sole trader business plan pdf

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Building Your Business
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Business Plans

One-Page Business Plan Templates

One-Page Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

Having a business plan is a must , whether your goal is to start a one-person freelancing business or a multi-million dollar enterprise. However, if you are looking to start a simple product or service business as a sole proprietor or one-person corporation you don't need a 50-page business plan . A shorter plan will suffice. A quick and easy one-page business plan templates can get you started.

If your business is a partnership or requires multiple employees, you may need a more robust business plan. Similarly, a one-page plan will not be sufficient if you are in need of debt or equity financing and wish to impress financial institutions or potential investors. Lenders and investors will require you to provide more in-depth information in the plan such as:

Your relevant industry background, business, and management experience
A more thorough description of your target market , proof of sufficient demand for your products or services, and how you will meet that demand and turn a profit
Thorough analysis of the competition and how you will compete in the marketplace
Detailed, realistic financial projections , including projected income statements, cash flow projections, and breakeven analysis
An in-depth operating section with details on facilities, leases, equipment, and staffing.

Step-by-step guidance on how to write a business plan can lead you through each section of a full-sized plan.

Keep in mind that a business plan is a living document and you can always start with a one-page plan and enlarge it with additional detail as required. You may be able to articulate the business overview, vision , objectives, and concise action items in a single page, but you might want more detail in the financial and marketing sections. For example, you might want to add an extra page to your pricing strategy section for income and cash flow statements and another for breakeven analysis in advertising and promotion.

Structure of a Business Plan

A one-page business plan needs to provide concise answers to several basic questions that must be addressed such as:

What is the need for your product or service?
What is your competition and how will you differentiate yourself in the marketplace ?
How will you make money, for example, in terms of sales versus expenses?
How will you market your business?
How will you get started? What are your capital requirements?

How to Use the Templates

The sample templates can be copied into a Word, Excel or similar office document by selecting the text and using copy/paste—using Windows, outline the text to be selected with the mouse, and hit CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste.

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Service Business

This template is suitable for freelance businesses that provide services, such as consultants, graphic designers, landscapers, and delivery services. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

Business Planning Template -- Service

	This section should articulate your hopes and dreams for the business. You can write a . For example: What are you building? What do you see this business becoming in x years? How do you plan to grow the business and to what degree? For example, will you hire employees, open up branch outlets, or take the business public? Do you eventually plan to sell the business for profit or to provide money for your retirement?
	The business overview or should describe how you intend to achieve your vision. For example: What services will you provide? What is your —who will buy your services? How will your service offerings address the needs of customers, for example, what is your unique selling proposition? How will you provide your services? Will you offer your services online, through your , or at a business location?
	The pricing strategy section needs to demonstrate how your business will be profitable. Summarize your projected revenue and expenses: How much will you charge for your services? Briefly describe how your pricing will be competitive enough to attract customers but be high enough to generate a profit after subtracting expenses. Consider and pricing strategies.
	This section describes how you intend to get the word out to customers about your services. For example: What are the most efficient ways to market your services? For example, will you market them via a business website, email, social media, or newspapers? Will you use methods such as pricing discounts for new customers? What marketing materials will be used—business cards, flyers, or brochures? What about referrals?
	This section lists your objectives and metrics for success by time frame, as well as potential questions or challenges. For example: Capture 20% of the local market share by year end Gain five steady customers in the first six months of operation Earn a net income of $50,000 for the first fiscal year List any obstacles or concerns, for example: Winter season or poor spring weather reduces demand for landscaping services.
	Briefly describe the action items needed to achieve your objectives, using milestone dates. For example: By "date" a fully-equipped home office will be completed. By "date" business licenses and acquired. By "date" purchase of delivery van negotiated with dealer. By "date" launch with description of services and price list. By "date" social media marketing plan in place and potential customers connected via Facebook and LinkedIn. By "date" subscribed to cloud-based accounting software and setup customer invoice templates. Describe possible solutions for any potential obstacles: If landscaping services cannot be delivered due to bad weather, look into providing other services such as snow clearing or tree pruning.

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Product Business

This template is suitable for businesses that sell products, such as food services, beauty products, and bike shops. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

Business Planning Template -- Product

	This section should articulate your hopes and dreams for the business. You can write a vision statement. For example:
	The business overview or mission should describe how you intend to achieve your vision. For example: — —
	Demonstrate how your business will be profitable by summarizing your projected revenue from product sales minus your expenses: Consider and pricing strategies.
	Briefly outline the marketing plan for your products: advertise your products business website social media —business cards brochures referrals
	List your objectives and metrics for success by time frame, as well as potential questions or challenges. For example: List any obstacles that may prevent you from achieving your objectives, for example:
	Briefly describe the action items needed to achieve your objectives, using milestone dates. For example: wholesalers social media marketing plan LinkedIn List any obstacles or concerns and how you intend to overcome them. For example:

How to Write a Business Plan for a Sole Proprietorship

Small Business
Business Planning & Strategy
Write a Business Plan
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How to Write a Construction Business Plan

How to write a business plan template for a cable channel, how to evaluate the feasibility of a business.

Preparing a Three-Year Business Plan
What Is the Role of a Business Plan in Getting Venture Capital Funding?

A business plan for a sole proprietorship is just like any other business plan. The main difference in business plans, in general, is the purpose. If you are writing a plan to organize your existing small company, focus on how your company operates and your goals for the future. If you will use it to obtain funding, your focus should be how you will make profits by supplying a commercial need.

Research Your Market

Start your research by describing your target or best customers by gender, age, income level, buying habits and residential location. Then look at your competition. Compare your company to your competition in terms of product offerings, service, prices, marketing, brand image and profitability. This gives you information for establishing the future direction you want your company to take, goals for expansion, product lines, service improvements, marketing to increase market share and ways to increase profitability. If you are a startup business, researching your market helps you develop your business idea, initiate good practices from the start and position your launch to attract the attention of your target market. It also gives you an argument that your company can fill a niche that will result in profits, which is important if you are going after funding.

Sole Proprietorship

There are special problems faced by a sole proprietorship operated by one person. The biggest problem is that you can't do everything. While examining your market, look for outside services that are geared to helping you compete with larger companies. These might be telephone answering services and business center offices that supply office space, office machines, administrative services and conference rooms. The Internet can provide inexpensive, simple-to-use marketing services and other outsourced services to expand your business reach. These are important considerations for the operations section of your business plan.

Develop Your Idea

Use your market research to solidify your vision for your company. Write a one or two sentence mission statement that addresses what you do, for whom, when, where, why and how. Then build on that. Establish in detail how the company operates, your suppliers, sales agents, cost of goods, price points, marketing strategy and growth plans. The more detailed you express this vision, the more likely you will see holes in your plan, which is one of the benefits of writing a business plan; it enables you to solve problems before you encounter them.

Research Your Costs

Make a list of every expense you encounter including rent, employees, travel, legal services, business licensing, insurance, inventory, sales costs, marketing costs and delivery costs. Business plan software is a good source of spreadsheet programs that allow you to plug in these costs to see what kind of revenues you must generate for profitability. These programs also print out a good presentation of your financial projections for use in obtaining funding.

Write the Plan

Your business plan should be shorter than 50 pages and should include the following sections: executive summary, which is written last; description of industry, including how you fit in; business model, describing your products and services; target market, describing who will buy from you and why; marketing model, describing how you will reach your target market; revenue model, estimating revenues and discussing how you will achieve those estimates; management, listing the bios and skills your managers bring to the company as well as your outside advisory board; and your financial projections, which consist of spreadsheets including a profit and loss statement, sales projections, personnel projections, cash flow and balance sheet. Include a discussion of how you arrived at these financial projections and the assumptions you used.

SBA.gov: How to Write a Business Plan
Entrepreneur: An Introduction to Business Plans

Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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