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9 Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own (2024)

Need support creating your business plan? Check out these business plan examples for inspiration and guidance.

Any aspiring entrepreneur researching how to start a business will likely be advised to write a business plan. But few resources provide business plan examples to really guide you through writing one of your own.

Here are some real-world and illustrative business plan examples to help you craft your business plan .

Business plan format: 9 examples

The business plan examples in this article follow this template:

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Products and services
• Marketing plan
• Logistics and operations plan
• Financial plan
• Customer segmentation

1. Executive summary

Your executive summary is a page that gives a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. While it appears at the beginning, it’s easiest to write this section last, as there are details further in the report you’ll need to include here.

In this free business plan template , the executive summary is four paragraphs and takes a little over half a page. It clearly and efficiently communicates what the business does and what it plans to do, including its business model and target customers.

2. Company description

You might repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page , social media profile pages, or other properties that require a boilerplate description of your small business.

Soap brand ORRIS has a blurb on its About page that could easily be repurposed for the company description section of its business plan.

You can also go more in-depth with your company overview and include the following sections, like in this business plan example for Paw Print Post:

Business structure

This section outlines how you registered your business —as an LLC , sole proprietorship, corporation, or other business type : “Paw Print Post will operate as a sole proprietorship run by the owner, Jane Matthews.”

Nature of the business

“Paw Print Post sells unique, one-of-a-kind digitally printed cards that are customized with a pet’s unique paw prints.”

“Paw Print Post operates primarily in the pet industry and sells goods that could also be categorized as part of the greeting card industry.”

Background information

“Jane Matthews, the founder of Paw Print Post, has a long history in the pet industry and working with animals, and was recently trained as a graphic designer. She’s combining those two loves to capture a niche in the market: unique greeting cards customized with a pet’s paw prints, without needing to resort to the traditional (and messy) options of casting your pet’s prints in plaster or using pet-safe ink to have them stamp their ’signature.’”

Business objectives

“Jane will have Paw Print Post ready to launch at the Big Important Pet Expo in Toronto to get the word out among industry players and consumers alike. After two years in business, Jane aims to drive $150,000 in annual revenue from the sale of Paw Print Post’s signature greeting cards and to have expanded into two new product categories.”

“Jane Matthews is the sole full-time employee of Paw Print Post but hires contractors as needed to support her workflow and fill gaps in her skill set. Notably, Paw Print Post has a standing contract for five hours a week of virtual assistant support with Virtual Assistants Pro.”

Your mission statement may also make an appearance here. Passionfruit shares its mission statement on its company website, and it would also work well in its example business plan.

3. Market analysis

The market analysis consists of research about supply and demand , your target demographics, industry trends, and the competitive landscape. You might run a SWOT analysis and include that in your business plan. 

Here’s an example SWOT analysis for an online tailored-shirt business:

You’ll also want to do a competitive analysis as part of the market research component of your business plan. This will tell you which businesses you’re up against and give you ideas on how to differentiate your brand. A broad competitive analysis might include:

• Target customers
• Unique value proposition , or what sets the products apart
• Sales pitch
• Price points for products
• Shipping policy

4. Products and services

This section of your business plan describes your offerings—which products and services do you sell to your customers? Here’s an example for Paw Print Post that explains its line of custom greeting cards, along with details on what makes its products unique.

5. Marketing plan

It’s always a good idea to develop a marketing plan before you launch your business. Your marketing plan shows how you’ll get the word out about your business, and it’s an essential component of your business plan as well.

The Paw Print Post focuses on four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place. However, you can take a different approach with your marketing plan. Maybe you can pull from your existing marketing strategy , or maybe you break it down by the different marketing channels. Whatever approach you take, your marketing plan should describe how you intend to promote your business and offerings to potential customers.

6. Logistics and operations plan

The Paw Print Post example considered suppliers, production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory. This includes any raw materials needed to produce the products.

7. Financial plan

The financial plan provides a breakdown of sales, revenue, profit, expenses, and other relevant financial metrics related to funding and profiting from your business.

Ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy’s financial plan breaks down predicted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.

It then dives deeper into the financials to include:

• Funding needs
• Projected profit-and-loss statement
• Projected balance sheet
• Projected cash-flow statement

You can use a financial plan spreadsheet to build your own financial statements, including income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement.

8. Customer segmentation

Customer segmentation means dividing your target market into groups based on specific characteristics. These characteristics can be demographics, psychographics, behavior, or geography. Your business plan will provide detailed information on each segment, like its size and growth potential, so you can show why they are valuable to your business. 

Airsign , an eco-friendly vacuum cleaner company, faced the challenge of building a sustainable business model in the competitive home appliance market. They identified three key customer personas to target:

• Design-oriented urban dwellers
• Millennials moving to suburbs
• Older consumers seeking high-quality appliances

The company utilized Shopify’s customer segmentation tools to gain insights and take action to target them. Airsign created targeted segments for specific marketing initiatives.

Put your customer data to work with Shopify’s customer segmentation

Shopify’s built-in segmentation tools help you discover insights about your customers, build segments as targeted as your marketing plans with filters based on your customers’ demographic and behavioral data, and drive sales with timely and personalized emails.

9. Appendix

The appendix provides in-depth data, research, or documentation that supports the claims and projections made in the main business plan. It includes things like market research, finance, résumés, product specs, and legal documents. 

Readers can access detailed info in the appendix, but the main plan stays focused and easy to read. Here’s an example from a fictional clothing brand called Bloom:

Appendix: Bloom Business Plan

Types of business plans, and what to include for each

This lean business plan is meant to be high level and easy to understand at a glance. You’ll want to include all of the same sections in one-page business plan, but make sure they’re truncated and summarized:

• Executive summary: truncated
• Market analysis: summarized
• Products and services: summarized
• Marketing plan: summarized
• Logistics and operations plan: summarized
• Financials: summarized

A startup business plan is for a new business. Typically, these plans are developed and shared to secure funding . As such, there’s a bigger focus on the financials, as well as on other sections that determine viability of your business idea—market research, for example:

• Market analysis: in-depth
• Financials: in-depth

Your internal business plan is meant to keep your team on the same page and aligned toward the same goal:

A strategic, or growth, business plan is a big-picture, long-term look at your business. As such, the forecasts tend to look further into the future, and growth and revenue goals may be higher. Essentially, you want to use all the sections you would in a normal business plan and build upon each:

• Market analysis: comprehensive outlook
• Products and services: for launch and expansion
• Marketing plan: comprehensive outlook
• Logistics and operations plan: comprehensive outlook
• Financials: comprehensive outlook

Feasibility

Your feasibility business plan is sort of a pre-business plan—many refer to it as simply a feasibility study. This plan essentially lays the groundwork and validates that it’s worth the effort to make a full business plan for your idea. As such, it’s mostly centered around research:

Nonprofit business plans are used to attract donors, grants, and partnerships. They focus on what their mission is, how they measure success, and how they get funded. You’ll want to include the following sections in addition to a traditional business plan:

• Organization description
• Need statement
• Programs and services
• Fundraising plan
• Partnerships and collaborations
• Impact measurement

Set yourself up for success as a business owner

Building a good business plan serves as a roadmap you can use for your ecommerce business at launch and as you reach each of your business goals. Business plans create accountability for entrepreneurs and synergy among teams, regardless of your business model .

Kickstart your ecommerce business and set yourself up for success with an intentional business planning process—and with the sample business plans above to guide your own path.

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Business plan examples FAQ

How do i write a simple business plan.

To write a simple business plan, begin with an executive summary that outlines your business and your plans. Follow this with sections detailing your company description, market analysis, organization and management structure, product or service, marketing and sales strategy, and financial projections. Each section should be concise and clearly illustrate your strategies and goals.

What is the best format to write a business plan?

The best business plan format presents your plan in a clear, organized manner, making it easier for potential investors to understand your business model and goals. Always begin with the executive summary and end with financial information or appendices for any additional data.

What are the 4 key elements of a business plan?

• Executive summary: A concise overview of the company’s mission, goals, target audience, and financial objectives.
• Business description: A description of the company’s purpose, operations, products and services, target markets, and competitive landscape.
• Market analysis: An analysis of the industry, market trends, potential customers, and competitors.
• Financial plan: A detailed description of the company’s financial forecasts and strategies.

What are the 3 main points of a business plan?

• Concept: Your concept should explain the purpose of your business and provide an overall summary of what you intend to accomplish.
• Contents: Your content should include details about the products and services you provide, your target market, and your competition.
• Cash flow: Your cash flow section should include information about your expected cash inflows and outflows, such as capital investments, operating costs, and revenue projections.

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10 of the Best Business Plan Examples for This Year

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The first step of being a business owner and creating a company is to develop a comprehensive business plan. We aren’t talking about your doodles of growth that you scribbled on a napkin or thought about while mowing the lawn, but an actual written-out plan to build on. A business plan that outlines how it will operate, as well as what overarching goals will guide its growth in the future. Building one from the ground up requires focus, patience, and careful foresight. What’s more, those that are well-crafted should provide a thorough summary of the products or services you intend to sell, the demographic you’re targeting, and your expected profit margins. This may also include benchmarks you hope to meet along with the estimated timelines to achieve these goals.

‌Putting together a good business plan now will be a foundational piece for you to refer back to during challenging times and to build on when you are growing. Additionally, an attractive and complete business plan can help to grow your business with money from a bank or an outside investor and to better reach your target market.

‌In this article, we’ll review some key components of any successful business plan to help you create a detailed model of your company. We’ll also examine a few sample business plans that can take a lot of guesswork out of the equation.

What is a business plan?

A business plan can help shape who you are and how you grow.

A business plan is a written summary of how you want to run your company and what goals you have to help you get there. While banks and other potential investors in your business rely on reviewing them to decide whether they want to give you money for growth or not, they can also help the owners of a company define their vision and objectives. While their contents vary with some people preferring to do a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), they typically include the following 4 sections.

Business plan executive summary

‌The cornerstone of any business plan is an executive summary section that touches on the basics of your company. Essentially, it explains what products or services you will provide, the customers your company will serve, and the overall goals of your business. This is the first thing anyone you decide to share it with will see, so take your time to make this section truly engaging and unique.

‌ Ideal customers and competition

This section is used to clearly describe how your products or services will fulfill the needs of a specific customer and community. Go into detail regarding how the business you are focusing on has changed over time and what unique offering sets your business apart. Other information included here should cover your projected market share and the kind of competition you expect to face. Explain what makes your business different from others in your industry and why customers will choose your products or services instead of someone else's.

You can also include a market analysis in this part to understand what you are up against when it comes to getting new customers and growing your business with your marketing plan and financial plan.

‌Marketing plan

Marketing strategy is a key piece of any business plan.

‌Here, you’ll want to decide how you intend to reach your customers through social media , content marketing , advertising , and other forms of marketing. The marketing section of your business plan should have clear, achievable goals. Depending on your current size of business, those could be as simple as getting a website up down to how much web traffic and leads you to want each month. goals This portion is also an excellent place to examine marketing trends in your business area, including examples of brands you may want to become, or how you want to talk with your customers in your marketing.

A marketing plan should include several pieces of marketing strategy including;

Google My Business Profile

Your Google My Business profile is where you highlight how to find your company and what you do. It will show up in the Google search engine when people look for services like yours. It will also be where people will see Google reviews of your business. It's important to keep your Google My Business up to date and to always be responding to reviews. Having a good customer experience as a part of your business plan will ensure that people see your business as trustworthy and worth calling.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A long-term investment for your marketing plan is SEO . Chances are high that you have either heard of SEO from someone or are already investing money here. It can feel like a black box at times, mostly because it doesn't usually show immediate leads or revenue. At the heart of SEO strategy is continually creating content for a blog on your website or adding pages to your website that are focused on keywords that people search for. It can be complicated and take some time, so worth looking at partners like Scorpion to help you with SEO.

Website management

Your website is the center of your marketing for your business plan. It's important to have the right website management plan to keep things moving in the right direction. At a bare minimum, you should have a nice website design and have multiple ways that people can contact you. There are also great tools like live chat and online scheduling that may be worth investing in.

Paid advertising

There are a lot of places where you can invest time in paid advertising for your business plan. It can also be a key source of immediate lead generation for your business. It can be complicated. If you want to learn more about strategies for paid advertising, check out this paid advertising guide that you can bring into your business plan.

‌Financial summary

‌Another important piece of any business plan is a thorough financial summary of all expenses and income related to your company. If you are an existing business you may already be tracking a lot of this information and can write down some of this. If you are a new business then it may be broken into money you have personally, from family/friends, or from a bank to start your business and how you expect to spend that to grow. The financial portion is especially relevant for banks or other people who may want to invest money to help grow your business. If you have an existing business and are looking to grow, potential banks or investors will look at several key areas in your financial summary, including:

• Projected income
• Projected expenses
• Debt-to-income ratio
• Money coming in
• Desired form of financing (bank, outside investor, family/friends)
• Income statement
• Financial forecast
• Cash flow statements‌

‌Many business plans divide these 4 sections into further-defined categories that cover topics of interest like business structure, market opportunity, or long-term objectives. The plan will change depending on your business and goals. Once it’s completed, it should create a definitive picture of your company from top to bottom, leaving very little up to the imagination.

Don't forget to update!

Many businesses will review plans in quarters or smaller bite-size pieces vs. a whole year. It can be good to set up quarterly goals associated with your key business initiatives to make them stronger and make adjustments. You may find that some strategies aren't working and need a new view.

Having small goals associated with your plan and reviewing those goals often (and the data that comes with it) will set you up for long-term business plan success.

How to build a successful business plan

Before you get started on your business plan, let's go over a couple of tips on how to build a business plan that sets your company up for success. Remember that the goal of your business plan is usually to secure funding and come up with the strategy necessary to get started.

The main thing investors will do is look for holes in your plan. They want a bulletproof plan for success (or as bulletproof as it can get). This means you need to be as detailed as possible . Answer any questions an investor might have. Look at every area that could fail and come up with different plans and strategies for how your business would survive. The main goal is to have a solid foundation for operating your business.

Next, be sure you address your unique value proposition . Why is your company different than competitors? How will you position your brand in the industry? If you don't know your target audience and why people will buy from you instead of a competitor, then your business plan won't be successful.

Your business plan will explain why your business is a good idea both strategically in the industry and financially. The goal is to legitimize your company before getting started.

‌To save time with your business plan, it may help to use a template from various online sources. Many are available online that allow you to create what you want with minimal effort. Here are 11 of the best examples for 2023.

‌ ‌10 business plan examples and templates

Using a business plan template can help you do more.

It can be overwhelming to think of building a plan from scratch. Thankfully, You can find several ready-made templates for restaurants, repair stores, bars, and hotels at the Business Plan Shop. They’re simple and easy to customize to your liking as well. Once completed, you can download them to a Word document or PDF file. While these business plan example templates are available free of charge during a 7-day trial period, the website requires a subscription fee for continued use.

1. Upmetrics' Sample Business Plans

‌There are over 100 different business plan templates available at Upmetrics, each specially crafted for industries like restaurants, retail stores, media companies, or healthcare providers. Within every category are numerous subcategories to further refine your plan to meet your needs. They also come prefilled with information depicting a fictional company that’s easy to edit and download in PDF format.

2. Simple Business Plan Example by Venngage

Like the previous example, Venngage offers numerous samples with information about a fictional company for reference. To cover the basics, try the simple business plan example. It includes engaging graphics between sections to separate walls of text. This is easily adaptable to suit virtually any business across a range of industries. ‌

3. SBA’s Business Plan Outline

‌‌The Small Business Administration provides a comprehensive guide for crafting a traditional business plan that explains every step of the process. You can download a template of a finished fictional example as a Word document so you can see how it’s done. Just rewrite the content in each section to suit your industry, business model, and goals. ‌

4. Score’s Business Plan Template for Startups

‌This template from Score is perfect for new companies entering the marketplace. It’s available to download as a Word document, and it also comes with insightful tips for writing content in each section. Its concise organizational structure makes it very user-friendly and easily adaptable to many industries. ‌

5. Complete Guide to Writing a Business Plan by Review42

‌‌This instructive guide offers a wealth of insights that can help you write the perfect business plan. Review42 outlines the essential elements and provides tips to ease the challenge of the task. The guide also describes 7 different plan formats — one-page, strategic, and internal business plans are some examples.

6. Step-by-Step Business Plan Creator by LawDepot

‌LawDepot’s easy-to-use business plan generator offers a faster, easier way to put your plan on paper. To begin building your plan from the ground up, select the appropriate industry category for your business and follow the provided steps. After filling out each section, LawDepot will provide a draft that you can download or print directly from the website.

7. Growth ink's Business Plan Template

‌Growthink has an enormous amount of information that dives deeper into each section of a professional business plan. Their free PDF template organizes its structure, thus allowing you to fill in the blanks as needed. Additional customizable features and design elements are also available at an additional cost.

8. Business Plan Template by Jotform

‌Several free templates are available from Jotform that include engaging graphics and color schemes. They cover every topic imaginable, ranging from a simple one-page business plan to creative briefs, strategic plans, and more. Aside from the numerous examples that are offered, Jotform also provides access to an enormous amount of tools and resources that can help any small business or startup hit the ground running. ‌

‌9. PandaDoc’s Business Plan Template

This free template by PandaDoc is one of the more popular options available today. In it, you’ll find several tips to help guide you through the entire process. PandaDoc’s template also includes instructions for using Excel to create informative graphics to accompany your business plan’s text. ‌

10.  Single-Page Business Plan Template by HubSpot

Another valuable and free resource for small businesses is HubSpot, a helpful website where you can find templates like this simple one-page business plan. They include easy-to-follow instructions in each section. Once you’re done, simply download the document to a Word document or PDF file. This template also makes it easy to add your unique touch with logos or brand-specific images.

‌If you’re struggling to write the perfect business plan, our experienced team at Scorpion can help. We will work with you to create the perfect business plan to reach your target customer. We have considerable experience providing top-tier marketing solutions for law firms , franchises, healthcare providers, and even home services . Our team and technology will help you create a plan and produce the marketing to create growth for your business. Contact us today to learn more about how Scorpion can help your business thrive.

Let's talk about business planning.  Schedule a consultation today. 

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How to Write a Business Plan in 2023 [Examples Included]

Table of contents

To see what Databox can do for you, including how it helps you track and visualize your performance data in real-time, check out our home page. Click here .

So you have come up with a business idea that will turn your company into a Forbes 500 enterprise? Sounds great!

However, you are going to need much more than an idea. You will need to do some comprehensive research, create operational standpoints, describe your product, define your goals, and pave out a road map for future growth.

In other words, you are going to need a business plan.

A business plan is a document that precisely explains how you are going to make your startup a success. Without it, your chances of attracting funding and investments significantly decrease.

Do you want to learn how to create a winning business plan that will take your company to the next level? We created a guide that will help you do just that.

Let’s dive in.

What Is a Business Plan?

Why and when do you need a business plan, types of business plans (what to include in each).

• How Do You Write a Business Plan?

Best Practices for Writing a Winning Business Plan

Business plan examples.

• Monitor the Performance of Your Business with Databox

A business plan is a comprehensive document that defines how a business will achieve its goals. It is essentially a road map for growth that includes operational standpoints from all the key departments such as marketing, financial, HR, and others.

Startups use business plans to describe who they are, what they plan to do, and how they plan to achieve it. This is an extremely valuable document for attracting investors.

However, they are valuable for the company members as well. A good business plan keeps executive teams on the same page regarding the strategies they should implement to achieve their set objectives.

Related : Reporting to Investors: 6 Best Practices to Help Increase Funding

While business plans are especially useful for startups, each business should include them. In the best-case scenario, this plan will be updated from time to time and reviewed whether the goals of the company have been met.

The main things that investors want to check out in the business plan are:

• Product-market fit – Have you researched the market demand for your products and services?
• Team efficiency – Does your startup have devoted professionals that will work on achieving your goals?
• Scalability – How probable is growth in sales volumes without proportional growth or fixed costs?

An organized business plan is essentially a blueprint of your goals and it showcases your abilities as an entrepreneur.

Related : Business Report: What is it & How to Write a Great One? (With Examples)

If you want to persuade venture capitalists and banking institutions to invest in your startup, you won’t be able to do it without a solid business plan. Following a clear business plan format is crucial, as it structures your plan in a way that is easily understandable and demonstrates your business’s potential. 

A business plan is helpful in two ways – it allows you to focus on the specific goals you set for the future and it provides external parties with evidence that you have done your research in advance.

But don’t just take our word for it – here are some of the things that researchers from Bplans found out when they were analyzing the benefits of business plans with the University of Oregon.

• Companies that use business plans have recorded a 30% faster growth compared to those that didn’t use them.
• Getting investments and loans is twice as likely to happen with the help of business plans.
• There is a 129% increased chance for entrepreneurs to go past the ‘startup’ phase through business plans.

You should create a business plan before you decide to quit your regular job. It can help you realize whether you are ready or not.

Also, creating a business plan is helpful when:

• You want to attract investments or funding from external parties
• You want to find a new partner or co-founder
• You want to attract talented professionals to join your startup
• You need to change things up due to the slow growth

While creating a business plan is an important step, you first have to know how to differentiate all the different types. This will help you choose the one that is most suitable for your business.

Here are the most common types of business plans and what you should include in each.

One-Pager Business Plan

Startup business plan, internal business plan, strategic business plan, feasibility business plan.

The one-pager is a business plan that only includes the most important aspects of your business. It is essentially a simplified version of a traditional business plan.

When creating the one-pager business plan, your primary focus should be on making it easily understandable.

Since this business plan is rather short, you should avoid using lengthy paragraphs. Each section should be around 1-2 sentences long.

The things you should include in a one-pager business plan are:

• The problem – Describe a certain problem your customers have and support the claim with relevant data.
• The solution – How your products/services can solve the issue.
• Business model – Your plan on how to make money. Include production costs, selling costs, and the price of the product.
• Target market – Describe your ideal customer persona. Start with a broad audience and narrow it down by using TAM, SAM, and SOM models. This lets investors in on your thought process. To understand these models better, check out, for example, the importance of proper TAM evaluation for B2B startups .
• Competitive advantage – How are you different from your competitors?
• Management team – Include your business’s management structure.
• Financial summary – This part should revolve around the most significant financial metrics (profit, loss, cash flow, balance sheet, and sales forecast).
• Required funding – Define how much money you need to make your project a success.

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Related : Check out our comprehensive guide on writing a marketing plan report .

New businesses use startup business plans to outline their launching ideas and strategies to attract funding and investment opportunities. When creating startup business plans, you should primarily focus on the financial aspect and provide evidence that supports it (e.g. market research).

These are some of the main things that should be included:

• Vision statement – Explain your vision for the company and include the overall business goals you will try to achieve.
• Executive summary – A quick overview of what your company is about and what will make it successful. Make sure to include your products/services, basic leadership information, employees, and location.
• Company description – A detailed overview of your company. Talk about the problems you will solve and be specific about customers, organizations, and growth plans. This is the place where you should state your business’s main advantages.
• Market Analysis – Show investors that you have a good understanding of your industry and target market by providing a detailed market analysis. Try to point out certain trends, themes, or patterns that support your objective.
• Organization and management – This section explains the structure and the management hierarchy. Also, describe the legal structure of your business.
• Service or product line – Go into detail about the products and services you are going to sell. Explain the benefits they bring and share your intellectual property plans.
• Marketing and sales – Talk about your marketing strategy and describe how you plan to attract new customers.
• Financial projections – This section should be about convincing your readers why the business will be a financial success. Create a prospective financial outlook for the next few years and it includes forecasts.

An internal business plan is a document that specifically focuses on the activities within your company. While external business plans focus on attracting investors, internal business plans keep your team aligned on achieving goals.

Related : Internal vs. External Reporting: What Are the Differences?

This business plan can differentiate based on how specific you want it to be. For example, you can focus on a specific part of the business (e.g. financial department) or on the overall goals of the whole company.

Nonetheless, here are some things that should universally be included in all internal business plans:

• Mission statement – Focus on the practical, day-to-day activities that your employees can undertake to achieve overall objectives.
• Objectives – Provide specific goals that you want your company to achieve. Make the objectives clear and explain in which way they can be reached. Focus more on short-term objectives and set reasonable deadlines.
• Strategies – Talk about the general activities that will help your team reach the set objectives. Provide research that will describe how these strategies will be useful in the long term.
• Action plans – These plans revolve around particular activities from your strategy. For example, you could include a new product that you want to create or a more efficient marketing plan.
• Sustainability – This refers to the general probability of achieving the goals you set in the internal report. Sometimes, plans may seem overly ambitious and you are going to have to make amends with certain things.

A strategic business plan is the best way to gain a comprehensive outlook of your business. In this document, forecasts are examined even further and growth goals tend to be higher.

By creating a strategic business plan, you will have an easier time aligning your key stakeholders around the company’s priorities.

Here is a quick overview of what a strategic business plan should include:

• Executive summary – Since strategic business plans are generally lengthy, not all executives will have time to go through it. This is why you should include a quick overview of the plan through an executive summary, you can also create an executive summary template to make the step easily repeatable.
• Vision statement – Describe what you wish to achieve in the long term.
• Company overview – This refers to past achievements, current products/services, recent sales performances, and important KPIs.
• Core values – This section should provide an explanation of what drives the business to do what it does.
• Strategic analysis of internal and external environments – Talk about the current organizational structure, mission statements, and department challenges.
• Strategic objectives – Go into detail about the short-term objectives your team should reach in a specific period. Make sure the objectives are clear and understandable.
• Overall goals – This section should include operational goals, marketing goals, and financial goals.

A feasibility business plan is also known as a feasibility study. It essentially provides a foundation for what would be a full and comprehensive business plan. The primary focus of a feasibility plan is research.

The things you should include in a feasibility plan are:

• Product demand – Is there a high demand for your product? Would customers be interested in buying it?
• Market conditions – Determine the customer persona that would be interested in buying your products. Include demographic factors.
• Pricing – Compare your desired price with the current pricing of similar products. Which price would make your service profitable?
• Risks – Determine the risks of launching this new business.
• Success profitability – Is there a good way to overcome the risks and make your company profitable?

How Do You Write a Business Plan Report?

As we explained in the previous heading, there are a few different types of business plan. Depending on the audience you are referring to, the language you use in the plan should be adjusted accordingly.

Nonetheless, there are certain key elements that should be included in all business plans, the only thing that will vary is how detailed the sections will be.

Include these elements in your business plan.

Executive summary

Company description, market opportunity and analysis, competitive landscape, target audience, describe your product or service, develop a marketing and sales strategy, develop a logistics and operations plan, financial projections, explain your funding request, compile an appendix for official documents.

An executive summary is a quick overview of the document as a whole that allows investors and key stakeholders to quickly understand all the pain points from the report.

It is the best way to layout all the vital information about your business to bank officials and key stakeholders who don’t have the time to go through the whole business plan.

If you summarize the sections well, the potential investors will jump into the sections they are most interested in to acquire more details.

You should write the executive summary last since you will then have a better idea of what should be included.

A good executive summary answers these questions:

• Who are you?
• What do you sell?
• How profitable is it?
• How much money do you need?

This section of the business plan aims to introduce your company as a whole. The things you include in the company description can vary depending on if you are only starting a business or you already have a developed company.

The elements included in this section are:

• Structure and ownership – Talk about who the key shareholders in your company are and provide a full list of names. Also, mention details such as where the company is registered and what the legal structure looks like. In most countries, this is a legal requirement for AML regulations.
• History – This segment is if you already have an existing company. Use this section to show your credibility. Include company milestones, past difficulties, and a precise date for how long your company has been operating.
• Objectives – Describe the overall objectives of your company and how you plan to reach them.

Market analysis refers to creating your ideal customer persona and explaining why they would be interested in buying your products.

Market opportunities are the gaps that you found in the current industries and creating a way for your product to fill those gaps.

The most important step in this section is to create a target market (persona) through demographic factors such as location, income, gender, education, age, profession, and hobbies.

Make sure that your target market isn’t too broad since it can put off potential investors.

A good idea is to also include a detailed analysis of your competitors – talk about their products, strengths, and weaknesses.

Related : 12 Best Tools Marketers Use for Market Research

Although you may include a competitive analysis in the market analysis section, this segment should provide a more detailed overview.

Identify other companies that sell similar products to yours and create a list of their advantages and disadvantages. Learning about your competitors may seem overwhelming, but it’s an indispensable part of a good business plan.

Include a comparison landscape as well that defines the things that set you apart from the competitors. Describe the strengths of your product and show which problems it could solve.

Related : How to Do an SEO Competitive Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide

Use the target audience section to fully describe the details of your ideal customer persona. Include both demographic and psychographic factors.

Ask yourself:

• What are the demographic characteristics of the people who will buy my product?
• What are their desires?
• What makes my product valuable to them?

Make sure to answer all of these questions to get in the mindset of your customers.

If you need more details on how to identify your target audience , check our full expert guide.

When talking about your products and services, be as precise as possible. Mention your target audience and the marketing channels you use for targeting this audience.

This section should reveal the benefits, life cycle, and production process of your products/services. Also, it is a good idea to include some pictures of your products if possible.

When describing your products, you should highlight:

• Unique features
• Intellectual property rights
• What makes the product beneficial

Marketing is the blood flow to your business’s body. Without a good marketing and sales strategy, the chances of your product succeeding are very slim.

It’s always best to already have a marketing plan in place before launching your business. By identifying the best marketing channels, you will show your investors that you researched this topic in detail.

Some of the things you should include are:

• Reach – Explain why a specific channel will be able to reach your target market
• Cost – Is the marketing strategy going to be cost-effective? How much money do you plan on spending on the strategy?
• Competition – Are your competitors already using this channel? If so, what will make your product stand out?
• Implementation – Who will be taking care of the implementation process? Is it a marketing expert? Which suppliers did you reach out to?

Related : 14 Reasons Sales And Marketing Alignment Is Crucial for Skyrocketing Company Growth

This section should explain the details of how exactly your company is going to operate.

These are the things you should include:

• Personnel plan – Define how many people you plan to employ and their roles. Also, if you plan on increasing your staff, you should explain what would be the cause of that.
• Key assets – This refers to assets that will be crucial for your company’s operation.
• Suppliers – Mention who your suppliers will be and what kind of relationship you have with them. Your investors will be interested in this part of the section since they want to be reassured that you are cooperating with respectable counterparties.

The financial projections section is one of the most important parts of your business plan. It includes a detailed overview of expected sales, revenue, profit, expenses, and all the other important financial metrics .

You should show your investors that your business will be profitable, stable, and that it has huge potential for cash generation.

Monthly numbers for the first year are crucial since this will be the most critical year of your company.

At the very least, you should provide:

• Funding needs
• Profit-and-loss statement forecast
• Balance sheet forecast
• Cash-flow statement forecast

Related : How to Write a Great Financial Report? Tips and Best Practices

When providing the funding request, be realistic. Explain why you need that exact amount of money and where it will be allocated.

Also, create both a best-case and worst-case scenario. New companies don’t have a history of generating profits which is why you will probably have to sell equity in the early years to raise enough capital.

This will be the final section of your business plan. Include any material or piece of information that investors can use to analyze the data in your report. 

Things that could be helpful are:

• Local permits
• Legal documents
• Certifications that boost credibility
• Intellectual properties or patents
• Purchase orders and customer contracts

After reading the previous heading, you should have a clear idea of how to write a compelling business plan.

But, just to be sure, we prepared some additional information that can be very helpful.

Here are some of the best practices you should implement in your business plan according to the most successful companies.

Keep it brief

Make it understandable, be meticulous about money, design is important.

Generally, business plans will be around 10-20 pages long. Your main focus should be to cover the essentials that we talked about, but you don’t want to overdo it by including unnecessary and overwhelming information.

In business plan, less is more.

Create a good organizational outline of your sections. This will allow investors to easily navigate to the parts they are most interested in reading.

Avoid using jargon – everyone should be able to easily understand your business plan without having to Google certain terms. 

Make a list of all the expenses your business incurs. Financial information should be maximally precise since it will directly impact the investor’s decision to fund your business idea.

After you wrap up your business plan, take a day off and read it again. Fix any typos or grammatical errors that you overlooked the first time.

Make sure to use a professional layout, printing, and branding of your business plan. This is an important first impression for the readers of the document.

Now you know what a business plan is, how you can write it, and some of the best practices you can use to make it even better.

But, if you are still having certain difficulties coming up with a great business plan, here are a few examples that may be helpful.

HubSpot’s One-Page Business Plan

Bplan’s free business plan template, small business administration free business plan template.

This One-Page Business Plan was created by HubSpot and it can be a great way to start off your business plan journey on the right foot.

You already have fields such as Implementation Timeline, Required Funding, and Company Description created so you will just need to provide your specific information.

This free business plan template highlights the financial points of the startup. If your primary focus will be your business’ financial plan and financial statements, you can use this template to save up some time.

It can also be useful for making sure everyone in your company understands the current financial health and what they can do to improve it.

If you need additional inspiration to kick start your own business plan, you can check out this free template by small business administration .

You just have to decide which type of plan you want to create and then review the format of how it should look like.

Monitor and Report on the Performance of Your Business with Databox

Tracking your company’s performance is an indispensable part of quality decision-making. It is crucial that you know how your business strategy is performing and whether it needs to be optimized in certain areas.

However, doing this manually will undoubtedly take a hefty amount of your valuable time. You will have to log into all of the different tools, copy-paste the data into your reports, and then analyze it. And this isn’t a one-time thing – you have to do it at least once a month.

Luckily, Databox can lend a helping hand.

By using customizable dashboards from Databox, you will be able to connect data from all your different tools into one comprehensive report. Not only that, but you can also visualize the most important metrics to make your presentation to shareholders immensely more impactful.

Did you spend a lot of time cutting and pasting? Say ‘no more’ to that. You will be able to use that time to better analyze your business performances and monitor any significant changes that occur.

Leave the grueling business reporting process in the past and sign up for a free trial with Databox.

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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.

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 . .

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!

Want to Learn More?

• How to Start a Dropshipping Business
• How to Register a Business in the USA
• How to Launch Your Ecommerce Store in Less Than 30 Minutes Flat
• 30+ Amazing Startup Business Ideas That’ll Make You Money

Small Business Trends

How to create a business plan: examples & free template.

This is the ultimate guide to creating a comprehensive and effective plan to start a business . In today’s dynamic business landscape, having a well-crafted business plan is an important first step to securing funding, attracting partners, and navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.

This guide has been designed to help you create a winning plan that stands out in the ever-evolving marketplace. U sing real-world examples and a free downloadable template, it will walk you through each step of the process.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.

Table of Contents

How to Write a Business Plan

Embarking on the journey of creating a successful business requires a solid foundation, and a well-crafted business plan is the cornerstone. Here is the process of writing a comprehensive business plan and the main parts of a winning business plan . From setting objectives to conducting market research, this guide will have everything you need.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary serves as the gateway to your business plan, offering a snapshot of your venture’s core aspects. This section should captivate and inform, succinctly summarizing the essence of your plan.

It’s crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.

Think of it as an elevator pitch in written form: it should be compelling enough to engage potential investors or stakeholders and provide them with a clear understanding of what your business is about, its goals, and why it’s a promising investment.

Example: EcoTech is a technology company specializing in eco-friendly and sustainable products designed to reduce energy consumption and minimize waste. Our mission is to create innovative solutions that contribute to a cleaner, greener environment.

Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.

Overview and Business Objectives

In the Overview and Business Objectives section, outline your business’s core goals and the strategic approaches you plan to use to achieve them. This section should set forth clear, specific objectives that are attainable and time-bound, providing a roadmap for your business’s growth and success.

It’s important to detail how these objectives align with your company’s overall mission and vision. Discuss the milestones you aim to achieve and the timeframe you’ve set for these accomplishments.

This part of the plan demonstrates to investors and stakeholders your vision for growth and the practical steps you’ll take to get there.

Example: EcoTech’s primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:

• Introducing three new products within the first two years of operation.
• Achieving annual revenue growth of 30%.
• Expanding our customer base to over 10,000 clients by the end of the third year.

Company Description

The Company Description section is your opportunity to delve into the details of your business. Provide a comprehensive overview that includes your company’s history, its mission statement, and its vision for the future.

Highlight your unique selling proposition (USP) – what makes your business stand out in the market. Explain the problems your company solves and how it benefits your customers.

Include information about the company’s founders, their expertise, and why they are suited to lead the business to success. This section should paint a vivid picture of your business, its values, and its place in the industry.

Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.

Define Your Target Market

Defining Your Target Market is critical for tailoring your business strategy effectively. This section should describe your ideal customer base in detail, including demographic information (such as age, gender, income level, and location) and psychographic data (like interests, values, and lifestyle).

Elucidate on the specific needs or pain points of your target audience and how your product or service addresses these. This information will help you know your target market and develop targeted marketing strategies.

Example: Our target market comprises environmentally conscious consumers and businesses looking for innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. Our ideal customers are those who prioritize sustainability and are willing to invest in eco-friendly products.

Market Analysis

The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

This analysis will enable you to spot market opportunities and anticipate potential challenges. Include data and statistics to back up your claims, and use graphs or charts to illustrate market trends.

This section should demonstrate that you have a deep understanding of the market in which you operate and that your business is well-positioned to capitalize on its opportunities.

Example: The market for eco-friendly technology products has experienced significant growth in recent years, with an estimated annual growth rate of 10%. As consumers become increasingly aware of environmental issues, the demand for sustainable solutions continues to rise.

Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis in your business plan offers a comprehensive examination of your company’s internal and external factors. By assessing Strengths, you showcase what your business does best and where your capabilities lie.

Weaknesses involve an honest introspection of areas where your business may be lacking or could improve. Opportunities can be external factors that your business could capitalize on, such as market gaps or emerging trends.

Threats include external challenges your business may face, like competition or market changes. This analysis is crucial for strategic planning, as it helps in recognizing and leveraging your strengths, addressing weaknesses, seizing opportunities, and preparing for potential threats.

Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.

• Innovative and eco-friendly product offerings.
• Strong commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
• Skilled and experienced team with expertise in technology and sustainability.

Weaknesses:

• Limited brand recognition compared to established competitors.
• Reliance on third-party manufacturers for product development.

Opportunities:

• Growing consumer interest in sustainable products.
• Partnerships with environmentally-focused organizations and influencers.
• Expansion into international markets.
• Intense competition from established technology companies.
• Regulatory changes could impact the sustainable technology market.

Competitive Analysis

In this section, you’ll analyze your competitors in-depth, examining their products, services, market positioning, and pricing strategies. Understanding your competition allows you to identify gaps in the market and tailor your offerings to outperform them.

By conducting a thorough competitive analysis, you can gain insights into your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to develop strategies to differentiate your business and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Example: Key competitors include:

GreenTech: A well-known brand offering eco-friendly technology products, but with a narrower focus on energy-saving devices.

EarthSolutions: A direct competitor specializing in sustainable technology, but with a limited product range and higher prices.

By offering a diverse product portfolio, competitive pricing, and continuous innovation, we believe we can capture a significant share of the growing sustainable technology market.

Organization and Management Team

Provide an overview of your company’s organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.

Showcasing your team’s background, skills, and accomplishments instills confidence in investors and other stakeholders, proving that your business has the leadership and talent necessary to achieve its objectives and manage growth effectively.

Example: EcoTech’s organizational structure comprises the following key roles: CEO, CTO, CFO, Sales Director, Marketing Director, and R&D Manager. Our management team has extensive experience in technology, sustainability, and business development, ensuring that we are well-equipped to execute our business plan successfully.

Products and Services Offered

Describe the products or services your business offers, focusing on their unique features and benefits. Explain how your offerings solve customer pain points and why they will choose your products or services over the competition.

This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.

Example: EcoTech offers a range of eco-friendly technology products, including energy-efficient lighting solutions, solar chargers, and smart home devices that optimize energy usage. Our products are designed to help customers reduce energy consumption, minimize waste, and contribute to a cleaner environment.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

In this section, articulate your comprehensive strategy for reaching your target market and driving sales. Detail the specific marketing channels you plan to use, such as social media, email marketing, SEO, or traditional advertising.

Describe the nature of your advertising campaigns and promotional activities, explaining how they will capture the attention of your target audience and convey the value of your products or services. Outline your sales strategy, including your sales process, team structure, and sales targets.

Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your business’s revenue goals.

This section is critical to convey to investors and stakeholders that you have a well-thought-out approach to market your business effectively and drive sales growth.

Example: Our marketing strategy includes digital advertising, content marketing, social media promotion, and influencer partnerships. We will also attend trade shows and conferences to showcase our products and connect with potential clients. Our sales strategy involves both direct sales and partnerships with retail stores, as well as online sales through our website and e-commerce platforms.

Logistics and Operations Plan

The Logistics and Operations Plan is a critical component that outlines the inner workings of your business. It encompasses the management of your supply chain, detailing how you acquire raw materials and manage vendor relationships.

Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.

Quality control measures are essential to maintain product standards and customer satisfaction. This plan assures investors and stakeholders of your operational competency and readiness to meet business demands.

Highlighting your commitment to operational efficiency and customer satisfaction underlines your business’s capability to maintain smooth, effective operations even as it scales.

Example: EcoTech partners with reliable third-party manufacturers to produce our eco-friendly technology products. Our operations involve maintaining strong relationships with suppliers, ensuring quality control, and managing inventory.

We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.

Financial Projections Plan

In the Financial Projections Plan, lay out a clear and realistic financial future for your business. This should include detailed projections for revenue, costs, and profitability over the next three to five years.

Ground these projections in solid assumptions based on your market analysis, industry benchmarks, and realistic growth scenarios. Break down revenue streams and include an analysis of the cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and potential investments.

This section should also discuss your break-even analysis, cash flow projections, and any assumptions about external funding requirements.

By presenting a thorough and data-backed financial forecast, you instill confidence in potential investors and lenders, showcasing your business’s potential for profitability and financial stability.

This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.

Example: Over the next three years, we expect to see significant growth in revenue, driven by new product launches and market expansion. Our financial projections include:

• Year 1: $1.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $200,000.
• Year 2: $3 million in revenue, with a net profit of $500,000.
• Year 3: $4.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $1 million.

These projections are based on realistic market analysis, growth rates, and product pricing.

Income Statement

The income statement , also known as the profit and loss statement, provides a summary of your company’s revenues and expenses over a specified period. It helps you track your business’s financial performance and identify trends, ensuring you stay on track to achieve your financial goals.

Regularly reviewing and analyzing your income statement allows you to monitor the health of your business, evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize profitability and growth.

Example: The income statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

• Revenue: $1,500,000
• Cost of Goods Sold: $800,000
• Gross Profit: $700,000
• Operating Expenses: $450,000
• Net Income: $250,000

This statement highlights our company’s profitability and overall financial health during the first year of operation.

Cash Flow Statement

A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your company’s liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.

By including a cash flow statement in your business plan, you demonstrate your ability to manage your company’s finances effectively.

Example:  The cash flow statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

Operating Activities:

• Depreciation: $10,000
• Changes in Working Capital: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Operating Activities: $210,000

Investing Activities:

•  Capital Expenditures: -$100,000
• Net Cash from Investing Activities: -$100,000

Financing Activities:

• Proceeds from Loans: $150,000
• Loan Repayments: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Financing Activities: $100,000
• Net Increase in Cash: $210,000

This statement demonstrates EcoTech’s ability to generate positive cash flow from operations, maintain sufficient liquidity, and invest in growth opportunities.

Tips on Writing a Business Plan

1. Be clear and concise: Keep your language simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms. A clear and concise business plan is easier for investors and stakeholders to understand and demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively.

2. Conduct thorough research: Before writing your business plan, gather as much information as possible about your industry, competitors, and target market. Use reliable sources and industry reports to inform your analysis and make data-driven decisions.

3. Set realistic goals: Your business plan should outline achievable objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Setting realistic goals demonstrates your understanding of the market and increases the likelihood of success.

4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.

5. Be flexible and adaptable: A business plan is a living document that should evolve as your business grows and changes. Be prepared to update and revise your plan as you gather new information and learn from your experiences.

6. Use visuals to enhance understanding: Include charts, graphs, and other visuals to help convey complex data and ideas. Visuals can make your business plan more engaging and easier to digest, especially for those who prefer visual learning.

7. Seek feedback from trusted sources: Share your business plan with mentors, industry experts, or colleagues and ask for their feedback. Their insights can help you identify areas for improvement and strengthen your plan before presenting it to potential investors or partners.

FREE Business Plan Template

To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.

The template is divided into the following sections:

• Mission statement
• Business Overview
• Key products or services
• Target market
• Financial highlights
• Company goals
• Strategies to achieve goals
• Measurable, time-bound objectives
• Company History
• Mission and vision
• Unique selling proposition
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Pain points
• Industry trends
• Customer needs
• Competitor strengths and weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Competitor products and services
• Market positioning
• Pricing strategies
• Organizational structure
• Key roles and responsibilities
• Management team backgrounds
• Product or service features
• Competitive advantages
• Marketing channels
• Advertising campaigns
• Promotional activities
• Sales strategies
• Supply chain management
• Inventory control
• Production processes
• Quality control measures
• Projected revenue
• Assumptions
• Cash inflows
• Cash outflows
• Net cash flow

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a strategic document that outlines an organization’s goals, objectives, and the steps required to achieve them. It serves as a roadmap as you start a business , guiding the company’s direction and growth while identifying potential obstacles and opportunities.

Typically, a business plan covers areas such as market analysis, financial projections, marketing strategies, and organizational structure. It not only helps in securing funding from investors and lenders but also provides clarity and focus to the management team.

A well-crafted business plan is a very important part of your business startup checklist because it fosters informed decision-making and long-term success.

Why You Should Write a Business Plan

Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:

• Attract Investors and Secure Funding : A well-written business plan demonstrates your venture’s potential and profitability, making it easier to attract investors and secure the necessary funding for growth and development. It provides a detailed overview of your business model, target market, financial projections, and growth strategies, instilling confidence in potential investors and lenders that your company is a worthy investment.
• Clarify Business Objectives and Strategies : Crafting a business plan forces you to think critically about your goals and the strategies you’ll employ to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for success. This process helps you refine your vision and prioritize the most critical objectives, ensuring that your efforts are focused on achieving the desired results.
• Identify Potential Risks and Opportunities : Analyzing the market, competition, and industry trends within your business plan helps identify potential risks and uncover untapped opportunities for growth and expansion. This insight enables you to develop proactive strategies to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities, positioning your business for long-term success.
• Improve Decision-Making : A business plan serves as a reference point so you can make informed decisions that align with your company’s overall objectives and long-term vision. By consistently referring to your plan and adjusting it as needed, you can ensure that your business remains on track and adapts to changes in the market, industry, or internal operations.
• Foster Team Alignment and Communication : A shared business plan helps ensure that all team members are on the same page, promoting clear communication, collaboration, and a unified approach to achieving the company’s goals. By involving your team in the planning process and regularly reviewing the plan together, you can foster a sense of ownership, commitment, and accountability that drives success.

What are the Different Types of Business Plans?

In today’s fast-paced business world, having a well-structured roadmap is more important than ever. A traditional business plan provides a comprehensive overview of your company’s goals and strategies, helping you make informed decisions and achieve long-term success. There are various types of business plans, each designed to suit different needs and purposes. Let’s explore the main types:

• Startup Business Plan: Tailored for new ventures, a startup business plan outlines the company’s mission, objectives, target market, competition, marketing strategies, and financial projections. It helps entrepreneurs clarify their vision, secure funding from investors, and create a roadmap for their business’s future. Additionally, this plan identifies potential challenges and opportunities, which are crucial for making informed decisions and adapting to changing market conditions.
• Internal Business Plan: This type of plan is intended for internal use, focusing on strategies, milestones, deadlines, and resource allocation. It serves as a management tool for guiding the company’s growth, evaluating its progress, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overall vision. The internal business plan also helps identify areas of improvement, fosters collaboration among team members, and provides a reference point for measuring performance.
• Strategic Business Plan: A strategic business plan outlines long-term goals and the steps to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for the company’s direction. It typically includes a SWOT analysis, market research, and competitive analysis. This plan allows businesses to align their resources with their objectives, anticipate changes in the market, and develop contingency plans. By focusing on the big picture, a strategic business plan fosters long-term success and stability.
• Feasibility Business Plan: This plan is designed to assess the viability of a business idea, examining factors such as market demand, competition, and financial projections. It is often used to decide whether or not to pursue a particular venture. By conducting a thorough feasibility analysis, entrepreneurs can avoid investing time and resources into an unviable business concept. This plan also helps refine the business idea, identify potential obstacles, and determine the necessary resources for success.
• Growth Business Plan: Also known as an expansion plan, a growth business plan focuses on strategies for scaling up an existing business. It includes market analysis, new product or service offerings, and financial projections to support expansion plans. This type of plan is essential for businesses looking to enter new markets, increase their customer base, or launch new products or services. By outlining clear growth strategies, the plan helps ensure that expansion efforts are well-coordinated and sustainable.
• Operational Business Plan: This type of plan outlines the company’s day-to-day operations, detailing the processes, procedures, and organizational structure. It is an essential tool for managing resources, streamlining workflows, and ensuring smooth operations. The operational business plan also helps identify inefficiencies, implement best practices, and establish a strong foundation for future growth. By providing a clear understanding of daily operations, this plan enables businesses to optimize their resources and enhance productivity.
• Lean Business Plan: A lean business plan is a simplified, agile version of a traditional plan, focusing on key elements such as value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, and cost structure. It is perfect for startups looking for a flexible, adaptable planning approach. The lean business plan allows for rapid iteration and continuous improvement, enabling businesses to pivot and adapt to changing market conditions. This streamlined approach is particularly beneficial for businesses in fast-paced or uncertain industries.
• One-Page Business Plan: As the name suggests, a one-page business plan is a concise summary of your company’s key objectives, strategies, and milestones. It serves as a quick reference guide and is ideal for pitching to potential investors or partners. This plan helps keep teams focused on essential goals and priorities, fosters clear communication, and provides a snapshot of the company’s progress. While not as comprehensive as other plans, a one-page business plan is an effective tool for maintaining clarity and direction.
• Nonprofit Business Plan: Specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, this plan outlines the mission, goals, target audience, fundraising strategies, and budget allocation. It helps secure grants and donations while ensuring the organization stays on track with its objectives. The nonprofit business plan also helps attract volunteers, board members, and community support. By demonstrating the organization’s impact and plans for the future, this plan is essential for maintaining transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability within the nonprofit sector.
• Franchise Business Plan: For entrepreneurs seeking to open a franchise, this type of plan focuses on the franchisor’s requirements, as well as the franchisee’s goals, strategies, and financial projections. It is crucial for securing a franchise agreement and ensuring the business’s success within the franchise system. This plan outlines the franchisee’s commitment to brand standards, marketing efforts, and operational procedures, while also addressing local market conditions and opportunities. By creating a solid franchise business plan, entrepreneurs can demonstrate their ability to effectively manage and grow their franchise, increasing the likelihood of a successful partnership with the franchisor.

Using Business Plan Software

Creating a comprehensive business plan can be intimidating, but business plan software can streamline the process and help you produce a professional document. These tools offer a number of benefits, including guided step-by-step instructions, financial projections, and industry-specific templates. Here are the top 5 business plan software options available to help you craft a great business plan.

1. LivePlan

LivePlan is a popular choice for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features. It offers over 500 sample plans, financial forecasting tools, and the ability to track your progress against key performance indicators. With LivePlan, you can create visually appealing, professional business plans that will impress investors and stakeholders.

2. Upmetrics

Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.

Bizplan is designed to simplify the business planning process with a drag-and-drop builder and modular sections. It offers financial forecasting tools, progress tracking, and a visually appealing interface. With Bizplan, you can create a business plan that is both easy to understand and visually engaging.

Enloop is a robust business plan software that automatically generates a tailored plan based on your inputs. It provides industry-specific templates, financial forecasting, and a unique performance score that updates as you make changes to your plan. Enloop also offers a free version, making it accessible for businesses on a budget.

5. Tarkenton GoSmallBiz

Developed by NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, GoSmallBiz is tailored for small businesses and startups. It features a guided business plan builder, customizable templates, and financial projection tools. GoSmallBiz also offers additional resources, such as CRM tools and legal document templates, to support your business beyond the planning stage.

Business Plan FAQs

What is a good business plan.

A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

The three main purposes of a business plan are to guide the company’s strategy, attract investment, and evaluate performance against objectives. Here’s a closer look at each of these:

• It outlines the company’s purpose and core values to ensure that all activities align with its mission and vision.
• It provides an in-depth analysis of the market, including trends, customer needs, and competition, helping the company tailor its products and services to meet market demands.
• It defines the company’s marketing and sales strategies, guiding how the company will attract and retain customers.
• It describes the company’s organizational structure and management team, outlining roles and responsibilities to ensure effective operation and leadership.
• It sets measurable, time-bound objectives, allowing the company to plan its activities effectively and make strategic decisions to achieve these goals.
• It provides a comprehensive overview of the company and its business model, demonstrating its uniqueness and potential for success.
• It presents the company’s financial projections, showing its potential for profitability and return on investment.
• It demonstrates the company’s understanding of the market, including its target customers and competition, convincing investors that the company is capable of gaining a significant market share.
• It showcases the management team’s expertise and experience, instilling confidence in investors that the team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.
• It establishes clear, measurable objectives that serve as performance benchmarks.
• It provides a basis for regular performance reviews, allowing the company to monitor its progress and identify areas for improvement.
• It enables the company to assess the effectiveness of its strategies and make adjustments as needed to achieve its objectives.
• It helps the company identify potential risks and challenges, enabling it to develop contingency plans and manage risks effectively.
• It provides a mechanism for evaluating the company’s financial performance, including revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow.

Can I write a business plan by myself?

Yes, you can write a business plan by yourself, but it can be helpful to consult with mentors, colleagues, or industry experts to gather feedback and insights. There are also many creative business plan templates and business plan examples available online, including those above.

We also have examples for specific industries, including a using food truck business plan , salon business plan , farm business plan , daycare business plan , and restaurant business plan .

Is it possible to create a one-page business plan?

Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.

How long should a business plan be?

A typical business plan ranges from 20 to 50 pages, but the length may vary depending on the complexity and needs of the business.

What is a business plan outline?

A business plan outline is a structured framework that organizes the content of a business plan into sections, such as the executive summary, company description, market analysis, and financial projections.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

The five most common business plan mistakes include inadequate research, unrealistic financial projections, lack of focus on the unique selling proposition, poor organization and structure, and failure to update the plan as circumstances change.

What questions should be asked in a business plan?

A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan focuses on the overall vision, goals, and tactics of a company, while a strategic plan outlines the specific strategies, action steps, and performance measures necessary to achieve the company’s objectives.

How is business planning for a nonprofit different?

Nonprofit business planning focuses on the organization’s mission, social impact, and resource management, rather than profit generation. The financial section typically includes funding sources, expenses, and projected budgets for programs and operations.

Image: Envato Elements

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Business plan templates

From competitive analysis to financial projections, business plans give your new business a roadmap for success. Download one of our free business plan templates and take your company to the next level.

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Virtual Reality (VR) Business Plan

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A Funeral Home Business Plan covers detailed data on the courtesies offered by the company, market analysis, administration strategies, personnel procedures, budget and financing plans, and other applicable topics.

Community Center Business Plan

You can use this Community Center Business Plan Template, it is perfect for anyone desiring to open and run a society center. It gives the center’s owner an outline of areas that must be disseminated with the investors to earn an acquisition.

Gas Station Business Plan

Take the first step towards success in the fuel industry with our professionally crafted Gas Station Business Plan template.

Beauty Supply Store Business Plan

This Beauty Supply Store Business Plan Template covers all the appropriate sections needed to invest in a beauty supply store. The template will help you to raise money for your business.

Flower Shop Business Plan Template

The Flower Shop Business Plan Template is organized to help you achieve the awareness of various investors to invest in your company.

Electrical Contractor Business Plan

This Electrical Contractor Business Plan template include information about the services you offer, who your target consumers are, why they should prefer you over your opponents and how much capital you require to get started.

Car Dealership Business Plan

A Car Dealership Business Plan is a detailed plan that will help you take your business to the next level. Use this template to create your plan.

Farm Business Plan

Farm Business Plan gives an overview of the company, including corporation history, owner backgrounds, creations and more. Use this template to quickly develop your farm company plan.

Consultant Business Plan Template

An example of a document outlining your strategy for launching or expanding your consulting firm is a Consultant Business Plan Template. The essential elements include a summary of the company, team, sector, rivals, target audience, and an operations and marketing strategy.

Construction Company Business Plan

The objectives and tactics of a construction company are described in a business plan for a construction company. For the creation of your business plan, use this Construction Company Business Plan Template.

Fashion Business Plan Template

Structural and action plans for a fashion firm are laid out in the fashion business plan template.

Daycare Business Plan

The creation of a business strategy is the first step in starting a daycare. Use this Daycare Business Plan Template to describe your company’s objectives, as well as your target market, potential rivals, and your financing strategy.

Convenience Store Business Plan

Do you need a Convenience Store Business Plan Template? This plan includes all the details and information needed to secure funding for a convenience store.

Startup Business Plan Template

We offer you the steps and the tools to create a fantastic business plan. Attract investors with this sleek and free startup business plan template.

Business Plan Template

This business plan template is a great tool for your startup to customize to reflect your strong qualifications, experienced team, and marketable business idea.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that helps small business owners determine the viability of their business idea. Combining market research and financial analysis, a professional business plan helps startup CEOs and potential investors determine if the company can compete in the target market.

Typically, a good business plan consists of the following:

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Mission statement
• Product and services
• Marketing plan
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion & appendix

Every section involved in a business plan is designed to help startup businesses reach their target market.

A business plan asks founders and entrepreneurs to detail their business strategy in a step-by-step process that makes sense from an operational perspective. This is essential if a startup is seeking a business loan or an investment from a venture capital firm.

However, even small businesses that are already economically viable can benefit from creating a business plan, since it encourages business owners and their management teams to examine their business model and reevaluate the best ways to reach their target customers.

Should I use a business plan template?

Yes.  If you’ve never written one, a business plan can be challenging to write.

Creating a successful plan that you can use to grow your small business can require weeks of market analysis and financial preparation. You may spend time using Microsoft Excel or Powerpoint in order to create documentation which better supports our operational decisions.

However, almost every professional business plan is structured in the same way and most ask for the same information. Because of this, using a business plan template is advisable to save time, money, and effort.

Business plan templates for free

Rather than spending time trying to figure out how to write a business plan , use a free template as a guide to completion.

Business plan templates from PandaDoc can help you reach an effective go-to-market strategy even faster by asking you to provide all the relevant information you need when creating an effective business plan.

Grab a free template to get started!

Frequently asked questions

How many pages should my business plan be.

This depends on the kind of business plan you need to write and how you intend to use the plan that you create.

For example, a plan for a small business seeking potential investors or a business loan will need to provide income statements, cash flow statements, and a balance sheet (usually for a three-year or five-year forecast period).

These financial statements can be omitted if a small business owner isn’t seeking funding and is instead planning to use their business plan as a guiding document for themselves and their management team members.

Some business plans may only run a few pages. Fully-developed business plans can be as long as 50 pages. Much of this depends on the type of business, the operational strategy, and the level of detail that goes into developing the business plan.

Who needs a business plan?

Every business should have a business plan. This is an essential guidance document for any founder or CEO.

Good business plans help a company determine the viability of its place in the market and can help the business develop better strategies for differentiating itself from its competitors.

Business planning also forces business owners to evaluate their marketing strategy, the cost of customer acquisition and retention, and how they plan to grow their business over time.

What is the best business plan template?

Business plans come in all shapes and sizes. The best business plan template for your business is one that you understand and that matches the size and legal structure of your operation.

If you’re a sole proprietor, a business plan template designed for a big corporation probably doesn’t make sense. However, a business plan that helps you build an effective roadmap to grow your business while protecting your intellectual property is a good starting point.

PandaDoc offers specialized business plan templates for common industries along with tips to help you get started with business planning.

Should I hire someone to write my business plan for me?

No. You’ll find freelance writers and business strategy companies out there who are happy to write your business plan for a fee.  These resources can guide you through the process, but you should write (or be heavily involved in) the creation of your business plan.

The reason for this is simple: You know the most about your business, and your business needs you to succeed.

A writer can work with you to make your business plan sound better to investors, and a consultant can help you fill in knowledge gaps — like how to conduct a SWOT analysis — and point out weaknesses in your plan. But, at the end of the day, you need to use the business plan to pitch investors and run your business.

Those ideas and guiding principles aren’t something you can outsource.

Should I use business planning software?

Software isn’t required when creating an effective business plan. Most business planning software is designed to help you navigate the outlining and writing process more effectively.

You don’t need software to write a professional business plan, but a solid template can help you get started. Download a free template from PandaDoc today and take your business to the next level.

Get started with PandaDoc today

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Practice Management > Building Your Business

3 Steps to Building Your 2023 Business Plan

By Michael Silver and Eric Sheikowitz

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Thank you for sharing, what you need to know.

• Most top-performing advisors and teams commit to writing an annual business and marketing plan. Here's how to do it.

The most successful financial advisors revisit their business planning every year. Here are some questions to jump start the process.

Where are you now? Where do you want to be? How will you get there?

These are fundamental questions that financial advisors regularly ask their prospects and clients as a core part of the financial planning process.

How often do you ask yourselves the same questions? 

As the year quickly winds down, it’s a great time for advisors to answer these questions to develop a robust business and marketing plan for the year ahead. 

The high majority of top performing advisors and teams commit time each year to writing an annual business and marketing plan, while a very small percentage of lower producing advisors put pen to paper to do the same.

In our opinion, the correlation here is not a coincidence; those who have a detailed strategic plan tend to run practices that are both more organized and continue to grow.  A good business and marketing plan covers three general areas: 

1. Where are you now?

Take a snapshop of your practice as it exists today.  Look at the metrics of your practice thus far for 2022 – how much in new assets acquired, revenue produced, new relationships established, the types of clients targeted and acquired, and the marketing approaches used to attract new business.

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2. Where do you want to be?

Set detailed goals for the year ahead.  This may sound simple, but the key is to be specific and to challenge and stretch yourself while still being realistic. The more specific you can be for each of your goals, the more likely you are to achieve them.

Start with a high-level goal then drill down to define what strategies, tactics and action steps will lead you to achieve the goal(s).  Some areas of focus can include: crafting a robust marketing plan for clients, prospects and trusted advisors, defining your ideal client profile, planning intimate events, developing a new client onboarding process and examining the structure of your team.

3. How will you get there?

Make sure to execute on your plans in a tactical way. If you do a good job on the specifics of mapping out your goals, the execution becomes almost a paint-by-numbers exercise.

If one goal is to gain more clients by partnering with accountants and attorneys, then the execution involves asking clients and other business associates for the for the names and contact information of their trusted advisers.

The next step is to build a database of prospective partners and methodically meet and evaluate them for their partnership and referral potential. Lastly, choose a select group of like-minded professionals to partner and do joint marketing with.

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. This is an old saying, and there are few places it rings truer than in the financial advisory industry.

The coming year is full of uncertainty, and even some of the best-laid plans are likely to need revisiting. But those advisors who have established a framework for creating goals and taking steps to actually achieving them have a huge head start on whatever the new year may throw at them.

Close out the year by crafting a robust business and marketing plan to help set your practice on the right path for success in the New Year!

Michael Silver and Eric Sheikowitz are speakers, coaches and consultants with Focus Partners , a practice management consultancy based in Paramus, New Jersey.  

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How to Write a Five-Year Business Plan

Noah Parsons

15 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

Learn why the traditional way of writing a five-year business plan is often a waste of time and how to use a one-page plan instead for smarter, easier strategic planning to establish your long-term vision. 

In business, it can sometimes seem hard enough to predict what’s going to happen next month, let alone three or even five years from now. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for the long term. After all, your vision for the future is what gets you out of bed in the morning and motivates your team. It’s those aspirations that drive you to keep innovating and figuring out how to grow.

• What is a long-term plan?

A long-term or long-range business plan looks beyond the traditional 3-year planning window, focusing on what a business might look like 5 or even 10 years from now. A traditional 5-year business plan includes financial projections, business strategy, and roadmaps that stretch far into the future.

I’ll be honest with you, though—for most businesses, long-range business plans that stretch 5 and 10 years into the future are a waste of time. Anyone who’s seriously asking you for one doesn’t know what they’re doing and is wasting your time. Sorry if that offends some people, but it’s true.

However, there is still real value in looking at the long term. Just don’t invest the time in creating a lengthy version of your business plan with overly detailed metrics and milestones for the next five-plus years. No one knows the future and, more than likely, anything you write down now could be obsolete in the next year, next month, or even next week. 

That’s where long-term strategic planning comes in. A long-term business plan like this is different from a traditional business plan in that it’s lighter on the details and more focused on your strategic direction. It has less focus on financial forecasting and a greater focus on the big picture. 

Think of your long-term strategic plan as your aspirational vision for your business. It defines the ideal direction you’re aiming for but it’s not influencing your day-to-day or, potentially, even your monthly decision making. 

• Are long-term business plans a waste of time?

No one knows the future. We’re all just taking the information that we have available today and making our best guesses about the future. Sometimes trends in a market are pretty clear and your guesses will be well-founded. Other times, you’re trying to look around a corner and hoping that your intuition about what comes next is correct.

Now, I’m not saying that thinking about the future is a waste of time. Entrepreneurs are always thinking about the future. They have to have some degree of faith and certainty about what customers are going to want in the future. Successful entrepreneurs do actually predict the future — they know what customers are going to want and when they’re going to want it.

Entrepreneurship is unpredictable 

Successful entrepreneurs are also often wrong. They make mistakes just like the rest of us. The difference between successful entrepreneurs and everyone else is that they don’t let mistakes slow them down. They learn from mistakes, adjust and try again. And again. And again. It’s not about being right all the time; it’s about having the perseverance to keep trying until you get it right. For example, James Dyson, inventor of the iconic vacuum cleaner, tried out 5,126 prototypes of his invention before he found a design that worked.

So, if thinking about the future isn’t a waste of time, why are 5-year business plans a waste of time? They’re a waste of time because they typically follow the same format as a traditional business plan, where you are asked to project sales, expenses, and cash flow 5 and 10 years into the future. 

Let’s be real. Sales and expense projections that far into the future are just wild guesses, especially for startups and new businesses. They’re guaranteed to be wrong and can’t be used for anything. You can’t (and shouldn’t) make decisions based on these guesses. They’re just fantasy. You hope you achieve massive year-over-year growth in sales, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen. And, you shouldn’t make significant spending decisions today based on the hope of massive sales 10 years from now.

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• Why write a long-term business plan?

So, what is the purpose of outlining a long-term plan? Here are a few key reasons why it’s still valuable to consider the future of your business without getting bogged down by the details.

Showcase your vision for investors

First, and especially important if you are raising money from investors, is your vision. Investors will want to know not only where you plan on being in a year, but where the business will be in five years. Do you anticipate launching new products or services? Will you expand internationally? Or will you find new markets to grow into? 

Set long-term goals for your business

Second, you’ll want to establish goals for yourself and your team. What kinds of high-level sales targets do you hope to achieve? How big is your company going to get overtime? These goals can be used to motivate your team and even help in the hiring process as you get up and running.

That said, you don’t want to overinvest in fleshing out all the details of a long-range plan. You don’t need to figure out exactly how your expansion will work years from now or exactly how much you’ll spend on office supplies five years from now. That’s really just a waste of time.

Instead, for long-range planning, think in broad terms. A good planning process means that you’re constantly revising and refining your business plan. You’ll add more specifics as you go, creating a detailed plan for the next 6-12 months and a broader, vague plan for the long term.

You have a long development time

Businesses with extremely long research and development timelines do make spending decisions now based on the hope of results years from now. For example, the pharmaceutical industry and medical device industry have to make these bets all the time. The R&D required to take a concept from idea to proven product with regulatory approval can take years for these industries, so long-range planning in these cases is a must. A handful of other industries also have similar development timelines, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Your business is well-established and predictable 

Long-term, detailed planning can make more sense for businesses that are extremely well established and have long histories of consistent sales and expenses with predictable growth. But, even for those businesses, predictability means quite the opposite of stability. The chances that you’ll be disrupted in the marketplace by a new company, or the changing needs and desires of your customers, is extremely high. So, most likely, those long-range predictions of sales and profits are pretty useless.

• What a 5-year plan should look like

With the exception of R&D-heavy businesses, most 5-year business plans should be more like vision statements than traditional business plans. They should explain your vision for the future, but skip the details of detailed sales projections and expense budgets. 

Your vision for your business should explain the types of products and services that you hope to offer in the future and the types of customers that you hope to serve. Your plan should outline who you plan to serve now and how you plan to expand if you are successful.

This kind of future vision creates a strategic roadmap. It’s not a fully detailed plan with sales forecasts and expense budgets, but a plan for getting started and then growing over time to reach your final destination.

For example, here’s a short-form version of what a long-term plan for Nike might have looked like if one had been written in the 1960s:

Nike will start by developing high-end track shoes for elite athletes. We’ll start with a focus on the North West of the US, but expand nationally as we develop brand recognition among track and field athletes. We will use sponsored athletes to spread the word about the quality and performance of our shoes. Once we have success in the track & field market segment, we believe that we will be able to successfully expand both beyond the US market and also branch out into other sports, with an initial focus on basketball.

Leadership and brand awareness in a sport such as basketball will enable us to cross over from the athlete market into the consumer market. This will lead to significant business growth in the consumer segment and allow for expansion into additional sports, fashion, and casual markets in addition to building a strong apparel brand.

Interestingly enough, Nike (to my knowledge) never wrote out a long-range business plan. They developed their plans as they grew, building the proverbial airplane as it took off.

But, if you have this kind of vision for your business, it’s useful to articulate it. Your employees will want to know what your vision is and your investors will want to know as well. They want to know that you, as an entrepreneur, are looking beyond tomorrow and into the future months and years ahead.

• How to write a five-year business plan

Writing out your long-term vision for your business is a useful exercise. It can bring a sense of stability and solidify key performance indicators and broad milestones that drive your business. 

Developing a long-range business plan is really just an extension of your regular business planning process. A typical business plan covers the next one to three years, documenting your target market, marketing strategy, and product or service offerings for that time period. 

A five-year plan expands off of that initial strategy and discusses what your business might do in the years to come. However, as I’ve mentioned before, creating a fully detailed five-year business plan will be a waste of time. 

Here’s a quick guide to writing a business plan that looks further into the future without wasting your time:

1. Develop your one-page plan

As with all business planning, we recommend that you start with a one-page business plan. It provides a snapshot of what you’re hoping to achieve in the immediate term by outlining your core business strategy, target market, and business model.

A one-page plan is the foundation of all other planning because it’s the document that you’ll keep the most current. It’s also the easiest to update and share with business partners. You will typically highlight up to three years of revenue and profit goals as well as milestones that you hope to achieve in the near term.

Check out our guide to building your one-page plan and download a free template to get started.

2. Determine if you need a traditional business plan

Unlike a one-page business plan, a traditional business plan is more detailed and is typically written in long-form prose. A traditional business plan is usually 10-20 pages long and contains details about your product or service, summaries of the market research that you’ve conducted, and details about your competition. Read our complete guide to writing a business plan .

Companies that write traditional business plans typically have a “business plan event” where a complete business plan is required. Business plan events are usually part of the fundraising process. During fundraising, lenders and investors may ask to see a detailed plan and it’s important to be ready if that request comes up. 

But there are other good reasons to write a detailed business plan. A detailed plan forces you to think through the details of your business and how, exactly, you’re going to build your business. Detailed plans encourage you to think through your business strategy, your target market, and your competition carefully. A good business plan ensures that your strategy is complete and fleshed out, not just a collection of vague ideas.

A traditional business plan is also a good foundation for a long-term business plan and I recommend that you expand your lean business plan into a complete business plan if you intend to create plans for more than three years into the future.

3. Develop long-term goals and growth targets

As you work on your business plan, you’ll need to think about where you want to be in 5+ years. A good exercise is to envision what your business will look like. How many employees will you have? How many locations will you serve? Will you introduce new products and services? 

When you’ve envisioned where you want your business to be, it’s time to turn that vision into a set of goals that you’ll document in your business plan. Each section of your business plan will be expanded to highlight where you want to be in the future. For example, in your target market section, you will start by describing your initial target market. Then you’ll proceed to describe the markets that you hope to reach in 3-5 years.

To accompany your long-term goals, you’ll also need to establish revenue targets that you think you’ll need to meet to achieve your goals. It’s important to also think about the expenses you’re going to incur in order to grow your business. 

For long-range planning, I recommend thinking about your expenses in broad buckets such as “marketing” and “product development” without getting bogged down in too much detail. Think about what percentage of your sales you’ll spend on each of these broad buckets. For example, marketing spending might be 20% of sales. 

4. Develop a 3-5 year strategic plan

Your goals and growth targets are “what” you want to achieve. Your strategy is “how” you’re going to achieve it.

Use your business plan to document your strategy for growth. You might be expanding your product offering, expanding your market, or some combination of the two. You’ll need to think about exactly how this process will happen over the next 3-5 years. 

A good way to document your strategy is to use milestones. These are interim goals that you’ll set to mark your progress along the way to your larger goal. For example, you may have a goal to expand your business nationally from your initial regional presence. You probably won’t expand across the country all at once, though. Most likely, you’ll expand into certain regions one at a time and grow to have a national presence over time. Your strategy will be the order of the regions that you plan on expanding into and why you pick certain regions over others.

Your 3-5 year strategy may also include what’s called an “exit strategy”. This part of a business plan is often required if you’re raising money from investors. They’ll want to know how they’ll eventually get their money back. An “exit” can be the sale of your business or potentially going public. A typical exit strategy will identify potential acquirers for your business and will show that you’ve thought about how your business might be an attractive purchase.

5. Tie your long-term plan to your one-page plan

As your business grows, you can use your long-term business plan as your north star. Your guide for where you want to end up. Use those goals to steer your business in the right direction, making small course corrections as you need to. 

You’ll reflect those smaller course corrections in your one-page plan. Because it is a simple document and looks at the shorter term, it’s easier to update. The best way to do this is to set aside a small amount of time to review your plan once a month. You’ll review your financial forecast, your milestones, and your overall strategy. If things need to change, you can make those adjustments. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan, so it’s OK to make corrections as you go.

You may find that your long-term plan may also need corrections as you grow your business. You may learn things about your market that change your initial assumptions and impacts your long-range plan. This is perfectly normal. Once a quarter or so, zoom out and review your long-range plan. If you need to make corrections to your strategy and goals, that’s fine. Just keep your plan alive so that it gives you the guidance that you need over time. 

• Vision setting is the purpose of long-term planning

Part of what makes entrepreneurs special is that they have a vision. They have dreams for where they want their business to go. A 5-year business plan should be about documenting that vision for the future and how your business will capitalize on that vision.

So, if someone asks you for your 5-year business plan. Don’t scramble to put together a sales forecast and budget for 5 years from now. Your best guess today will be obsolete tomorrow. Instead, focus on your vision and communicate that. 

Explain where you think your business is going and what you think the market is going to be like 5 years from now. Explain what you think customers are going to want and where trends are headed and how you’re going to be there to sell the solution to the problems that exist in 5 and 10 years. Just skip the invented forecasts and fantasy budgets.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 2024

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Whether you’re looking to secure $5,000, $50,000, $500,000 or $5 million for your business, you’ll need a business plan. Knowing how to write a business plan that captures the attention of lenders and investors can pay big. While entrepreneurs and startup owners often feel overwhelmed at the thought of writing a business plan, don’t worry, we walk you through what a prospective lender or investor expects in this step-by-step guide. Better yet, it’s based on 20 years of experience helping companies, just like yours, not only create their business plan, but land their ideal funding arrangement and improve their strategies for long-term success. If you read this article and still feel overwhelmed, using the best business plan template is likely a good choice.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

Your business plan highlights your unique value to the market, your strategy for business success and your financial outlook. It communicates that your business is meeting a need for which there is a demand. It conveys that your product or service demand is sustainable and your business is uniquely positioned to capture an increasing share of the market year-over-year. That means consistent business growth and profitability. This is achieved by describing your company, your product or service and your marketing strategy. Within your business plan, you’ll also specify your funding request and provide financial reports including projections.

Writing a Business Plan

The following is an overview of each segment of a business plan and how to confidently craft the document to showcase a business strategy.

You can also download our how to write a business plan pdf to help you get started.

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is where you impress the reader by highlighting a businesses’ market strengths and qualities. In one-to-two pages, establish a reason for the investor or lender to consider your funding request. Because the executive summary is an overview, you’ll write it last. This way you are consolidating the key messages from throughout the plan in one place.

An effective business plan executive summary defines your mission and lays out your strategy for success. It communicates that you have a firm grasp of the market. It also explains what you expect from the reader. But most of all, it captivates the reader’s attention and persuades them to strongly consider becoming your funding source.

2. Company Analysis

Now it’s time to describe the nuts and bolts of your venture through a company description and analysis. Investors are interested in your company’s mission, history, structure and achievements. They are assessing who you are and what your capabilities are. The mission statement within your business plan summarizes why you are operating and describes the effect your company has on its clients and in society. Mission statements are short and impactful. A mission statement for a new day care center might read: At XYZ Day Care, our mission is to care for children from tot to toddler in a safe, fun and loving environment.

A company history includes some basic information such as your inception date and location. The value of this section of your business plan lies in sharing your origin story. Investors are interested in knowing how you developed the business concept and took it to market. For start-ups, this section may be brief. Established organizations can expand this section to highlight major accomplishments since inception.

Here’s an example of a company history for a restaurant:

You’ll also specify the legal structure of your company in the company analysis. A business can be a sole-proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability firm or a non-profit organization.

3. Industry Analysis

Your company is not operating in a vacuum, and your business plan needs to reflect that through a market analysis business plan . There are socio-economic factors that have implications for your business’ performance in the marketplace. An industry analysis or market analysis sheds light at a local, national or global level of how all firms offering similar products or services are performing. This section identifies historical trends that have shaped the industry and pinpoints recent developments that must be considered when creating your business strategy. Research from credible sources is central to your industry analysis. Review both past and present reports to form the broadest understanding of all external factors.

Some key statistics to include in the market analysis section of your business plan are:

• total market size
• relevant market size
• historical market growth
• future growth estimates

You’ll also want to include your market share estimates. While many sources provide a total market size, it may take some additional work to calculate the relevant market size. That’s because this figure is based upon your niche rather than the entire industry market.

Your relevant market size is an estimate of the annual revenue your business could attain if it realized 100% market share. You calculate it by multiplying the following two figures:

• Estimate the number of people who might be interested in purchasing your products or services each year.
• Estimate the dollar amount these customers might be willing to spend, on an annual basis, on your products or services.

Let’s look at a partial industry analysis example for a startup food truck business:

4. Customer Analysis

An effective customer analysis describes your target market, whether a business or consumer, and their specific needs. For starters, a potential funding source is ascertaining how well you understand the buying behaviors and patterns of your customers. They are also assessing the proximity of your business to the customers and the size of the potential customer pool.

In addition, the customer analysis section of your business plan answers two key questions: what is the problem your customer is experiencing and how are you solving it? Customer problems, or pain points, are myriad. You’ll need to hone in on the vital ones you are resolving with your products and services. For example, customers may be looking to reduce time or costs to complete projects, or they may want to work with an organization that has a good reputation for customer service.

One approach to writing your customer analysis is to develop an ideal client avatar or persona. An avatar is a figure that represents your client. It defines their age (or years in business), behaviors, values, aspirations, needs and concerns.

Here’s a potential client avatar for a nail salon business:

5. Competitive Analysis

As previously mentioned, your business is not operating in a vacuum. There are other firms, competing for your ideal client, offering similar products and services. That’s why you need a competitive analysis business plan . A crucial section for a small business, startup or entrepreneur, the competitive analysis outlays your strengths as compared to other firms. It unequivocally answers the question, “why this business?” for prospective customers and more importantly potential investors or lenders.

The competitive analysis communicates how you will outperform the competition. This is the place for you to highlight your advantages – your strengths and the opportunities you can seize in the marketplace. Keep in mind that your strengths can be related to people, products, services, processes as well as intellectual property.

Competitors can be direct or indirect. A direct competitor offers a similar product or service to satisfy a customer need. An indirect competitor offers a different product, service or approach that may meet the same customer need as your business. For instance, an indirect competitor for a coffee shop could be a gas station, fast food restaurant or a donut shop.

To write your competitive analysis, you may prepare a competitor profile or a matrix. The profile focuses on a single company while the matrix provides a high-level comparison of the revenues, products, services, pricing, strengths and weaknesses for each key competitor.

Here’s an example of a competitor profile for a real estate agent:

6. Marketing Plan

Let’s face it, people need to know that your business exists. People also need to know the benefits of your products and services. A sales and marketing section or marketing plan section is where your marketing and sales plan is showcased within your business plan. A marketing plan lays out your strategy for communicating this information. It convinces investors and lenders that you know how to reach your ideal client and generate sales. In some cases, your marketing plan may be a separate document from your business plan.

The marketing plan has three components: products and services, promotions and distribution. Begin with thoroughly defining your products and services. Spell out the features and benefits. Features are the attributes of your product and service, while benefits communicate the value of your product or service to the customer. Be sure to also include your pricing in this section.

A marketing plan for a coffee shop could list coffee, espresso and tea as its products. The shop may sell additional products such as mugs, coasters, pastries and sandwiches. A beauty salon may have shampoo, dry, trim and curl as its primary services. They may provide complementary services including manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxing.

Once your products and services are defined. You’ll focus on getting the word out. This is your promotion plan – your strategy for attracting customers. Are you using social media or content marketing? Are you advertising, and if so what are the best advertising channels for your business? Will you have periodic sales and product giveaways? What about referral bonuses? What market segment are you going to target with what promotional activity? In developing your promotional plan within your business plan, make sure you convey which channels are most effective for your ideal client. A strong marketing and promotional can be a source of the important competitive advantages you need.

Promotions are how you communicate. Distribution is how you sell. You need both to succeed in business. So now that you’ve laid out your promotion plan, it’s time to focus on getting your products and services to the client. Three common distribution channels are retail, wholesale and direct. In retail and wholesale distribution, you are selling your product to another entity who then sells to the customer. Your strategy should include how you’ll best fulfill the needs of your select retailers and wholesalers.

With direct distribution, the customer buys from you either online, by telephone or at your physical location. When developing your distribution plan, study the purchasing tendencies of your ideal client. Do they shop in certain geographies? Are they primarily online shoppers? How long will it take for the package to arrive? Armed with this information, you can effectively determine which distribution mode will get you the greatest results.

Consider an example from ABC Planners, an e-commerce business:

7. Operations Plan

Successful businesses have a strong operations foundation. As a result, the operations plan is a key part of the business planning process and business plan.

Defined processes, metrics and milestones are essential to ensure you will effectively manage the business and its associated costs. A thorough operations plan conveys to investors your business results are intentional. It also demonstrates you’ve considered what could go wrong and have preventative and recovery plans intact.

The operations plan can cover a number of functions from human resources and product development to legal. Your business operations are interconnected. Each operation supports how you sell your product or service. Give adequate attention to your production process and quality control. Production describes how you make your product or service. Quality control measures how effectively and efficiently you produce your product or deliver your service. Depending on the size of your business, some of the functions may be outsourced to specialty providers. In this case, you may list your suppliers.

Strategic planning is an internal part of operations. Here’s where you’ll detail your key milestones for the next three years. Milestones can be related to all aspects of your business: financial, products and services as well as operations.

A sample operations plan for a start-up bakery follows:

• Secure building lease by month, year
• Remodel space for modern bakery operations by month, year
• Hire bakery manager and staff by month, year
• Achieve $xx in sales by month, year

8. Management Team

Just as investors want to be assured you have a viable product or service, they are especially interested in who’s running the business. Plans spell out your intentions, and it is the management team business plan that provides a comprehensive roadmap for achieving those intentions. People carry out those plans. The caliber of your team and business partners conveys a great deal about your ability to achieve your business goals. That’s why investors need to know who’s on the team and what expertise they bring to the table.

Here you’ll provide the names and biographies of your management team members and indicate any management gaps. If it applies, you may also highlight your Board of Directors. The background information may contain the individual’s educational achievements, relevant work experience, skills and accomplishments. Sharing personal details helps investors to get to know your management team and provides another layer of transparency. According to the Small Business Administration, some business plans, may also include supplementary organization charts.

At the writing of your business plan, it’s possible to have openings on your management team. In this case, you’ll list the position, define the job responsibilities and specify the hiring requirements for the ideal candidate.

For example, the background for a software company’s president may read:

9. Financial Plan

Remember, an important part of securing funding for your business is conveying it will be financially sound and you can repay the potential funding source in the near future. This is why the financial plan is critical to your business plan. It presents your revenue model, financial projections and funding requirements. You are basically sharing the different ways you will generate income, your plans for financial solvency and your rationale for your funding request.

The revenue model describes how you make money. Some common revenue models are subscriptions, advertising, affiliate marketing, markups, direct sales and commissions.

Financial highlights are essential. Your plan must include a three-to-five-year financial forecast that presents your projected income and expenses while painting a realistic picture of your profitability. It will highlight several reports with the details included in your Appendix. The financial reports include your projected income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Established businesses may choose to include historical financial data. Charts and graphs work well for depicting your financial highlights.

Lastly, you will detail your funding request. Specify how much funding you’ll require and how you will use the funding. Some potential uses are to purchase equipment, pay bills and salaries, rent office space or conduct marketing research for product development.

Here’s an example financial plan summary:

10. Appendix

The Appendix is the final section of your business plan . It’s used to provide supporting documentation for materials referenced in any of the previous sections. Additionally, it allows the reader to review detailed financials. Investors expect to see your full financial forecast in the Appendix. These are the projected income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement referenced in your financial plan. Some lenders may request your personal or business credit history as part of the appendix business plan .

Investors also use this section to verify your business idea and business credentials. Consider including some of these items in your Appendix: resumes for the management team, sample marketing materials, lists of key customers, patents and trademarks in the section.

How to Write a Business Plan Video

Summary of How to Write a Business Plan

We’ve just covered 10 essential sections of a complete business plan. By now you should be confident that you understand what you need to build a business plan and what investors look for in a traditional business plan and that you can write one to meet their needs. Just in case you’d like some additional information or examples, check out additional articles and resources covering topics such as marketing and sales plans, financial health, business plan market research, or try a business plan builder .

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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A business plan is a document that outlines a company's goals and the strategies to achieve them. It's valuable for both startups and established companies. For startups, a well-crafted business plan is crucial for attracting potential lenders and investors. Established businesses use business plans to stay on track and aligned with their growth objectives. This article will explain the key components of an effective business plan and guidance on how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document detailing a company's business activities and strategies for achieving its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to launch their venture and to attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan helps keep the executive team focused on short- and long-term objectives.
• There's no single required format for a business plan, but certain key elements are essential for most companies.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place before beginning operations. Banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before considering making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a company doesn't need additional funding, having a business plan helps it stay focused on its goals. Research from the University of Oregon shows that businesses with a plan are significantly more likely to secure funding than those without one. Moreover, companies with a business plan grow 30% faster than those that don't plan. According to a Harvard Business Review article, entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than those who don't.

A business plan should ideally be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect achieved goals or changes in direction. An established business moving in a new direction might even create an entirely new plan.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. It allows for careful consideration of ideas before significant investment, highlights potential obstacles to success, and provides a tool for seeking objective feedback from trusted outsiders. A business plan may also help ensure that a company’s executive team remains aligned on strategic action items and priorities.

While business plans vary widely, even among competitors in the same industry, they often share basic elements detailed below.

A well-crafted business plan is essential for attracting investors and guiding a company's strategic growth. It should address market needs and investor requirements and provide clear financial projections.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, gathering the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document is best. Any additional crucial elements, such as patent applications, can be referenced in the main document and included as appendices.

Common elements in many business plans include:

• Executive summary : This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services : Describe the products and services the company offers or plans to introduce. Include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique consumer benefits. Mention production and manufacturing processes, relevant patents , proprietary technology , and research and development (R&D) information.
• Market analysis : Explain the current state of the industry and the competition. Detail where the company fits in, the types of customers it plans to target, and how it plans to capture market share from competitors.
• Marketing strategy : Outline the company's plans to attract and retain customers, including anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. Describe the distribution channels that will be used to deliver products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections : Established businesses should include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses should provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. This section may also include any funding requests.

Investors want to see a clear exit strategy, expected returns, and a timeline for cashing out. It's likely a good idea to provide five-year profitability forecasts and realistic financial estimates.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can vary in format, often categorized into traditional and lean startup plans. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These are detailed and lengthy, requiring more effort to create but offering comprehensive information that can be persuasive to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These are concise, sometimes just one page, and focus on key elements. While they save time, companies should be ready to provide additional details if requested by investors or lenders.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan isn't a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections. Markets and the economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All this calls for building flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How Often Should a Business Plan Be Updated?

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on its nature. Updating your business plan is crucial due to changes in external factors (market trends, competition, and regulations) and internal developments (like employee growth and new products). While a well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary, a new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is ideal for quickly explaining a business, especially for new companies that don't have much information yet. Key sections may include a value proposition , major activities and advantages, resources (staff, intellectual property, and capital), partnerships, customer segments, and revenue sources.

A well-crafted business plan is crucial for any company, whether it's a startup looking for investment or an established business wanting to stay on course. It outlines goals and strategies, boosting a company's chances of securing funding and achieving growth.

As your business and the market change, update your business plan regularly. This keeps it relevant and aligned with your current goals and conditions. Think of your business plan as a living document that evolves with your company, not something carved in stone.

University of Oregon Department of Economics. " Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Business Planning Using Palo Alto's Business Plan Pro ." Eason Ding & Tim Hursey.

Bplans. " Do You Need a Business Plan? Scientific Research Says Yes ."

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

Harvard Business Review. " How to Write a Winning Business Plan ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

SCORE. " When and Why Should You Review Your Business Plan? "

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• 5 Best Business Plan Software and Tools in 2023 for Your Small Business

Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

We are committed to sharing unbiased reviews. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us. Read our editorial guidelines and advertising disclosure .

A business plan can do a lot for your business. It can help you secure investors or other funding. It can give your company direction. It can keep your finances healthy. But, if we’re being honest, it can also be a pain to write.

Luckily, you don’t have to start from scratch or go it alone. Business plan software and services can help you craft a professional business plan, like our top choice LivePlan , which provides templates, guidance, and more.

You’ve got quite a few choices for business plan help, so we’re here to help you narrow things down. Let’s talk about the best business plan tools out there.

• LivePlan : Best overall
• BizPlanBuilder : Most user-friendly
• Wise Business Plans : Best professional service
• Business Sorter : Best for internal plans
• GoSmallBiz.com : Most extra features
• Honorable mentions

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LivePlan: Best overall business plan software

Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. *With annual billing

LivePlan has been our favorite business plan software for a while now, despite the stiff competition.

There’s a lot to like about LivePlan. It has pretty much all the features you could want from your business plan software. LivePlan gives you step-by-step instructions for writing your plan, helps you create financial reports, lets you compare your business’s actual financials to your plan’s goals, and much more. And if you ever need inspiration, it includes hundreds of sample business plans that can guide your writing.

LivePlan software pricing

But the best part? You get all that (and more) at a very competitive price. (You can choose from annual, six-month, or monthly billing.) While LivePlan isn’t quite the cheapest business plan builder out there, it’s not too far off either. And if comes with a 60-day money back guarantee. So there’s no risk in trying LivePlan out for yourself.

With a great balance of features and cost, LivePlan offers the best business plan solution for most businesses.

BizPlanBuilder: Most user-friendly

Need something easy to use? BizPlanBuilder fits the bill.

BizPlanBuilder doesn’t have a flashy, modern user interface―but it does have a very clear, intuitive one. You’ll be able to see your plan’s overall structure at a glance, so you can quickly navigate from your title page to your market trend section to that paragraph on your core values. And as you write, you’ll use a text editor that looks a whole lot like the word processing programs you’re already familiar with.

BizPlanBuilder software pricing

Data effective 3/13/23. At publishing time, amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.

BizPlanBuilder also offers lots of helpful guidance for actually writing your plan. It gives you pre-written text, in which you just have to fill in relevant details. It offers explanations for what information you need to include in each section of your plan and way. It even gives you helpful tips from experts, so you’ll have all the information you need to plan like a pro.

So if you want planning software with almost no learning curve, you’ll like BizPlanBuilder.

Wise Business Plans: Best professional service

• Custom quote

Unlike all the other companies on this list, Wise Business Plans doesn’t offer software. Instead, it offers professional business plan writing services―meaning someone does all the hard work for you.

Now, you might think that sounds expensive―and you’re probably right (you have to request a custom quote for your plan). But there’s a lot to be said for expertise, and Wise Business Plans has plenty of that. Your business plan will get written by an experienced writer (with an MBA, no less). They’ll get information from you, do their own research, and then write your plan. You get one free revision, and you can always pay for more.  

Wise Business Plans service pricing

Your end result will be a polished, entirely original business plan. (You can even get printed copies.) And best of all, you won’t have to spend your precious time working on the plan yourself. Wise Business Plans takes care of all the hard parts, and makes your business look good while doing it. Sounds like a service worth paying for, right?

Put simply, if you want the most professional business plan possible, we recommend using Wise Business Plans’s writing service.

Business Sorter: Best for internal plans

Many businesses need plans to show to people outside the company (to get financing, for example). But what if you just need a plan for internal use? In that case, we suggest Business Sorter.

Business Sorter uses a unique card-based method to help you craft the perfect business plan. (You can watch a demo video to see how it works.) You’ll plan some of the usual things, like finances and marketing. But Business Sorter also lets you make plans for specific teams and team members. It also emphasizes more internal matters, like operations, that might get overlooked in a business plan for outsiders.

Business Sorter software pricing

After you’ve made your business plan, Business Sorter also helps you stay accountable to it. You can create tasks, give them deadlines, and assign them to team members―giving you basic project management tools to make sure your business plans become business actions. (Oh, and did we mention that Business Sorter has the lowest starting prices of any software on this list?)

It all adds up to a business plan software that works great for internal planning.

GoSmallBiz: Most extra features

Want to get way more than just business planning software? Then you probably want GoSmallBiz.

See, GoSmallBiz offers business plan software as part of its service―but it’s just one part of a much bigger whole. You also get everything from discounts on legal services to a website builder to a CRM (customer relationship manager) to business document templates. And more. In other words, you get just about everything you need to get your startup off the ground.

GoSmallBiz software pricing

Don’t worry though―you still get all the business planning help you need. GoSmallBiz gives you business plan templates, step-by-step instructions, and the ability to create financial projections. And if you get stuck, GoSmallBiz will put you in touch with experts who can offer advice.

If you want business planning and much, much more, give GoSmallBiz a try.

• PlanGuru : Best financial forecasting
• EnLoop : Cheapest tool for startups

We recommend the software above for most business planning needs. Some businesses, though, might be interested in these more specialized planning software.

Honorable mention software pricing

PlanGuru: Best financial forecasting features

PlanGuru is pretty pricey compared to our other picks, but you might find its forecasting features worth paying for. It has more forecasting methods than other software (over 20) plus it lets you forecast up to 10 years.

EnLoop: Cheapest tool for startups

EnLoop doesn’t have our favorite features or interface, but it does have really, really low pricing plus a seven-day free trial. It's the most affordable software for startup business planning and still provides all the essential features like financial analysis, team collaboration, charting, and more.

Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. * With annual billing

Several of our previous favorite planning software, including BusinessPlanPro and StratPad, seem to have gone out of business.

A business plan is a written, living document that tells the story of your business and what you plan to do with it. It serves as the source of truth for you—the business owner—as well as potential partners, employees, and investors, but it also serves as a roadmap of what you want your business to be.

Why you need a business plan

While some small-business owners don’t see the point of creating a formal business plan, it can have some concrete benefits for your business. For example, one 2016 study found that business owners with written plans are more successful than those that don’t. 1

Still too vague? Then let’s get specific.

If you ever seek business funding (from, say, banks, angel investors , or venture capitalists ), you’ll have to prove that your business deserves the money you want. A formal business plan―complete with financial data and projections―gives you a professional document you can use to make your case. (In fact, most potential investors will expect you to have a business plan ready.)

Even if you’re not seeking funding right now, a business plan can help your business. A formal plan can guide your business’s direction and decision making. It can keep your business accountable (by, for example, seeing if your business meets the financial projections you included). And a formal plan offers a great way to make sure your team stays on the same page.

What to include in your business plan

Not all business plans are created equal. To make a really useful business plan, you’ll want to include a number of elements:

• Basic information about your business
• Your products/services
• Market and industry analysis
• What makes your business competitive
• Strategies and upcoming plans
• Your team (and your team’s background)
• Current financial status
• Financial and market projections
• Executive summary

Of course, you can include more or fewer elements―whatever makes sense for your business. Just make sure your business plan is comprehensive (but not overwhelming).

How business plan software can help

With so many elements to include, business plan creation can take a while. Business plan software tries to speed things up.

Most business plan software will include prompts for each section. In some cases, you can just fill in your business’s specific information, and the software will write the text for you. In other cases, the software will give you specific guidance and examples, helping you write the text yourself.

Plus, business plan software can help you stay organized. You’ll usually get intuitive menus that let you quickly flip through sections. So rather than endlessly scrolling through a long document in a word processor, you can quickly find your way around your plan. Some software even lets you drag and drop sections to reorganize your plan.

Sounds way easier than just staring at a blank page and trying to start from scratch, right?

Choosing business plan software

To find the right business plan builder for your business, you’ll want to compare features. For example, would you rather write your own text, getting prompts and advice from your software? Or would you rather go with a fill-in-the-blank method?

Likewise, think about the elements you need. If your plan will have a heavy focus on finances, you’ll want to choose business plan software with robust financial projection features. If you care more about market and competitor analysis, look for software that can help with that research.

You may also want to find business plan software that integrates with your business accounting software . Some plan builders will import data from Xero, QuickBooks, etc. to quickly generate your financial data and projections.

And of course, you’ll want to compare prices. After all, you always want to end up with software that fits your business budget.

The right business plan software can make your life easier. With LivePlan ’s wide breadth of features and online learning tools, you can’t go wrong. Plus, BizPlanBuilder 's one-time pricing makes it easy to invest while Business Sorter has a low starting cost. And if you're business is looking to grow, GoSmallBiz and Wise Business Plans will scale with you.

But of course, different companies have different needs. So shop around until you find the software that’s best for you and your business.

Now that you've got a business plan, take a look at our checklist for starting a small business.  It can help you make sure you have everything else you need to get your startup off to a good start!

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Creating a business plan can take anywhere from a couple hours to several weeks. Your timeline will depend on things like the elements you choose to include, whether you use software or hire a writing service, and how much research goes into your plan.

That said, much of the business plan software out there brags that it can help you create a fairly detailed plan in a few hours. So if you’re going the software route, that can help you set your expectations.

If you want to get the most out of your business plan, you should update it on a regular basis―at least annually. That way, you can continually refer to it to inform your company’s strategies and direction.  

At the very least, you should update your business plan before you start looking for a new round of funding (whether that’s with investors or lenders).

Thanks to business plan software, you can easily write your own business plan rather than pay someone to do it for you. And in most cases, software will cost you less than a professional business plan service.

There are some times you might want to go with a service though. If time is tight, you might find that it’s worth the cost of a service. Or if you’ve got big investor meetings on the horizon, you might want the expertise and polish that a professional service can offer.

Ultimately, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether business plan software or a business plan service will work better for your company.

Methodology

We ranked business plan software and tools based on features, pricing and plans, and connections to project management and other services. The value of each plan and service, along with what it offers, was a big consideration in our rankings, and we looked to see if what was offered was useful to small businesses or just extra. The final thing we looked at was the ease of use of the software to see if it's too complex for small businesses.

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.

Sources 1. Harvard Business Review, “ Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed .” Accessed March 13, 2023.

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BLM Yuma Field Office Long-Term Visitor Areas Draft Business Plan

This draft business plan was prepared by the Bureau of Land Management’s Yuma Field Office pursuant to the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 (16 U.S.C. 6801-6814) and BLM recreation fee program policies. It establishes future management goals and priorities for the Long-Term Visitor Area Program within the Yuma Field Office .

Public comment period now open

We announced a public comment period on Sept. 6, 2024.

You can provide comment on this draft business plan by emailing  [email protected]  with the subject line "LTVA Fee Proposal Comment" or by delivering/mailing comments to:

BLM Yuma Field Office

7341 E 30th St, Suite A

Yuma, AZ 85365

Comments must be received by Oct. 21, 2024.

To learn more about draft business plans across the state,  read the announcement  and visit our  interactive StoryMap .

Click the link below to read the draft business plan.

Publication Date

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The UK says water bosses could face prison under plans to clean up sewage-clogged rivers

FILE -Susan Barry, left, and Jo Robb, members of the open water swimming group Henley Mermaids, exit the river Thames after a swim, in Henley-on-Thames, England, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

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LONDON (AP) — The bosses of water companies that pollute waterways could go to prison under a new law the British government says will help clean up the country’s sewage-clogged rivers, lakes and beaches .

A bill introduced in Parliament on Thursday will give regulators the ability to ban bonuses for executives of polluting firms and bring criminal charges against lawbreakers, with the possibility of up to two years’ imprisonment for executives who obstruct investigations.

The state of Britain’s waterways made a stink during the campaign for a July 4 national election . For critics of the Conservative Party that had been in office since 2010, dirty water was a pungent symbol of Britain’s aging infrastructure and the effects of privatization of essential utilities.

The private companies that provide combined water and sewage services routinely discharge sewage into waterways when rain overwhelms sewer systems often dating from the Victorian era. Critics say the firms have failed to invest in upgrading infrastructure – but have continued to pay dividends to shareholders.

Water companies say they want to invest in upgrades but accuse the industry’s financial regulator, Ofwat, of not allowing them to raise customers’ bills enough to finance improvements.

The center-left Labour Party government elected in July has promised to clean up the “unacceptable” state of Britain’s waters.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said that “water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth.”

The bill, which must be approved by lawmakers, also would strengthen powers of the regulators and force water companies to publish real-time data of all sewage spills.

Clean-water campaigner Feargal Sharkey said it was good news that “after years of denial at least there is a government prepared to accept and recognize the scale of the problem.”

But he said existing anti-pollution laws have rarely, if ever, been used.

“We don’t need new regulations, we don’t need new laws, we’ve got 35 years’ worth of laws that have never been applied,” Sharkey told Sky News. “You should force them to go out and apply the law as it stands today, that would have been a massive step forward.”

Red Lobster sale and reorganization plan approved by federal judge

After months of dozens of restaurant closings and headlines about “endless shrimp” woes, Red Lobster is poised to soon exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the casual seafood chain’s reorganization plan and sale to a lender group led by asset manager Fortress. The green light arrives under just four months after Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy protection as it pursued a sale, following years of mounting losses and dwindling customers while it struggled to keep up with competitors.

At the time of filing in May, Red Lobster’s leadership shared plans to “simplify the business” through a reduction of locations. The Orlando, Florida, chain shuttered dozens of its North American restaurants in recent months — both leading up to and during the bankruptcy process. That includes  more than 50 locations  whose equipment was put up for auction just days before the Chapter 11 petition, followed by dozens of additional closures throughout the bankruptcy process.

Red Lobster said Thursday that it expects to operate about 544 locations across the U.S. and Canada upon emerging from bankruptcy. That’s down from 578 disclosed as of May’s filing.

Under terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close at the end of September, the chain will continue to operate as an independent company.

The chain will also get a new CEO — Damola Adamolekun, former chief executive of P.F. Chang’s.

Adamolekun was appointed to head RL Investor Holdings, the newly formed entity acquiring Red Lobster, by Fortress last week. In a statement Thursday, Adamolekun said that Red Lobster “has a tremendous future” and thanked Jonathan Tibus, who will leave the company and step down as CEO, for his leadership during the bankruptcy process.

Red Lobster’s purchaser is also providing additional funding to help the Orlando, Florida-based chain get back on its feet post-emergence. Adamolekun said the company’s long-term investment plan includes a commitment of more than $60 million in new funding.

Red Lobster has seen multiple ownership changes over the course of its 56-year history. The chain was founded back in 1968 by Bill Darden, who sold Red Lobster to General Mills in 1970. General Mills later went on to form Darden Restaurants , which owns Olive Garden and other chains. Darden Restaurants was spun off from General Mills in 1995.

Darden Restaurants later sold Red Lobster to a private equity firm in 2014.  Thai Union Group , one of the world’s largest seafood suppliers, first  invested in Red Lobster in 2016  and upped its stake in 2020 — but announced its intention to exit its minority investment earlier this year.

When announcing plans to divest in January, CEO Thiraphong Chansiri said the COVID-19 pandemic, industry headwinds and rising operating costs from Red Lobster had resulted in “prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders.” It reported a $19 million loss from Red Lobster for the first nine months of 2023.

While not the sole reason, among sources of loss were — yes — those endless shrimp. Last year, Red Lobster significantly expanded the iconic all-you-can-eat special. But customer demand overwhelmed what the chain could afford. Thai Union leadership later noted that the deal’s $20 price tag wasn’t making enough money.

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How to plan a business expansion in 2023.

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By Nellie Akalp

Consult knowledgeable legal, accounting, and human resource experts when expanding a company.

If you plan to expand your business—by serving new markets, extending your portfolio of products or services, or adding staff—you have much to think about. In this article, we’ll discuss a few talking points business owners should consider as they strive to grow their companies.

5 key considerations when growing your business

1. forming an llc or corporation.

Many small businesses start as sole proprietorships or general partnerships because those business structures offer administrative simplicity and no statutory compliance requirements. However, they do not provide protection for business owners’ personal assets or give any tax treatment flexibility.

Business growth aspirations prompt many entrepreneurs to change from a sole proprietorship or partnership to a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation.

Rightly so! Forming either of those business structures creates a separate legal entity for the company. That means the owner’s personal assets (home, vehicles, retirement investments, etc.) receive protection from the debts and legal liabilities of the business.

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Also, LLCs and C Corporations that meet the IRS’s qualification criteria may choose to be taxed as S Corporations. In the case of an LLC, the S Corp election helps minimize a business owner’s self-employment tax obligations. The primary benefit of S Corporation election for a C Corp is that it avoids the double taxation of income distributed to shareholders.

2. Getting the required licenses and permits

If you’re expanding your product or service lines or extending your reach to other locales or market areas, you may need to apply for new licenses or permits. States and local government agencies’ rules and regulations vary for different types of business activity. Examples of the possible licensing requirements include the following:

• General business license
• Sales tax license
• Alcohol license
• Bakery license
• Food and beverage license
• Zoning permit
• Music license
• Health license
• Landscaping license
• Sign permit
• Entertainment license
• Professional licenses (e.g., accounting, attorney, physician, engineer)

As you can imagine, there are many more applicable to different industries and business activities. Entrepreneurs need to research the requirements for any locations where they will conduct business.

3. Hiring employees

If you can no longer do everything on your own—or you want to do more but don’t have the time or specific skillset to accomplish it—it’s time to get help. Hiring employees can take some of the administrative and operational pressures off of you. Of course, adding employees to the payroll adds some new responsibilities, which includes:

Processing payroll

Here’s a summary of what most companies need to handle payroll:

• A federal tax ID number (EIN) from the IRS
• Payroll tax registration with the state (and possibly local) tax agencies.
• Employee information and tax documents (e.g., obtaining W-4 and I-9 forms from employees, and sending W-2 forms to employees)
• Salary and wage information (e.g., wages, salaries, overtime pay, paid time off compensation, tips, bonuses, commissions)
• Health insurance documentation
• Retirement plan documentation
• Employee bank information (if direct depositing wages into employees’ bank accounts)
• Workers’ compensation insurance policy
• Payroll software or payroll services vendor

Managing payroll, particularly handling payroll taxes properly, is essential for ensuring employees get paid accurately and on time. Moreover, it’s critical for keeping a business in good standing with federal, state, and local tax agencies.

Employers must withhold certain taxes and other payments from employees’ pay and then submit those monies to the appropriate tax agencies or organizations. Also, some employment-related taxes are paid directly by employers.

Payroll withholdings from employees’ pay

• Federal income tax
• State income tax
• Local income tax
• FICA tax (Social Security and Medicare)—Half of this tax is deducted/withheld from the employee’s pay, and the employer pays the other half.
• Wage garnishments (e.g., alimony, child support, loans, bankruptcy payments)
• Benefits deductions (e.g., retirement fund contributions, employee’s portion of health and life insurance premiums, union dues)

Employment related taxes paid by employers

• FUTA tax— The Federal Unemployment Tax Act is a program that provides compensation to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. FUTA tax is a cost to the employer; it is not deducted from employees’ pay.
• SUTA tax— States also have unemployment programs. Most require only employers to pay into the fund, but some states also require employees to contribute.
• Other payroll taxes— Some other taxes (such as for short-term disability and family medical leave) may exist depending on the state or municipality. Employers should contact their local tax agencies and the state revenue department to determine all their payroll tax obligations.

More articles from AllBusiness.com :

• 10 Steps to Successfully Expand Your Business Overseas
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4. Outsourcing to independent contractors

Working with independent contractors and freelancers can improve your business’s efficiency and productivity by bringing in people with specialized skills and expertise to handle tasks you aren’t personally proficient in. However, it's important to be aware that independent contractors are NOT employees. Businesses must not mistakenly treat individuals as independent contractors when they should be classified as employees.

So, what’s the difference? The IRS has classification rules for differentiating between independent contractors and employees. Some states have even more definitive parameters for distinguishing the two. Generally, independent contractors are self-employed professionals who enter into an agreement (written or verbal) with a business or individual.

• They are not on their clients' payroll but issue invoices to request payment for their services.
• Unlike company employees, independent contractors do not receive benefits or paid time off from their clients.
• Independent contractors are mainly in control of how and when they work, whereas those things are usually dictated to employees by their employers.
• Typically, contract workers are responsible for providing the tools and equipment needed to perform their assignments.
• While the business paying an independent contractor may set the goals and deliverables for projects and assignments, the independent contractor decides how to best accomplish their assigned tasks.
• Independent contractors are responsible for reporting and remitting their taxes (including self-employment taxes) to the IRS, state, and local tax authorities.

When working with independent contractors, there are two tax-related forms businesses must pay attention to.

• They should request a Form W-9 from the independent contractor, which identifies the individual’s personal information for tax purposes (Compensation paid to independent contractors is tax-deductible for a business.)
• Businesses should issue Form 1099-NEC to any independent contractors to whom they paid more than $600 in the year.

5. Expanding your business out of state

What if you want to expand your business operations beyond your home state (where you initially formed your business)? When a business created in one state meets the definition of “conducting business” or “nexus” in another state, it must seek authorization to operate in the new state. Typically, that means completing a process called “foreign qualification.”

A business is considered a domestic entity in the state where it’s initially registered and a foreign entity in any state where it’s foreign qualified.

Definition of conducting business

What constitutes “conducting business” varies by state. Generally, states consider that a company is conducting business if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Has a physical presence (office, warehouse, or retail store) in the state
• Has employees working in the state
• Holds in-person meetings with clients or customers in the state
• Has reached a certain sales threshold in the state

The following activities alone usually do not qualify as doing business in a state:

• Defending or settling a lawsuit in the state
• Collecting debts in the state
• Conducting internal business activities, such as holding LLC member meetings in the state
• Having a bank account in the state
• Selling services or products through independent contractors in the state
• Engaging in isolated, non-repeated transactions completed within 180 days in the state

What does nexus mean?

Nexus implies that a business has a physical or economic connection to a state. Determining nexus can get complicated because different states have their own interpretation of what nexus is.

General characteristics of nexus

• The company has a physical presence—such as an office, warehouse, store, or employees—in the state.
• The company has reached a certain sales threshold, with or without a physical presence, in the state. Many states consider a business to have economic nexus if it has $100,000 in sales or 200 sales transactions (or both) in the state during the year.

The rules for determining nexus change often and vary from state to state. So, it’s critical for business owners to research and stay on top of nexus rules in any states where they have staff, physical locations, or sell their products and services.

Where to turn for guidance

Most state and local government websites provide business registration, licensing, and tax information. They also post contact information for the agencies that oversee business activity in their jurisdictions. For federal tax-related information and employer issues, the IRS and Department of Labor websites are excellent resources.

Business owners should also consult knowledgeable legal, accounting, and human resource experts when expanding a company. Every business’s situation is unique from others in some way, and trusted professionals can offer insight and information tailored to your specific circumstances.

About the Author

Nellie Akalp is a passionate entrepreneur, business expert, professional speaker, author, and mother of four. She is the founder and CEO of CorpNet.com , a trusted resource and service provider for business incorporation, LLC filings, and corporate compliance services in all 50 states.

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WHO and Africa CDC launch a response plan to the mpox outbreak

The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have launched a continent-wide response plan to the outbreak of mpox

DAKAR, Senegal -- The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization launched on Friday a continent-wide response plan to the outbreak of mpox, three weeks after WHO declared outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency .

The estimated budget for the six-month plan is almost $600 million, with 55% allocated to the response to mpox in 14 affected nations and boosting readiness in 15 others, Africa CDC director-general Dr. Jean Kaseya told reporters on Friday. The other 45% is directed towards operational and technical support through partners. The organization didn’t give an indication of who would be funding it.

The plan focuses on surveillance, laboratory testing and community engagement, Kaseya said, underscoring the fact that vaccines aren't enough to fight the spreading outbreak.

The organization said that since the start of 2024, there have been 5,549 confirmed mpox cases across the continent, with 643 associated deaths, representing a sharp escalation in both infections and fatalities compared to previous years. The cases in Congo constituted 91% of the total number. Most mpox infections in Congo and Burundi, the second most affected country, are in children under age 15.

The plan comes a day after the first batch of mpox vaccines arrived in the capital of Congo, the center of the outbreak. The 100,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, have been donated by the European Union through HERA, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies. Another 100,000 are expected to be delivered on Saturday, Congolese authorities said.

“These vaccines are vital in safeguarding our health workers and vulnerable populations, and in curbing the spread of mpox,” Kaseya said Thursday.

The 200,000 doses are just a fraction of the 3 million that doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicenter of the global health emergency . The European Union countries pledged to donate more than 500,000 others, but the timeline for their delivery remained unclear.

Emmanuel Lampaert, a representative of Doctors Without Borders in Congo, said that vaccination was an additional tool. Basic health measures were still crucial to combat the outbreak, and there were challenges with that in many parts of Congo.

Congo issued an emergency approval of the vaccine, which has already been used in Europe and the United States in adults, but it remained unclear on Friday when the vaccination campaign would begin. For the moment, the rollout would be reserved for adults, Kaseya said, with priority targeted groups being those who have been in close contact with infected people and sex workers.

The European Medicines Agency is examining additional data to be able to administer it to children ranging in age from 12 to 17, which could happen at the end of the month, HERA Director-General Laurent Muschel said.

“We don’t have all the answers,” Muschel told reporters on Friday. “We learn by doing. We are going to adapt the strategy depending on the impact of the vaccination campaign."

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Airlines cool hiring after adding employees in post-Covid spree

U.S. passenger airlines have added nearly 194,000 jobs since 2021 as companies went on a hiring spree after spending months in a pandemic slump, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Now the industry is cooling its hiring.

Airlines are close to their staffing needs but the slowdown is also coming in part because they’re facing a slew of challenges.

A glut of flights in the U.S. has pushed down fares and eaten into  airlines’ profits . Demand growth has moderated. Airplanes are  arriving late  from  Boeing  and  Airbus , prompting airlines to  rethink  their expansions. Engines are in  short supply . Some carriers are  deferring airplane deliveries  altogether. And labor costs have climbed after groups like pilots and mechanics  inked new contracts  with big raises, their first in years.

Annual pay for a three-year first officer on midsized equipment at U.S. airlines averaged $170,586 in March, up from $135,896 in 2019, according to Kit Darby, an aviation consultant who specializes in pilot pay.

Since 2019, costs at U.S. carriers have climbed by double-digit percentages. Stripping out fuel and net interest expenses, they’ll be up about 20% at  American Airlines  this year and around 28% higher at both  United Airlines  and  Delta Air Lines  from 2019, according to Raymond James airline analyst Savanthi Syth.

It is more pronounced at low-cost airlines.  Southwest Airlines ’ costs will likely be up 32%,  JetBlue Airways ’ up nearly 35% and  Spirit Airlines  will see a rise of almost 39% over the same period, estimated Syth, whose data is adjusted for flight length.

Easing hiring

Friday’s U.S. jobs  report  showed air transportation employment in August roughly in line with July’s.

But there have been pullbacks. In the most severe case, Spirit Airlines furloughed 186 pilots this month, their union said Sunday, as the carrier’s losses have grown in the wake of a  failed acquisition  by JetBlue Airways, a  Pratt & Whitney   engine recall  and an oversupplied U.S. market. Last year, even before the merger fell apart, it offered  staff buyouts .

Other airlines are easing hiring or finding other ways to cut costs.

Frontier Airlines  is still hiring pilots but said it will offer voluntary leaves of absence in September and October, when demand generally dips after the summer holidays but before Thanksgiving and winter breaks. A spokeswoman for the carrier said it offers those leaves “periodically” for “when our staffing levels exceed our planned flight schedules.”

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Southwest Airlines expects to end the year with 2,000 fewer employees compared with 2023 and earlier this year said it would halt hiring classes for work groups including pilots and flight attendants. CFO Tammy Romo said on an earnings call in July that the company’s headcount would likely be down again in 2025 as attrition levels exceed the Dallas-based carrier’s “controlled hiring levels.”

United Airlines , which  paused pilot hiring  in May and June, citing late-arriving planes from Boeing, said it plans to add 10,000 people this year, down from 15,000 in each 2022 and 2023. It plans to hire 1,600 pilots, down from more than 2,300 last year.

It’s a departure from the previous years when airlines couldn’t hire employees fast enough. U.S. airlines are usually adding pilots constantly since they are required to retire at age 65 by federal law.

Airlines shed tens of thousands of employees in 2020 to try to stem record losses. Packages of more than $50 billion in  taxpayer aid  that were passed to get the industry through its worst-ever crisis prohibited layoffs, but  many employees  took carriers up on their repeated offers of buyouts and voluntary leaves.

Then, travel demand snapped back faster than expected, climbing in earnest in 2022 and leaving airlines without experienced employees like customer service agents. It also led to  the worst pilot shortage in recent memory .

In response, companies — especially regional carriers — offered big bonuses to attract pilots.

But times have changed. Even air freight giants were competing for pilots in recent years but  demand has waned  as  FedEx  and  UPS  look to cut costs.

American Airlines  CEO Robert Isom said in an investor presentation in March that the carrier added about 2,300 pilots last year and that it expects to hire about 1,300 this year.

“We will be hiring for the foreseeable future at levels like that,” he said at the time.

Despite the lower targets, students continue to fill classrooms and cockpits to train and build up hours to become pilots, said Ken Byrnes, chairman of the flight department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

“Demand for travel is still there,” he said. “I don’t see a long-term slowdown.”