what do you do with a business plan

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

ZenBusiness

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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What is a Business Plan? Definition, Tips, and Templates

Published: June 07, 2023

In an era where more than 20% of small enterprises fail in their first year, having a clear, defined, and well-thought-out business plan is a crucial first step for setting up a business for long-term success.

Business plans are a required tool for all entrepreneurs, business owners, business acquirers, and even business school students. But … what exactly is a business plan?

In this post, we'll explain what a business plan is, the reasons why you'd need one, identify different types of business plans, and what you should include in yours.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a documented strategy for a business that highlights its goals and its plans for achieving them. It outlines a company's go-to-market plan, financial projections, market research, business purpose, and mission statement. Key staff who are responsible for achieving the goals may also be included in the business plan along with a timeline.

The business plan is an undeniably critical component to getting any company off the ground. It's key to securing financing, documenting your business model, outlining your financial projections, and turning that nugget of a business idea into a reality.

What is a business plan used for?

The purpose of a business plan is three-fold: It summarizes the organization’s strategy in order to execute it long term, secures financing from investors, and helps forecast future business demands.

Business Plan Template [ Download Now ]

Working on your business plan? Try using our Business Plan Template . Pre-filled with the sections a great business plan needs, the template will give aspiring entrepreneurs a feel for what a business plan is, what should be in it, and how it can be used to establish and grow a business from the ground up.

Purposes of a Business Plan

Chances are, someone drafting a business plan will be doing so for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Securing financing from investors.

Since its contents revolve around how businesses succeed, break even, and turn a profit, a business plan is used as a tool for sourcing capital. This document is an entrepreneur's way of showing potential investors or lenders how their capital will be put to work and how it will help the business thrive.

All banks, investors, and venture capital firms will want to see a business plan before handing over their money, and investors typically expect a 10% ROI or more from the capital they invest in a business.

Therefore, these investors need to know if — and when — they'll be making their money back (and then some). Additionally, they'll want to read about the process and strategy for how the business will reach those financial goals, which is where the context provided by sales, marketing, and operations plans come into play.

2. Documenting a company's strategy and goals.

A business plan should leave no stone unturned.

Business plans can span dozens or even hundreds of pages, affording their drafters the opportunity to explain what a business' goals are and how the business will achieve them.

To show potential investors that they've addressed every question and thought through every possible scenario, entrepreneurs should thoroughly explain their marketing, sales, and operations strategies — from acquiring a physical location for the business to explaining a tactical approach for marketing penetration.

These explanations should ultimately lead to a business' break-even point supported by a sales forecast and financial projections, with the business plan writer being able to speak to the why behind anything outlined in the plan.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Free Business Plan [Template]

Fill out the form to access your free business plan., 3. legitimizing a business idea..

Everyone's got a great idea for a company — until they put pen to paper and realize that it's not exactly feasible.

A business plan is an aspiring entrepreneur's way to prove that a business idea is actually worth pursuing.

As entrepreneurs document their go-to-market process, capital needs, and expected return on investment, entrepreneurs likely come across a few hiccups that will make them second guess their strategies and metrics — and that's exactly what the business plan is for.

It ensures an entrepreneur's ducks are in a row before bringing their business idea to the world and reassures the readers that whoever wrote the plan is serious about the idea, having put hours into thinking of the business idea, fleshing out growth tactics, and calculating financial projections.

4. Getting an A in your business class.

Speaking from personal experience, there's a chance you're here to get business plan ideas for your Business 101 class project.

If that's the case, might we suggest checking out this post on How to Write a Business Plan — providing a section-by-section guide on creating your plan?

What does a business plan need to include?

• Business Plan Subtitle
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• The Business Opportunity
• Competitive Analysis
• Target Market
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Summary
• Funding Requirements

1. Business Plan Subtitle

Every great business plan starts with a captivating title and subtitle. You’ll want to make it clear that the document is, in fact, a business plan, but the subtitle can help tell the story of your business in just a short sentence.

2. Executive Summary

Although this is the last part of the business plan that you’ll write, it’s the first section (and maybe the only section) that stakeholders will read. The executive summary of a business plan sets the stage for the rest of the document. It includes your company’s mission or vision statement, value proposition, and long-term goals.

3. Company Description

This brief part of your business plan will detail your business name, years in operation, key offerings, and positioning statement. You might even add core values or a short history of the company. The company description’s role in a business plan is to introduce your business to the reader in a compelling and concise way.

4. The Business Opportunity

The business opportunity should convince investors that your organization meets the needs of the market in a way that no other company can. This section explains the specific problem your business solves within the marketplace and how it solves them. It will include your value proposition as well as some high-level information about your target market.

5. Competitive Analysis

Just about every industry has more than one player in the market. Even if your business owns the majority of the market share in your industry or your business concept is the first of its kind, you still have competition. In the competitive analysis section, you’ll take an objective look at the industry landscape to determine where your business fits. A SWOT analysis is an organized way to format this section.

6. Target Market

Who are the core customers of your business and why? The target market portion of your business plan outlines this in detail. The target market should explain the demographics, psychographics, behavioristics, and geographics of the ideal customer.

7. Marketing Plan

Marketing is expansive, and it’ll be tempting to cover every type of marketing possible, but a brief overview of how you’ll market your unique value proposition to your target audience, followed by a tactical plan will suffice.

Think broadly and narrow down from there: Will you focus on a slow-and-steady play where you make an upfront investment in organic customer acquisition? Or will you generate lots of quick customers using a pay-to-play advertising strategy? This kind of information should guide the marketing plan section of your business plan.

8. Financial Summary

Money doesn’t grow on trees and even the most digital, sustainable businesses have expenses. Outlining a financial summary of where your business is currently and where you’d like it to be in the future will substantiate this section. Consider including any monetary information that will give potential investors a glimpse into the financial health of your business. Assets, liabilities, expenses, debt, investments, revenue, and more are all useful adds here.

So, you’ve outlined some great goals, the business opportunity is valid, and the industry is ready for what you have to offer. Who’s responsible for turning all this high-level talk into results? The "team" section of your business plan answers that question by providing an overview of the roles responsible for each goal. Don’t worry if you don’t have every team member on board yet, knowing what roles to hire for is helpful as you seek funding from investors.

10. Funding Requirements

Remember that one of the goals of a business plan is to secure funding from investors, so you’ll need to include funding requirements you’d like them to fulfill. The amount your business needs, for what reasons, and for how long will meet the requirement for this section.

Types of Business Plans

• Startup Business Plan
• Feasibility Business Plan
• Internal Business Plan
• Strategic Business Plan
• Business Acquisition Plan
• Business Repositioning Plan
• Expansion or Growth Business Plan

There’s no one size fits all business plan as there are several types of businesses in the market today. From startups with just one founder to historic household names that need to stay competitive, every type of business needs a business plan that’s tailored to its needs. Below are a few of the most common types of business plans.

For even more examples, check out these sample business plans to help you write your own .

1. Startup Business Plan

As one of the most common types of business plans, a startup business plan is for new business ideas. This plan lays the foundation for the eventual success of a business.

The biggest challenge with the startup business plan is that it’s written completely from scratch. Startup business plans often reference existing industry data. They also explain unique business strategies and go-to-market plans.

Because startup business plans expand on an original idea, the contents will vary by the top priority goals.

For example, say a startup is looking for funding. If capital is a priority, this business plan might focus more on financial projections than marketing or company culture.

2. Feasibility Business Plan

This type of business plan focuses on a single essential aspect of the business — the product or service. It may be part of a startup business plan or a standalone plan for an existing organization. This comprehensive plan may include:

• A detailed product description
• Market analysis
• Technology needs
• Production needs
• Financial sources
• Production operations

According to CBInsights research, 35% of startups fail because of a lack of market need. Another 10% fail because of mistimed products.

Some businesses will complete a feasibility study to explore ideas and narrow product plans to the best choice. They conduct these studies before completing the feasibility business plan. Then the feasibility plan centers on that one product or service.

3. Internal Business Plan

Internal business plans help leaders communicate company goals, strategy, and performance. This helps the business align and work toward objectives more effectively.

Besides the typical elements in a startup business plan, an internal business plan may also include:

• Department-specific budgets
• Target demographic analysis
• Market size and share of voice analysis
• Action plans
• Sustainability plans

Most external-facing business plans focus on raising capital and support for a business. But an internal business plan helps keep the business mission consistent in the face of change.

4. Strategic Business Plan

Strategic business plans focus on long-term objectives for your business. They usually cover the first three to five years of operations. This is different from the typical startup business plan which focuses on the first one to three years. The audience for this plan is also primarily internal stakeholders.

These types of business plans may include:

• Relevant data and analysis
• Assessments of company resources
• Vision and mission statements

It's important to remember that, while many businesses create a strategic plan before launching, some business owners just jump in. So, this business plan can add value by outlining how your business plans to reach specific goals. This type of planning can also help a business anticipate future challenges.

5. Business Acquisition Plan

Investors use business plans to acquire existing businesses, too — not just new businesses.

A business acquisition plan may include costs, schedules, or management requirements. This data will come from an acquisition strategy.

A business plan for an existing company will explain:

• How an acquisition will change its operating model
• What will stay the same under new ownership
• Why things will change or stay the same
• Acquisition planning documentation
• Timelines for acquisition

Additionally, the business plan should speak to the current state of the business and why it's up for sale.

For example, if someone is purchasing a failing business, the business plan should explain why the business is being purchased. It should also include:

• What the new owner will do to turn the business around
• Historic business metrics
• Sales projections after the acquisition
• Justification for those projections

6. Business Repositioning Plan

When a business wants to avoid acquisition, reposition its brand, or try something new, CEOs or owners will develop a business repositioning plan.

This plan will:

• Acknowledge the current state of the company.
• State a vision for the future of the company.
• Explain why the business needs to reposition itself.
• Outline a process for how the company will adjust.

Companies planning for a business reposition often do so — proactively or retroactively — due to a shift in market trends and customer needs.

For example, shoe brand AllBirds plans to refocus its brand on core customers and shift its go-to-market strategy. These decisions are a reaction to lackluster sales following product changes and other missteps.

7. Expansion or Growth Business Plan

When your business is ready to expand, a growth business plan creates a useful structure for reaching specific targets.

For example, a successful business expanding into another location can use a growth business plan. This is because it may also mean the business needs to focus on a new target market or generate more capital.

This type of plan usually covers the next year or two of growth. It often references current sales, revenue, and successes. It may also include:

• SWOT analysis
• Growth opportunity studies
• Financial goals and plans
• Marketing plans
• Capability planning

These types of business plans will vary by business, but they can help businesses quickly rally around new priorities to drive growth.

Getting Started With Your Business Plan

At the end of the day, a business plan is simply an explanation of a business idea and why it will be successful. The more detail and thought you put into it, the more successful your plan — and the business it outlines — will be.

When writing your business plan, you’ll benefit from extensive research, feedback from your team or board of directors, and a solid template to organize your thoughts. If you need one of these, download HubSpot's Free Business Plan Template below to get started.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

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.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

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How to make a business plan

Table of Contents

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

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.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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How To Write a Business Plan

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Starting a business is a wild ride, and a solid business plan can be the key to keeping you on track. A business plan is essentially a roadmap for your business — outlining your goals, strategies, market analysis and financial projections. Not only will it guide your decision-making, a business plan can help you secure funding with a loan or from investors .

Writing a business plan can seem like a huge task, but taking it one step at a time can break the plan down into manageable milestones. Here is our step-by-step guide on how to write a business plan.

Table of contents

• Write your executive summary
• Do your market research homework
• Set your business goals and objectives
• Plan your business strategy
• Describe your product or service
• Crunch the numbers
• Finalize your business plan

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Step 1: Write your executive summary

Though this will be the first page of your business plan , we recommend you actually write the executive summary last. That’s because an executive summary highlights what’s to come in the business plan but in a more condensed fashion.

An executive summary gives stakeholders who are reading your business plan the key points quickly without having to comb through pages and pages. Be sure to cover each successive point in a concise manner, and include as much data as necessary to support your claims.

You’ll cover other things too, but answer these basic questions in your executive summary:

• Idea: What’s your business concept? What problem does your business solve? What are your business goals?
• Product: What’s your product/service and how is it different?
• Market: Who’s your audience? How will you reach customers?
• Finance: How much will your idea cost? And if you’re seeking funding, how much money do you need? How much do you expect to earn? If you’ve already started, where is your revenue at now?

Step 2: Do your market research homework

The next step in writing a business plan is to conduct market research . This involves gathering information about your target market (or customer persona), your competition, and the industry as a whole. You can use a variety of research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and online research to gather this information. Your method may be formal or more casual, just make sure that you’re getting good data back.

This research will help you to understand the needs of your target market and the potential demand for your product or service—essential aspects of starting and growing a successful business.

Step 3: Set your business goals and objectives

Once you’ve completed your market research, you can begin to define your business goals and objectives. What is the problem you want to solve? What’s your vision for the future? Where do you want to be in a year from now?

Use this step to decide what you want to achieve with your business, both in the short and long term. Try to set SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound benchmarks—that will help you to stay focused and motivated as you build your business.

Step 4: Plan your business strategy

Your business strategy is how you plan to reach your goals and objectives. This includes details on positioning your product or service, marketing and sales strategies, operational plans, and the organizational structure of your small business.

Make sure to include key roles and responsibilities for each team member if you’re in a business entity with multiple people.

Step 5: Describe your product or service

In this section, get into the nitty-gritty of your product or service. Go into depth regarding the features, benefits, target market, and any patents or proprietary tech you have. Make sure to paint a clear picture of what sets your product apart from the competition—and don’t forget to highlight any customer benefits.

Step 6: Crunch the numbers

Financial analysis is an essential part of your business plan. If you’re already in business that includes your profit and loss statement , cash flow statement and balance sheet .

These financial projections will give investors and lenders an understanding of the financial health of your business and the potential return on investment.

You may want to work with a financial professional to ensure your financial projections are realistic and accurate.

Step 7: Finalize your business plan

Once you’ve completed everything, it's time to finalize your business plan. This involves reviewing and editing your plan to ensure that it is clear, concise, and easy to understand.

You should also have someone else review your plan to get a fresh perspective and identify any areas that may need improvement. You could even work with a free SCORE mentor on your business plan or use a SCORE business plan template for more detailed guidance.

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The takeaway

Writing a business plan is an essential process for any forward-thinking entrepreneur or business owner. A business plan requires a lot of up-front research, planning, and attention to detail, but it’s worthwhile. Creating a comprehensive business plan can help you achieve your business goals and secure the funding you need.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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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 .

What Is a Business Plan?

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:

• Product goals and deadlines for each month
• Monthly financials for the first two years
• Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
• Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

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 .

Business Plan Steps

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:

• Executive summary
• Description of business
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Description of organizational management
• Description of product or services
• Marketing plan
• Sales strategy
• Funding details (or request for funding)
• Financial projections

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.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

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.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

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:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

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.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

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.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

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.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

• What is the vision and mission of the company?
• What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

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:

• What business are we in?
• What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

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:

• Who is our customer? 
• What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

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:

• Who is the competition? 
• What do they do best? 
• What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

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.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

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:

• What is the product or service?
• How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

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:

• Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
• What channels will you use to reach your target market?
• What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
• If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
• How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

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:

• What is the sales strategy?
• What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
• What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
• What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
• What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

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:

• How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
• How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
• What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

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:

• How and when will the company first generate a profit?
• How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

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.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

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 .

• 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. 
• Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
• Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
• Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
• Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
• Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
• Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
• Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
• Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

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 . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

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:

• Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
• List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
• Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
• Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
• Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
• Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
• Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
• Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

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.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

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.

Tips for Writing a 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:.

• Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
• Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
• Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
• Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
• Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

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.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

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.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

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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Written by Jesse Sumrak | May 14, 2023

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Business plans might seem like an old-school stiff-collared practice, but they deserve a place in the startup realm, too. It’s probably not going to be the frame-worthy document you hang in the office—yet, it may one day be deserving of the privilege.

Whether you’re looking to win the heart of an angel investor or convince a bank to lend you money, you’ll need a business plan. And not just any ol’ notes and scribble on the back of a pizza box or napkin—you’ll need a professional, standardized report.

Bah. Sounds like homework, right?

Yes. Yes, it does.

However, just like bookkeeping, loan applications, and 404 redirects, business plans are an essential step in cementing your business foundation.

Don’t worry. We’ll show you how to write a business plan without boring you to tears. We’ve jam-packed this article with all the business plan examples, templates, and tips you need to take your non-existent proposal from concept to completion.

Table of Contents

What Is a Business Plan?

Tips to Make Your Small Business Plan Ironclad

How to Write a Business Plan in 6 Steps

Startup Business Plan Template

Business Plan Examples

Work on Making Your Business Plan

How to Write a Business Plan FAQs

What is a business plan why do you desperately need one.

A business plan is a roadmap that outlines:

• Who your business is, what it does, and who it serves
• Where your business is now
• Where you want it to go
• How you’re going to make it happen
• What might stop you from taking your business from Point A to Point B
• How you’ll overcome the predicted obstacles

While it’s not required when starting a business, having a business plan is helpful for a few reasons:

• Secure a Bank Loan: Before approving you for a business loan, banks will want to see that your business is legitimate and can repay the loan. They want to know how you’re going to use the loan and how you’ll make monthly payments on your debt. Lenders want to see a sound business strategy that doesn’t end in loan default.
• Win Over Investors: Like lenders, investors want to know they’re going to make a return on their investment. They need to see your business plan to have the confidence to hand you money.
• Stay Focused: It’s easy to get lost chasing the next big thing. Your business plan keeps you on track and focused on the big picture. Your business plan can prevent you from wasting time and resources on something that isn’t aligned with your business goals.

Beyond the reasoning, let’s look at what the data says:

• Simply writing a business plan can boost your average annual growth by 30%
• Entrepreneurs who create a formal business plan are 16% more likely to succeed than those who don’t
• A study looking at 65 fast-growth companies found that 71% had small business plans
• The process and output of creating a business plan have shown to improve business performance

Convinced yet? If those numbers and reasons don’t have you scrambling for pen and paper, who knows what will.

Don’t Skip: Business Startup Costs Checklist

Before we get into the nitty-gritty steps of how to write a business plan, let’s look at some high-level tips to get you started in the right direction:

Be Professional and Legit

You might be tempted to get cutesy or revolutionary with your business plan—resist the urge. While you should let your brand and creativity shine with everything you produce, business plans fall more into the realm of professional documents.

Think of your business plan the same way as your terms and conditions, employee contracts, or financial statements. You want your plan to be as uniform as possible so investors, lenders, partners, and prospective employees can find the information they need to make important decisions.

If you want to create a fun summary business plan for internal consumption, then, by all means, go right ahead. However, for the purpose of writing this external-facing document, keep it legit.

Know Your Audience

Your official business plan document is for lenders, investors, partners, and big-time prospective employees. Keep these names and faces in your mind as you draft your plan.

Think about what they might be interested in seeing, what questions they’ll ask, and what might convince (or scare) them. Cut the jargon and tailor your language so these individuals can understand.

Remember, these are busy people. They’re likely looking at hundreds of applicants and startup investments every month. Keep your business plan succinct and to the point. Include the most pertinent information and omit the sections that won’t impact their decision-making.

Invest Time Researching

You might not have answers to all the sections you should include in your business plan. Don’t skip over these!

Your audience will want:

• Detailed information about your customers
• Numbers and solid math to back up your financial claims and estimates
• Deep insights about your competitors and potential threats
• Data to support market opportunities and strategy

Your answers can’t be hypothetical or opinionated. You need research to back up your claims. If you don’t have that data yet, then invest time and money in collecting it. That information isn’t just critical for your business plan—it’s essential for owning, operating, and growing your company.

Stay Realistic

Your business may be ambitious, but reign in the enthusiasm just a teeny-tiny bit. The last thing you want to do is have an angel investor call BS and say “I’m out” before even giving you a chance.

The folks looking at your business and evaluating your plan have been around the block—they know a thing or two about fact and fiction. Your plan should be a blueprint for success. It should be the step-by-step roadmap for how you’re going from Point A to Point B.

How to Write a Business Plan—6 Essential Elements

Not every business plan looks the same, but most share a few common elements. Here’s what they typically include:

• Executive Summary
• Business Overview
• Products and Services
• Market Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Financial Strategy

Below, we’ll break down each of these sections in more detail.

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 business plan.

Your executive summary highlights key points of your plan. Consider this your elevator pitch. You want to put all your juiciest strengths and opportunities strategically in this section.

2. Business Overview

In this section, you can dive deeper into the elements of your business, including answering:

• What’s your business structure? Sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, etc.
• Where is it located?
• Who owns the business? Does it have employees?
• What problem does it solve, and how?
• What’s your mission statement? Your mission statement briefly describes why you are in business. To write a proper mission statement, brainstorm your business’s core values and who you serve.

Don’t overlook your mission statement. This powerful sentence or paragraph could be the inspiration that drives an investor to take an interest in your business. Here are a few examples of powerful mission statements that just might give you the goosebumps:

• Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
• Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
• InvisionApp : Question Assumptions. Think Deeply. Iterate as a Lifestyle. Details, Details. Design is Everywhere. Integrity.
• TED : Spread ideas.
• Warby Parker : To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

3. Products and Services

As the owner, you know your business and the industry inside and out. However, whoever’s reading your document might not. You’re going to need to break down your products and services in minute detail.

For example, if you own a SaaS business, you’re going to need to explain how this business model works and what you’re selling.

You’ll need to include:

• What services you sell: Describe the services you provide and how these will help your target audience.
• What products you sell: Describe your products (and types if applicable) and how they will solve a need for your target and provide value.
• How much you charge: If you’re selling services, will you charge hourly, per project, retainer, or a mixture of all of these? If you’re selling products, what are the price ranges?

4. Market Analysis

Your market analysis essentially explains how your products and services address customer concerns and pain points. This section will include research and data on the state and direction of your industry and target market.

This research should reveal lucrative opportunities and how your business is uniquely positioned to seize the advantage. You’ll also want to touch on your marketing strategy and how it will (or does) work for your audience.

Include a detailed analysis of your target customers. This describes the people you serve and sell your product to. Be careful not to go too broad here—you don’t want to fall into the common entrepreneurial trap of trying to sell to everyone and thereby not differentiating yourself enough to survive the competition.

The market analysis section will include your unique value proposition. Your unique value proposition (UVP) is the thing that makes you stand out from your competitors. This is your key to success.

If you don’t have a UVP, you don’t have a way to take on competitors who are already in this space. Here’s an example of an ecommerce internet business plan outlining their competitive edge:

FireStarters’ competitive advantage is offering product lines that make a statement but won’t leave you broke. The major brands are expensive and not distinctive enough to satisfy the changing taste of our target customers. FireStarters offers products that are just ahead of the curve and so affordable that our customers will return to the website often to check out what’s new.

5. Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis examines the strengths and weaknesses of competing businesses in your market or industry. This will include direct and indirect competitors. It can also include threats and opportunities, like economic concerns or legal restraints.

The best way to sum up this section is with a classic SWOT analysis. This will explain your company’s position in relation to your competitors.

6. Financial Strategy

Your financial strategy will sum up your revenue, expenses, profit (or loss), and financial plan for the future. It’ll explain how you make money, where your cash flow goes, and how you’ll become profitable or stay profitable.

This is one of the most important sections for lenders and investors. Have you ever watched Shark Tank? They always ask about the company’s financial situation. How has it performed in the past? What’s the ongoing outlook moving forward? How does the business plan to make it happen?

Answer all of these questions in your financial strategy so that your audience doesn’t have to ask. Go ahead and include forecasts and graphs in your plan, too:

• Balance sheet: This includes your assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Profit & Loss (P&L) statement: This details your income and expenses over a given period.
• Cash flow statement: Similar to the P&L, this one will show all cash flowing into and out of the business each month.

It takes cash to change the world—lenders and investors get it. If you’re short on funding, explain how much money you’ll need and how you’ll use the capital. Where are you looking for financing? Are you looking to take out a business loan, or would you rather trade equity for capital instead?

Read More: 16 Financial Concepts Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Startup Business Plan Template (Copy/Paste Outline)

Ready to write your own business plan? Copy/paste the startup business plan template below and fill in the blanks.

Executive Summary Remember, do this last. Summarize who you are and your business plan in one page.

Business Overview Describe your business. What’s it do? Who owns it? How’s it structured? What’s the mission statement?

Products and Services Detail the products and services you offer. How do they work? What do you charge?

Market Analysis Write about the state of the market and opportunities. Use date. Describe your customers. Include your UVP.

Competitive Analysis Outline the competitors in your market and industry. Include threats and opportunities. Add a SWOT analysis of your business.

Financial Strategy Sum up your revenue, expenses, profit (or loss), and financial plan for the future. If you’re applying for a loan, include how you’ll use the funding to progress the business.

5 Frame-Worthy Business Plan Examples

Want to explore other templates and examples? We got you covered. Check out these 5 business plan examples you can use as inspiration when writing your plan:

• SBA Wooden Grain Toy Company
• SBA We Can Do It Consulting
• OrcaSmart Business Plan Sample
• Plum Business Plan Template
• PandaDoc Free Business Plan Templates

Get to Work on Making Your Business Plan

If you find you’re getting stuck on perfecting your document, opt for a simple one-page business plan —and then get to work. You can always polish up your official plan later as you learn more about your business and the industry.

Remember, business plans are not a requirement for starting a business—they’re only truly essential if a bank or investor is asking for it.

Ask others to review your business plan. Get feedback from other startups and successful business owners. They’ll likely be able to see holes in your planning or undetected opportunities—just make sure these individuals aren’t your competitors (or potential competitors).

Your business plan isn’t a one-and-done report—it’s a living, breathing document. You’ll make changes to it as you grow and evolve. When the market or your customers change, your plan will need to change to adapt.

That means when you’re finished with this exercise, it’s not time to print your plan out and stuff it in a file cabinet somewhere. No, it should sit on your desk as a day-to-day reference. Use it (and update it) as you make decisions about your product, customers, and financial plan.

Review your business plan frequently, update it routinely, and follow the path you’ve developed to the future you’re building.

Keep Learning: New Product Development Process in 8 Easy Steps

What financial information should be included in a business plan?

Be as detailed as you can without assuming too much. For example, include your expected revenue, expenses, profit, and growth for the future.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a business plan?

The most common mistake is turning your business plan into a textbook. A business plan is an internal guide and an external pitching tool. Cut the fat and only include the most relevant information to start and run your business.

Who should review my business plan before I submit it?

Co-founders, investors, or a board of advisors. Otherwise, reach out to a trusted mentor, your local chamber of commerce, or someone you know that runs a business.

Ready to Write Your Business Plan?

Don’t let creating a business plan hold you back from starting your business. Writing documents might not be your thing—that doesn’t mean your business is a bad idea.

Let us help you get started.

Join our free training to learn how to start an online side hustle in 30 days or less. We’ll provide you with a proven roadmap for how to find, validate, and pursue a profitable business idea (even if you have zero entrepreneurial experience).

Stuck on the ideas part? No problem. When you attend the masterclass, we’ll send you a free ebook with 100 of the hottest side hustle trends right now. It’s chock full of brilliant business ideas to get you up and running in the right direction.

About Jesse Sumrak

Jesse Sumrak is a writing zealot focused on creating killer content. He’s spent almost a decade writing about startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship topics, having built and sold his own post-apocalyptic fitness bootstrapped business. A writer by day and a peak bagger by night (and early early morning), you can usually find Jesse preparing for the apocalypse on a precipitous peak somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 2023: The Ultimate Guide for Every Entrepreneur

Are you starting a new business or trying to get a loan for your existing venture? If so, you’re going to need to know how to write a business plan. Business plans give entrepreneurs the opportunity to formally analyze and define every aspect of their business idea .

In this post, you’ll learn how to put together a business plan and find the best resources to help you along the way.

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What is a Business Plan? 

A business plan is a formal document that outlines your business’s goals and how you will achieve those goals. Entrepreneurs who start out with business plans are 16 percent more likely to build successful companies , according to the Harvard Business Review.  Developing a business plan ensures sustainable success, guiding you as you grow your business, legitimizing your venture, and helping you secure funding (among countless other benefits). 

What Are the Main Purposes of a Business Plan?

Most financial institutions and service providers require you to submit a detailed business plan to obtain funding for your business. Online businesses will likely have a low overhead to start, so they may not need funding and therefore may not feel the need to write a business plan. That said, writing a business plan is still a good idea as it can help you secure a drastic increase limit on your credit card as your business grows or open a business account. This varies per bank.

If you’re growing your business, use it to help you raise expansion capital, create a growth strategy, find opportunities, and mitigate risks.Palo Alto software found that companies who make business plans are twice as likely to secure funding . .

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If you’re just starting your business, making a business plan can help you  identify your strengths and weaknesses, communicate your vision to others, and develop accurate forecasts.

How to Make a Business Plan: The Prerequisites 

Here are the prerequisites to creating a solid business plan:

• Establish goals
• Understand your audience
• Determine your business plan format
• Get to writing! 

Establish Goals

There are two key questions to ask here: 

• What are you hoping to accomplish with your business?
• What are you hoping to accomplish with your business plan?

Approaching your business plan through that lens will help you focus on the end goal throughout the writing process. These also provide metrics to measure success against. 

Before writing your business plan, gather the content and data needed to inform what goes in it. This includes researching your market and industry – spanning everything from customer research to legalities you’ll need to consider. It’s a lot easier to start with the information already in front of you instead of researching each section individually as you go. 

Turn to guides, samples, and small business plan templates to help. Many countries have an official administration or service dedicated to providing information, resources, and tools to help entrepreneurs and store owners plan, launch, manage, and grow their businesses. 

The following will take you to online business plan guides and templates for specific countries.

• United States Small Business Administration (SBA) – The “write your business plan page” includes traditional and lean startup business plan formats, three downloadable sample business plans, a template, and a step-by-step build a business plan tool.
• Australian Government – The “business plan template” page includes a downloadable template, guide, and business plan creation app.
• UK Government Business and Self-Employed – The “write a business plan” page includes links to a downloadable business plan template and resources from trusted UK businesses. .
• Canada Business Network – The “writing your business plan” page includes a detailed guide to writing your business plan and links to business plan templates from Canadian business development organizations and banks.

These business resource sites also offer a wealth of valuable information for entrepreneurs including local and regional regulations, structuring, tax obligations, funding programs, market research data, and much more. Visit the sites above or do the following Google searches to find official local business resources in your area:

• your country government business services
• your state/province government business services
• your city government business services

Some Chamber of Commerce websites offer resources for business owners, including business plan guides and templates. Check your local chapter to see if they have any.

Banks that offer business funding also often have a resource section for entrepreneurs. Do a Google search to find banks that offer business funding as well as business plan advice to see the business plans that get funding. If your bank doesn’t offer any advice, search for the largest banks in your area:

• business plan guide bank name
• business plan samples bank name
• business plan template bank name

If you’re looking for more sample business plans, Bplans has over 500 free business plan samples organized by business type as well as a business plan template. Their collection includes 116 business plans for retail and online stores. Shopify also offers business plan templates intended to help small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs identify functional areas of a business they may not have considered.

Understand Your Audience

Because business plans serve different purposes, you’re not always presenting it to the same audience. It’s important to understand who’s going to be reading your business plan, what you’re trying to convince them to do, and what hesitations they might have. 

That way, you can adapt your business plan accordingly. As such, your audience also determines which type of business plan format you use. Which brings us to our next point…

Which Business Plan Format Should You Use? 

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) presents two business plan formats: 

• The traditional business plan format is for entrepreneurs who want to create a detailed plan for themselves or for business funding. 
• The lean startup business plan format, on the other hand, is for business owners that want to create a condensed, single-page business plan.

If the business plan is just for you and internal folks, draft a lean startup business plan or a customized version of the traditional business plan with only the sections you need. If you need it for business funding or other official purposes, choose the formal business plan and thoroughly complete the required sections while paying extra attention to financial projections.

If your business operates outside the U.S., clarify the preferred format with your bank.

How to Create a Business Plan: Questions to Ask Yourself

As you write a business plan, take time to not only analyze your business idea, but yourself as well. Ask the following questions to help you analyze your business idea along the way:

• Why do I want to start or expand my business?
• Do my goals (personal and professional) and values align with my business idea?
• What income do I need to generate for myself?
• What education, experience, and skills do I bring to my business?

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

According to the business plan template created by SCORE, Deluxe, and the SBA , a traditional business plan encompasses the following sections. 

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Products & services
• Market analysis
• Marketing & sales
• Management & organization
• Funding request
• Financial projections
• SWOT analysis

Since not everyone is aware of the key details to include in each section, we’ve listed information you can copy to fill in your business plan outline. Here’s how to build a business plan step by step.  

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is the first part of your business plan, so this is where you need to hook readers in. Every business plan starts this way — even a simple business plan template should kick off with the Executive Summary. Summarize your entire business plan in a single page, highlighting details about your business that will excite potential investors and lenders. 

Explain what your business has to offer, your target market , what separates you from the competition, a little bit about yourself and the core people behind your business, and realistic projections about your business’ success.

While this is the first section of your business plan, write it after you’ve completed the rest of your business plan. It’s a lot easier because you can pull from the sections you’ve already written, and it’s easier to identify the best parts of your business plan to include on the first page.

Company Description

In the Company Description, share 411 about your business. Include basic details like: 

• Legal structure (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc.)
• Business and tax ID numbers
• When the business started
• Ownership information
• Number of employees

Your mission statement , philosophy and values, vision, short- and long-term goals, and milestones along with a brief overview of your industry, market, outlook, and competitors should also be in the Company Description.

Pro tip: These are the details you’ll use each time you create a business profile, whether that's on social media, business directories, or other networks. Keep your information consistent to reduce confusion and instill more confidence in potential customers. 

Products & Services

The Products & Services section details what you plan to sell to customers. For a dropshipping business , this section should explain which trending products you’re going to sell, the pain points your products solve for customers, how you’ll price your products compared to your competitors, expected profit margin, and production and delivery details.

Remember to include any unique selling points for specific products or product groupings, such as low overhead, exclusive agreements with vendors, the ability to obtain products that are in short supply / high demand based on your connections, personalized customer service, or other advantages.

For dropshipping businesses selling hundreds or even thousands of products, detail the main categories of products and the number of products you plan to offer within each category. By doing this, it’s easier to visualize your business offerings as a whole to determine if you need more products in one category to fully flesh out your online store.

Market Analysis

The Market Analysis section of your business plan allows you to share the research you have done to learn about your target audience — the potential buyers of your products. People requesting a business plan will want to know that you have a solid understanding of your industry, the competitive landscape, who’s most likely to become your customers. It’s important to demonstrate that  there’s a large enough market for your product to make it profitable and/or to make a strong return on investment .

To complete the Market Analysis component of your business plan, check out the following resources for industry, market, and local economic research:

• U.S. Embassy websites in most countries have a business section with information for people who want to sell abroad. Business sections include a basic “getting started” guide, links to economic and data reports, trade events, and additional useful business links for a particular region.
• IBISWorld is a provider of free and paid industry research and procurement research reports for the United States , United Kingdom , Australia , and New Zealand .  
• Statista offers free and paid statistics and studies from over 18,000 sources including industry reports, country reports, market studies, outlook reports, and consumer market reports.   

Use these websites and others to learn about the projected growth of your industry and your potential profitability. You can also use social media tools like Facebook Audience Insights to estimate the size of your target market on the largest social network

Another way to research your market and products is through Google Trends . This free tool will allow you to see how often people search for the products your business offers over time. Be sure to explain how your business plans to capitalize on increasing and decreasing search trends accordingly.

Marketing & Sales

Knowing your target market is half the battle. In the Marketing & Sales section, share how you plan to reach and sell products to your target market. Outline the marketing and advertising strategies you intend to use to market your product to potential customers – search marketing , social media marketing , email marketing , and influencer marketing methods .

If you’re unsure how to market your business’ products, analyze your competitors for some inspiration. Discovering your competition’s marketing tactics will help you customize your own strategy for building a customer base and ultimately taking your business to the next level. 

Do a Google search for your competitor’s business name to find the websites, social accounts, and content they’ve created to market their products. Look at the ways your competitor uses each online entity to drive new customers to their website and product pages.

Then come up with a plan to convert a similar audience with your marketing and advertising messages. For dropshipping businesses, conversions will typically take place on your website as people purchase your products and/or by phone if you take orders over the phone. 

Management & Organization

In the Management & Organization piece of your business plan, describe the structure of your business. In terms of legal structure and incorporation, most businesses are classified as sole proprietorships (one owner), partnerships (two or more owners), corporations, or S corporations.

Draft a condensed resume for each of the key members of your business. If you’re a solopreneur , include how your past education and work experience will help you run each aspect of your business. If you have one or more partner(s) and employee(s), include their relevant education and experience as well.

Think of this as a great way to evaluate the strengths of each individual running your business. When self-evaluating, you’ll be able to identify the aspects of your business that’ll be easier to manage and which ones to delegate to freelancers, contractors, employees, and third-party services. This also makes it easier to find the best way to utilize their strengths for business growth.

Funding Request

Chances are, you don’t have a funding request for a startup dropshipping business since the appeal to dropshipping is the low upfront investment . If you’re looking for a loan, however, this would be the section where you outline the dollar amount you need, what you plan to invest in, and how you see the return on your investment.

Another way to use this section is to analyze the investment you have or plan to make when starting or growing your business. This should include everything from the computer you use to run your website to the monthly fee for business services.

Financial Projections

In Financial Projections, share your projected revenue and expenses for the first or next five years of your business. The idea here is to demonstrate that the revenue you’re anticipating will easily lead to a return on any investment, whether from your personal finances or a capital lending service.

If you’re looking for funding, you’ll need to go into detail with projected income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and capital expenditure budgets. If you aren’t looking for funding, it won’t hurt to create these types of financial projections so you can realistically plan for the future of your business.

The Appendix of your business plan includes any supplemental documents needed throughout the sections of your business plan. These may include, but are not limited to: 

• Credit histories
• Product brochures
• Legal forms
• Supplier contracts

If you’re submitting your business plan for funding, contact the lender to see what documentation they want included with your funding request.

SWOT Analysis

In addition to the above sections, some business plans also include a SWOT Analysis. This is a one-page summary of your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strengths and weaknesses you include will be internal, whereas opportunities and threats you include will be external. 

Depending on the revelations of this section, you may or may not want to make a SWOT analysis when submitting your business plan formally unless it is requested.

Summary: How to Create a Business Plan

As you can see, creating a business plan for your dropshipping business is a great way to validate your business idea , discover your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and make a blueprint for your business's future.

In summary, here are the sections you will need to write for your business plan, step by step:

• SWOT analysis (Optional)

If you haven’t already, take the time to create a business plan to launch or grow your business in 2023!

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Business Plan: What It Is + How to Write One

Discover what a business plan includes and how writing one can foster your business’s development.

What is a business plan? 

A business plan is a written document that defines your business goals and the tactics to achieve those goals. A business plan typically explores the competitive landscape of an industry, analyzes a market and different customer segments within it, describes the products and services, lists business strategies for success, and outlines financial planning.  

In your research into business plans, you may come across different formats, and you might be wondering which kind will work best for your purposes. 

Let’s define two main types of business plans , the traditional business pla n and the lean start-up business plan . Both types can serve as the basis for developing a thriving business, as well as exploring a competitive market analysis, brand strategy , and content strategy in more depth. There are some significant differences to keep in mind [ 1 ]: 

The traditional business plan is a long document that explores each component in depth. You can build a traditional business plan to secure funding from lenders or investors. 

The lean start-up business plan focuses on the key elements of a business’s development and is shorter than the traditional format. If you don’t plan to seek funding, the lean start-up plan can serve mainly as a document for making business decisions and carrying out tasks. 

Now that you have a clear business plan definition , continue reading to begin writing a detailed plan that will guide your journey as an entrepreneur.  

How to write a business plan 

In the sections below, you’ll build the following components of your business plan:

Executive summary

Business description 

Products and services 

Competitor analysis 

Marketing plan and sales strategies 

Brand strategy

Financial planning

Explore each section to bring fresh inspiration to the surface and reveal new possibilities for developing your business. You may choose to adapt the sections, skip over some, or go deeper into others, depending on which format you’re using. Consider your first draft a foundation for your efforts and one that you can revise, as needed, to account for changes in any area of your business.  

Read more: What Is a Marketing Plan? And How to Create One

1. Executive summary 

This is a short section that introduces the business plan as a whole to the people who will be reading it, including investors, lenders, or other members of your team. Start with a sentence or two about your business, your goals for developing it, and why it will be successful. If you are seeking funding, summarize the basics of the financial plan. 

2. Business description 

Use this section to provide detailed information about your company and how it will operate in the marketplace. 

Mission statement: What drives your desire to start a business? What purpose are you serving? What do you hope to achieve for your business, the team, your customers? 

Revenue streams: From what sources will your business generate revenue? Examples include product sales, service fees, subscriptions, rental fees, license fees, and more. 

Leadership: Describe the leaders in your business, their roles and responsibilities, and your vision for building teams to perform various functions, such as graphic design, product development, or sales.  

Legal structure: If you’ve incorporated your business or registered it with your state as a legal entity such as an S-corp or LLC, include the legal structure here and the rationale behind this choice. 

3. Competitor analysis 

This section will include an assessment of potential competitors, their offers, and marketing and sales efforts. For each competitor, explore the following: 

Value proposition: What outcome or experience does this brand promise?

Products and services: How does each one solve customer pain points and fulfill desires? What are the price points? 

Marketing: Which channels do competitors use to promote? What kind of content does this brand publish on these channels? What messaging does this brand use to communicate value to customers?  

Sales: What sales process or buyer’s journey does this brand lead customers through?

Read more: What Is Competitor Analysis? And How to Conduct One

4. Products and services

Use this section to describe everything your business offers to its target market . For every product and service, list the following: 

The value proposition or promise to customers, in terms of how they will experience it

How the product serves customers, addresses their pain points, satisfies their desires, and improves their lives

The features or outcomes that make the product better than those of competitors

Your price points and how these compare to competitors

5. Marketing plan and sales strategies 

In this section, you’ll draw from thorough market research to describe your target market and how you will reach them. 

Who are your ideal customers?   

How can you describe this segment according to their demographics (age, ethnicity, income, location, etc.) and psychographics (beliefs, values, aspirations, lifestyle, etc.)? 

What are their daily lives like? 

What problems and challenges do they experience? 

What words, phrases, ideas, and concepts do consumers in your target market use to describe these problems when posting on social media or engaging with your competitors?  

What messaging will present your products as the best on the market? How will you differentiate messaging from competitors? 

On what marketing channels will you position your products and services?

How will you design a customer journey that delivers a positive experience at every touchpoint and leads customers to a purchase decision?

Read more: Market Analysis: What It Is and How to Conduct One   

6. Brand strategy 

In this section, you will describe your business’s design, personality, values, voice, and other details that go into delivering a consistent brand experience. 

What are the values that define your brand?

What visual elements give your brand a distinctive look and feel?

How will your marketing messaging reflect a distinctive brand voice, including the tone, diction, and sentence-level stylistic choices? 

How will your brand look and sound throughout the customer journey? 

Define your brand positioning statement. What will inspire your audience to choose your brand over others? What experiences and outcomes will your audience associate with your brand? 

Read more: What Is a Brand Strategy? And How to Create One

7. Financial planning  

In this section, you will explore your business’s financial future. If you are writing a traditional business plan to seek funding, this section is critical for demonstrating to lenders or investors that you have a strategy for turning your business ideas into profit. For a lean start-up business plan, this section can provide a useful exercise for planning how you will invest resources and generate revenue [ 2 ].  

Use any past financials and other sections of this business plan, such as your price points or sales strategies, to begin your financial planning. 

How many individual products or service packages do you plan to sell over a specific time period?

List your business expenses, such as subscribing to software or other services, hiring contractors or employees, purchasing physical supplies or equipment, etc.

What is your break-even point, or the amount you have to sell to cover all expenses?

Create a sales forecast for the next three to five years: (No. of units to sell X price for each unit) – (cost per unit X No. of units) = sales forecast

Quantify how much capital you have on hand.

When writing a traditional business plan to secure funding, you may choose to append supporting documents, such as licenses, permits, patents, letters of reference, resumes, product blueprints, brand guidelines, the industry awards you’ve received, and media mentions and appearances.

Business plan key takeaways and best practices

Remember: Creating a business plan is crucial when starting a business. You can use this document to guide your decisions and actions and even seek funding from lenders and investors. 

Keep these best practices in mind:

Your business plan should evolve as your business grows. Return to it periodically, such as every quarter or year, to update individual sections or explore new directions your business can take.

Make sure everyone on your team has a copy of the business plan and welcome their input as they perform their roles. 

Ask fellow entrepreneurs for feedback on your business plan and look for opportunities to strengthen it, from conducting more market and competitor research to implementing new strategies for success. 

Start your business with Coursera 

Ready to start your business? Watch this video on the lean approach from the Entrepreneurship Specialization : 

Article sources

1. US Small Business Administration. “ Write Your Business Plan , https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan." Accessed April 19, 2022.

2. Inc. " How to Write the Financial Section of a Business Plan ,   https://www.inc.com/guides/business-plan-financial-section.html." Accessed April 14, 2022.

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How to Prepare and Write the Perfect Business Plan for Your Company Here's how to write a business plan that will formalize your company's goals and optimize your organization.

By Matthew McCreary • May 5, 2021

Are you preparing to start your own business but uncertain about how to get started? A business plan ought to be one of the first steps in your entrepreneurial journey because it will organize the ideas that have been spinning around in your brain and prepare you to seek funding, partners and more.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a detailed document that outlines a company's goals and how the business, well, plans to achieve those goals over the next three or more years. It helps define expected profits and challenges, providing a road map that will help you avoid bumps in the road.

Stever Robbins writes in an Entrepreneur article titled, "Why You Must Have a Business Plan," that a business plan "is a tool for understanding how your business is put together…. Writing out your business plan forces you to review everything at once: your value proposition, marketing assumptions, operations plan, financial plan and staffing plan." But, a business plan is about more than just reviewing the past state of your business or even what your business looks like today.

Robbins writes that a well-written business plan will help you drive the future by "laying out targets in all major areas: sales, expense items, hiring positions and financing goals. Once laid out, the targets become performance goals."

The business plan can help your company attract talent and funding, because when prospects ask about your business, you already have an articulated overview to offer them. How they react can allow you to quickly understand how others see your business and pivot if necessary.

What should you do before you write your business plan?

It might sound redundant, but you actually need to plan your business plan. Business plans can be complicated, and you'll be held accountable for the goals you set. For example, if you plan to open five locations of your business within the first two years, your investors might get angry if you only manage to open two.

That's why it's essential that, before writing your business plan, you spend some time determining exactly which objectives are essential to your business. If you're struggling to come up with a list of goals on your own, Entrepreneur article "Plan Your Business Plan" offers some questions you can ask yourself to spark some inspiration.

How determined am I to see this venture succeed?

Am I willing to invest my own money and work long hours for no pay, sacrificing personal time and lifestyle, maybe for years?

What's going to happen to me if this venture doesn't work out?

If it does succeed, how many employees will this company eventually have?

What will be the business's annual revenue in a year? What about in five years?

What will be the company's market share in that amount of time?

Will the business have a niche market, or will it sell a broad spectrum of goods and services?

What are my plans for geographic expansion? Should it be local or national? Can it be global?

Am I going to be a hands-on manager, or will I delegate a large proportion of tasks to others?

If I delegate, what sorts of tasks will I share? Will it be sales, technical work or something else?

How comfortable am I taking direction from others? Can I work with partners or investors who demand input into the company's management?

Is the business going to remain independent and privately owned, or will it eventually be acquired or go public?

It's also essential to consider your financial goals. Your business might not require a massive financial commitment upfront, but it probably will if you're envisioning rapid growth. Unless you're making your product or service from scratch, you'll have to pay your suppliers before your customers can pay you, and as "Plan Your Business Plan" points out, "this cash flow conundrum is the reason so many fast-growing companies have to seek bank financing or equity sales to finance their growth. They are literally growing faster than they can afford."

How much financing will you need to start your business? What will you be willing to accept? If you're desperate for that first influx of cash, you might be tempted to accept any offer, but doing so might force you to either surrender too much control or ask investors for a number that's not quite right for either side.

These eight questions can help you determine a few financial aspects of your planning stages:

What initial investment will the business require?

How much control of the business are you willing to relinquish to investors?

When will the business turn a profit?

When can investors, including you, expect a return on investment?

What are the business's projected profits over time?

Will you be able to devote yourself full-time to the business?

What kind of salary or profit distribution can you expect to take home?

What are the chances the business will fail, and what will happen if it does?

You should also consider who, primarily, is going to be reading your business plan, and how you plan to use it. Is it a means of raising money or attracting employees? Will suppliers see it?

Lastly, you need to assess the likelihood of whether you actually have the time and resources to see your plan through. It might hurt to realize the assumptions you've made so far don't actually make a successful business, but it's best to know early on, before you make further commitments.

Related: Need a Business Plan Template? Here Is Apple's 1981 Plan for the Mac.

How to Write a Business Plan

Once you've worked out all the questions above and you know exactly what goals you have for your business plan, the next step is to actually write the darn thing. A typical business plan runs 15 to 20 pages but can be longer or shorter, depending on the complexity of the business and the needs of your venture. Regardless of whether you intend to use the business plan for self-evaluation or to seek a seven-figure investment, it should include nine key components, many of which are outlined in Entrepreneur 's introduction to business plans:

1. Title page and contents

Presentation is important, and a business plan should be presented in a binder with a cover that lists the business's name, the principals' names and other relevant information like a working address, phone number, email and web address and date. Write the information in a font that's easy to read and include it on the title page inside, too. Add in the company logo and a table of contents that follows the executive summary.

2. Executive summary

Think of the executive summary as the SparkNotes version of your business plan . It should tell the reader in as few words as possible what your business wants and why. The executive summary should address these nine things:

The business idea and why it is necessary. (What problem does it solve?)

How much will it cost, and how much financing are you seeking?

What will the return be to the investor? Over what length of time?

What is the perceived risk level?

Where does your idea fit into the marketplace?

What is the management team?

What are the product and competitive strategies?

What is your marketing plan?

What is your exit strategy?

When writing the executive summary, remember that it should be somewhere between one-half page to a full page. Anything longer, and you risk losing your reader's attention before they can dig into your business plan. Try to answer each of the questions above in two or three sentences, and you'll wind up with an executive summary that's about the right length.

Related: First Steps: Writing the Executive Summary of Your Business Plan

3. Business description

You can fill anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages when writing your business description, but try again to keep it short, with the understanding that more sections will follow. The business description typically starts with a short explanation of your chosen industry, including its present outlook and future possibilities. Use data and sources (with proper footnotes) to explain the markets the industry offers, along with the developments that will affect your business. That way, everyone who reads the business description, particularly investors, will see that they can trust the various information contained within your business plan.

When you pivot to speaking of your business, start with its structure. How does your business work? Is it retail, service-oriented or wholesale? Is the business new or established? Is the company a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation? Who are the principals and who are your customers? What do the distribution channels look like, and how can you support sales?

Next, break down your business's offerings. Are you selling a physical product, SaaS or a service? Explain it in a way that a reader knows what you're planning to sell and how it differentiates itself from the competition (investors call this a Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, and it's important that you find yours). Whether it's a trade secret or a patent, you should be specific about your competitive advantage and why your business is going to be profitable. If you plan to use your business plan for fundraising, you can use the business description section to explain why new investments will help make the business even more profitable.

This, like everything else, can be brief, but you can tell the reader about your business's efficiency or workflow. You can write about other key people within the business or cite industry experts' support of your idea, as well as your base of operations and reasons for starting in the first place.

4. Market strategies

Paint a picture about your market by remembering the four Ps: product, price, place and promotion.

Start this section by defining the market's size, structure and sales potential. What are the market's growth prospects? What do the demographics and trends look like right now?

Next, outline the frequency at which your product or service will be purchased by the target market and the potential annual purchase. What market share can you possibly expect to win? Try to be realistic here, and keep in mind that even a number like 25% might be a dominant share.

Next, break down your business's plan for positioning, which relates to the market niche your product or service can fill. Who is your target market, how will you reach them and what are they buying from you? Who are your competitors, and what is your USP?

The positioning statement within your business plan should be short and to the point, but make sure you answer each of those questions before you move on to, perhaps, the most difficult and important aspect of your market strategy: pricing.

In fact, settling on a price for your product or service is one of the most important decisions you have to make in the entire business plan. Pricing will directly determine essential aspects of your business, like profit margin and sales volume. It will influence all sorts of areas, too, from marketing to target consumer.

There are two primary ways to determine your price: The first is to look inward, adding up the costs of offering your product or service, and then adding in a profit margin to find your number. The second is called competitive pricing, and it involves research into how your competitors will either price their products or services now or in the future. The difficult aspect of this second pricing method is that it often sets a ceiling on pricing, which, in turn, could force you to adjust your costs.

Then, pivot the market strategies section toward your distribution process and how it relates to your competitors' channels. How, exactly, are you going to get your offerings from one place to the next? Walk the reader step by step through your process. Do you want to use the same strategy or something else that might give you an advantage?

Last, explain your promotion strategy. How are you going to communicate with your potential customers? This part should talk about not only marketing or advertising, but also packaging, public relations and sales promotions.

Related: Creating a Winning Startup Business Plan

5. Competitive analysis

The next section in your business plan should be the competitive analysis, which helps explain the differences between you and your competitors … and how you can keep it that way. If you can start with an honest evaluation of your competitors' strengths and weaknesses within the marketplace, you can also provide the reader with clear analysis about your advantage and the barriers that either already exist or can be developed to keep your business ahead of the pack. Are there weaknesses within the marketplace, and if so, how can you exploit them?

Remember to consider both your direct competition and your indirect competition, with both a short-term and long-term view.

6. Design and development plan

If you plan to sell a product, it's smart to add a design and development section to your business plan. This part should help your readers understand the background of that product. How have the production, marketing and company developed over time? What is your developmental budget?

For the sake of organization, consider these three aspects of the design and development plan:

Product development

Market development

Organizational development

Start by establishing your development goals, which should logically follow your evaluation of the market and your competition. Make these goals feasible and quantifiable, and be sure to establish timelines that allow your readers to see your vision. The goals should address both technical and marketing aspects.

Once the reader has a clear idea of your development goals, explain the procedures you'll develop to reach them. How will you allocate your resources, and who is in charge of accomplishing each goal?

The Entrepreneur guide to design and development plans offers this example on the steps of producing a recipe for a premium lager beer:

Gather ingredients.

Determine optimum malting process.

Gauge mashing temperature.

Boil wort and evaluate which hops provide the best flavor.

Determine yeast amounts and fermentation period.

Determine aging period.

Carbonate the beer.

Decide whether or not to pasteurize the beer.

Make sure to also talk about scheduling. What checkpoints will the product need to pass to reach a customer? Establish timeframes for each step of the process. Create a chart with a column for each task, how long that task will take and when the task will start and end.

Next, consider the costs of developing your product, breaking down the costs of these aspects:

General and administrative (G&A) costs

Marketing and sales

Professional services, like lawyers or accountants

Miscellaneous costs

Necessary equipment

The next section should be about the personnel you either have or plan to hire for that development. If you already have the right person in place, this part should be easy. If not, then this part of the business plan can help you create a detailed description of exactly what you need. This process can also help you formalize the hierarchy of your team's positions so that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.

Finish the development and design section of your business plan by addressing the risks in developing the product and how you're going to address those risks. Could there be technical difficulties? Are you having trouble finding the right person to lead the development? Does your financial situation limit your ability to develop the product? Being honest about your problems and solutions can help answer some of your readers' questions before they ask them.

Related: The Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan

7. Operations and management plan

Want to learn everything you'll ever need to know about the operations and management section of your business plan, and read a real, actual web article from 1997? Check out our guide titled, "Writing A Business Plan: Operations And Management."

Here, we'll more briefly summarize the two areas that need to be covered within your operations and management plan: the organizational structure is first, and the capital requirement for the operation are second.

The organizational structure detailed within your business plan will establish the basis for your operating expenses, which will provide essential information for the next part of the business plan: your financial statements. Investors will look closely at the financial statements, so it's important to start with a solid foundation and a realistic framework. You can start by dividing your organizational structure into these four sections:

Marketing and sales (including customer relations and service)

Production (including quality assurance)

Research and development

Administration

After you've broken down the organization's operations within your business plan, you can look at the expenses, or overhead. Divide them into fixed expenses, which typically remain constant, and variable, which will change according to the volume of business. Here are some of the examples of overhead expenses:

Maintenance and repair

Equipment leases

Advertising and promotion

Packaging and shipping

Payroll taxes and benefits

Uncollectible receivables

Professional services

Loan payments

Depreciation

Having difficulty calculating what some of those expenses might be for your business? Try using the simple formulas in "Writing A Business Plan: Operations And Management."

8. Financial factors

The last piece of the business plan that you definitely need to have covers the business's finances. Specifically, three financial statements will form the backbone of your business plan: the income statement, the cash-flow statement and balance sheet . Let's go through them one by one.

The income statement explains how the business can make money in a simple way. It draws on financial models already developed and discussed throughout the business plan (revenue, expenses, capital and cost of goods) and combines those numbers with when sales are made and when expenses are incurred. When the reader finishes going through your income statement, they should understand how much money your company makes or loses by subtracting your costs from your revenue, showing either a loss or a profit. If you like, you or a CPA can add a very short analysis at the end to emphasize some important aspects of the statement.

Second is the cash-flow statement, which explains how much cash your business needs to meet its obligations, as well as when you're going to need it and how you're going to get it. This section shows a profit or loss at the end of each month or year that rolls over to the next time period, which can create a cycle. If your business plan shows that you're consistently operating at a loss that gets bigger as time goes on, this can be a major red flag for both you and potential investors. This part of the business plan should be prepared monthly during your first year in business, quarterly in your second year and annually after that.

Our guide on cash-flow statements includes 17 items you'll need to add to your cash-flow statement.

Cash. Cash on hand in the business.

Cash sales . Income from sales paid for by cash.

Receivables. Income from collecting money owed to the business due to sales.

Other income. The liquidation of assets, interest on extended loans or income from investments are examples.

Total income. The sum of the four items above (total cash, cash sales, receivables, other income).

Material/merchandise . This will depend on the structure of your business. If you're manufacturing, this will include your raw materials. If you're in retail, count your inventory of merchandise. If you offer a service, consider which supplies are necessary.

Direct labor . What sort of labor do you need to make your product or complete your service?

Overhead . This includes both the variable expenses and fixed expenses for business operations.

Marketing/sales . All salaries, commissions and other direct costs associated with the marketing and sales departments.

Research and development . Specifically, the labor expenses required for research and development.

General and administrative expenses. Like the research and development costs, this centers on the labor for G&A functions of the business.

Taxes . This excludes payroll taxes but includes everything else.

Capital. Required capital for necessary equipment.

Loan payments. The total of all payments made to reduce any long-term debts.

Total expenses. The sum of items six through 14 (material/merchandise, direct labor, overhead, marketing/sales, research and development, general and administrative expenses, taxes, capital and loan payments).

Cash flow. Subtract total expenses from total income. This is how much cash will roll over to the next period.

Cumulative cash flow . Subtract the previous period's cash flow from your current cash flow.

Just like with the income statement, it's a good idea to briefly summarize the figures at the end. Again, consulting with a CPA is probably a good idea.

The last financial statement is the balance sheet. A balance sheet is, as our encyclopedia says, "a financial statement that lists the assets, liabilities and equity of a company at a specific point in time and is used to calculate the net worth of a business." If you've already started the business, use the balance sheet from your last reporting period. If the business plan you wrote is for a business you hope to start, do your best to project your assets and liabilities over time. If you want to earn investors, you'll also need to include a personal financial statement. Then, as with the other two sections, add a short analysis that hits the main points.

9. Supporting documents

If you have other documents that your readers need to see, like important contracts, letters of reference, a copy of your lease or legal documents, you should add them in this section.

Related: 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

What do I do with my business plan after I've written it?

The simplest reason to create a business plan is to help people unfamiliar with your business understand it quickly. While the most obvious use for a document like this is for financing purposes, a business plan can also help you attract talented employees — and, if you share the business plan internally, help your existing employees understand their roles.

But it's also important to do for your own edification, too. It's like the old saying goes, "The best way to learn something is to teach it." Writing down your plans, your goals and the state of your finances helps clarify the thoughts in your own mind. From there, you can more easily lead your business because you'll know whether the business is reaching the checkpoints you set out to begin with. You'll be able to foresee difficulties before they pop up and be able to pivot quickly.

That's why you should continue to update your business plan when the conditions change, either within your business (you might be entering a new period or undergoing a change in management) or within your market (like a new competitor popping up). The key is to keep your business plan ready so that you don't have to get it ready when opportunity strikes.

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How to Write a Business Plan (Plus Examples & Templates)

May 24, 2021

Have you ever wondered how to write a business plan step by step? Mike Andes, told us: 

This guide will help you write a business plan to impress investors.

Throughout this process, we’ll get information from Mike Andes, who started Augusta Lawn Care Services when he was 12 and turned it into a franchise with over 90 locations. He has gone on to help others learn how to write business plans and start businesses.  He knows a thing or two about writing  business plans!

We’ll start by discussing the definition of a business plan. Then we’ll discuss how to come up with the idea, how to do the market research, and then the important elements in the business plan format. Keep reading to start your journey!

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is simply a road map of what you are trying to achieve with your business and how you will go about achieving it. It should cover all elements of your business including: 

• Finding customers
• Plans for developing a team
•  Competition
• Legal structures
• Key milestones you are pursuing

If you aren’t quite ready to create a business plan, consider starting by reading our business startup guide .

Get a Business Idea

Before you can write a business plan, you have to have a business idea. You may see a problem that needs to be solved and have an idea how to solve it, or you might start by evaluating your interests and skills. 

Mike told us, “The three things I suggest asking yourself when thinking about starting a business are:

• What am I good at?
• What would I enjoy doing?
• What can I get paid for?”

If all three of these questions don’t lead to at least one common answer, it will probably be a much harder road to success. Either there is not much market for it, you won’t be good at it, or you won’t enjoy doing it. 

As Mike told us, “There’s enough stress starting and running a business that if you don’t like it or aren’t good at it, it’s hard to succeed.”

If you’d like to hear more about Mike’s approach to starting a business, check out our YouTube video

Conduct Market Analysis

Market analysis is focused on establishing if there is a target market for your products and services, how large the target market is, and identifying the demographics of people or businesses that would be interested in the product or service. The goal here is to establish how much money your business concept can make.

Product and Service Demand

A search engine is your best friend when trying to figure out if there is demand for your products and services. Personally, I love using presearch.org because it lets you directly search on a ton of different platforms including Google, Youtube, Twitter, and more. Check out the screenshot for the full list of search options.

With quick web searches, you can find out how many competitors you have, look through their reviews, and see if there are common complaints about the competitors. Bad reviews are a great place to find opportunities to offer better products or services. 

If there are no similar products or services, you may have stumbled upon something new, or there may just be no demand for it. To find out, go talk to your most honest friend about the idea and see what they think. If they tell you it’s dumb or stare at you vacantly, there’s probably no market for it.

You can also conduct a survey through social media to get public opinion on your idea. Using Facebook Business Manager , you could get a feel for who would be interested in your product or service.

 I ran a quick test of how many people between 18-65  you could reach in the U.S. during a week. It returned an estimated 700-2,000 for the total number of leads, which is enough to do a fairly accurate statistical analysis.

Identify Demographics of Target Market

Depending on what type of business you want to run, your target market will be different. The narrower the demographic, the fewer potential customers you’ll have. If you did a survey, you’ll be able to use that data to help define your target audience. Some considerations you’ll want to consider are:

• Other Interests
• Marital Status
• Do they have kids?

Once you have this information, it can help you narrow down your options for location and help define your marketing further. One resource that Mike recommended using is the Census Bureau’s Quick Facts Map . He told us,  

“It helps you quickly evaluate what the best areas are for your business to be located.”

How to Write a Business Plan

Now that you’ve developed your idea a little and established there is a market for it, you can begin writing a business plan. Getting started is easier with the business plan template we created for you to download. I strongly recommend using it as it is updated to make it easier to create an action plan. 

Each of the following should be a section of your business plan:

• Business Plan Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Description of Products and Services

SWOT Analysis

• Competitor Data
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Expenses Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

• Distribution Channel Assessment
• Operational Plan
• Management and Organizational Strategy
• Financial Statements and/or Financial Projections

We’ll look into each of these. Don’t forget to download our free business plan template (mentioned just above) so you can follow along as we go. 

How to Write a Business Plan Step 1. Create a Cover Page

The first thing investors will see is the cover page for your business plan. Make sure it looks professional. A great cover page shows that you think about first impressions.

A good business plan should have the following elements on a cover page:

• Professionally designed logo
• Company name
• Mission or Vision Statement
• Contact Info

Basically, think of a cover page for your business plan like a giant business card. It is meant to capture people’s attention but be quickly processed.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 2. Create a Table of Contents

Most people are busy enough that they don’t have a lot of time. Providing a table of contents makes it easy for them to find the pages of your plan that are meaningful to them.

A table of contents will be immediately after the cover page, but you can include it after the executive summary. Including the table of contents immediately after the executive summary will help investors know what section of your business plan they want to review more thoroughly.

Check out Canva’s article about creating a  table of contents . It has a ton of great information about creating easy access to each section of your business plan. Just remember that you’ll want to use different strategies for digital and hard copy business plans.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 3. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary is where your business plan should catch the readers interest.  It doesn’t need to be long, but should be quick and easy to read.

Mike told us,

How long should an executive summary bein an informal business plan?

For casual use, an executive summary should be similar to an elevator pitch, no more than 150-160 words, just enough to get them interested and wanting more. Indeed has a great article on elevator pitches .  This can also be used for the content of emails to get readers’ attention.

It consists of three basic parts:

• An introduction to you and your business.
• What your business is about.
• A call to action

Example of an informal executive summary 

One of the best elevator pitches I’ve used is:

So far that pitch has achieved a 100% success rate in getting partnerships for the business.

What should I include in an executive summary for investors?

Investors are going to need a more detailed executive summary if you want to secure financing or sell equity. The executive summary should be a brief overview of your entire business plan and include:

• Introduction of yourself and company.
• An origin story (Recognition of a problem and how you came to solution)
• An introduction to your products or services.
• Your unique value proposition. Make sure to include intellectual property.
• Where you are in the business life cycle
• Request and why you need it.

Successful business plan examples

The owner of Urbanity told us he spent 2 months writing a 75-page business plan and received a $250,000 loan from the bank when he was 23. Make your business plan as detailed as possible when looking for financing. We’ve provided a template to help you prepare the portions of a business plan that banks expect.

Here’s the interview with the owner of Urbanity:

When to write an executive summary?

Even though the summary is near the beginning of a business plan, you should write it after you complete the rest of a business plan. You can’t talk about revenue, profits, and expected expenditures if you haven’t done the market research and created a financial plan.

What mistakes do people make when writing an executive summary?

Business owners commonly go into too much detail about the following items in an executive summary:

• Marketing and sales processes
• Financial statements
• Organizational structure
• Market analysis

These are things that people will want to know later, but they don’t hook the reader. They won’t spark interest in your small business, but they’ll close the deal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 4. Company Description

Every business plan should include a company description. A great business plan will include the following elements while describing the company:

• Mission statement
• Philosophy and vision
• Company goals

Target market

• Legal structure

Let’s take a look at what each section includes in a good business plan.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a brief explanation of why you started the company and what the company’s main focus is. It should be no more than one or two sentences. Check out HubSpot’s article 27 Inspiring Mission Statement for a great read on informative and inspiring mission and vision statements. 

Company Philosophy and Vision

The company philosophy is what drives your company. You’ll normally hear them called core values.  These are the building blocks that make your company different. You want to communicate your values to customers, business owners, and investors as often as possible to build a company culture, but make sure to back them up.

What makes your company different?

Each company is different. Your new business should rise above the standard company lines of honesty, integrity, fun, innovation, and community when communicating your business values. The standard answers are corporate jargon and lack authenticity. 

Examples of core values

One of my clients decided to add a core values page to their website. As a tech company they emphasized the values:

•  Prioritize communication.
•  Never stop learning.
•  Be transparent.
•  Start small and grow incrementally.

These values communicate how the owner and the rest of the company operate. They also show a value proposition and competitive advantage because they specifically focus on delivering business value from the start. These values also genuinely show what the company is about and customers recognize the sincerity. Indeed has a great blog about how to identify your core values .

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement communicate the long lasting change a business pursues. The vision helps investors and customers understand what your company is trying to accomplish. The vision statement goes beyond a mission statement to provide something meaningful to the community, customer’s lives, or even the world.

Example vision statements

The Alzheimer’s Association is a great example of a vision statement:

A world without Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia.

It clearly tells how they want to change the world. A world without Alzheimers might be unachievable, but that means they always have room for improvement.

Business Goals

You have to measure success against goals for a business plan to be meaningful. A business plan helps guide a company similar to how your GPS provides a road map to your favorite travel destination. A goal to make as much money as possible is not inspirational and sounds greedy.

Sure, business owners want to increase their profits and improve customer service, but they need to present an overview of what they consider success. The goals should help everyone prioritize their work.

How far in advance should a business plan?

Business planning should be done at least one year in advance, but many banks and investors prefer three to five year business plans. Longer plans show investors that the management team  understands the market and knows the business is operating in a constantly shifting market. In addition, a plan helps businesses to adjust to changes because they have already considered how to handle them.

Example of great business goals

My all time-favorite long-term company goals are included in Tesla’s Master Plan, Part Deux . These goals were written in 2016 and drive the company’s decisions through 2026. They are the reason that investors are so forgiving when Elon Musk continually fails to meet his quarterly and annual goals.

If the progress aligns with the business plan investors are likely to continue to believe in the company. Just make sure the goals are reasonable or you’ll be discredited (unless you’re Elon Musk).

You did target market research before creating a business plan. Now it’s time to add it to the plan so others understand what your ideal customer looks like. As a new business owner, you may not be considered an expert in your field yet, so document everything. Make sure the references you use are from respectable sources. 

Use information from the specific lender when you are applying for lending. Most lenders provide industry research reports and using their data can strengthen the position of your business plan.

A small business plan should include a section on the external environment. Understanding the industry is crucial because we don’t plan a business in a vacuum. Make sure to research the industry trends, competitors, and forecasts. I personally prefer IBIS World for my business research. Make sure to answer questions like:

• What is the industry outlook long-term and short-term?
• How will your business take advantage of projected industry changes and trends?
• What might happen to your competitors and how will your business successfully compete?

Industry resources

Some helpful resources to help you establish more about your industry are:

• Trade Associations
• Federal Reserve
• Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal Structure

There are five basic types of legal structures that most people will utilize:

• Sole proprietorships
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

Partnerships

Corporations.

• Franchises.

Each business structure has their pros and cons. An LLC is the most common legal structure due to its protection of personal assets and ease of setting up. Make sure to specify how ownership is divided and what roles each owner plays when you have more than one business owner.

You’ll have to decide which structure is best for you, but we’ve gathered information on each to make it easier.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the easiest legal structure to set up but doesn’t protect the owner’s personal assets from legal issues. That means if something goes wrong, you could lose both your company and your home.

To start a sole proprietorship, fill out a special tax form called a  Schedule C . Sole proprietors can also join the American Independent Business Alliance .

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is the most common business structure used in the United States because an LLC protects the owner’s personal assets. It’s similar to partnerships and corporations, but can be a single-member LLC in most states. An LLC requires a document called an operating agreement.

Each state has different requirements. Here’s a link to find your state’s requirements . Delaware and Nevada are common states to file an LLC because they are really business-friendly. Here’s a blog on the top 10 states to get an LLC.

Partnerships are typically for legal firms. If you choose to use a partnership choose a Limited Liability Partnership. Alternatively, you can just use an LLC.

Corporations are typically for massive organizations. Corporations have taxes on both corporate and income tax so unless you plan on selling stock, you are better off considering an LLC with S-Corp status . Investopedia has good information corporations here .

There are several opportunities to purchase successful franchises. TopFranchise.com has a list of companies in a variety of industries that offer franchise opportunities. This makes it where an entrepreneur can benefit from the reputation of an established business that has already worked out many of the kinks of starting from scratch.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 5. Products and Services

This section of the business plan should focus on what you sell, how you source it, and how you sell it. You should include:

• Unique features that differentiate your business products from competitors
• Intellectual property
• Your supply chain
• Cost and pricing structure 

Questions to answer about your products and services

Mike gave us a list  of the most important questions to answer about your product and services:

• How will you be selling the product? (in person, ecommerce, wholesale, direct to consumer)?
• How do you let them know they need a product?
• How do you communicate the message?
• How will you do transactions?
• How much will you be selling it for?
• How many do you think you’ll sell and why?

Make sure to use the worksheet on our business plan template .

How to Write a Business Plan Step 6. Sales and Marketing Plan

The marketing and sales plan is focused on the strategy to bring awareness to your company and guides how you will get the product to the consumer.  It should contain the following sections:

SWOT Analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Not only do you want to identify them, but you also want to document how the business plans to deal with them.

Business owners need to do a thorough job documenting how their service or product stacks up against the competition.

If proper research isn’t done, investors will be able to tell that the owner hasn’t researched the competition and is less likely to believe that the team can protect its service from threats by the more well-established competition. This is one of the most common parts of a presentation that trips up business owners presenting on Shark Tank .

SWOT Examples

Examples of strengths and weaknesses could be things like the lack of cash flow, intellectual property ownership, high costs of suppliers, and customers’ expectations on shipping times.

Opportunities could be ways to capitalize on your strengths or improve your weaknesses, but may also be gaps in the industry. This includes:

• Adding offerings that fit with your current small business
• Increase sales to current customers
• Reducing costs through bulk ordering
• Finding ways to reduce inventory
•  And other areas you can improve

Threats will normally come from outside of the company but could also be things like losing a key member of the team. Threats normally come from competition, regulations, taxes, and unforeseen events.

The management team should use the SWOT analysis to guide other areas of business planning, but it absolutely has to be done before a business owner starts marketing. 

Include Competitor Data in Your Business Plan

When you plan a business, taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is key to navigating the field. Providing an overview of your competition and where they are headed shows that you are invested in understanding the industry.

For smaller businesses, you’ll want to search both the company and the owners names to see what they are working on. For publicly held corporations, you can find their quarterly and annual reports on the SEC website .

What another business plans to do can impact your business. Make sure to include things that might make it attractive for bigger companies to outsource to a small business.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing and sales part of business plans should be focused on how you are going to make potential customers aware of your business and then sell to them.

If you haven’t already included it, Mike recommends:

“They’ll want to know about Demographics, ages, and wealth of your target market.”

Make sure to include the Total addressable market .  The term refers to the value if you captured 100% of the market.

Advertising Strategy

You’ll explain what formats of advertising you’ll be using. Some possibilities are:

• Online: Facebook and Google are the big names to work with here.
• Print : Print can be used to reach broad groups or targeted markets. Check out this for tips .
• Radio : iHeartMedia is one of the best ways to advertise on the radio
• Cable television : High priced, hard to measure ROI, but here’s an explanation of the process
• Billboards: Attracting customers with billboards can be beneficial in high traffic areas.

You’ll want to define how you’ll be using each including frequency, duration, and cost. If you have the materials already created, including pictures or links to the marketing to show creative assets.

Mike told us “Most businesses are marketing digitally now due to Covid, but that’s not always the right answer.”

Make sure the marketing strategy will help team members or external marketing agencies stay within the brand guidelines .

This section of a business plan should be focused on pricing. There are a ton of pricing strategies that may work for different business plans. Which one will work for you depends on what kind of a business you run.

Some common pricing strategies are:

• Value-based pricing – Commonly used with home buying and selling or other products that are status symbols.
• Skimming pricing – Commonly seen in video game consoles, price starts off high to recoup expenses quickly, then reduces over time.
• Competition-based pricing – Pricing based on competitors’ pricing is commonly seen at gas stations.
• Freemium services –  Commonly used for software, where there is a free plan, then purchase options for more functionality.

HubSpot has a great calculator and blog on pricing strategies.

Beyond explaining what strategy your business plans to use, you should include references for how you came to this pricing strategy and how it will impact your cash flow.

Distribution Plan

This part of a business plan is focused on how the product or service is going to go through the supply chain. These may include multiple divisions or multiple companies. Make sure to include any parts of the workflow that are automated so investors can see where cost savings are expected and when.

Supply Chain Examples

For instance, lawn care companies  would need to cover aspects such as:

• Suppliers for lawn care equipment and tools
• Any chemicals or treatments needed
• Repair parts for sprinkler systems
• Vehicles to transport equipment and employees
• Insurance to protect the company vehicles and people.

Examples of Supply Chains

These are fairly flat supply chains compared to something like a clothing designer where the clothes would go through multiple vendors. A clothing company might have the following supply chain:

• Raw materials
• Shipping of raw materials
• Converting of raw materials to thread
• Shipping thread to produce garments
• Garment producer
• Shipping to company
• Company storage
• Shipping to retail stores

There have been advances such as print on demand that eliminate many of these steps. If you are designing completely custom clothing, all of this would need to be planned to keep from having business disruptions.

The main thing to include in the business plan is the list of suppliers, the path the supply chain follows, the time from order to the customer’s home, and the costs associated with each step of the process.

According to BizPlanReview , a business plan without this information is likely to get rejected because they have failed to research the key elements necessary to make sales to the customer.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 7. Company Organization and Operational Plan

This part of the business plan is focused on how the business model will function while serving customers.  The business plan should provide an overview of  how the team will manage the following aspects:

Quality Control

• Legal environment

Let’s look at each for some insight.

Production has already been discussed in previous sections so I won’t go into it much. When writing a business plan for investors, try to avoid repetition as it creates a more simple business plan.

If the organizational plan will be used by the team as an overview of how to perform the best services for the customer, then redundancy makes more sense as it communicates what is important to the business.

Quality control policies help to keep the team focused on how to verify that the company adheres to the business plan and meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Quality control can be anything from a standard that says “all labels on shirts can be no more than 1/16″ off center” to a defined checklist of steps that should be performed and filled out for every customer.

There are a variety of organizations that help define quality control including:

• International Organization for Standardization – Quality standards for energy, technology, food, production environments, and cybersecurity
• AICPA – Standard defined for accounting.
• The Joint Commission – Healthcare
• ASHRAE – HVAC best practices

You can find lists of the organizations that contribute most to the government regulation of industries on Open Secrets . Research what the leaders in your field are doing. Follow their example and implement it in your quality control plan.

For location, you should use information from the market research to establish where the location will be. Make sure to include the following in the location documentation.

• The size of your location
• The type of building (retail, industrial, commercial, etc.)
• Zoning restrictions – Urban Wire has a good map on how zoning works in each state
• Accessibility – Does it meet ADA requirements?
• Costs including rent, maintenance, utilities, insurance and any buildout or remodeling costs
• Utilities – b.e.f. has a good energy calculator .

Legal Environment

The legal requirement section is focused on defining how to meet the legal requirements for your industry. A good business plan should include all of the following:

• Any licenses and/or permits that are needed and whether you’ve obtained them
• Any trademarks, copyrights, or patents that you have or are in the process of applying for
• The insurance coverage your business requires and how much it costs
• Any environmental, health, or workplace regulations affecting your business
• Any special regulations affecting your industry
• Bonding requirements, if applicable

Your local SBA office can help you establish requirements in your area. I strongly recommend using them. They are a great resource.

Your business plan should include a plan for company organization and hiring. While you may be the only person with the company right now, down the road you’ll need more people. Make sure to consider and document the answers to the following questions:

• What is the current leadership structure and what will it look like in the future?
• What types of employees will you have? Are there any licensing or educational requirements?
• How many employees will you need?
• Will you ever hire freelancers or independent contractors?
• What is each position’s job description?
• What is the pay structure (hourly, salaried, base plus commission, etc.)?
• How do you plan to find qualified employees and contractors?

One of the most crucial parts of a business plan is the organizational chart. This simply shows the positions the company will need, who is in charge of them and the relationship of each of them. It will look similar to this:

Our small business plan template has a much more in-depth organizational chart you can edit to include when you include the organizational chart in your business plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 8. Financial Statements 

No business plan is complete without financial statements or financial projections. The business plan format will be different based on whether you are writing a business plan to expand a business or a startup business plan. Let’s dig deeper into each.

Provide All Financial Income from an Existing Business

An existing business should use their past financial documents including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to find trends to estimate the next 3-5 years.

You can create easy trendlines in excel to predict future revenue, profit and loss, cash flow, and other changes in year-over-year performance. This will show your expected performance assuming business continues as normal.

If you are seeking an investment, then the business is probably not going to continue as normal. Depending on the financial plan and the purpose of getting financing, adjustments may be needed to the following:

• Higher Revenue if expanding business
• Lower Cost of Goods Sold if purchasing inventory with bulk discounts
• Adding interest if utilizing financing (not equity deal)
• Changes in expenses
• Addition of financing information to the cash flow statement
• Changes in Earnings per Share on the balance sheet

Financial modeling is a challenging subject, but there are plenty of low-cost courses on the subject. If you need help planning your business financial documentation take some time to watch some of them.

Make it a point to document how you calculated all the changes to the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in your business plan so that key team members or investors can verify your research.

Financial Projections For A Startup Business Plan

Unlike an existing business, a startup doesn’t have previous success to model its future performance. In this scenario, you need to focus on how to make a business plan realistic through the use of industry research and averages.

Mike gave the following advice in his interview:

Financial Forecasting Mistakes

One of the things a lot of inexperienced people use is the argument, “If I get one percent of the market, it is worth $100 million.” If you use this, investors are likely to file the document under bad business plan examples.

Let’s use custom t-shirts as an example.

Credence Research estimated in 2018 there were 11,334,800,000 custom t-shirts sold for a total of $206.12 Billion, with a 6% compound annual growth rate.

With that data,  you can calculate that the industry will grow to $270 Billion in 2023 and that the average shirt sold creates $18.18 in revenue.

Combine that with an IBIS World estimate of 11,094 custom screen printers and that means even if you become an average seller, you’ll get .009% of the market.

Here’s a table for easier viewing of that information.

The point here is to make sure your business proposal examples make sense.

You’ll need to know industry averages such as cost of customer acquisition, revenue per customer, the average cost of goods sold, and admin costs to be able to create accurate estimates.

Our simple business plan templates walk you through most of these processes. If you follow them you’ll have a good idea of how to write a business proposal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 9. Business Plan Example of Funding Requests

What is a business plan without a plan on how to obtain funding?

The Small Business Administration has an example for a pizza restaurant that theoretically needed nearly $20k to make it through their first month.

In our video, How to Start a $500K/Year T-Shirt Business (Pt. 1 ), Sanford Booth told us he needed about $200,000 to start his franchise and broke even after 4 months.

Freshbooks estimates it takes on average 2-3 years for a business to be profitable, which means the fictitious pizza company from the SBA could need up to $330k to make it through that time and still pay their bills for their home and pizza shop.

Not every business needs that much to start, but realistically it’s a good idea to assume that you need a fairly large cushion.

Ways to get funding for a small business

There are a variety of ways to cover this. the most common are:

• Bootstrapping – Using your savings without external funding.
• Taking out debt – loans, credit cards
• Equity, Seed Funding – Ownership of a percentage of the company in exchange for current funds
• Crowdsourcing – Promising a good for funding to create the product

Keep reading for more tips on how to write a business plan.

How funding will be used

When asking for business financing make sure to include:

• How much to get started?
• What is the minimum viable product and how soon can you make money?
• How will the money be spent?

Mike emphasized two aspects that should be included in every plan, 

How to Write a Business Plan Resources

Here are some links to a business plan sample and business plan outline. 

• Sample plan

It’s also helpful to follow some of the leading influencers in the business plan writing community. Here’s a list:

• Wise Plans –  Shares a lot of information on starting businesses and is a business plan writing company.
• Optimus Business Plans –  Another business plan writing company.
• Venture Capital – A venture capital thread that can help give you ideas.

How to Write a Business Plan: What’s Next?

We hope this guide about how to write a simple business plan step by step has been helpful. We’ve covered:

• The definition of a business plan
• Coming up with a business idea
• Performing market research
• The critical components of a business plan
• An example business plan

In addition, we provided you with a simple business plan template to assist you in the process of writing your startup business plan. The startup business plan template also includes a business model template that will be the key to your success.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our business hub .

Have you written a business plan before? How did it impact your ability to achieve your goals?

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301 Unique Cleaning Business Name Ideas (2024)

Name Ideas for Your Cleaning Service

Catchy cleaning business names, unique cleaning business names, unused cleaning business names, cute cleaning business names, funny cleaning business names, clever names for cleaning businesses.

• Carpet Cleaning Business Names

Commercial Names for Cleaning Business

House cleaning business names, eco-cleaning business names, air duct cleaning business names.

• Your New Cleaning Crew : Google “Cleaning Crew” and see what comes up. I had a result from a state halfway across the country, meaning that you can dominate this term in most locations.
• Riches Cleaning Service : Leave a pot of gold coin candy in each room when you are done.
• Dust Busters Cleaning Services : Come dressed as the Ghost Busters with a backpack vacuum on your back.

Carpet Cleaning Service Name Ideas

Cleaning Business Names Generator

What Makes Good Cleaning Company Name Ideas?

• Does your business name tell what you do and where you do it?
• Is your business name easy to remember and spell correctly?
• Does your cleaning business name have a positive connotation?
• Is the domain available?
• Is the trademark available?
• Is anyone using the name (or a similar name) in the locations where you will operate?
• Does your name translate well to other languages your customers speak?

Tip 1. Your Business Name Needs to Explain What You Do (and Where)

• Remediation
• Restoration
• Rug Cleaner : Rug Restoration Group, LLC
• Window Washing : Spotless Window Washers, Inc.
• Homes : House Stars Maid Services
• Deep Office Cleaners : Deeper Office Cleaners, LLC
• Windy City EcoMaids, LLC
• Happy House Cleaners Las Vegas, LLC
• Best Seattle Janitorial, Inc.

Tip 2. Your Cleaning Business Name Should Be Easy to Remember

• Raggedy Ann’s Maid Service
• Bippity Boppity Boo Cleaning Service (Seriously, don’t use this one. I suspect you’ll get a cease and desist letter from Disney.)
• Kompletely Klean Maid Service

Tip 3. A Cleaning Company Name Should Be Positive

• Glass House Cleaners : “Don’t throw stones in a glass house” is a common idiom that reminds us not to be hypocrites. So Glass House Cleaners could be misinterpreted.
• Washed Up Cleaning Service : Is this business past its prime or freshly showered? I’m not sure. Let’s avoid names like it.
• Discreet Maid Services
• Hands Knees Professional Cleaning

You Need Unused Cleaning Business Names

• A website domain
• A trademark
• A state business name

Tip 4. Verify the Website Domain Availability for Your Cleaning Company Name

• 2001:4860:4860::8888
• 2001:4860:4860::8844

• Protocol : Should always be https://.
• Domain Name : This is your business name. In our case UpFlip, but it’s all lowercase because domains aren’t case sensitive.
• Subdomain : The subdomain is a segment of the domain name. In this example, the subdomain is www, but it can also be a blog, info, employee, public, etc.
• Top Level Domain : .com, .edu, .gov, and .net are the most familiar ones, but country specific ones like .au, .uk, and .ru dominate the top 10 globally according to Statista.

Tip 5. Check if the Trademark is Available for Your Cleaning Company Name

Tip 6. Register the Cleaning Services with SOS

Tip 7. consider variations of the cleaning co. name, helping cleaning service businesses get ahead.

• Cleaning Business YouTube Playlist : 12 cleaning company videos 
• How to Start a Carpet Cleaning Business : Blog featuring North Seattle Carpet Cleaning
• How to Start a Cleaning Business : Blog featuring Queen Bee Cleaning

428 Cute Business Names Perfect for 2024

Many business owners want cute business names that show a softer, more personal side. That’s why we pulled the top searches for cute business name ideas and used them to inspire this list.

We’ll discuss what makes a cute business name, provide industry-specific examples of cute small business name ideas, and then provide an overview of how to register your cute business name idea.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] Click on any of the links below to jump to the section that interests you.

What Makes Cute Names for Small Business?

What are some cute business names, 20 cute cleaning business names, 20 cute names for photography business, 20 cute craft business names, 20 cute jewelry business names, 20 cute nail business names, 20 cute baking business names, 20 cute lash business names, 20 cute names for t-shirt business, 20 cute business names for estheticians, 20 cute hair business names, 20 cute babysitting business names, 20 cute bracelet business names, 20 cute crochet business names, 20 cute slime business names, 20 cute dog business names, 20 cute notary business names, 22 cute brand names, 12 cute shop names, 12 cute store names, 16 cute website names, how to register your cute company names.

• Build Your Cute Business Brand [/su_note]

Cute small business name ideas tend to have certain characteristics including:

• Showcase the brand: Let people know exactly what your brand is about in the small business name.
• Short and sweet: A catchy business name is easy to say and lets people know what you do.
• Include the target audience: Sometimes it makes sense to share exactly who your target audience is directly in a cute business name.
• Stand out: You are going into business to make waves. Research the competition and make sure you stand out.
• Include Locations: Using your location in your cute small business name is a great way to provide a local indicator to your target market.
• Name Availability: Intellectual property theft isn’t cute. Make sure the small business name ideas are available. No one likes their idea being stolen.

Keep reading for creative business name ideas that you’re sure to adore!

Some cute name ideas include:

1. Twinkle Toes Dance Studio 2. Little Sprouts Nursery 3. Starlight Stitches Tailoring 4. Happy Trails Hiking Club 5. Kitten Cuddles Cat Cafe 6. Doodle Dandy Design Studio 7. Cherry Cheeks Cosmetics 8. Whimsy Wonderland Crafts 9. Buttercup Bakery Delights 10. CurlyQ Hair Salon 11. Buzzy Bees Honey Farm 12. Little Giggles Gymnastics 13. Feathered Fancies Bird Boutique 14. Moonbeam Music Academy 15. Sweetheart Serenade Wedding Planners 16. Sparkle Sprout Jewelry 17. Furry Friends Farmstead 18. Tickled Pink Boutique 19. Rainbow Rascals Daycare 20. Dapper Doodles Pet Salon 21. Lollipop Lane Treats 22. Quirky Quilts & Crafts 23. Happy Tails Dog Walking

24. Snickerdoodle Sweets Shop 25. Bluebell Bliss Spa 26. Sunny Side Up Breakfast Cafe 27. Whisker Whispers Pet Sitting 28. Blossom Baby Boutique 29. Cloud Nine Carpentry 30. Heartfelt Harmony Counseling 31. Twirl & Swirl Dance Academy 32. Snuggle Snacks Cafe 33. Serenity Springs Yoga Studio 34. Cupcake Cuties Bakery 35. Dazzle & Delight Jewelry 36. Peachy Keen Preserves 37. Starry Skies Astronomy Club 38. Button & Bowtie Tailoring 39. Tootsie Treats Candy Shop 40. Lucky Duck Daycare 41. Cherry Pie Photography 42. Bumblebee Buzz Art Gallery 43. Sproutlings Childcare 44. Rainbow Ruffles Fashion 45. Fuzzy Friends Foster Care 46. Java Love Coffee Cart

Pro Tip: Consider using alliteration, rhyme, or puns in your cute business name to make it more memorable and appealing.

Cute Names for Business by Industry

You own, or are about to launch, a unique business, so it’s only fitting that we provide some catchy business name ideas for the type of business you run. The following sections represent some of the most sought-after cute business name ideas as of February 2024.

The majority of the cleaning industry is run by women, and there are a ton of catchy business names in the industry. Consider some of these cute cleaning business name ideas.

1. Squeaky Clean 2. The Spotless Squad 3. The Dust Bunnies 4. The Cleaning Fairies 5. Sparkle and Shine Cleaning 6. The Tidy Team 7. The Clean Slate Crew 8. The Sparkling Sponges 9. Magic Wands Cleaning Company 10. The Dazzle and Shine Cleaning Service

11. Spotless Solutions 12. The Clean Dream Team 13. The Cleaning Genies 14. The Dirt Busters 15. The Cleaning Angels 16. Suds and Shine Cleaning Company 17. Cleaning Queens 18. Fabulously Clean Cleaning Service 19. Berry Bright Cleaning Co. 20. Queen Bee Cleaning Services (taken!)

Unfortunately, you shouldn’t use Queen Bee Cleaning Services as a business name. This memorable business name is used by Christobal Mondragon and his wife. Want to know more about how to run your cleaning business ? We have a whole course with Christobal.

Starting a cleaning company? Check out even more handpicked cute cleaning business name ideas.

1. Shutter and Smile 2. Flash and Fancy 3. Picture Perfect 4. Snapshots of Joy 5. Capture the Moment 6. Memories by Mary 7. Lens and Love 8. The Photo Booth 9. Click and Chic 10. Snap Happy

11. Shutterbug Studios 12. Frame of Mind 13. The Picture Palace 14. Light and Shadow 15. Focus on Fun 16. The Candid Camera 17. Photogenic Faces 18. The Memory Maker 19. The Photo Emporium 20. Sunny Smiles Photography

Pro Tip: Use common phrases that people use in the photography industry to help make it known that your company focuses on photos. Mile High Productions is a drone photography company that makes $35K per month. Check out our interview with them below.

Cute business names for crafts are really popular. Use some of these unique business name ideas to help inspire your naming process.

1. Honeybee Boutique 2. Blossom Boutique Florist 3. Jellybean Junction Toy Store 4. Rainbow Ribbons Events 5. Sip & Scribble Art Studio 6. Teddy Bear’s Tea Room 7. Pixie Dust Parties 8. Stitchin' Cuteness 9. Knotty Creations 10. Yarn & Joy

11. Fiber Fantasies 12. Crafting Dreams 13. Needle & Thread Nook 14. Crafty Corner 15. The Yarn Haven 16. Hooked on Crafts 17. Craftastic 18. Crafting with Love 19. The Creative Studio 20. Artful Adventures

Pro Tip: When naming your craft business, consider using words that evoke a sense of creativity, artistry, and handmade quality. This will help to create a strong brand identity and attract customers who appreciate unique, handmade products.

Cute names for a jewelry business might include references to the type of jewelry or the style you’re going for. Think about how you can help build brand recognition for your jewelry shop.

1. Adorned Adorables 2. Blingtastic 3. Charm Central 4. Dazzling Delights 5. Enchanted Embellishments 6. Gemtastic Treasures 7. Jewelry Jubilee 8. Lustrous Luxuries 9. Ornate Obsessions 10. Radiant Rarities

11. Shimmering Splendors 12. Sparkle & Shine 13. Treasure Trove 14. Twinkling Treasures 15. Unique & Exceptional 16. Vintage Vixen 17. Celestial Jewels 18. Enchanted Adornments 19. Radiant Reflections 20. Timeless Allure

Pro Tip: When choosing a name for your jewelry business, consider using words that evoke emotions and create a sense of luxury. For example, words like "radiance," "allure," "enchantment," and "elegance" can help convey the beauty and value of your jewelry.

Nails are an inherently girly business. Most of your potential customers will be women, so consider a business name ideas list that has naming options that use a common phrase for nails.

1. Nail-a-licious 2. Pretty Polished 3. The Nail Sanctuary 4. Paint Box Nails 5. The Nail Bar 6. Buff and Shine 7. The Nail Studio 8. Nail Art Emporium 9. The Manicure Lounge 10. Nail-Tastic

11. The Nail Spa 12. Nails by Nature 13. Polished to Perfection 14. The Nail Boutique 15. The Nail Lab 16. The Nail Room 17. Tip Top Nails 18. The Nail Haven 19. The Nail Parlour 20. The Nail Loft

Pro Tip: You might also think about how to include your value proposition to attract your potential customer base.

A creative name for your pretty food can help you grow your successful business. Think about some of the cute bakery naming ideas below.

1. Sprinkle Sparkle Bakery 2. Cupcake Carousel 3. Dreamy Delights Cafe 4. Doughlicious Delights 5. The Cookie Corner 6. Sweet Tooth Bakery 7. The Cupcake Cottage 8. Slice of Heaven Bakery 9. The Frosting Fairy 10. Whisk and Bake

11. Sugar and Spice Bakery 12. The Gingerbread House 13. Crumbs and Cookies 14. The Muffin Man 15. The Donut Den 16. The Pie Pantry 17. The Cake Chateau 18. The Bread Basket 19. The Rolling Pin 20. The Baker's Nook

Pro Tip: When choosing a cute bakery business name, consider using words that evoke a sense of sweetness, deliciousness, and warmth. This will help to create a strong brand identity and attract customers who have a sweet tooth.

Girly names make perfect business sense for a lash company. Consider some of these small business names to ensure a potential customer remembers your new business name.

1. Flutter & Lash 2. Glamorous Gaze 3. Wink & Sparkle 4. Lash Amour 5. Enchanting Eyes 6. Lash Heaven 7. Fluttery Lashes 8. Lashes to Envy 9. Lash-O-Licious 10. The Lash Lounge

11. Lashylicious 12. Eyelash Elegance 13. Lash & Bloom 14. Perfect Peeps 15. Lashing Out 16. Wink Wink 17. Lash Envy 18. Blink and Beautiful 19. Lash Studio Bliss 20. Lashes by [Your Name]

Pro Tip: Using your birth name might seem like the perfect business name inclusion, but if you have desires to expand beyond solopreneurship, you might want to use something besides your own name.

Everyone loves a great t-shirt company. Check out some of these cute small business names for t-shirt companies.

1. Threads of Love 2. The Tee-Riffic Store 3. Graphic Galaxy 4. The T-Shirt Haven 5. Cotton Candy Creations 6. Tee Time 7. The Printed Palace 8. Custom Threads 9. The Cozy Cotton Shop 10. Tee-Licious Designs

11. The Quirky Tee 12. The Tees & More Store 13. The Thread Emporium 14. Snuggly Tees 15. Happy Threads 16. The Tee Factory 17. Printed Perfection 18. The Statement Tee 19. Colorful Creations 20. The Apparel Avenue

Pro Tip: When choosing a cute name for your clothing company, consider using words that evoke a sense of comfort, style, and personality. Words like "cozy," "chic," "unique," and "playful" can help create a strong brand identity and attract customers who appreciate unique, high-quality clothing.

Estheticians focus on skin care, which makes the industry perfect for cute small business name ideas. Consider some of these easily pronounced names.

1. Bubblegum Bliss Salon 2. Cuddle Clouds Day Spa 3. Cherry Blossom Beauty Bar 4. Polished and Posh 5. Skin Serenity 6. Blushing Beauty 7. The Glow Studio 8. Luxe Lashes 9. Brow Bar Beauty 10. The Facial Haven

11. Sweet Cheeks Salon 12. Pretty Please Aesthetics 13. Flawless Facials 14. Radiance and Rituals 15. Skin and Serenity 16. The Skincare Sanctuary 17. The Brow Boutique 18. The Facial Spa 19. The Esthetician's Emporium 20. The Skin Studio

Pro Tip: Consider words like “blissful,” “radiant,” “glowing,” “soothing,” and other words that inspire a sense of beauty and empowerment when you choose a cute name for your skincare business.

Like skincare businesses, hair-cutting and cosmetology businesses can benefit from “girly cute” business names. Consider some of these cute business name ideas.

1. Scissor Sisters 2. Hair Haven 3. Mane Attraction 4. The Hair Loft 5. Curl Up and Dye 6. Shear Genius 7. Snip-Its 8. Tresses to Impress 9. The Mane Event 10. Hair Razors

11. The Hairy Godmother 12. Hair-Itage 13. The Curl Bar 14. Hair Apparent 15. The Blowdry Bar 16. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow 17. The Updo Studio 18. The Hair Lounge 19. Hairitage Salon 20. The Mane Tamers

Pro Tip: Make sure the domain name is available for the business website before choosing your perfect name.

Babysitters and childcare are a booming industry. Cute name ideas can help differentiate you from other businesses in the field.

1. Snuggle Bug Daycare 2. Hopscotch Playhouse 3. Giggles & Grins Childcare 4. Little Dreamers Academy 5. Wee Care 6. Little Angels 7. Happy Tots 8. Playful Pals 9. Giggly Gang 10. Cuddle Crew

11. Sleepy Sheep 12. Storytime Sitters 13. Crafty Kids 14. Outdoor Explorers 15. Curious Critters 16. Super Sitters 17. Hero Helpers 18. Magic Makers 19. Wish Granters 20. Dream Weavers

Whether you have your own shop, are selling bracelets at in-person events, have an online store, or are consigning them to boutiques and studios, these creative business name ideas could help your cute bracelet brand stand out from other jewelry and trinket offerings.

1. Bangle Bliss 2. Charmed & Adorned 3. Bracelets by the Beach 4. Beaded Delights 5. Arm Candy Creations 6. Wristful of Wonders 7. The Charm Factory 8. Bangle Boutique 9. Bracelet Bazaar 10. The Beaded Garden

11. Wrist Candy Wonderland 12. Armour Adorned 13. Bracelets Galore 14. The Bangle Bar 15. Wrist-a-Licious 16. Armful of Elegance 17. The Charm Emporium 18. Bangle Bonanza 19. Beaded Bliss 20. Bracelets by the Bay

Fun Fact: Women-owned small businesses generate $1.9 trillion in economic activity each year. If you’re a woman entrepreneur looking to launch a new business, consider our Best Business Ideas For Women 2024 and pick a cute name to match.

Crocheting has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity, and buyers love the look of crocheted goods. Leverage the fact that your crocheted pieces are handmade, artisan offerings, and pick a creative business name to match.

1. Hooked on Love 2. Knotty but Nice 3. Yarnphoria 4. Stitches and Giggles 5.Fiber Fantastic 6. Loops and Love 7. Yarn Haven 8. Crafty Creations 9. The Crochet Corner 10. Yarn Wonderland

11. Hooked on Handmade 12. Cozy Crochet Creations 13. Strings and Smiles 14. The Yarn Emporium 15. Crochet Dreams 16. The Knotty Nook 17. Yarn and Joy 18. Stitching With Love 19. The Crochet Cottage 20. Stitch by You

Slime is big business. Try one of these on for size for your unique business making slime.

1. Slime-Tastic Creations 2. The Slime Factory 3. Ooey Gooey Slime Shop 4. Slimy Sensations 5. Slime-a-Licious 6. Slimey Fun Zone 7. The Slime Lab 8. Slime Time 9. Slimey Paradise 10. Slime World

11. The Slime Emporium 12. Slimey Delights 13. Slimey Wonders 14. The Slime Station 15. Slimey Kingdom 16. Slime-O-Rama 17. Slimey Heaven 18. Slimey Galaxy 19. The Slimeverse 20. Slimey Adventures

Whether you’re making pet accessories or treats or offering a pet-centric service, these unique business name ideas could be perfect for getting dog owners’ attention.

1. Paws & Pals Pet Care 2. Cozy Paws Bed & Biscuit 3. Playful Pup Paradise 4. Pawsitively Perfect 5. The Happy Hounds 6. The Doggie Den 7. Tail Waggers 8. The Pooch Palace 9. Doggy Delights 10. The Canine Crew

11. The Barking Bunch 12. The Dog House 13. Paws for Thought 14. The Dog Lovers' Club 15. The Furry Family 16. The Puppy Playhouse 17. Chew Crew 18. The Doggy Spa 19. The K9 Academy 20. The Doggy Diner

Notary small businesses might not seem like they need a cute or girly business name, but one of these could be just the thing to help your notary services stand out from the crowd.

1. Stamp of Approval Notary 2. Notary Ninja 3. The Notary Nook 4,. Notary Express 5. Stamped and Sealed 6. The Notary Corner 7. Notary Now! 8. The Notary Spot 9. Notary on the Go 10. Notary 24/7

11. The Notary Bar 12. Notary Central 13. Notary Plus 14. The Notary Hub 15. Notary Services R Us 16. Notary at Your Service 17. The Public Notary 18. Notarize This 19. Notary Solutions 20. The Notary Source

Whatever kind of brand you’re launching, if you’re selling cute products, one of these cute company names could be perfect for you.

1. Snuggle Buddies 2. Cuddly Creations 3. Dreamy Days 4. Happy Hearts 5. Giggle Gang 6. Joyful Journey 7. Imagination Station 8. Storybook Adventures 9. Enchanted World 10. Curious Kids 11. The Pink Ladies

12. The Learning Tree 13. Discovery Den 14. Knowledge Nook 15. The Wonder Room 16. Explore and Grow 17. Little Explorers 18. Bright Minds 19. The Curiosity Club 20. The Adventure Academy 21. Pawriffic 22. When Pigs Fly

Opening an adorable shop? Try one of these names.

1. The Crafty Corner 2. The Quirky Cupboard 3. The Vintage Vault 4. The Artisan Alley 5. The Bibliophile's Haven 6. The Foodie's Paradise

7. The Green Thumb Garden 8. The Cozy Cottage 9. The Happy Camper 10. The Coastal Collection 11. The Salty Sailor 12. The Artistic Edge

Need to name a brick-and-mortar store? These ideas are for you.

1. Love's Emporium 2. Tee & Me 3. Cotton Creations 4. The Music Box 5. The Pet Palace 6. Furry Friends Emporium

7. Tech Haven 8. The Gadget Galaxy 9. The Book Nook 10. The Puzzle Parlor 11. The Adventure Awaits 12. Just Girly Business

If you’re launching a website that’s all about cute, one of these names could be the perfect fit.

1. Cutie Pie Creations 2. Happy Hearts Boutique 3. Sweet Tooth Treats 4. Cozy Corner Virtual Cafe 5. Rainbow Dreams 6. Magical Moments 7. Twinkling Stars 8. Cuddly Critters

9. Happy Tails 10. The Enchanted Forest 11. Fairy Dust Designs 12. Wishes & Wonder 13. Dreamy Delights 14. Whimsical Wonderland 15. Sunshine Smiles 16. Love & Laughter

Once you’ve found a name for your business, you’ll want to make sure you can use the name. The naming process includes:

• Check domain availability: While you can buy any web domain, the costs vary dramatically. It’s better to stick to buying one that is available without negotiating the sale of a domain.
• Check the social media handles: When looking for unique cute business names, you may find the social media handles are already taken, which means you’ll need a different name.
• Check the trademark: When a company trademarks its cute brand name with the USPTO, it can legally prevent you from using it. Search the USPTO database .
• Form your business: Now it’s time to go apply for your LLC or corporation and file the business name with the Secretary of State.
• Get local business licenses: Depending on your location and industry, you may need local business licenses and permits. Talk to your local business office to establish what you need.

Build Your Cute Business Brand

We’ve provided inspiration for cute business names in multiple industries. Once you’ve chosen your business name, you’ll want to use it in your marketing, website, and other business documents.

Which cute names do you like?

53 Best Franchises to Own in 2024

Are you looking for franchise opportunities? These are the best franchises to own in 2024. Most of these profitable franchises are household names, but there are a few surprises on the list, including cheap franchises to open.

We’ll help you find the top franchises of 2024!

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] If you want to jump ahead, just click any of the links to find a franchise for small business owners.

UpFlip Featured Franchises

• Where to Research Franchise Opportunities
• The 6 Best Franchises to Own

Start Your Own Business Under These Franchise Owners

Other great franchise businesses by industry, franchising definitions, can you get rich owning a franchise.

UpFlip has partnered with companies that specifically believe in providing business owners with the franchise tools they need to become profitable franchises. Some of our favorite franchises are:

• Wise Coatings
• Brown’s Pressure Washing

We’ll discuss these first.

#1. Wise Coatings

Brandon Vaughn started Wise Coatings with just $15,000. The majority was spent on marketing and learning how to work with the coating materials. There are currently 8 franchises and 140 applicants (and growing). The company helps with the marketing and systems you need to run the business right. This franchise opportunity requires:

• Franchise Fee : $50,000 • Total Investment : $117,400-$160,000 (including 3 months working capital) • Space Needed : 100-2,000 square feet • Employees : 2-4 employees (suggested) • Territories : Discounts for buying more than 1  • Franchising Funding Assistance : Yes, through Benetrends. Learn  how to qualify .

Check out our interview with Brandon below.

#2. MaidThis

Neel Parekh started MaidThis in 2013 and today the company makes over $166K per month. They have 17 franchisees and are helping many small business owners start running a remote cleaning company.

• Franchise Fee : $39,000 • Total Investment : $50,400-$72,650 • Royalty Fee:  7% • Space Needed : 100-2,000 square feet • Employees : Work it yourself or hire employees.  • Territories : You can buy more than one territory if they are available in your area. • Franchising Funding Assistance : Yes, through third-party financing services.

Check out our interview with Neel below.

Learn more about starting a remote cleaning business here .

#3. Brown’s Pressure Washing

Brown’s Pressure Washing is a franchise opportunity that UpFlip and Joshua Brown have created to help you start a turnkey pressure washing business. The licensing fee includes the video courses, website, boot camp, contract, territory, systems manuals, brand license, and access to the 24/7 online community. There’s also a 10% royalty that covers weekly coaching and admin support.

• Licensing Fee : $ 20,000 • Total Investment : $50,000-$100,000 • Royalty Fee: 10% • Space Needed : 100-2,000 square feet • Employees : Hire employees or subcontractors to do the cleaning • Territories : You can buy more than one territory if they are available in your area • Franchising Funding Assistance : Yes, through third-party financing services

Check out the free training for a sneak peek of what’s to come.

#4. Spray-Net

Carmelo started Spray-Net because he realized the painting industry needed modernization to speed up the process of painting. They have 40 franchisees and own patents on the process so nobody else can offer it.

• Franchise Fee : $45,000 • Total Investment : $170,825-$241,825 • Royalty Fee: 8% • Space Needed : 100-2,000 square feet • Employees : Hire employees or subcontractors to do the cleaning.  • Territories : You can buy more than one territory if they are available in your area. • Franchising Funding Assistance : Yes, through third-party financing services.

Learn more about starting a painting franchise below.

#5. EverLine

EverLine Coatings is a Canadian company started by John Evans. They repair parking lots and the average franchise owner is making nearly $900K in the first year.

• Franchise Fee : $49,500 • Total Investment : $164,744-$332,443 • Royalty Fee: 9% or $500 per territory+ 3%—whichever is greater • Space Needed : 100-2,000 square feet • Employees : Hire employees to provide the services  • Territories : You can buy more than one territory if they are available in your area • Franchising Funding Assistance : Yes, through third-party financing services.

Research Franchise Opportunities

Using the four ranking lists below, we researched franchise opportunities to establish which ones were the most attractive. 

• Vetted Biz Most Profitable Franchises - Top 20
• Vetted Biz Most Popular Franchises - Top 20
• Franchise Direct Top 100
• Entrepreneur Top 500

To simplify the process, we reduced the top 100 and top 500 lists to just the top 20, then compared the franchises that appeared on each list. 

What Are the Best Franchises to Own?

The best franchise to own will vary based on the demographics in your area, the franchises available, and the amount you have to invest. Based on a review of the various franchise opportunities and how ranking sites rate the franchises, I would start by considering:

• The UPS Store : Ranked Top 20 in 4 Different Lists
• Dunkin’ : Ranked Top 20 in 4 Different Lists
• Ace Hardware : Top 20 in  3 Different Lists
• Domino’s : Ranked Top 20 in 3 Different Lists
• Wendy’s : Ranked Top 20 in 3 Different Lists
• McDonald’s : Ranked Top 20 in 3 Different Lists

#6. UPS Store

If you’re wondering what is the #1 franchise to own, consider United Parcel Service (UPS) Store. UPS Store franchises are ranked #4 by Entrepreneur, #2 for profitability, #16 for popularity, and #17 by Franchise Direct. It is one of two franchises that are top-rated in all four expert lists and is not in the food industry (which many people will consider a positive). A UPS Store requires:

• Franchise Fee : $9,500 to $30K  • Startup Costs : $80K-$510K • Liquid Assets : $75K

These are low-cost franchises with high profit. Learn more about UPS Store franchises .

#7. Dunkin’

I love donuts and coffee! How about you? Compared to some of the other major franchises in the fast food industry, Dunkin’ franchises are one of the cheapest franchises to start. You can get into a franchise for:

• Franchise Fee : $1K to $90K • Total Investment : $121K to $1.8M • Minimum Net Worth : $500K • Royalty Fee : 5.9%  • Advertising Royalty : 2.5% 

Learn more about Dunkin’ franchises .

#8. Ace Hardware

If you have a passion for hardware, you should consider Ace Hardware one of the best small business franchises. It’s ranked best in its category by Entrepreneur (7th overall), 9th by Franchise Direct, and 18th in the list of popular franchises. Their main qualifications are net worth, a solid reputation, and commitment to operational excellence. Check out their business-friendly requirements:

• Franchise Fee : none • Total Investment : $650K to $1M  • Liquidity : $250K  • Net Worth : $400K  • Royalty Fee : none

Get more information from Ace Hardware .

#9. Domino’s

This pizza joint is the 7th most popular franchise, 12th most profitable, and ranked 8th by Franchise Direct in the top franchises 2022 list. There’s a catch, though. You can’t buy a franchise unless you work for the company. 95% of the Domino’s store location owners started working in a store. If you want to get into this franchise business model, go get a job as a GM or find a business partner that already works for the parent company. 

• Franchise Fee : $0-$10K • Total Investment : $107K to $683K • Liquidity : $75K  • Net Worth : $250K  • Royalty Fee : 10.5-13.5%

The strategy of requiring franchisees to work for the company before buying a franchise makes this one of the best franchises to own for beginners. Find out more from Domino’s .

Check out their franchise promo video below.

#10. Wendy’s 

The most expensive fast food restaurant is in the Top 20 on Entrepreneur, Franchise Direct, and the most popular franchise list. If you want to join the ranks of Wendy’s franchise owners, you’ll need:

• Franchise Fee : $50K • Investment : $330K-$3.7M  • Net Worth : $1M  • Liquid Cash : $500K 

Find out more about Wendy’s franchise opportunities .

#11. McDonald’s

The world’s largest real estate owner uses the franchise business model and serves fast food. McD’s requires:

• Franchise Fee : $45K • Liquid Cash : $100K  • Initial Investment : $1.4M- $2.5M  • Royalty : 4% royalty • Advertising : Royalty: 4% or more

It’s not cheap to get into these profitable franchises, but they have the most proven business model on the planet. In fact, many other profitable franchise opportunities like Chipotle have replicated their business model with great success. Find out more about getting a McDonald’s franchise .

Next, we’ll cover franchises that made at least two of the lists. These include: 

• Burger King
• Hampton by Hilton
• Jersey Mike's
• Snap-on tools

#12. Burger King

Burger King ranks among the most popular franchises globally, with more than 19,000 franchise locations around the world. Franchisees have the option of a traditional Burger King restaurant or an institutional or non-traditional location, such as within a college, corporate, or medical campus, or within a convenience store or rest area. 

• Franchise Fee : $50,000  • Initial Investment : $1.7M-$4.2M  • Net Worth : $1.5M • Royalty : 4.5% • Marketing Fee : 4%

Learn how to open your own Burger King franchise .

#13. Culver’s

Known for its butter burgers and frozen custard, Culver’s is among the most profitable franchises in the restaurant sector. It’s a great choice for hands-on owner-operators and has a high loan success ratio compared to other fast food franchises. The company is actively looking to expand, with 871 locations across 26 states as of early 2023.

• Franchise Fee : $55,000  • Total Investment : $2.3M-$5.8M • Net Worth : $1.25M • Royalty Fee : 4%  • Advertising Fee : 2.5% 

Get all the info to start a Culver’s franchise .

Check out their franchise video below.

#14. Hampton by Hilton

Ranked #9 on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list, Hampton by Hilton is a leading hotel franchise, with 2,200 locations in the United States and more than 250 internationally. As a trusted name in hospitality, Hilton’s established brand name is a plus for prospective franchisees. Like many hotel businesses, however, it does have a relatively high initial investment and franchise fee, which may be an impediment to owning a franchise for some entrepreneurs. 

• Franchise Fee : $75,000  • Total Investment : $7.6M-$20.6M • Royalty Fee : 6%  • Advertising Fee : 4% 

Read this Hampton by Hilton franchise information to get started.

#15. Jersey Mike’s

Jersey Mike’s is one of the top franchises for both popularity and profitability, ranked #3 on the Franchise 500 list for 2023 and with an impressive 74:1 SBA Loan Success Ratio. Franchisees get a built-in roadmap with full corporate support, excellent brand recognition, and a high success rate. If you want to be your own boss while serving fresh store-cooked roast beef on freshly-baked bread, Jersey Mike’s could be the right business opportunity for you.

• Franchise Fee : $18,500  • Initial Investment : $194,035-$954,611  • Liquid Cash : $100,000 • Royalty Fee : 6.5%  • Ad Royalty : 5% 

Learn more about starting a Jersey Mike’s franchise .

This popular fast food chain takes the top spot on Franchise Direct’s Top 100 franchises in 2022, in large part because of their strong franchisee support and the high financial stability of their parent company, YUM! Brands, Inc. KFC also offers business loan support for minority franchisees, guaranteeing 25% of the principal, up to $3 million per loan. The company’s active investment in diversity and inclusion puts them among the best franchise opportunities for diverse franchisees.

• Franchise Fee : $45,000  • Initial Investment : $1.4M-$3.1M • Net Worth : $1.5M • Royalty : 4-5%  • Advertising : 5% 

Get the info to start your own KFC franchise . 

#17. Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut is an excellent business opportunity for franchisees who want to open multiple locations. They require owners opening new franchises to commit to at least two locations, with the end goal of owning five. Since Pizza Hut already holds a significant share of the American market, it’s possible to grow a successful franchise quickly and scale this success across multiple locations.  

• Franchise Fee : $25,000  • Minimum Investment : $367,000-$2M • Net Worth : $700,000 ($350,000 liquid assets) • Royalty : 6% • Ad Royalty : 4.75% 

Learn more about Pizza Hut franchises .

#18. Snap-on Tools

As the #1 tool franchise in the United States, Snap-on Tools is a trusted name among automotive repair professionals. The steady demand for automotive tools, combined with their proven track record of guaranteed quality, puts this among the best franchise opportunities for hands-on owners. The initial startup costs are very reasonable, especially given the size and reputation of the company.

• Franchise Fee : $8,000-$16,000 • Total Investment : $201,433-$465,436 • Discount for veterans : $20,000 off startup inventory cost • Net Worth : $38,126 • Royalty : $135/month

Get all the Snap-on franchise information to start your own.

Check out the Snap-on Tools franchise introduction video.

#19. Taco Bell

Taco Bell takes the #1 spot on the Franchise 500 list because it’s among the most profitable franchises to start. It’s under the same YUM! Brands, Inc. umbrella as KFC, and franchisees enjoy the same extensive business support and high brand recognition that sets them up to succeed. 

• Franchise Fee : $25,000-$45,000  • Initial Investment : $575,600-$3.3M  • Net Worth : $5M  • Royalty : 5.5%  • Ad Royalty : 4.25% 

Get more information from Taco Bell .

#20. Subway

If you want to own your own business in the quick service restaurant industry, a Subway franchise is the most popular way to go about it. The brand has more than 44,000 locations across 100 countries, and that wide reach translates to high financial stability and a proven business model for franchisees to follow. 

• Franchise Fee : $15,000  • Minimum Investment : $140,050-$342,400 • Liquid Assets : $30,000-$90,000 • Royalty : 8% • Ad Royalty : 4.5%

Learn more with this Subway franchise information .

#21. Wingstop

As a Wingstop franchise owner, you’ll join a network of more than 1,700 locations worldwide with an average unit volume of $1.59 million, among the highest sales per square foot in the industry. 

• Franchise Fee : $20,000 • Total Investment : $315,310-$948,080 • Net Worth : $1.2M • Royalty : 6%  • Ad Royalty : 6%

Start your own Wingstop franchise .

If all of these are a bit out of your price range, check out our blog about the cheapest franchises to start .

#22. 7-Eleven

Ranked #2 on Franchise Direct’s list, 7-Eleven is one of the most popular convenience stores in the world. With more than 80,000 locations, it’s an established brand customers know no matter where you want to open a business. That’s also good news when it comes to franchisee support and the company’s financial outlook. 

• Franchise Fee : Varies by store ($0-$1M) • Minimum Initial Investment : $125,250 • Internal financing : Up to 65% of franchise fee • Royalty : Varies based on gross profit • Advertising Royalty : 1% 

Learn more about opening a 7-Eleven franchise .

#23. Ameriprise

Ameriprise is among the most profitable franchises you can start in 2024. As one of the largest banks in the United States, Ameriprise offers franchise owners a loyal customer base, high brand recognition, and low ongoing fees. Owners also get equity ownership opportunities, mentorship, and turnkey marketing service.

• Franchise Fee : $1,500  • Minimum Investment : $11,434-$127,565  • Monthly Association Fee : $290  • Required : FINRA Series 7 and Series 63 or 66 

If you can pass the Finra exams , this would be one of the best franchises to own under $100K.

Get more Ameriprise franchise information .

#24. Best Western Inn

Becoming a Best Western franchise owner gives you a voice in the company operations and the backing of a powerful global brand, while still maintaining full control over the property management and enjoying a low fee structure that lets you keep more of what you earn. 

• Franchise Fee : $54,000-$94,000  • Initial  Investment : $505,050-$10.3M • Royalty : 5%

Check out this Best Western franchise information .

#25. Choice Hotels International Inn

The franchisee-first focus of Choice Hotels puts them among the most profitable franchise companies in the hospitality sector, with over $7.8 billion in reservations across more than 7,100 franchise locations worldwide in 2021. 

• Franchise Fee : $15,000-$60,000 • Initial Investment : $118,825-$26.3M • Liquid Cash : $1M • Royalty : 5-6% • Ad Royalty : 2.5-3.5%

Ready to get started? Read this Choice Hotels franchise information .

#26. InterContinental Hotels and Resorts (IHG)

The hotels under the IHG umbrella range from the well-known Holiday Inn and Regent brands to the boutique upscale experience of Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, and Staybridge Suites. While it has the potential to be a very profitable franchising business, the high startup cost can be an obstacle to owning a franchise for some.

• Franchise Fee : $100,000 • Initial Investment : $81.2M-$118.3M • Royalty : 6%

Find out more about IHG franchise opportunities . 

#27. Marriott International 

Marriott is the world’s largest travel franchise, with 30 brands and more than 8,300 properties across 138 countries and territories. It’s also one of the most profitable franchise options for global franchisees, though like other hospitality franchises it can be costly to start.

• Franchise Fee : $120,000 • Total Investment : $82.9M-$136.8M • Room Sales Royalty : 6% • Food and Beverage Royalty : 3% 

Learn more about Marriott franchises .

Check out the Marriot franchise promotional video below.

#28. Red Roof Inn

Red Roof Inn’s 90% franchisee satisfaction speaks to the support you’ll get as an owner. This profitable franchise opportunity comes with access to proprietary software, purchasing co-ops, and extensive marketing and branding materials, with lower startup costs than most hospitality franchises. 

• Franchise Fee : $30,000  • Minimum Investment : $203,500 • Royalty : 4.5%  • Ad Royalty : 4%

Here's all the pertinent Red Roof Inn franchise information you need to get started.

#29. Super 8

Another hotel franchise with a comparatively affordable financial requirement is Super 8 by Wyndham. It’s the world’s largest economy hotel brand, with more than 2,600 locations across four continents.

• Franchise Fee : $25,000 • Initial Investment : $221,026-$5.4M • Royalty : 5.5% • Ad Royalty : 3%

Find out more with this Super 8 franchise information .

Professional Services

#30. allstate insurance.

As an Allstate franchisee, you don’t just profit from your revenue, but also own equity in the business. The variety of product offerings gives agency owners lots of flexibility to maximize their earnings, and you don’t need prior insurance experience to get started.

• Franchise Fee : none • Licensing Fee : none • Liquid Cash : $100,000 • Veteran Discount : 25%

Get all the details: AllState Insurance franchise information .

Check out AllState’s franchise video below.

#31. CENTURY 21

Real estate agents can be their own boss by opening a Century 21 franchise. New franchisees receive comprehensive training to become licensed experts in the real estate market, so you don’t need to be an experienced realtor to start.

• Franchise Fee : $0-$25,000 • Total Investment : $24,700-$271,950 • Net Worth : $150,000  • Royalty : 6%  • Ad Royalty : .5%

Start your own Century 21 franchise .

#32. RE/MAX

RE/MAX is a perennial presence on Entrepreneur’s list of top franchises to own, as well as one of the fastest-growing franchises for 9 consecutive years. For real  estate agents, opening a franchise puts you in a network of more than 140,000 agents around the world and gives you access to a high commission concept that makes it easy to scale your profits. 

• Franchise Fee : $17,500-$35,000 • Initial Investment : $43,000-$236,500

Learn how to start a RE/MAX franchise .

#33. H&R Block

Finding an H&R Block franchise for sale in your area secures you an exclusive territory that can range from a city neighborhood to an entire town. New franchisees receive extensive training on tax preparation, as well as strong ongoing support in marketing, lease negotiations, and other areas. 

• Franchise Fee : $2,500 • Initial Investment : $31,557-$157,898 • Royalty Fee : 30%

Get started with this H&R Block franchise information .

#34. Jackson Hewitt

Another top franchise for tax professionals, Jackson Hewitt is among the largest in-person tax services in the U.S., and franchisees benefit from that established brand as well as corporate support and training.

• Franchise Fee : $7,500 • Initial Investment : $49,200-$81,805 • Net Worth : $100,000 • Royalty : 5-15% • Ad Royalty : 6.5%

Learn more: Jackson Hewitt franchises .

Gas Station and Automotive

#35. Chevron 

Compared to other gas stations, Chevron franchises show a high loan success rate, which is proof of its profitability. Franchisees get ongoing support with all aspects of the business as well as multiple revenue streams to profit from.

• Initial Investment : $1.5M-$2.5M • Liquid Cash : $500,000

Read more about Chevron Franchises .

#36. Circle K

A Circle K franchise can be operated as a convenience store only, or you can add a gas station or quick-serve restaurant. That flexibility is one of the main advantages of becoming an owner. 

• Franchise Fee : $25,000  • Initial Investment : $268,500-$2M • Net Worth : $500,000  • Royalty : 2.5-5.5 • Ad Royalty : 1.5%

Get the details on starting your own Circle K franchise .

Learn about owning a Circle-K below.

#37. Christian Brothers Automotive

Most people rely on their cars, giving an automotive repair franchise a built-in customer base. The company’s balanced work model, 2:1 franchisee support, and community focus are other advantages of becoming an owner.

• Franchise Fee : $135,000 franchise fee • Initial Investment : $520,250-$640,400 initial investment • Net Worth : $250,000 • Discount for Veterans : 10% off franchise fee • Ad Royalty : $10,000 per year

Learn how to start a Christian Brothers Automotive franchise .

#38. Bimbo Bakeries

Bimbo Bakeries offers a unique opportunity for owners to become distributors for the largest commercial baking company in the United States. It can have low startup costs for a food business, too, depending on which franchise model you go with.

• Franchise Fee : $8,000-$500,000 • Initial Investment : $14,000-$606,000

Become a Bimbo Bakeries distributor .

#39. Chick-fil- A

New franchisees for Chick-fil-A get 3-4 weeks of hybrid training and can expand beyond a single store once they’ve established themselves as an owner, making it easy to both get started and scale your profits over time.

• Franchise Fee : $10,000 • Initial Investment : $219,055-$2.9M • Ad Royalty : 3.25%

Ready to start your own Chick-fil-A franchise ? information

#40. Little Caesars

Little Caesars has a proven business model of pizza take-out and delivery and is actively seeking to expand its brand, both in the U.S. and internationally.

• Franchise Fee : $20,000 • Initial Investment : $221,000-$654,000 • Liquid Cash : $50,000  • Royalty : 6% • Ad Royalty : 3%

Learn how to open a Little Caesars franchise .

Learn more about Little Caesars franchises in the video below.

#41. Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons has long been Canada’s favorite coffee shop, and the brand’s expansion into the U.S. market means ample franchises for sale for coffee and food lovers looking for a profitable opportunity.

• Franchise Fee : $25,000-$50,000  • Initial Investment : $94,000-$2.1M • Liquid Assets : $500,000 • Royalty : 6% • Ad Royalty : 4%

Starting a Tim Hortons franchise is straightforward with the right info.

#42. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

The Louisiana-style flavors served from a Popeyes kitchen are a popular alternative to other fast food. Franchisees benefit from being part of a strong and growing brand, with extensive business support for owners.

• Franchise Fee : $2,500-$50,000 • Initial Investment : $109,500-$3.5M • Net Worth : $1M • Royalty : 5%  • Ad Royalty : 4% 

Learn more about Popeyes franchises .

#43. European Wax Center

With more than 750 locations in the United States, European Wax Center has grown into one of the largest beauty franchises in the country. Roughly two-thirds of their owners have multiple locations, making it a business franchise with high revenue growth potential.

• Franchise Fee : $45,000 • Initial Investment : $349,600-$553,950 • Net Worth : $1M • Royalty : 6%  • Ad Royalty : 3%

Discover how to open a European Wax Center franchise .

#44. Great Clips

Great Clips is both the largest and fastest-growing haircutting brand worldwide, with a recession-proof business model that puts them among the top franchise organizations as a smart investment.

• Franchise Fee : $20,000 • Initial Investment : $178,400-$376,900  • Net Worth : $300,000-$1M • Royalty : 6% • Ad Royalty : 5% 

This Great Clips franchise information is all you need to get started.

Watch this testimonial from a Great Clips owner.

#45. Sport Clips

Another top haircutting brand, Sport Clips has more than 1,800 locations open or in development and aims to expand further, opening up ample franchise opportunities for new owners.

• Franchise Fee : $30,000-$69,500 • Initial Investment : $266,300-$439,500 • Net Worth : $400,000 • Royalty : 6% • Ad Royalty : 5% 

Learn more: Sport Clips franchise information .

Cleaning Businesses

For those who wonder what franchise can you open for $10,000, look to cleaning franchises!

Note that even the cheapest franchises to open cost more than our cleaning course by millionaire housekeeper Chris Mondragon. Get the exact recipe he used to make $1.5 million last year, and you could make money in the cleaning industry without all the ongoing royalties you’d pay the best cleaning franchises.

#46. Coverall

Coverall provides on-demand commercial cleaning across the U.S. and Canada. Franchisees get a proven business roadmap and the backing of a well-regarded brand when they sign their franchise agreement.

• Franchise Fee : $15,570-$40,320  • Initial Investment : $18,613-$51,392 • Royalty : 5%

Start your own Coverall franchise .

Watch Coverall’s franchise video.

#47. The Maids

As the exclusive partner of the famous Mr. Clean brand, The Maids offers cleaning services for residences and small businesses.

• Franchise Fee : $12K • Initial Investment : $10K to $80K • Royalty : 3.9% to 6.9%

Learn more about opening a franchise with The Maids .

#48. Jan-Pro

Jan-Pro is the #1 cleaning franchise, specializing in cleaning and disinfecting of spaces like schools, daycares, and healthcare facilities. Franchisees provide a necessary service under a trusted and established brand name. 

• Franchise Fee : $2,520-$44,000 • Total Investment : $4,830-$58,070 • Royalty : 10% • Ad Royalty : 1% 

Get all the details to open a Jan-Pro franchise .

#49. Augusta Lawn Care Services

Mike Andes is a brilliant entrepreneur who founded Augusta Lawn Care Services when he was a teenager, and today it’s one of the top 500 franchises in the U.S. and Canada. Their franchise opportunities offer low barriers to entry and flat fees instead of the standard percentage model. Here’s what it takes to become an Augusta Franchise:

• Franchise Fee: $6,999-$25,000 • Total Investment: $12,999-$82,500 • Royalty Fee: $699-$1.2K/mo. • Space Needed: 100-2,000 square feet • Employees: Solopreneur or hire other employees when starting a franchise • Territories: You can buy more than one territory if they are available in your area • Franchising Funding Assistance: Yes, through the Franchise Forgiveness Model

Learn more about starting a lawn care franchise below.

We have 16 more cleaning franchises for you to consider.

Work It! Twerk It!

#50. Anytime Fitness

Anytime Fitness is the first gym to have a presence on all 7 continents, with more than $87 billion in revenue worldwide and a new member joining every minute. Their simple onboarding and 360-degree support are other perks for franchisees.

• Franchise Fee : $42,500 • Total Investment : $381,575-$783,897 • Net Worth : $350,000 • Royalty : $699/month • Ad Royalty : $600/month

This Anytime Fitness franchise information will help you get started.

Learn what it’s like to own an Anytime Fitness below.

#51. Jazzercise 

Jazzercise is one of the best franchises to own under $25K. Combined with their solid reputation and high profitability, it’s one of the best and most accessible franchise opportunities for active entrepreneurs.

• Franchise Fee : $1,250 • Initial Investment : $2,445-$21,775 • Royalty : 20%

Read more: Jazzercise franchise information .

#52. Orangetheory Fitness

This contemporary fitness studio uses scientifically-backed workout routines and a tried-and-true business model, with comprehensive corporate training and support for owners. 

• Franchise Fee : $59,950  • Initial Investment : $589,129-$1.6M • Royalty : 8% 

Here's all you need to know: Orangetheory Fitness franchise info .

#53. Planet Fitness

The judgment-free zone promised by Planet Fitness is a big selling point for their brand, as evidenced by their growth to 17 million members across 2,400 locations.

• Franchise Fee : $20,000  • Total Investment : $1.6M-$4.9M • Net Worth : $3M • Royalty : 7%  • Ad Royalty : 9%

Learn more about opening a Planet Fitness franchise .

Franchises are a reliable way to start your own business, but there are some unique terms you’ll need to understand when comparing franchise opportunities. We’ll cover each definition to help you evaluate each franchise opportunity more thoroughly.

A franchisor is an organization that owns the intellectual property (IP) and the brand name. They license the IP to other business owners in exchange for a franchise fee. They may also have other fees and requirements you have to follow to run a franchise under their business name.

A franchisee is a business owner that has purchased the rights to use the business name, processes, and strategies from the franchisor. They will normally need to:

• Pay an initial franchise fee
• Prove the ability to pay the initial investment (startup costs plus operating costs until the franchise makes a profit)
• Undergo comprehensive training 
• Pay ongoing marketing fees and royalty fees

Franchise Fee

When you buy a franchise, you’ll have to pay for the rights to use the intellectual property. This includes both an initial franchise fee and ongoing payments.

If you haven’t found a franchise that works for you yet, we have some other resources for you!

Check out these resources if you want to find more information on the best franchises to start.

• UpFlip's Franchise Buying Guide : Learn about the process of buying and why the cheapest franchises to start are not always the best.
• Reddit : If you search the best franchises to own Reddit, you’ll find lots of conversations about low cost franchise opportunities, experiences, and other input. Plus you can tell how much authority the person has by analyzing their Karma. It’s free of the paid placement and intentional bias of many search engines which is important when it comes to your money.

Plenty of people get rich buying a franchise location. Some only cost a few thousand dollars to get started, and once those costs are recouped, owners can make a great living. Just make sure you research

What area of the franchise business model would you like us to explore next?

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My Business Plan Is Finished—Now What?

Posted january 17, 2019 by diane gilleland.

Congratulations! You put a lot of research and thought into writing your business plan —and it’s finally finished. That’s a big accomplishment, and now you have a valuable road map for starting a business that will thrive. Be sure and celebrate this milestone!

Because so much goes into building your business plan, it’s tempting to think that once it’s done, you’re in the clear—all that’s left to do is open your doors and let things take their course. But actually, there are a few simple things you can do to give your new company a smart, strategic foundation, so you have a better chance to grow and succeed.

(A quick note: Of course, you may need to use your new business plan to get some funding—maybe a bank loan or money from an angel investor or venture capitalist. If that’s the case, our team has covered the topics of getting funded and pitching to investors in detail on Bplans. But you’ll still need to do the steps in this article as well.)

Once you start doing business, your days will get very busy. You’ll be making decisions and solving day-to-day problems. It’ll be difficult to carve out space to think about how your new company is performing and where it’s headed.

And yet, if you don’t make that time, you can easily run into critical problems, like cash shortages, costs getting out of control, or making the wrong decisions at the wrong times. That’s why we recommend that you build your foundation for good strategic practices now, so you’ll have developed good business management habits before you’re swamped.

We quote this statistic often because it’s powerful: companies that regularly review their numbers are 30 percent more likely to grow and succeed . Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you don’t have the time. Here’s how to set up a strategic foundation for your business.

Schedule a monthly business plan review

Right now, before you get busy running your business, schedule a one-hour business review meeting in your calendar every single month. The timing depends on your accounting operations—you’ll want to review the previous month’s finalized numbers, so choose a standing date in each new month when you can do that. You can have this meeting with your management team, or with a trusted advisor like your accountant .

In these meetings, you’ll look how the previous month’s actual financial performance stacks up against your business plan forecast . You’ll make this comparison for your revenue and your costs, and when your actual results are different than your forecast, you’ll explore why . It’s no more complicated than that.

Choose a few starting KPIs to measure business health

A KPI is a “key performance indicator.” It’s a specific statistic that helps you see whether your company is reaching the goals you set out in your business plan.

There are endless varieties of KPIs, and different industries and businesses use different ones. In fact, two departments in the same company might watch different KPIs. Don’t let that be intimidating, however—it’s really about deciding which metrics are most important to help you see your company more clearly. At this early stage, we recommend choosing just a few KPIs and watching these in your monthly review meetings.

For example, a retail business might track total sales per month. A service-based company might track its profit margin each month. If you’re not sure what to track, start with a few of the 29 metrics available in the LivePlan Dashboard , and add more to the mix as you gain confidence.

Set up a simple dashboard

In your monthly reviews, you’ll need a way to compare your accounting data against your business plan forecast, so you can easily see how your company is doing each month. You can do this with spreadsheets, but if you’re not a finance person, that can feel like more of a chore than it needs to. A good dashboard is as automated as possible, and it should display your key metrics in a graphical way . The easier your dashboard is to read, the more it helps you keep up the habit of monthly strategic reviews.

If you used LivePlan to create your business plan, then you’re halfway to having a complete dashboard . You can connect your accounting software to the LivePlan Dashboard in as little as 90 seconds if you’re using QuickBooks or Xero . You can also enter your accounting results manually each month if you prefer. However you enter your accounting data, when you have a visual way to compare it to your forecast, that makes your monthly reviews quick and simple.

Consider a Strategic Advisor

If you feel at all intimidated by numbers, it can really help to form a working relationship right now with a Strategic Advisor—an accountant who can interpret your numbers and help you formulate solutions when problems crop up. We keep a directory of advisors who work in LivePlan, so check that out.

We hear from entrepreneurs all the time who worry about the cost of hiring a Strategic Advisor too soon. But if an advisor can help you find and resolve problems before they become major financial issues, then you’re likely to find that your advisor pays for herself pretty quickly. Besides, you’ll have plenty of learning curves to hike as you start your company—you won’t have to scale them all at once if you get some expert help.

Get ready to update your forecast—often

In your business plan, you made the best estimates you could with the best information you had. But, don’t let that prevent you from making changes now. As you do business, you’ll learn more every day about your company and your market. Soon you’ll be in a better position to forecast realistically.

There’s nothing wrong with your original forecast needing an update—you didn’t know what you didn’t know before you started this company! So each month as you’re reviewing the numbers, consider how you might need to change your forecast to create targets your business can hit.

A startup company might adjust its business plan even more fundamentally that a typical small business, as it tries out different approaches in search of the most viable business model. It’s fine if your mission changes after you launch, or the way your company is structured, or the products and services you offer. Again, as you do business, you’ll learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and that will lead to updating your business plan so it stays realistic.

Good habits help you grow faster

We think of “growth” in two ways: the financial growth of your company, and your growth as an entrepreneur. By paying attention to your financial results regularly and revisiting your plan, you’ll be able to grow in both ways. Your company will stay healthy, and you’ll gain confidence to take on the challenges of running the business.

That’s a big reward for investing a little time in setting up good habits.

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Diane Gilleland

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How to Start a Business From Scratch in 6 Easy Steps

10 min. read

Updated April 30, 2024

Did you know that most of the world’s new businesses are bootstrapped ? 

That’s right, most business owners do not launch with loans or outside investment but instead use their personal resources and savings to get up and running. They start from scratch and reinvest in the business as it gains traction.

And you can do the same. 

Key Takeaways:

• Start with an idea that uses your experience, knowledge, or passion.
• Determine if there’s a need for your product or service.
• Create a plan and financial forecasts.
• Treat it like a side hustle until you get traction.
• What does it mean to start from scratch?

“Starting a business from scratch” does not mean:

• Using no money to launch your business.
• Getting no outside assistance.
• Inventing a business idea no one has done before.

Starting from scratch is about building a business from the ground up, using personal resources and minimal external financial support. The goal is to establish a sustainable business you control that satisfies a need in the market. 

• Why start a business from scratch?

Here’s why starting from scratch might be the right approach for you:

• Risk reduction: Control your initial investment and expenses and scale gradually, allowing you to avoid overspending.
• Full control: With no outside investment or stakeholders to please, you can shape your business how you see fit.
• Proves your idea has real customers: Test your concept with customers early to help refine your offering and validate market demand.
• Fast decision-making: Quickly pivot to meet changing market demands without the red tape of larger organizations.
• Potentially makes future funding easier: You take the time to prove your business model and profitability before seeking funding. Your track record reduces investor and lender risk and can lead to better funding terms.

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• 6 steps to start a new business from scratch

For this article, we will focus on the steps that take you from a budding business idea to generating sales. 

For additional resources, check out our starting a business guide .

1. Start with an idea

Do some self-reflection and choose an idea you’re passionate about or one that uses your existing skills and experience. 

This will make it far easier to execute and often requires less research, training, and upfront investment to get up and running than an idea completely new to you.

For example, service-based businesses, like accounting or consulting, often need just your time and expertise. If any cash is needed, it should be a small enough amount to fund yourself, giving you full control over the speed at which you grow your business.

As you explore possible ideas, create a one-page business plan to document how it could work. 

It doesn’t have to be an official plan at this stage; just fill in what you can, mark any assumptions, and keep adding details throughout the rest of this process.

What businesses can you typically start from scratch?

While not an exhaustive list, here are a few potential ideas that can be started from scratch:

• Freelance Writing or Content Creation: Offer writing skills to businesses and online publications.
• Consulting Services: Share your professional management, marketing, or tech expertise.
• Handmade Crafts and Art: Sell your unique creations on platforms like Etsy or at local fairs.
• Tutoring: Offer either in-person or online.
• Web Design and Development: Build websites for small businesses or individuals.
• Virtual Assistant: Provide administrative support to businesses remotely.
• Landscaping and Gardening Services: Turn your love of plants into a business with basic gardening tools.

For more business options and a process to generate ideas, check out our guide on developing good business ideas .

2. Find product-market fit

Landing on an idea is not enough to create a viable business. You need to determine if you have initial product-market fit—that your business satisfies and is demanded by a large enough group of people. 

This involves identifying your potential customers, understanding their motivations and needs, and determining whether they are willing to pay for your product or service. Additionally, spend time researching the market and understand who your competitors are. 

At this stage, you don’t need a fully fleshed-out business. You just need enough of an idea to start speaking to potential customers.  

This is where your one-page plan can be incredibly useful, as it helps you formalize enough information to have the working framework of a business. You can even add notes from your customer interviews to help adapt your plan.

Your goal, in this instance, is to:

• Hone in on pain points your potential customers have
• Verify that you can solve them
• Identify any gaps or issues with your idea
• (Bonus) Make initial sales 

Keep in mind that you may find none of that. Your solution may not be needed or is missing key components. You may even be targeting the wrong audience and need to change course.

That’s completely okay! Most businesses don’t get things right the first time. Be willing to refine and iterate on your initial idea. Verify what works and what doesn’t, and make the right adjustments to create a sustainable business that customers really want.

3. Examine your resources

While I have this as the third step, you’ll likely be doing this throughout every stage of starting a business.

Start by evaluating your funding sources. Personal savings are ideal as they keep you in full control of your business. If needed, consider asking friends and family for small contributions, as they’ll likely be much more flexible about repayment than traditional lenders.

Next, consider if a partner could benefit your venture. Do they bring complementary skills, share the workload, or offer additional resources? 

The right partner can fill crucial roles – like marketing or operations – allowing you to focus on your core strengths. They may even fill a necessary gap to get customers in the door.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of your network. Reach out to former colleagues, industry peers, and mentors for advice, services, or referrals.

Why you need to know your available resources

Taking stock of your resources is the first step in understanding what is feasible for your business. It helps you determine whether you have enough cash, expertise, and support to meet your customers’ expectations.

For example, let’s say you want to launch an eCommerce website and have enough cash on hand to fulfill orders but require customers to pay for shipping. If you’re competing with similar businesses that offer free shipping, your lack of it could turn customers away.

Similarly, you have a solid understanding of product development and have already gotten pre-orders. But you have no idea how to set up an eCommerce site , keep track of orders, and ensure they actually ship.

In both circumstances, your resources fall short of the needs of your customers. You may have to explore funding ( it doesn’t have to be a loan ) and find a partner with the right skill set to get your site up and running. 

4. Write a business plan and develop financial forecasts

At this point, you need to finalize your business plan and create initial forecasts . 

If you’ve been using the one-page plan throughout the last few steps, then this shouldn’t be a time-consuming process. Your goal at this point is to clearly define:

• Business Model: Value proposition, customer segments, distribution channels, and revenue streams.
• Milestones: Set realistic goals (landing your first customer, scaling, etc.) with specific timelines and action steps to track progress.

For your forecasts, start by estimating your:

• Startup costs and ongoing expenses
• Revenue in the first year of operation
• Cash flow — how much money will be moving in and out of your business each month as you collect revenue and pay expenses

These numbers do not have to be perfect. You’ll likely be making educated guesses or using industry estimates. The point is to have something that you believe represents your business. It will help you maintain a healthy cash flow and understand what it will take to be profitable.

Remember, you don’t need to create an overly lengthy plan or complex financial statements. They’re your tools, so focus on usability – they should be flexible and evolve with your business, helping you make informed decisions.

Dedicate time ( at least monthly or quarterly) to reviewing and updating your plan and forecasts as you gather data to ensure your strategy aligns with real-world performance.

5. Protect your business

As a business owner, you must make your business legal and guard against liabilities. To keep things simple, we’ll assume you’re starting as a sole proprietorship for this article.

Check out our full guide to learn more about the specifics of each legal structure .

Necessary legal components for a simple startup:

• Business Registration: As a sole proprietor, you may not need to register your business with the state government if you do business under your legal name. However, if you operate under a name that’s not yours, you must file for a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name. This is often required to set up a business bank account.
• Licenses & Permits: Research local requirements for your specific business type. You may need a general business license, professional licenses, or specific permits (e.g., health and safety). Contact your city or county business office for details.
• Tax Registration: Report business income on your personal tax return. If you plan to hire employees, you’ll need to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Even without employees, an EIN can protect your personal information and may streamline certain business transactions. Check if you need to register for state sales tax collections.
• Insurance : Consider general liability insurance for accidents and negligence claims. Get professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance if you offer professional services.
• Contracts: Use written agreements for business partners and supplier or contractor transactions. This clarifies expectations, prevents disputes, and protects both parties. Contact a lawyer to review or help you write this documentation if needed.

6. Promote and run your business

At this point, you just need to run your business. You don’t need to go all in, either. Launch it as a side hustle until you hit the point where it can become your full-time focus.

Don’t overcomplicate it: Set up a simple website, payment system, and essential operational tools. You want to serve customers immediately and learn from real-world experience.

But unless you locked in pre-orders earlier in this process, you’ll need to market your business to do it. 

Select marketing channels you believe will reach your target customers. Start small — you want to avoid overspending while you determine the right mix of marketing tactics. If you’re unsure where to start, paid social media ads (Facebook and Instagram), email campaigns, and local partnerships can be inexpensive options.

Stick to the budget you created, run small, easily measured marketing tests, and look for a positive return on investment (i.e., bringing in more revenue from sales than you spent on advertising). 

Only consider increasing spending after you start bringing in customers.

• Continue to review and revise

You are on your way to running a sustainable business and may even have your first customers already! 

Just don’t get too far ahead of yourself. You’re still proving that there is traction that can be repeated with multiple customers. 

As you operate, review your plan and forecasts. Pay close attention to your cash flow and be willing to pivot if things aren’t working. 

That’s the benefit of starting from scratch: You are in full control and can scale and spend at a pace that improves your chances of success.

If you haven’t yet, download a free one-page business plan template to document your idea. The earlier you begin developing the plan, the more useful it will be throughout the startup process.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

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Biden's new student-loan forgiveness plan has already received over 24,000 comments. There are 2 weeks left to give the administration input.

• There are two weeks left for the public to comment on Biden's new student-debt relief plan.
• Once the public comment period ends, the administration will move toward final implementation.
• Still, legal challenges and the election pose threats to the debt cancellation.

The American people have just two weeks left to give President Joe Biden's administration input on its new student-loan forgiveness plan .

On April 17, the Education Department published its draft rules for a broader version of debt relief to the Federal Register. First unveiled in early April, the new plan is expected to benefit over 30 million borrowers through a range of provisions, including canceling unpaid interest for borrowers and providing debt relief to those who have made at least 20 years of payments.

This new plan is intended to replace Biden's first attempt at relief that the Supreme Court struck down last summer. In contrast to the first plan, this one requires the administration to undergo a process known as negotiated rulemaking, which entails a series of negotiations with stakeholders and an opportunity for the public to comment on the plans before final implementation.

Related stories

The plan is now in the public comment period, and there are two weeks left for anyone who wishes to provide input on the administration's proposals. So far, according to the Federal Register , the plan has received 24,532 comments as of Friday morning.

The comments are available to be viewed publicly, and some of them were supportive of Biden's plan. One stated:

"The more student loan debt that can be forgiven the better. My mom's loans were forgiven last month, and it has changed her life. The period of time when my loans were paused allowed me to buy a home. My loans are currently in repayment, and if that burden could be lifted it would be life-changing for me."

Meanwhile, others were more critical:

"No if you borrow money you need to pay it back. why should people who are hard working pay for a lazy person school. student loans needs to be payed back by the borrower not by people who are working for a living."

Once the public comment period ends on May 17, the Education Department can choose to adjust its proposals based on the feedback it received or move ahead toward final implementation. In the coming months, the department also plans to unveil a separate proposal to get relief to borrowers experiencing financial hardship, which will also have a public comment period.

The department has said it plans to move as quickly as possible with the relief this fall, but not only does the presidential election bring uncertainty to the fate of the relief — it's highly likely legal challenges will once again attempt to block it from carrying out.

For example, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote on X that he would see Biden in court after the release of new details for the debt relief, and he already filed a lawsuit to block the SAVE income-driven repayment plan , arguing it was an overreach of the administration's authority.

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

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• Best Business Cell Phone Plans

In today’s workplace, having business cell phone plans that meet the needs of your workforce and business is vital. Employees aren't always in the office and you need them to be able to complete work or close deals from wherever they are without using their personal devices. Having reliable cell coverage and ample data is essential.

It’s important to identify a robust service provider that works with you and extends an appropriate level of mobile security. These are six of the best business cell phone plans to consider for your company.

Table of Contents

Unlimited talk, text, and data on all plans

More lines lowers pricing

Call filtering available

Easily determine if your current device is compatible with its service

Mobile security isn’t available on all plans

TravelPass isn’t available on all plans

Verizon Wireless is a well-known telecommunications company that offers the best overall cell phone plans for businesses. The base plan, Start 5G, begins at $40 per month for three lines. Your business must agree to Auto Pay and paperless billing to qualify for that price.

All plans include unlimited 5G (on capable devices) and 4G LTE data. Workers may experience slight lag when the network is busy, which isn’t uncommon for most networks. Employees can bring their own devices, or you can purchase one for them. Verizon includes unlimited talk and text to Canada and Mexico in all plans. You receive 2GB of high-speed data daily and can expect unlimited 3G speed afterward.

If employees travel extensively, the Unlimited Pro 5G plan is worth considering. It offers additional mobile hotspot data, security, and four days of TravelPass. The latter provides talk and text to over 200 nations.

Verizon offers unlimited data plans for devices other than cell phones, including tablets, laptops, and smartwatches. If your company requires more than five lines, you must speak with a representative for an accurate quote. Plans are month-to-month or a contractual agreement.

UScellular  »

Lowest price among major carriers

Call filtering available on all plans

10GB of mobile hotspot data in base plans

Best deals may require a contract

Less robust coverage map than Verizon

If cost is a concern, UScellular is our top choice for the most affordable business cell phone plan. It beats all other selections on publicly available prices for plans of at least five lines. Your business can get the base plan for just $25 monthly for five or more lines. Depending on the needs of your company, speaking with a representative may be necessary to receive an accurate quote.

All plans include unlimited 5G and 4G LTE data. Employees can bring their own devices, or you can purchase one for them. UScellular includes unlimited talk and text to Canada and Mexico in all plans. Roaming to both nations is available in all plans, too. While Travel Passes are an option, no information is publicly available on the number of countries it covers.

Premium plans include up to 100GB of hotspot data, plus advanced security features. However, using devices beyond mobile phones on UScellular is not as easy. The Business Unlimited Data – Even Better plan only offers 50% off tablet or watch data plans. You must speak with a representative to learn more.

AT&T  »

Cheaper pricing with additional lines

Unlimited data, talk, and text to 20+ Latin America countries in Unlimited Premium plan

Ability to add on other devices

Must purchase most premium plan for International Day Pass

Add-ons can get expensive

If coverage and reliability are a concern for your business, AT&T is our top choice for the best business cell phone plan. AT&T Business Unlimited Standard, the base plan, starts at $40 per month for three lines, assuming you accept paperless billing and Auto Pay. All plans include unlimited 5G (on capable devices) and 4G LTE data, and if employees have their own devices, they can bring them. Your business can also purchase one for them.

If employees travel regularly, you may want to purchase the Business Unlimited Premium plan. The plan offers additional mobile security via the proprietary ActiveArmor advanced mobile security. It also includes the AT&T Business Fast Track, allowing higher prioritization during heavy traffic periods. Unfortunately, the only way to receive an International Day Pass is through this premium offering.

If your firm needs more than five lines, you must speak with a representative to receive an appropriate quote. Plans are monthly or a contractual agreement.

Google Voice  »

Works with other Google products such as Calendar and Meet

Spam calls are automatically blocked

Affordable option for small businesses or one-person shops

Lacks tools like call monitoring

Best features require the most expensive plan

Won’t work without an internet connection

Google Voice is our top selection for value cell phone plans for businesses. The offering isn’t a traditional cell phone plan. Rather, it’s a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) that relies on web access to make and receive calls. The Starter plan begins at $10 monthly for up to 10 users.

This provides a toll-free number and the ability to work from anywhere you can access the internet, on any device or supported desktop phones. That flexibility allows you to access a myriad of business files, assignments, and appointments from a single platform. Call blocking is standard on all plans.

Google Voice offers other clever features like call forwarding and voicemail transcription. Unfortunately, advanced features like premium support and call recording require the Standard or Premier plans, which cost $20 and $30 monthly per user, respectively. However, if you have a small business that depends on phone calls and texting, Google Voice is a good choice, particularly if you want to integrate mobile access to various Google apps.

Affordable choice for small businesses

Compatible with a variety of business communication tools and platforms

Flexible plan options

Claims 99.999% uptime

Limits texting to premium tier plans then limits the number of texts

Requires a contract to receive the best pricing

Nextiva is our top choice for the most flexible business cell phone plans. Like Google Voice, Nextiva is a VoIP that requires web access to make and receive calls. The Essential plan is as low as $18.95 monthly. However, you must have at least 20 lines and prepay for 36 months to receive that pricing. As your needs change, Nextiva makes it easy to change plans.

Unlike Google Voice, Nextiva integrates with many of the most popular office communication tools and platforms. These include HubSpot, MS Teams, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Google Contacts. Your business also receives access to a Nextiva dashboard to manage all of your communication needs. Call blocking is standard on all plans, and they offer a helpful voicemail to email or text notifications.

If you have a larger company, the Enterprise plan may be a better fit. It allows for unlimited participants for voice and video conferencing and provides other helpful resources like call and video recording. While Nextiva is more expensive than Google Voice, its integration with so many resources makes it an ideal choice if your business thrives on flexibility

T-Mobile  »

Taxes and fees are included in higher-tier plans

Unlimited text and 5GB of data to 11 countries in all plans and roaming in 215+ other nations

Netflix On Us requires higher-tier plans

Wi-Fi perks not available on base plans

T-Mobile is our top choice for business cell phone plans if you have employees who frequently travel internationally. The base plan, Business Unlimited Select, begins at $30 monthly for three lines when you sign up for Auto Pay and paperless billing.

All plans include unlimited 5G (on capable devices) and 4G LTE data. Employees can bring their own devices or you can purchase one for them. T-Mobile stands out in including unlimited text in all plans to over 215 nations worldwide. Additionally, you receive 5G of high-speed data in 11 countries.

Unlimited talk and text plus 5GB of monthly data is available to Canada and Mexico. Unfortunately, you must sign up for the Business Unlimited Advanced to receive Wi-Fi privileges. Furthermore, you must pay to add data to devices and tablets.

If your company requires more than 12 lines, you must speak to a representative to receive an appropriate quote. Plans are month-to-month.

What Is a Business Cell Phone Plan and How Does it Work?

A company cell phone plan is paid for by a business that provides service and, if needed, devices for qualifying employees. This allows employees to conduct business directly through their employer-sponsored mobile device instead of their personal phone.

This may allow companies to monitor their employees' work hours, communication, and location through apps installed on the chosen phone. Firms can often sign up for as many lines as they need, depending on the demands of their business.

How Much Do Business Cell Phone Plans Cost?

Many top business cell phone companies fall in a similar range for pricing. Most providers start in the $25 to $35 per month range for a basic plan, which often includes up to three lines. If more lines are required, this typically lowers the per-line cost.

Enterprise plans are often available once a certain number of lines is reached. Obtaining accurate quotes on those plans requires speaking with a representative.

Additional features increase plan cost to $45 to $55 monthly for three lines.

Features To Consider When Buying Business Cell Phone Plans

Selecting a cell phone plan for your business means finding a provider that meets the needs of your workforce. These are some key features to consider when choosing a business cell phone plan.

Before selecting a provider, check how reliable the network is and what areas they do and don't cover. Look at the coverage map, read customer reviews, and even ask other business owners for recommendations.

Major providers all tout their reliability and coverage. For example, Verizon recently won its 32nd straight J.D. Power award for network quality. The FCC’s national map also provides visibility into network reliability.

The size of your business may determine the number of lines you need. Budget, data speed, and usage limits impact price. Contract flexibility is also essential. For example, T-Mobile offers all plans with no contracts. If that’s important to your business, ask for it when signing up.

Over one million people travel for business daily in the United States, and 405 million long-distance trips take place annually, according to Trondent. If your business depends on travel, some providers, such as AT&T, offer International Day Passes, which you may find invaluable. Furthermore, hotspot data allowances are also vital to keep in mind.

If your company thrives on flexibility, you may need a service that goes beyond simply offering phone service. Having the ability to connect a business tablet, for example, can be critical for a connected salesforce. You may want to select a provider that offers unique add-ons to enhance your business.

How To Choose the Best Business Cell Phone Plan

Choosing the right cell phone plan for your company is essential. You want a reliable network that won’t hinder employees from working, provides the options they need, offers plans that fit your budget, and has responsive customer service when you need it.

Here are some top factors that should influence your decision, according to Comcast Business.

• What are the habits of your workforce?
• What type of plan will work best for your company?
• Will your employees be fine with their personal cell phones?
• How much data will your employees require?

You should also select a plan that doesn't sacrifice flexibility and reliability for lower cost. Instead, choose a plan that helps employees work without skimping on necessary features.

The Bottom Line

Choosing the best cell phone plan for your business depends on your needs and provides enough data and resources to employees while staying within budget. Verizon Wireless is the top provider, thanks to its reliable network, cost, and wealth of tools. We appreciate their straightforward plans and ability to work with companies on an offering that meets specific needs. Selecting a provider that partners with your business is an optimal way to nurture business growth.

How We Chose the Best Business Cell Phone Plans

At U.S. News 360 Reviews, our writer examined various cell phone plans for businesses. This analysis included pricing, coverage, data offerings, and international offerings. When deciding on a cell phone business plan, it’s also prudent to consider things like cost, coverage, and support when identifying the top option for your business.

WHY SHOULD YOU TRUST US?

Our contributors and editors have extensive experience experimenting with and testing products and services. John Schmoll, the writer of this article, has 15 years of experience running a small business and appreciates the importance of having a reliable cell phone plan. John has also written for Prudential, RBC Wealth Management, and GoBankingRates. To John, knowing your needs and budget is essential when selecting a business cell phone plan.

Business Cell Phone Plans FAQ

Restrictions typically revolve around what kind of plan you choose for your company. For example, video streaming or international roaming capabilities may be reduced for some plans. Furthermore, a company may choose to include restrictions on devices they give to employees.

This depends on the type of plan you choose. Service and assistance levels may vary, but enterprise plans can offer more generous support.

Most, if not all, cell phone carriers offer some kind of promotion or incentive when beginning service. This ranges from autopay discounts to the ability to add other devices for a reduced price.

If you’re a business owner, it’s possible to establish a phone plan in the name of the company. Your business can purchase a device for new employees, or they may be able to bring over an existing device they own.

About Our Team

John Schmoll , MBA

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U.S. News 360 Reviews takes an unbiased approach to our recommendations. When you use our links to buy products, we may earn a commission but that in no way affects our editorial independence.

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What to Do When Your 401(k) Leaves Something to Be Desired

Over the course of a career, the high fees and a lower-quality menu of investment options found in some plans can shrink your balance significantly.

By Mark Miller

Chris Gentry is meticulous about his craft — he’s a professional woodworker at a small company in Brooklyn, N.Y., that makes custom dining and coffee tables, cabinets and interiors.

He creates pieces on his own from start to finish and enjoys that freedom. “It’s nice to have control over the way something should be done,” he said.

Mr. Gentry, 36, is equally conscientious about saving for retirement. He has contributed the maximum allowable amounts to his employer’s 401(k) plan over the past two years and also topped out a Roth individual retirement account. He hopes to buy an apartment and start a family soon with his partner. “It seems like all that will be expensive, so I’m trying to get an early start on retirement savings while I can,” he said. Between the two accounts, he has managed to save $80,000.

His employer kicks in a generous 5 percent of his salary to the 401(k) no matter how much Mr. Gentry contributes. But he worries about the plan’s high-cost mutual funds. “They’re expensive compared with what I can get in the I.R.A.,” he said. He even wonders if he should contribute to the plan at all. “I’m not sure how to determine at what point the fees become so expensive that the benefits of the 401(k) are outweighed by the fees.”

Fees are one of the most important factors of successful retirement investing. They determine how much ends up in your pocket after mutual funds and 401(k) plan providers take their cut. The bite especially hurts younger workers, who face the risk that high fees will compound over time.

“Fees compound in the same way that returns compound,” said Scott Puritz, managing director at Rebalance , a firm that often works with clients on 401(k) rollovers and advises companies on ways to improve their plans. “People are numb to the differences, but it’s a major determinant of long-term returns.”

Costs are usually much higher in plans sponsored by small businesses, like the 10-person firm where Mr. Gentry works. His plan doesn’t offer low-cost passive index fund choices. He is invested solely in a target date fund made up of actively managed mutual funds that have lagged the overall market’s returns during the past decade. The fund charges an annual expense fee of just over 1 percent.

That amount is typical for small plans, according to data compiled for the 401(k) Averages Book, which surveys companies that provide plans to employers. For example, the survey shows that among plans with 10 participants and $1 million in assets, average investment costs are 1.10 percent. At larger firms, those fees are far lower: At companies with 1,000 to 5,000 plan participants, target date fund fees average just 0.33 percent, according to data compiled by the Investment Company Institute and BrightScope. (Target date funds shift gradually toward bonds from stocks as a worker approaches an expected date for retirement.)

It’s not unusual for small plans to carry total expenses far higher. “We often see plans that charge 2 or 3 percent all in — sometimes more,” Mr. Puritz said.

A key reason for the varying amount of fees is the fixed costs of administering a plan and how those costs are spread across companies of different sizes. “If I have a small coffee shop plan with $100,000 in assets, the costs are spread across fewer people compared with a very large company,” said Joe Valletta, principal with Pension Data Source, which publishes the 401(k) Averages Book. “The big plan has higher fixed costs, but it’s spread over a lot more employees and a larger asset base.”

Mr. Gentry is fortunate to work for an employer that offers any kind of plan. Only about half of private-sector U.S. workers are covered by an employer retirement plan at any given time, and the gap is driven by lower participation in the system by small employers, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College . Workers often gain and lose coverage as they change jobs.

The coverage gap helps explain why many workers reach retirement with savings unlikely to last the rest of their lives. According to the Federal Reserve, the median retirement account holdings for workers aged 55 to 64 years old was $185,000 in 2022.

But fees also play a leading role, especially for young workers who face the compound effects over many years of saving. The difference in account balances when they retire can be staggering.

The New York Times worked with Rebalance to create a hypothetical example, illustrating the career-long effect of plans with a variety of fee levels. We considered a 28-year-old worker with a starting salary of $75,000 who saves diligently in her 401(k) account throughout her career. She contributes 6 percent of her salary annually and receives a 3 percent matching contribution from her employer. The scenario shows the effect of what she will have at three possible retirement ages. At 65, her portfolio is nearly 66 percent smaller in a high-cost plan compared with the lowest.

High Fees Can Take a Huge Bite Out of Your 401(k)

We used the example of a hypothetical 28-year-old worker who saves diligently in her 401(k) account throughout her career. At the time of her retirement, her 401(k) balance varies greatly depending on how high the plan’s fees are and when she retires.

Hypothetical balances at retirement

Plan balances in millions of dollars

Percentage difference from the low-fee plan.

Low fees (1.25%)

High fees (3%)

Medium fees (2%)

Plan balances in

millions of dollars

Percentage difference from low-fee plans.

Determining the fees that you pay is not simple. Fees can be charged for plan administration, investments and sometimes for individual services provided to participants; all 401(k) plans are required to send an annual notice that explains the fees that can be deducted from your account, but understanding them is another matter.

“It’s very difficult for people to understand their fees unless they’re investment professionals, which most retirees are not,” said Lisa M. Gomez, assistant secretary for employee benefits security at the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Secure 2.0 legislation of 2022 directed the department to examine ways to improve plan information, including how to understand fees. It expects to report to Congress with recommendations by the end of 2025, Ms. Gomez said. The department publishes a guide to 401(k) fees and has a toll-free line with advisers who can help participants understand their fees (866-444-3272).

But asking your employer about fees is a good starting point. “You have the right to know what you’re paying, so go to your human resources department, and ask them to tell you about your options and what they cost,” Mr. Puritz, the managing director at Rebalance, said. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority offers an online tool that analyzes how fees and other expenses affect the value of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds over time.

Your plan is mediocre. What now?

If your employer’s plan offers an annual matching contribution, save enough to capture it — doing otherwise leaves money on the table. “If they are matching dollar for dollar or 50 cents on the dollar, that’s a 100 percent or 50 percent return with almost zero risk,” said Heath Biller, a financial planner with Fiduciary Financial Advisors in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Pay careful attention to your investment choices, and look for the least expensive options. If possible, find a low-cost index fund that tracks the entire stock market. “Even if the investment menu is larded with high-expense funds, you may be able to find an index fund or a decent quality target date fund series,” said Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar.

You can also push for change. Mediocre 401(k) plans can get better. Employers are usually the fiduciary with a legal responsibility to consider only the interest of participants, and it’s in their own best interest to take your misgivings under consideration. “You can raise your concerns about high fees or poor investment options with your employer and ask if the company is able to consider adjustments,” Mr. Biller said.

After you’ve captured the employer match, consider low-cost options outside your 401(k) for additional saving. This year, you can contribute up to $23,000 to a 401(k) and $7,000 to an I.R.A.; savers 50 and older can contribute more via catch-up contributions. Eligibility to deduct the I.R.A. contributions phases out at certain income levels . Establishing one low-cost I.R.A. also lets you roll balances over to a single account as you change jobs through the course of your career, which is a great way to stay organized.

If you have self-employment income in addition to wages, a Simplified Employee Pension I.R.A . or Solo 401(k) offer routes around the I.R.A. contribution limits. Solo 401(k) accounts have higher contribution limits and are not available if you operate a company with employees; the government reporting requirements vary between these two options.

Yulia Petrovsky, a financial planner in San Francisco, has many clients working for large technology companies who also have side businesses. “Some of them are doing start-up work,” she said. “Some have marketing or other consulting gigs, especially when in between jobs, so these accounts can be a real slam dunk.”

Taxable investment accounts offer another route around I.R.A. contribution limits, especially for older retirement savers. Unlike 401(k) and I.R.A. accounts, they don’t come with an upfront tax benefit. Investment gains are subject to capital gains rates, although these are more favorable than ordinary income tax rates imposed on withdrawal from tax-deferred accounts.

Tax deferral is less important for older investors, who have less time to benefit from the tax-deferred compounding available in such accounts than younger investors.

It’s also possible to use tax-efficient investments in taxable accounts, such as broad-market equity exchange-traded funds, which have become very tax efficient, and municipal bonds — which generally are not subject to federal income taxes — for fixed income, Ms. Benz added.

“It’s not that difficult to simulate some of the tax-sheltering characteristics of a tax-deferred account in a taxable account,” she said.

A Guide to Making Better Financial Moves

Making sense of your finances can be complicated. the tips below can help..

The way advisers handle your retirement money is about to change: More investment professionals will be required to act in their customers’ best interest  when providing advice about their retirement money.

The I.R.S. estimates that 940,000 people who didn’t file their tax returns  in 2020 are due back money. The deadline for filing to get it is May 17.

Credit card debt is rising, and shopping for a card with a lower interest rate can help you save money. Here are some things to know .

Whether you’re looking to make your home more energy-efficient, install solar panels or buy an electric car, this guide can help you save money and fight climate change .

Starting this year, some of the money in 529 college savings accounts can be used for retirement if it’s not needed for education. Here is how it works .

Are you trying to improve your credit profile? You can now choose to have your on-time rent payments reported to the credit bureaus  to enhance your score.

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The following outline provides a high-level overview of the FTC’s proposed final rule :

• Specifically, the final rule provides that it is an unfair method of competition—and therefore a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act—for employers to enter into noncompetes with workers after the effective date.
• Fewer than 1% of workers are estimated to be senior executives under the final rule.
• Specifically, the final rule defines the term “senior executive” to refer to workers earning more than $151,164 annually who are in a “policy-making position.”
• Reduced health care costs: $74-$194 billion in reduced spending on physician services over the next decade.
• New business formation: 2.7% increase in the rate of new firm formation, resulting in over 8,500 additional new businesses created each year.
• This reflects an estimated increase of about 3,000 to 5,000 new patents in the first year noncompetes are banned, rising to about 30,000-53,000 in the tenth year.
• This represents an estimated increase of 11-19% annually over a ten-year period.
• The average worker’s earnings will rise an estimated extra $524 per year. 

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