup and find the NAICS Code for LLC that matches your industry.
Here, you use the NAICS identification tool to drill-down through a list of industries to find the appropriate NAICS code for your business.
Once you know your industry, you can begin collecting more information about the industry trends and trajectory.
www.Bizstats.com provides free industry statistics including industry averages for income statement revenues and expenses, balance sheets, and key financial ratios. This is very helpful in making financial forecasts and setting benchmarks.
The US Census Bureau also provides several tools to help you conduct industry research:
Once you have a better understanding of the industry, you can begin to narrow down to your target market. In this section of the business plan you describe who your target market is and what you know about them.
What is a target market? Your target market is the specific group of customers to whom your product is intended. And no, it is not everyone. Although many new venture founders would like to sell their product or service to everyone, you should focus your efforts on your most likely customers.
Narrowing your target market requires understanding the three types of markets for your products or services. Your venture’s market can be narrowed down into three categories, the TAM, the SAM, and the SOM.
The total available market (TAM) is the total market for your products and services. Everyone in the universe who might be your customer.
The serviceable available market (SAM) is the subset of the total market that you can actually reach. Although anyone in your universe might be your customer, you are limited in your ability to reach them all.
The share of market (SOM) is the subset of the serviceable available market that you will actually reach. These are your most likely customers. Your target market.
Target markets can be segmented in many different ways. The idea is to narrow down to your most likely customers. This is where your focus should be.
Ways you can segment the market include:
Once you understand who your target market segments are, you will be able to start determining how you can reach them. To do this, consider:
To determine your target market and conduct a market analysis, you will most likely have to do market research.
Market research is the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to your target market and target customer to support strategic decision making.
There are two types of market research : secondary market research, and primary market research.
Secondary market research is the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data that has already been collected for other purposes. Secondary market research may include the collection of data from a number of sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, consumer agencies, and for-profit organizations.
Primary market research is the collection of new information to gain a further understanding of the problem at hand. Primary market research involves you collecting the data or hiring a market research firm to collect data for you. This is you going out and actually collecting the opinions of your potential customers.
Common methods of primary market research include customer observation, focus groups, customer surveys, and customer interviews .
Because primary market research typically takes more time to complete and may incur significant costs , secondary market research is often conducted before conducting primary market research. This allows you to gather enough insights that you can narrow your primary market research to those more likely to be your customers.
To begin conducting secondary market research, consider these sources:
Think with Google provides a number of free tools and resources to help you find and understand your target market. From tools like Find My Audience and an Insights Library to a wealth of information on customer trends and the consumer journey, Think with Google is a valuable tool in conducting your market analysis.
City Town Info provides free statistics on people and places, colleges and universities, and jobs and careers. You can search for data on more than 20,000 U.S. communities at the city and state levels.
Google Trends is another useful tool for conducting market research. Google Trends allows you to explore what people are searching on the internet. You can examine trending topics, see trends by year, or search your own topic to discover interest over time, by region, or by related queries.
Social Mention allows you to conduct a real-time social media search for topics across more than 100 social media platforms. Social Mention provides you with information on the sentiment behind topic mentions, top keywords, top hashtags, and the social media platforms where these topics are being discussed.
Needless to say, there are several other great sources for both industry and market research. The key is to get creative to find the data and information to both guide your strategy as well as justify your business opportunity.
Once you understand your industry and market, you should also include an analysis of your major competitors.
Your competitors may include anyone offering alternatives to your solution that people are using now to solve the same problem.
You will want to understand and explain who your competitors are along with their market share , price, major competitive advantages and disadvantages, and what makes your product unique from theirs.
Start by identifying the major competitors within your industry. You should focus on your closest competitors. Those that compete with you directly.
Next, for each competitor, describe their strategies, their strengths, and their weaknesses. In doing so, try to answer the following questions:
You should complete a competitive analysis for your top three to five competitors. Doing so will allow you to gain a much better perspective on the competitive landscape and may provide insight into how you can distinguish yourself from your competitors and even how you can take advantage of areas where your competitors fall short.
The marketing plan depicts the overall strategy your venture pursues to capture market share.
The marketing plan describes all aspects of marketing for your venture, including the product, price, place, and promotion . This includes a big picture view of your marketing strategy, your planned marketing mix, as well as your pricing strategy, sales strategy, and advertising strategy.
The marketing plan should be well informed by your industry and market analysis. By now, you have a plethora of knowledge about who your target customer is, the problem and pain points that you are alleviating for them, and how your competitors are positioned. All of this knowledge allows you to hone your marketing plan to reach your target market with the right message in the channels they turn to for information.
The first section of your marketing plan is your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy refers to your overall strategy of how you will market your product. How will you get your message out to your potential customers?
Your marketing strategy should consider the four essential elements of marketing:
The 4 Ps of Marketing:
The product is everything the customer gets, whether it be a physical product, a service, or an experience.
It is what you deliver. This includes the product or service itself, along with its branding, packaging, labeling, and even benefits.
The price is what you charge. What the customer gives you. Your business plan should discuss your pricing strategy and where this fits in your marketing mix.
Are you competing on price and thus offer low pricing? Or are you focusing on value at a medium price point? Or maybe you are positioned as a luxury label or item, and compete at a high price point? Why did you choose this strategy? Does it fit with your target market and within your marketing mix?
Location refers to where your customers find you, or where you find them.
While much of today’s marketing is done online, location is still as important as ever. Once you understand the place, you will have a much better idea on how to deploy your marketing mix. Where do your ideal customers get their information? Where do they shop? What forms of social media do they use?
Promotion is how you tell customers about your products and services.
Simply put, promotion is how you raise awareness of your products, services, or brand. Promotion strategies may include public relations, content creation and curation, marketing, and advertising.
But, keep in mind, your promotional strategies should be focused on one thing: your target customer and the strategies and messaging that works for them.
Your marketing mix is how you allocate resources to the marketing channels that you plan to pursue. In this section of your marketing plan, you will describe the marketing messaging and channels that you plan to use, and why these are appropriate for your target market.
Inbound marketing, or content marketing, is a form of marketing designed to draw traffic to your website by providing valuable content to your target market. This is often achieved by posting useful web content, content, videos, and blogs.
The idea behind inbound marketing is pretty simple- by providing knowledge and information on your products, services, and other information that is valuable to your customers, you generate more leads and, hopefully, more sales.
With over 3.5 billion people around the world using social media, social media marketing is another powerful tool to reach potential customers.
Social media marketing has many advantages, including allowing you to get your message in front of your specified target audience at little to no cost.
Although there is an overabundance of social media channels to choose from. Focus on the ones that your target market uses to get their information.
For instance, if your target market is middle age or older people, you may want to focus on platforms that are more popular with these demographics such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. However, if your target market is teen agers and young adults, you are more likely to find them on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
Do not forget to discuss the use of video marketing in your marketing mix.
In both inbound and social media marketing, video has begun to play an increasingly important role. Video marketing can be employed in inbound marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing to serve a variety of purposes. The most common uses of video marketing include explainer videos, presentation videos, testimonial videos, sales videos, and video ads.
Not only can video marketing be used in a variety of methods and contexts, it is a highly consumed type of advertising. In fact, in 2020, 96% of consumers watched an explainer video to find out more about a product or service. Video works. And marketers believe this too. 92% of marketers who utilize video marketing say that it is a key part of their marketing strategy.
Depending on the type of venture your company is, email marketing may also be an important element in your marketing mix. A good email marketing strategy balances gaining new customers with keeping your existing customers engaged with your company.
Although you do not want to overdo it, and a lot of email marketing seems “spammy”, email marketing can be very effective in the right form. Welcome notes, confirmation emails, informational emails, newsletters, digital magazines, promotional emails, and seasonal and birthday campaigns are just a few of the many types of email marketing.
Another common type of marketing in a company's marketing mix is referral or recommendation marketing. Referral or recommendation marketing can take many forms. Referral marketing might include good old organic word-of-mouth marketing wherein you ask customers for referrals, or even a formal system for rewarding customers who refer new clients.
The Marketing Plan section of the business plan should also describe your pricing strategy. How are you going to price your products and services?
There are a number of ways you can approach pricing:
Markup Pricing — Markup pricing is pricing based on your costs, plus a predetermined markup. The amount you mark up your product or service is usually expressed as a percentage, known as the gross margin. Markup pricing is most often found in high volume manufacturing industries where manufacturers must cover the cost of the products they are making.
Competitive Pricing — Competitive pricing is pricing based on your competitors prices for similar products or services. Competitive pricing is most often seen in products or services where there are numerous competitors or substitutes.
Value Pricing — Value pricing is pricing based on the value or perceived value that you deliver to your customers. In value-based pricing, you set the prices of your products and services in line with what the customer believes your product or service is worth. Value-based pricing is most often seen in higher value products and services, those that cater to self-image, or those that are niche or unique.
Penetration Pricing — Penetration pricing is setting a low initial price, and then raising it as demand increases. Penetration pricing is designed to capture market share. It is a strategy often used by a new business or in launching new products and services. The idea is to set the price low enough to draw customers from your competition.
Price skimming — Price skimming pricing is setting a high initial price and then reducing this price as the market evolves. Price skimming is most often used on new or trendy products and services. As initial demand slows and alternatives or competitors emerge, the high initial pricing must then be lowered to stay competitive in the market.
A sales strategy is how you plan on selling your products or services to your target market. This includes your sales channels (where will your product or service be available for sale) as well as how you will sell your product or service.
Your sales strategy depends on your business model and the nature of your business. If your business involves retailing, food services, or personal services where your customers come to you to make a purchase, your sales strategy may be quite simple (or even unnecessary to income). However, if your business involves personal selling, you may need a more thought-out sales strategy.
Some questions to ask to determine and document your sales strategy in your business plan:
An advertising strategy is how you plan to use sponsored, non-personal messaging to reach and inform potential customers of your product, service, or brand.
Your advertising plan should describe the mediums you are going to advertise in , who you are targeting advertising in these mediums, your advertising message(s), and your advertising budget. A good advertising plan is also measurable, so be sure to consider how you are going to measure the effect of your advertising strategy to see if it is working.
The most common advertising mediums typically fall into the categories of traditional advertising and digital advertising.
Traditional advertising includes print advertising such as newspapers, magazines, flyers, direct mail, and even billboards, as well as radio and tv advertising.
Digital advertising includes email advertising, search engine advertising, website advertising, social media advertising, influencer advertising, among many, many more.
The secret to finding the right advertising strategy and advertising mediums for your business is knowing where to find your most likely customers. Where is your target market, and where do they go to get their information?
The organizational (or management) plan describes:
The first part of your organizational plan describes your organizational type and structure . Who owns your company? And what is its legal business structure?
There are four primary types of organizational structures:
Partnerships.
Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships are informal business structures , while LLCs and Corporations are more formal business structures .
The best type of structure for your business will depend on your business’s particular characteristics and needs. A partnership structure may be the best choice for some businesses, while an LLC or a corporation might work better for others.
Sole proprietorships are an informal type of business structure. While many businesses start out as sole proprietorships because they are an informal business structure the owner is liable for 100% of the business's liabilities and risks. Thus sole proprietorships are typically not the preferred ownership structure for small businesses.
Similar to a sole proprietorship, a partnership is also an informal type of business structure. While a sole proprietorship involves only one owner, a partnership is a business structure with two or more partners where there is still no legal distinction between the owners of a partnership and their business.
An LLC is a formal business structure that distinguishes the owners from the business itself.
LLCs offer the personal liability protection of a corporation with the pass-through taxation of a sole proprietorship or partnership.
It is the simplest way of structuring your business to protect your personal assets in the event your business is sued.
LLCs can be owned by one or more people, who are known as LLC “members.” An LLC with one owner is known as a single-member LLC, and an LLC with more than one owner is a multi-member LLC.
LLCs require operating agreements . Operating agreements are legal documents that outline the ownership and member duties of your LLC. This agreement allows you to set out the financial and working relations among business owners ("members") and between members and managers.
Recommended: Learn how to form an LLC in your state using our free guides.
A corporation is a legal business entity that is owned by shareholders, run by a board of directors, and created through registration with the state.
Corporations offer limited liability and tax benefits but are required to follow more complex operating procedures than their counterpart, the limited liability company (LLC).
Now it’s time to sell the single most important element in your business plan. You!
This subsection of your business plan tells readers who is in your ownership and executive team and outlines the accomplishments of your team.
You should include a short profile on each member of your ownership and executive team that will play a role in company decision making.
Who is on your ownership and executive team? What roles will each perform? What knowledge, experience, and accomplishments do you and your team bring to the table? What roles do you still need to fill, and how and when do you plan on filling them?
It is well known that many investors consider the experience and ability of the ownership and management team to be just as important as the idea itself. Do not pass over this opportunity to highlight how your knowledge, experience, and accomplishments set you up to succeed.
Also, remember that when you are writing your descriptions of your ownership team, talk about your accomplishments- as opposed to experience. Accomplishments signify that you have a track record and can get things done.
This section of the business plan highlights the key personnel associated with the business . This may include members of the management team outside of the owners and executive management, the board of directors, and any outside advisors.
Here, include profiles on each key figure associated with your company, focusing on their accomplishments and the knowledge and skill they bring to the business.
The operational plan describes how you will operate. The processes, strategies, and resources that you will use to operate your business on a daily basis.
This includes descriptions of production (if you produce a product) or the process you will use to carry out your service. The operational plan may also include, as necessary, descriptions of your logistics and supply chain, physical resources and needs, human resources and needs, technological resources and needs, and timetables for carrying out your plan.
The production plan or service description explains how you are going to make and deliver your product(s) or provide your service(s). Although the production plans for products and services may look slightly different, both describe how your company will operate in the day-to-day.
If you are making a product , the production plan is where you will describe the process for making the product. What are your methods of production? What are the steps in your processes? How will you ensure quality? Maintain inventory? Handle Logistics?
If you are providing a service , the production plan is where you can describe the process you go through providing that service. What are your service methods? What will your sales and customer service look like? What is the customer experience like?
Most importantly, which of these might give you an advantage over your competitors? If you have any superior methods, processes, or other advantages, make sure to highlight them in your production plan or service description.
This section of the business plan describes your logistics and where you fall within the supply chain in your industry.
If you produce a product , you should discuss how you source materials, where your materials come from, and who your suppliers are. You will also need to discuss how you handle inventory, how you warehouse, and how you distribute your product(s).
If you are a service business , you may still have to discuss how you source materials used in your service, who your suppliers are, and how you handle inventory.
In this section of the operational plan, you describe the physical resources that you have and the physical resources that you need to acquire. Think through everything you might need. This will become important when it is time to make financial projections.
You should discuss the technological resources that you are developing, have, or need to create or acquire. Technological resources may include any software, applications, or websites that you have or will need to create, outsource, or purchase.
Here, you describe the people that are a part of your team, and the human resources that you need to add to your team, hire, or outsource. Since you have already described the ownership and management team as well as key personnel, this section is more focused on production level workers and lower management.
The goals, milestones, and risks section of your business plan is the place to outline your goals, set key milestones, and explore and explain your preparation for the risks you will face.
Goals lay the foundation of where you intend to take your company and how you are going to get there. It is important to ascertain the short and long-term goals for your company.
Your goals should be connected to your mission and vision, your business model, and your strategic plans. They should also reflect your ambition to move the company forward and are often reflected in key performance indicators (KPIs) , such as numbers of users and customers, revenues, expenses, retention, satisfaction, and other indicators of performance.
Here are some questions to help you develop the goals for your company:
When developing your goals, in addition to defining what your goals are, you also need to consider the how , the when , and the who . First, consider how your goals will get accomplished? What actions need to be taken to achieve your goals? What milestones do you need to accomplish along the way?
Your goals should also include your plan on when you plan on attaining each goal . Not only will your readers be curious about when you plan to achieve your goals, due dates and deadlines make for really powerful motivators.
Finally, you should also determine who is going to be responsible for working toward each goal. In a sole-proprietorship or startup it may be you, the business owner, or your founding team. However, as your organization grows, it will become more and more important to define who is responsible for pushing toward and achieving each goal.
Your goals should be SMART: S pecific, M easurable, A ttainable, R ealistic, and T imely.
Milestones are important events in your venture’s growth that mark significant change or stage of development.
Creating a list of milestones can act as a checklist of what you need to accomplish for your venture to reach its goals. They tell the story of how you are going to get from where you are to where you are going.
Milestones might include major events and accomplishments, such as:
It is alright to list a few milestones that you have already completed. Or to leave them in your business plan once you complete them. Accomplished milestones show that you are making traction.
Milestones act as a signal to potential investors and other stakeholders what to expect from your venture and when to expect it. They also signal whether the venture is progressing and growing as expected.
The implementation timeline is where you describe where your company is in its lifespan . You should set a timeline to reach your goals and milestones. This should include a short-term timeframe as well as where you anticipate being in the long term.
This section of the business plan should not be long. A simple chart will do. You can find several free timeline templates online to plug in your milestones and the time frame you expect to achieve them.
You will also want to include a section in your business plan showing that you understand the critical risks that your business may be subject to . The risks you will face in your business include both internal and external risks. These are any areas that expose your venture to any kind of loss- assets, customers, sales, profits, and reputation, among others.
By exploring your assumptions and identifying possible risks in those assumptions, you can show that you have assessed and are prepared to handle risks and threats that may arise. There are several tools available to analyze business risks, including SWOT Analysis and contingency planning .
You may want to conduct a SWOT analysis or even include it in your business plan. A SWOT analysis is an analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
A SWOT analysis can help you understand your industry and market, your venture, and the strategies that you should pursue.
To conduct a SWOT analysis, you will need to assess factors both inside and outside your venture.
Here is how to conduct your own:
After assessing your risks and your SWOT analysis, you should address any major threats or risks that your venture faces with contingency plans.
Contingency plans are plans to help mitigate these risks by establishing a plan of action should an adverse event happen.
Contingency plans show that you understand the threats and risks to your venture, and you have a plan in place to lessen the damage should these risks emerge. There are various ways to prepare for adverse events. One is through planning- identifying alternatives and determining the best course of action. Another is business insurance.
Business insurance protects against risk from several sources. The type of business insurance you will need varies greatly depending on the nature of your business.
While there are standard types of coverage like general liability insurance , professional liability insurance , workers’ compensation , insurance for commercial property and commercial auto insurance , there are also insurance policies that cover specific business activities and specialized equipment.
You can bundle most of these into what is called a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) by a trusted insurance provider to get you started doing business.
Your financial statements should include detailed projections of your income statement , cash flow statement, and balance sheet for the first year. You should also provide quarterly projections for the first three (or preferably five) years as well.
You also will likely need to include some sort of financial statement in your business plan. If you are a new venture, you will supply pro forma financial statements. Pro forma financial statements are simply financial projections.
Financial statements can help you to evaluate the cash needs of your venture, determine whether your venture is feasible and desirable, compare your expected returns with the alternatives, identify milestones and benchmarks, and demonstrate the value of your venture to investors.
Before you begin completing your financial statements, you should first sit down and list the assumptions you will rely on to project your financial statements .
These should include projections concerning your:
One of the biggest mistakes new ventures make is in making unrealistic assumptions .
Remember, revenue assumptions are key assumptions in determining whether your business will be viable. However, many entrepreneurs are overly optimistic about their revenue assumptions and tend to underestimate their expenses.
In order to make more accurate financial assumptions, back up your assumptions with data whenever possible. To find data to back up your assumptions, look for things like industry averages, market trends, and comparisons with similar ventures. You should already have a substantial amount of this data from your industry and market research.
The income statement , also known as the profit and loss statement , is a statement that shows the projections of your venture’s income and expenses over a fiscal year. On the income statement, you will detail your revenue and sources of revenue based on the assumptions you have made. You will also detail your anticipated expenses and use these to estimate your net income.
The typical income statement includes:
The cash flow statement is a financial statement that shows when and where cash (and cash equivalents) flow in and out of your venture. This tells you how much cash you will have on hand at any single point in time.
The balance sheet is a financial statement that balances a venture's finances at a specific point in time. It describes how much the company is worth. The balance sheet uses the accounting equation: assets = liabilities + equity . In fact, these are the main components of the balance sheet:
The break-even analysis shows you how much you have to sell before you break even. The break-even analysis uses fixed and variable costs in order to determine the sales volume you have to attain to reach a break-even point. This is the point where your sales volume covers both your fixed costs and your variable costs.
The break-even point is most often expressed as a number of units. You can calculate the break-even point by dividing fixed cost by the average profit per unit (average price per unit minus the variable cost).
Break-Even Point = Fixed Costs/ Profit Per Unit (Avg. Price - Avg. Variable Costs)
You can also calculate the break-even point in terms of $ of sales. To calculate the break-even point in $ of sales, you can divide total fixed costs for the period by the contribution margin ratio (net sales minus total variable cost / net sales).
Break-Even Point ($ of Sales) = Fixed Costs / Contribution Margin Ratio Contribution Margin Ratio = (Net Sales - Total Variable Cost) / Net Sales
If you are writing your business plan for the purpose of seeking funding, you should conclude your business plan by describing the investment opportunity.
With your financial projections in place, you will now be able to determine the amount of startup capital or investment you require.
This is because the funding you need is highly dependent on your profit and loss, cash flow, and break-even point. With well-researched assumptions and the evidence to back them up, you are ready to make the case that your business is worth the investment and will be able to pay it back or reward investors in the future.
In this section of the business plan, you will need to explain the amount of funding you are requesting as well as describe what those funds will be used for. The startup funding request will need to cover all expenses (maybe even your own personal expenses) at least until you reach your break-even point.
If you have additional evidence to support your business idea, your business model, or your ability to achieve your goals and meet your financial objectives, you may want to consider including it as an appendix to your business plan.
Owners’ Resumes — One thing you may want to consider including in your business plan is the resume for each owner. Investors often invest as much in the startup team as they do in the idea itself. Illustrations of Product — Another helpful appendix is pictures or illustrations of your product. These are especially helpful for new products or those which are difficult to depict with words. Storyboard of Customer Experience — If your business is a service business, you could also consider including a storyboard depicting your customer’s experience. Customer Survey Results — You can also include any market research that you have conducted in an appendix. Showing that you have solicited feedback from real customers or potential customers provides further credence to your venture and venture idea.
Before writing your business plan, it is important to take some time to develop your business idea .
If you are starting a new company, there are likely many details of the venture that have not been fully worked through. If you already have an existing venture, the following tools can also be useful in evaluating your business model:
The business model canvas, three-sentence business plan.
An easy place to start is with a three-sentence business plan . The three-sentence business plan is easy to construct, and consists of three parts:
The first sentence of your business plan clearly yet simply states your business's primary product or service. This includes the what and the where.
Example: “CoffeeMe is an upscale bakery and coffee shop specializing in imported coffees and international delicacies that will be located in downtown Atlanta.”
The second sentence of your three-sentence business plan describes who your target market is and how you will promote to them.
Example: “CoffeeMe’s target market is urban professionals living and working in downtown Atlanta, marketed and promoted through traditional advertising, company partnerships, and social media.”
The third sentence of your three-sentence business plan explains your revenue model. How will you make money?
Example: “CoffeeMe’s revenue model includes one-time retail sales as well as a unique subscription model featuring all-you-can-drink coffee for subscribers.”
Put it all together, and you have your three-sentence business plan:
Example: “CoffeeMe is an upscale bakery and coffee shop specializing in imported coffees and international delicacies that will be located in downtown Atlanta. CoffeeMe’s target market is urban professionals living and working in downtown Atlanta, marketed and promoted through traditional advertising, company partnerships, and social media. Our revenue model includes one-time retail sales as well as a unique subscription model featuring all-you-can-drink coffee for subscribers.”
Another useful tool for developing your business idea is the Lean Canvas . The Lean Canvas takes a problem-solution approach to helping you plan your business, focusing on the problems you are solving for your customers.
The Lean Canvas helps you describe and visualize your problem, solution, customers, value proposition, key performance indicators, and competitive advantage.
The steps to complete the Lean Canvas are:
The Lean Canvas, created by Ash Maurya, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License: https://leanstack.com/lean-canvas
The Business Model Canvas helps you describe and visualize the key aspects of your venture including your customers, value proposition, infrastructure, and revenue and cost models.
If you have already completed a Lean Canvas, you will already have several of the central parts of the Business Model Canvas complete.
The steps to complete the Business Model Canvas are:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Get the guide: How to Start a Micro Business
Do good things really come in small packages? If micro businesses are anything to judge by, then the answer is "no — they come in tiny ones." With a micro business, you can sidestep many of the headaches that come with small business ownership while still pursuing your entrepreneurial goals and running your own business.
So if you're ready to join the micro side, stick around to find out how to create a micro business plan.
What is a micro business.
By now, you've probably guessed that a micro business is even smaller than a small business. But what is a micro business exactly ?
In truth, it depends on who you ask. Some of the various definitions include:
So which definition is the best one? There is no single agreed-upon answer, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll use the same one as the SBA and say that a micro business is any with less than 10 employees . If the business was started with less than $50,000 and/or earns less than $250,000 per year, that just contributes to its micro business status.
What are examples of micro businesses? In short, the sky's the limit. That's because any and every business with less than 10 employees can be considered a micro business, including:
Those are just a few of many possible examples, but suffice it to say that there are myriad micro businesses across every industry and niche.
You've probably heard that small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and that's certainly accurate. But if we're getting really specific, the truth is that micro businesses form the foundation of the U.S.'s wealth.
As the SBA explained, they're the most common type of employer firm. And in 2016, the country's 3.8 million micro business employers made up nearly 75 percent of all private-sector employers:
And remember, those statistics don't even account for micro businesses that don't have any employees, i.e., those consisting only of one person. The U.S. Census Bureau pointed out that in that same year, only about 24 percent of the country's establishments had paid employees, meaning that 75 percent don't have any employees at all.
In other words, the majority of the U.S.'s businesses are micro businesses whose only employee is their owner. So if you're more interested in starting a micro business than you are in starting a small business destined for growth, you're far from being the only one.
So you want to start your own micro business, you're brimming with entrepreneurial energy and you're ready to go. Now, it's time to start planning. But what is a micro business plan?
In many regards, a micro business plan is very similar to a small business plan in that it:
Where micro business plans differ from other business plans, however, is in their scope. For example, all of these elements can be included in standard business plans but may be unnecessary in micro business plans:
But the question still remains, how do you write a mini business plan of your own? While there is no one right way to create a business plan, your micro business plan could look something like this:
In the end, what's most important is that your micro business plan helps you form a clearer idea of what you want your business to do and how you plan to do it. You don't need a 10-page essay in order to succeed — just as with micro businesses themselves, bigger isn't necessarily better.
Creating a business plan is just one piece of the puzzle, though. If you want a guide that walks you through every step of starting a micro business on your own, Bizee's DIY Business Course can help.
Carrie Buchholz-Powers
Carrie Buchholz-Powers is a Colorado-based writer who’s been creating content since 2013. From digital marketing to ecommerce to land conservation, she has experience in a wide range of fields and loves learning about them all. Carrie is fond of history, animals and beauty in equal measure. In her free time, she enjoys knitting, playing video games and exploring Colorado's prairies and mountains with her husband.
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Did you have a dream of one day owning your business ? If so, what was your dream about? When I was young, I always dreamed of owning my own business and seeing it flourish . I told myself that one day, I would be able to own a business that involved a hybrid of a coffee and tea shop with a library and a place where animal lovers could simply hang out. Of course that dream is still in the air as it takes a lot of planning and a lot of resources like financial and material resources to make it happen. Another thing to also take into consideration is to have your own plans. Not just one plan but if possible a lot of back up plans that go along with it. Even if your plan may seem or look fool proof, there is still a possibility that you may need to redo it or to have at least a back up plan along with your original plan. What am I even talking about? A business plan of course. Your personal business plan. The difference between a business plan and a personal business plan is found in the article below. So check it all out right now.
1. personal financial business plan template.
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A lot of people would associate a business plan to a business or a company. But they may never associate the term business plan with personal . However, you can make your own business plan, and it does not have to be focused on a business or a company that you own. It can also focus on you, your family life, personal life, and your development. So what is a personal business plan? A personal business plan is a tool . This tool helps you by giving you a tour, a guide or serves as a road map for you to know how and where you can start out by changing what you want to do in life, or to change something in your business to make it better. For this case, a personal business plan is more associated with how you view yourself and your goals to achieve them. The importance of a personal business plan is to simply help you. Help you by giving you directions. A step by step plan that shows you or how you want to see your future in specific years to come. To show if there is any development that you have made or none at all.
Here’s a fun fact for you. Did you know that having a personal business plan can help you ? Apart from having a positive mindset, having a personal development plan or a personal business plan is also quite helpful. Though it may depend on how you perceive it and use it, but it really is a helpful tool. Something to help you get started on writing are these simple yet easy to do tips.
What this means is, brainstorm. What do you want to write, what do you expect to write and what do you really want to see in your personal development? These are just basic questions to help you when you brainstorm on what you want to place in your personal business plan. The topics could range from family, your dreams, your goals, anything that is achievable. Start from there.
Know your goals and know your objectives . Understand the factors when picking your goals. Always choose an attainable goal. In addition to that, always choose an attainable objective or a series of attainable objectives. This is going to be your guide when you choose what goal you want to achieve. So to make that happen, you must make it happen. It must be achievable. Something possible, not impossible.
One thing you may have noticed is why should you make your goals very specific ? The reason for this is because if you do not make your goals specific, you may end up getting frustrated or end up not bothering to achieve the goal you want. For this to be avoided, it is always best to make every single thing in your plan specific, especially your goals.
In addition to the tips above, here is another tip I can give you. Set up deadlines . For each goal you plan on doing, set up a deadline. Not only will this encourage you to do better and to really find ways to achieve them, it also gives you a sense of accomplishment and responsibility. This is where your development should already be showing.
Last but not the least, update on the progress you have made. Whether it be a huge milestone or a smaller and simple one. Each milestone you have made is considered progress and should be updated to your plan. This is to show you how far you have gone to reach the goal you decided to do and how far you still need to go and push through to achieve it.
A personal business plan can also be coined as a personal development plan. This kind of plan is used as a personal growth plan for a person. It helps by outlining your goals and objectives and to record every milestone that has been accomplished at a certain amount of time.
A personal business plan can be used in a way to help you reach your full potential. It helps by showing you the steps and the things that you can do to reach it.
Not at all. Planning on making your own business plan is quite easy. It only takes a few simple steps. To know more about these steps, you can simply check the How to write a personal business plan found in this article.
When you want your dreams to come true, you work hard for it. When you want your goals in life to be achieved, you work hard for it. But there are times that we often mistake what we think we can do to what we can actually do. Always remember that you can achieve those dreams if they are realistic and doable. As well as adding a personal business plan to the mix.
Text prompt
Create a study plan for final exams in high school
Develop a project timeline for a middle school science fair.
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COMMENTS
This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and ...
Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses. When creating a business plan, you begin to define and understand your strengths and weaknesses. You learn about the areas you are good at and those that might need some improvement. Your business plan is a reflection of your insights, instincts, intuitions, and ideas about your business and its future.
A good business plan guides you through each stage of starting and managing your business. You'll use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. It's a way to think through the key elements of your business. Business plans can help you get funding or bring on new business partners.
Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...
1. Create Your Executive Summary. The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans. Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.
Use this small business plan sample template to draft the subsections and headings of the contents of your plan. This template provides editable sample text that shows you how to organize and create a ready-to-be-implemented business plan. This sample template helps remove the guesswork of what to include in a small business plan.
Learn about the best business plan software. 1. Write an executive summary. This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your ...
Step #3: Conduct Your Market Analysis. Step #4: Research Your Competition. Step #5: Outline Your Products or Services. Step #6: Summarize Your Financial Plan. Step #7: Determine Your Marketing Strategy. Step #8: Showcase Your Organizational Chart. 14 Business Plan Templates to Help You Get Started.
The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include. 1. Create an executive summary. Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.
01. Executive summary. Your executive summary should contain a high-level overview of everything included in the plan. It generally provides a short explanation of your business and its goals (e.g., your elevator pitch). Many authors like to write this section last after fleshing out the sections below. 02.
1. Investors Are Short On Time. If your chief goal is using your business plan to secure funding, then it means you intend on getting it in front of an investor. And if there's one thing investors are, it's busy. So keep this in mind throughout writing a business plan.
3. Business goals and vision. Explain what you hope to achieve in the business (your vision) as well as its mission and value proposition. Most founders judge success by the size to which they grow the business using measures such as revenue or number of employees. Your goals may not be solely financial.
1. Executive Summary. While your executive summary is the first page of your business plan, it's the section you'll write last. That's because it summarizes your entire business plan into a succinct one-pager. Begin with an executive summary that introduces the reader to your business and gives them an overview of what's inside the ...
4. Market analysis. Here, you'll give a full overview of the target market where you plan to sell your product or service. Be specific, especially when thinking about your competitors' strengths ...
It might not be that your idea is wrong, or your plan's wrong, it might be just the format of that plan isn't quite right." 3. Make your goals official. You're going to be juggling a lot at the start. Stay on track of your North Star (s), and remember what's driving you toward them. "I think when you're doing your business plans and setting up ...
1. Startups. Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas. If you're planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business. You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration. 2.
3. Create a cover page. The cover page identifies your document and gives it aesthetic appeal and professionalism. It also helps your document to stand out. Your cover page should include: The words "Business Plan" centered in large bold font, along with your company name, company logo, and contact information.
7 business plan examples: section by section. The business plan examples in this article follow this template: Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business. Company description. A more in-depth and detailed description of your business and why it exists. Market analysis.
You can write a full article (as long as this one) to describe your offer. The more you understand your offer, the better you will describe it to others. After writing a detailed description of ...
Write the Executive Summary. This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what's in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. Add a Company Overview. Document the larger company mission and vision.
Find a template with a title page and table of contents to keep your business plan looking professional and organized. 3. Fill in each section. Work through your business plan by filling in one section at a time. This way, you can keep your thoughts more organized.
Here are four steps you can follow to create and write a business plan for a small business: 1. Conduct research. Beginning a small business requires research to find information about the market and industry of your products or services. Analyze similar business operations to identify trends, methods and results of businesses with similar ...
To find example business plans in your industry, try searching the web for "your industry business plan example." Writing Your Business Plan. Once you have spent some time looking at sample business plans in your industry, it is now time to start writing your business plan. An easy place to begin is by outlining the major sections you will ...
For instance, form an LLC within one month, make five sales within three months and break-even within six months. In the end, what's most important is that your micro business plan helps you form a clearer idea of what you want your business to do and how you plan to do it. You don't need a 10-page essay in order to succeed — just as with ...
6. Be logical. Think like a banker and write what they would want to see. 7. Have a strong management team. Make sure it has good credentials and expertise.
But writing a business plan is especially important if you're going to be pitching it to potential lenders, investors, or partners. They all want to know One Big Thing about your business: how it's going to succeed. Your business plan should make this One Big Thing very, very clear.
To know more about these steps, you can simply check the How to write a personal business plan found in this article. When you want your dreams to come true, you work hard for it. When you want your goals in life to be achieved, you work hard for it. But there are times that we often mistake what we think we can do to what we can actually do.