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NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample & How to Write It

NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample PDF, PPT and How to Write It . This blog post provides a sample business plan for a business created for the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) GST302 course.

The sample business plan includes all the necessary sections, such as the executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, financial projections, and management and personnel.

Read also: How to Verify NOUN Certificate and Transcript Online .

Table of Contents

Introduction: NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample.

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) GST302 course is a business creation and growth course that requires students to develop a business plan for a new or existing business.

GST302 is a course that teaches students how to create a business plan. A business plan is a roadmap for your business that outlines your goals, strategies, and how you plan to achieve them.

Creating a business plan can be a daunting task , but it is an essential step for any business that wants to be successful. A well-written business plan can help you attract investors, get financing, and make informed decisions about your business.

We will provide a comprehensive sample business plan that you can use as a starting point for your plan.

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Features of NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample.

The sample plan includes the following sections:

Executive Summary

Company description, products or services, market analysis, marketing and sales strategy, management and personnel, financial projections.

The executive summary is a brief overview of your entire business plan. It should highlight your company’s mission, vision, and goals. It should also summarize your company ‘ s products or services, target market, and competitive advantage.

The company description provides a detailed overview of your company. It should include information about your company’s history, mission, vision, values, and goals. It should also include information about your company’s ownership structure, management team, and employees.

The products or services section describes your company’s products or services in detail. It should include information about the features and benefits of your products or services. It should also include information about your company’s pricing strategy and target market.

The market analysis section describes the market for your company’s products or services. It should include information about the size and growth potential of the market . It should also include information about your company’s target market and competitive landscape.

Related: (elearn.nou.edu.ng) NOUN eLearn Portal .

The marketing and sales strategy section describes how your company plans to market and sell its products or services. It should include information about your company’s target market, marketing channels, and sales process.

The management and personnel section describes your company’s management team and employees. It should include information about the experience and qualifications of your company’s management team. It should also include information about your company’s hiring plans.

The financial projections section provides a forecast of your company’s financial performance. It should include information about your company’s revenue, expenses, and profits. It should also include information about your company’s cash flow and balance sheet.

Conclusion:

This sample business plan is just a starting point. You will need to tailor your plan to your specific business. However, this sample plan can give you a good idea of what to include in your plan.

Read also: Apply for NDA Application Form.

GST302 Business Plan Template Topics

The template includes sections on the following topics:

NOTE: The Business Ideas proposal writing  MUST BE  in PowerPoint template, It must be no more than 7 slides

Download NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample (DOCX, PDF, PPT Formats)

NOTE: THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE. REQUEST FOR THE COMPLETE WORK IN POWERPOINT FOR JUST N5,000. YOU CAN ALSO GET A CUSTOMIZED BUSINESS PLAN ACCORDING TO YOUR APPROVED TOPIC. Do you need help with a business plan? At  NOUNNG.COM  we have a  TEAM OF EXPERTS  and we have excellent experience in writing students’ business plans.  We have served hundreds of students as we have extraordinary writing skills. WE DO NOT PROVIDE TEMPLATES, WE WRITE INVESTOR-READY STUDENTS’ BUSINESS PLANS   THAT GIVE YOU GRADE Contact NOUNNG.COM Team Today WhatsApp Only : 08187935072 Email : – [email protected]

Additional Tips for Success (NOUN GST302 Business Plan Sample).

Here are some additional tips for writing a business plan:

• Keep your plan concise and to the point.
• Use clear and concise language.
• Use more visuals to break up your text and make your plan more engaging.
• Proofread your plan carefully before submitting it.
• Demonstrate

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NOUN BUSINESS PLAN (GST302) AND HOW TO UPLOAD

– On this page, we explain everything you need to know about GST302 – Business Creation and Growt h – GST302 – Business Plan Write up, Submission/Uploading, and Presentation Dat e – Incubation Centres and SDG goals –  Frequently Asked Questions About GST302 Business Plan and How To Login Into GST Portal . –  GST302 Online Facilitation and Business Idea Grading System

GST302 – BUSINESS CREATION AND GROWTH  is an entrepreneurship course meant for all 300 level Students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). It is a core course and a two (2) credit unit course.

GST302 has no TMA, Student’s who have registered for the course are expected to write a business plan and submit or upload their proposed business plan online on the  GST PORTAL  –  ( https://elearn.nouedu2.net/ )  The writing and submission of your business plan serve as a TMA for the course.

How To Submit GST302 Business Plan

Now that you have followed the steps above to activate your  GST portal,  follow the steps below to upload/submit your business plan.

• Login to  https://elearn.nouedu2.net/
• Click on  Go to Online Course
• Click on  GST302
• Open all the links in the sections to tick all the boxes as part of participation
• Scroll down to Submission of Enterprise Ideas
• Click on the link for your Incubation centre, e.g. those in Akure or Ekiti are in the Southwest incubation centre, those in Calabar or delta are in the Southsouth incubation centre.
• Scroll down to click on  Add Submission
• Scroll down and click on the Add file icon. The first icon in the file selection section.
• A file selection box will open, click on  Choose file
• select your business plan from the location it’s saved.
• In the save as box, we advise you should type your matric number so that it’d be saved as nou98765432.doc…
• Click on  Upload This File  and it’d be uploaded
• Finally, you’ll see  Save changes  click on it to complete the submission
• You can immediately book your presentation date, time, and mode.
• You can make your presentation online or in your incubation centre Link as a guide to making a presentation:  https://youtu.be/az60xPks2rE

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3 Thoughts to “NOUN BUSINESS PLAN (GST302) AND HOW TO UPLOAD”

Students need direct to the headquarters for assistance pls.

Let students have direct access to the headquarters for resolution of issues pls.

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Noun: How to upload GST302 Business plan

STEPS TO BUSINESS PLAN SUBMISSION

(1) Login to NOUN e-learning Portal via elearn.nouedu2.net

(2) Click on Go to Online Courses

(3) Click on GST 302 Business Creation and Growth

(4) Open all the links in the sections to tick all the boxes as part of participation.

Read briefly  👇

(5) Scroll down to Submission of Enterprise Ideas

(6) Click on the link for your Incubation centre, e.g. those in Lagos or Ibadan are in the Southwest incubation centre, those in Ikom or uyo are in the Southsouth incubation centre.

(7) Scroll down to click on Add Submission

(8) Scroll down and click on the Add file icon. The first icon in the file selection section.

(9) A file selection box will open, click on Choose file

(10) select your business plan from the location it’s saved.

(11) In the save as box, I advise you should type your matric number so that it’d be saved as nou12344678.pdf or nou12345678.doc…

(12) Click on Upload This File and it’d be uploaded.

(13) Finally, you’ll see Save changes click on it to complete submission.

(14) You can immediately book your presentation date, time and mode…

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Well detailed and explanation better than other sites. Thanks, BBCNOUN

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How to upload GST302 Business plan – NOUN

STEPS TO BUSINESS PLAN SUBMISSION (1) Login to NOUN e-learning Portal via  elearn.nouedu2.net (2) Click on  Go to Online Courses

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NOUN GST302 Business Plan Template Download (PDF)

NOUN GST302 Business Plan Template Download (PDF) : CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND GENERAL STUDIES – NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA (NOUN). Student Template For Business Plan – GST302 Business Creation and Growth.

In this post, you will find the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) GST302 business plan template for free download in PDF format.

RECOMMENDED:  NOUN GST302 Business Creation and Growth – Write up & Presentation

Table of Contents

NOUN GST302 Business Plan Template Download (PDF) .

Section a:  student personal details.

Date:    ____________________________________________________________

Semester:       ______________________________________________________

Name:    ______________________________________________________

Matric. No.      ______________________________________________________

email Address:   _________________________________________________

Phone Number:    ________________________________________________

Sex:     ____________________________________________________________

Disability: Blind, deaf, etc  __________________________________________

Current Profession:    ____________________________________________

Programme of Study:   ____________________________________________

Department:   _______________________________________________________

Faculty:    _______________________________________________________

Study Centre:   __________________________________________________

Zone:   _____________________________________________________________

GST302 Business Plan Sections A – C.

Section b: the plan.

1.0.   Executive Summary

1.1. Briefly explain the gap the product or service want to fill

1.2. State the objective

1.3. Present the vision (where you want to be or what you want to achieve. This sells your idea and presents your image) and mission (brief on how you will achieve the vision)

1.4.  Success Indicators – explain the product/service with focus on the sellable parts and how it will bring positive change in human life. ( the executive summary is the last to be written but first to appear in a business plan.  It should be about 200 words ).

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2.0  Description of the Organisation/Company

2.1 Company Ownership (Describe how the idea of the product and company was generated, and legal ownership)

2.2 Start-up plan (For new business) or company history (for existing company)

2.3 Location of the company and facilities

2.4  Organisational Structure

3.0   The Product/Service

3.1  Description of the produce/service

3.2 Product/service uniqueness (how is the product different from other competitive product.

3.3 Give empirical trend of sales if the product is already in the market and if not yet in the market show how you intend to send it to market.

3.4  How would the product fit into the changing technology?

3.5 What is the future of the product/service

4.0  Market Analysis

4.1  Market segmentation (dividing your market of potential customers into groups such as demographic segmentation e.g. sex, age, specific workforce; geographical segmentation; psychological segmentation; behavioural segmentation etc.

4.2  Strategy for target market segmentation

4.2.1  Consumers’ need

4.2.2  Market trends

4.2.3   Market growth

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4.3 Analysis of the industry

4.3.1   Do a  SWORT  (Strength,  Weakness , Opportunity, Threat) Analysis. In the strength state all that is within the organisation that will help the product/service to grow, the weakness identify those things that are internal that may inhibit the growth of the business, opportunity is the external support that will help the business to grow, and the threat  are  external hindrances that may inhibit the growth of the product/service e.g. competitors. 

4.3.2  For Strength and opportunities, consider the hindrance to exploiting it, strategies for exploiting and enhancing it, and possible timelines.

4.3.3  For weakness and threat, consider the effect on achieving the set objectives or goal, strategies to  minimise  or eliminate such weakness or threat, and possible timelines.

4.4 Strategy for e-marking and technological challenges  Strategies for exploiting and enhancing it

5.0  Financial Analysis

5.1 Important Assumptions

5.2  Financial Indicators

5.2.1  Pricing

5.2.2  Proforma (forecasts and projection)

5.2.3   Proforma cash flow and cash flow projection

5.2.4   Proforma profit and loss

5.2.5   Fixed Cost

5.2.6  Goss Profit

5.2.7  Net Profit

5.2.8   Direct Cost

5.2.9  Indirect Cost/Overhead Cost

5.2.10  Unit Cost

5.3 Break-even Analysis

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SECTION C :  Presentation Strategy

• Know your audience
• Prepare to win the audience
• Explain the existing gap.
• Introduce the Company
• The Objective
• The Product/Service
• Success Indicators of the Product
• Market analysis
• Financial Plan

( Note:  You may not include financial plan but is a must when you are presenting for sponsorship and grant).

• Your slides should not be too wordy. Use more of illustrations
• Speak to your PowerPoint. Do not read
• Demonstrate

Download GST302 Business Plan PDF Template.

Click  the link below to download GST302 Student Template For Business Plan pdf

Click here to download

Let Mediangr NOUN Portal Team Do Your Business Plan For You!

Do you need help with business plan?  At  MEDIANGR NOUN PORTAL we have a  TEAM OF EXPERTS   and we have excellent experience in writing students’ business plans.   We have served hundreds of students as we have extraordinary writing skills.

WE DO NOT PROVIDE TEMPLATES, WE WRITE INVESTOR READY STUDENTS BUSINESS PLANS   THAT GIVES YOU GRADE.

Contact Our Team Today via  https://t.me/nountelegram

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Home > Business > Business Startup

How To Write a Business Plan

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

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

Table of contents

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

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Step 1: Write your executive summary

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

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

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

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

Step 2: Do your market research homework

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

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

Step 3: Set your business goals and objectives

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

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

Step 4: Plan your business strategy

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

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

Step 5: Describe your product or service

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

Step 6: Crunch the numbers

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

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

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

Step 7: Finalize your business plan

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

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

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The takeaway

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

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How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)

Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:59am

Table of Contents

Brainstorm an executive summary, create a company description, brainstorm your business goals, describe your services or products, conduct market research, create financial plans, bottom line, frequently asked questions.

Every business starts with a vision, which is distilled and communicated through a business plan. In addition to your high-level hopes and dreams, a strong business plan outlines short-term and long-term goals, budget and whatever else you might need to get started. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to write a business plan that you can stick to and help guide your operations as you get started.

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Drafting the Summary

An executive summary is an extremely important first step in your business. You have to be able to put the basic facts of your business in an elevator pitch-style sentence to grab investors’ attention and keep their interest. This should communicate your business’s name, what the products or services you’re selling are and what marketplace you’re entering.

Ask for Help

When drafting the executive summary, you should have a few different options. Enlist a few thought partners to review your executive summary possibilities to determine which one is best.

After you have the executive summary in place, you can work on the company description, which contains more specific information. In the description, you’ll need to include your business’s registered name , your business address and any key employees involved in the business. 

The business description should also include the structure of your business, such as sole proprietorship , limited liability company (LLC) , partnership or corporation. This is the time to specify how much of an ownership stake everyone has in the company. Finally, include a section that outlines the history of the company and how it has evolved over time.

Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to work toward.

Numbers-based Goals

Goals can cover a variety of sections of your business. Financial and profit goals are a given for when you’re establishing your business, but there are other goals to take into account as well with regard to brand awareness and growth. For example, you might want to hit a certain number of followers across social channels or raise your engagement rates.

Another goal could be to attract new investors or find grants if you’re a nonprofit business. If you’re looking to grow, you’ll want to set revenue targets to make that happen as well.

Intangible Goals

Goals unrelated to traceable numbers are important as well. These can include seeing your business’s advertisement reach the general public or receiving a terrific client review. These goals are important for the direction you take your business and the direction you want it to go in the future.

The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you’re offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit in the current market or are providing something necessary or entirely new. If you have any patents or trademarks, this is where you can include those too.

If you have any visual aids, they should be included here as well. This would also be a good place to include pricing strategy and explain your materials.

This is the part of the business plan where you can explain your expertise and different approach in greater depth. Show how what you’re offering is vital to the market and fills an important gap.

You can also situate your business in your industry and compare it to other ones and how you have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Other than financial goals, you want to have a budget and set your planned weekly, monthly and annual spending. There are several different costs to consider, such as operational costs.

Business Operations Costs

Rent for your business is the first big cost to factor into your budget. If your business is remote, the cost that replaces rent will be the software that maintains your virtual operations.

Marketing and sales costs should be next on your list. Devoting money to making sure people know about your business is as important as making sure it functions.

Other Costs

Although you can’t anticipate disasters, there are likely to be unanticipated costs that come up at some point in your business’s existence. It’s important to factor these possible costs into your financial plans so you’re not caught totally unaware.

Business plans are important for businesses of all sizes so that you can define where your business is and where you want it to go. Growing your business requires a vision, and giving yourself a roadmap in the form of a business plan will set you up for success.

How do I write a simple business plan?

When you’re working on a business plan, make sure you have as much information as possible so that you can simplify it to the most relevant information. A simple business plan still needs all of the parts included in this article, but you can be very clear and direct.

What are some common mistakes in a business plan?

The most common mistakes in a business plan are common writing issues like grammar errors or misspellings. It’s important to be clear in your sentence structure and proofread your business plan before sending it to any investors or partners.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.

Kelly Main is a Marketing Editor and Writer specializing in digital marketing, online advertising and web design and development. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University. Additionally, she is a Columnist at Inc. Magazine.

How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

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Download a free one-page plan template to write a useful business plan in as little as 30-minutes.

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

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

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

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.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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GST302 Business Plan Submission and Presentation Date in 2023_1 Semester

GST302 – Business Creation and Growth, NOUN Students GST302 Business Plan Submission and Presentation Date in 2023_1 Semester

This is to inform all National Open University Of Nigeria (NOUN) students that are offering GST302 (Business creation and Growth) that the Uploading/Submission of the business plan will commence from 27th February to 24th April 2023. The Presentation of GST302 business plan will commence on 27th February to 24th April 2023. The presentation of the business proposal will be carried out in two forms:- Physical presentation at the Incubation centres office and an Online presentation on the zoom platform as soon as they upload their business plan.

RECOMMENDED GST302 Online Facilitation, How to log in and Submit Business Plan Assessment Of GST302 – Business Plan GST302 Business Plan Template

How To Submit GST302 Business Plan

• Go to https://elearn.nouedu2.net/login/index.php , login and Click on GST 302 on your dashboard
• After the course page have opened, download and read all your course materials from module 1 to 5
• Watch the instructional videos from module 1 to 5
• Prepare your business plan for submission
• Submit your business plan based on your zone
• Book your presentation date and time based on your zone
• You can make your presentation online or at your incubation centre Link as a guide to making a presentation: https://youtu.be/az60xPks2rE

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• Readjusted NOUN POP Exam Timetable - 2023_1 Semester

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How to Write a Business Plan (Plus Examples & Templates)

Have you ever wondered how to write a business plan step by step? Mike Andes, told us: 

This guide will help you write a business plan to impress investors.

Throughout this process, we’ll get information from Mike Andes, who started Augusta Lawn Care Services when he was 12 and turned it into a franchise with over 90 locations. He has gone on to help others learn how to write business plans and start businesses.  He knows a thing or two about writing  business plans!

We’ll start by discussing the definition of a business plan. Then we’ll discuss how to come up with the idea, how to do the market research, and then the important elements in the business plan format. Keep reading to start your journey!

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is simply a road map of what you are trying to achieve with your business and how you will go about achieving it. It should cover all elements of your business including: 

• Finding customers
• Plans for developing a team
•  Competition
• Legal structures
• Key milestones you are pursuing

If you aren’t quite ready to create a business plan, consider starting by reading our business startup guide .

Get a Business Idea

Before you can write a business plan, you have to have a business idea. You may see a problem that needs to be solved and have an idea how to solve it, or you might start by evaluating your interests and skills. 

Mike told us, “The three things I suggest asking yourself when thinking about starting a business are:

• What am I good at?
• What would I enjoy doing?
• What can I get paid for?”

If all three of these questions don’t lead to at least one common answer, it will probably be a much harder road to success. Either there is not much market for it, you won’t be good at it, or you won’t enjoy doing it. 

As Mike told us, “There’s enough stress starting and running a business that if you don’t like it or aren’t good at it, it’s hard to succeed.”

If you’d like to hear more about Mike’s approach to starting a business, check out our YouTube video

Conduct Market Analysis

Market analysis is focused on establishing if there is a target market for your products and services, how large the target market is, and identifying the demographics of people or businesses that would be interested in the product or service. The goal here is to establish how much money your business concept can make.

Product and Service Demand

A search engine is your best friend when trying to figure out if there is demand for your products and services. Personally, I love using presearch.org because it lets you directly search on a ton of different platforms including Google, Youtube, Twitter, and more. Check out the screenshot for the full list of search options.

With quick web searches, you can find out how many competitors you have, look through their reviews, and see if there are common complaints about the competitors. Bad reviews are a great place to find opportunities to offer better products or services. 

If there are no similar products or services, you may have stumbled upon something new, or there may just be no demand for it. To find out, go talk to your most honest friend about the idea and see what they think. If they tell you it’s dumb or stare at you vacantly, there’s probably no market for it.

You can also conduct a survey through social media to get public opinion on your idea. Using Facebook Business Manager , you could get a feel for who would be interested in your product or service.

 I ran a quick test of how many people between 18-65  you could reach in the U.S. during a week. It returned an estimated 700-2,000 for the total number of leads, which is enough to do a fairly accurate statistical analysis.

Identify Demographics of Target Market

Depending on what type of business you want to run, your target market will be different. The narrower the demographic, the fewer potential customers you’ll have. If you did a survey, you’ll be able to use that data to help define your target audience. Some considerations you’ll want to consider are:

• Other Interests
• Marital Status
• Do they have kids?

Once you have this information, it can help you narrow down your options for location and help define your marketing further. One resource that Mike recommended using is the Census Bureau’s Quick Facts Map . He told us,  

“It helps you quickly evaluate what the best areas are for your business to be located.”

How to Write a Business Plan

Now that you’ve developed your idea a little and established there is a market for it, you can begin writing a business plan. Getting started is easier with the business plan template we created for you to download. I strongly recommend using it as it is updated to make it easier to create an action plan. 

Each of the following should be a section of your business plan:

• Business Plan Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Description of Products and Services

SWOT Analysis

• Competitor Data
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Expenses Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

• Distribution Channel Assessment
• Operational Plan
• Management and Organizational Strategy
• Financial Statements and/or Financial Projections

We’ll look into each of these. Don’t forget to download our free business plan template (mentioned just above) so you can follow along as we go. 

How to Write a Business Plan Step 1. Create a Cover Page

The first thing investors will see is the cover page for your business plan. Make sure it looks professional. A great cover page shows that you think about first impressions.

A good business plan should have the following elements on a cover page:

• Professionally designed logo
• Company name
• Mission or Vision Statement
• Contact Info

Basically, think of a cover page for your business plan like a giant business card. It is meant to capture people’s attention but be quickly processed.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 2. Create a Table of Contents

Most people are busy enough that they don’t have a lot of time. Providing a table of contents makes it easy for them to find the pages of your plan that are meaningful to them.

A table of contents will be immediately after the cover page, but you can include it after the executive summary. Including the table of contents immediately after the executive summary will help investors know what section of your business plan they want to review more thoroughly.

Check out Canva’s article about creating a  table of contents . It has a ton of great information about creating easy access to each section of your business plan. Just remember that you’ll want to use different strategies for digital and hard copy business plans.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 3. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary is where your business plan should catch the readers interest.  It doesn’t need to be long, but should be quick and easy to read.

Mike told us,

How long should an executive summary bein an informal business plan?

For casual use, an executive summary should be similar to an elevator pitch, no more than 150-160 words, just enough to get them interested and wanting more. Indeed has a great article on elevator pitches .  This can also be used for the content of emails to get readers’ attention.

It consists of three basic parts:

• An introduction to you and your business.
• What your business is about.
• A call to action

Example of an informal executive summary 

One of the best elevator pitches I’ve used is:

So far that pitch has achieved a 100% success rate in getting partnerships for the business.

What should I include in an executive summary for investors?

Investors are going to need a more detailed executive summary if you want to secure financing or sell equity. The executive summary should be a brief overview of your entire business plan and include:

• Introduction of yourself and company.
• An origin story (Recognition of a problem and how you came to solution)
• An introduction to your products or services.
• Your unique value proposition. Make sure to include intellectual property.
• Where you are in the business life cycle
• Request and why you need it.

Successful business plan examples

The owner of Urbanity told us he spent 2 months writing a 75-page business plan and received a $250,000 loan from the bank when he was 23. Make your business plan as detailed as possible when looking for financing. We’ve provided a template to help you prepare the portions of a business plan that banks expect.

Here’s the interview with the owner of Urbanity:

When to write an executive summary?

Even though the summary is near the beginning of a business plan, you should write it after you complete the rest of a business plan. You can’t talk about revenue, profits, and expected expenditures if you haven’t done the market research and created a financial plan.

What mistakes do people make when writing an executive summary?

Business owners commonly go into too much detail about the following items in an executive summary:

• Marketing and sales processes
• Financial statements
• Organizational structure
• Market analysis

These are things that people will want to know later, but they don’t hook the reader. They won’t spark interest in your small business, but they’ll close the deal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 4. Company Description

Every business plan should include a company description. A great business plan will include the following elements while describing the company:

• Mission statement
• Philosophy and vision
• Company goals

Target market

• Legal structure

Let’s take a look at what each section includes in a good business plan.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a brief explanation of why you started the company and what the company’s main focus is. It should be no more than one or two sentences. Check out HubSpot’s article 27 Inspiring Mission Statement for a great read on informative and inspiring mission and vision statements. 

Company Philosophy and Vision

The company philosophy is what drives your company. You’ll normally hear them called core values.  These are the building blocks that make your company different. You want to communicate your values to customers, business owners, and investors as often as possible to build a company culture, but make sure to back them up.

What makes your company different?

Each company is different. Your new business should rise above the standard company lines of honesty, integrity, fun, innovation, and community when communicating your business values. The standard answers are corporate jargon and lack authenticity. 

Examples of core values

One of my clients decided to add a core values page to their website. As a tech company they emphasized the values:

•  Prioritize communication.
•  Never stop learning.
•  Be transparent.
•  Start small and grow incrementally.

These values communicate how the owner and the rest of the company operate. They also show a value proposition and competitive advantage because they specifically focus on delivering business value from the start. These values also genuinely show what the company is about and customers recognize the sincerity. Indeed has a great blog about how to identify your core values .

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement communicate the long lasting change a business pursues. The vision helps investors and customers understand what your company is trying to accomplish. The vision statement goes beyond a mission statement to provide something meaningful to the community, customer’s lives, or even the world.

Example vision statements

The Alzheimer’s Association is a great example of a vision statement:

A world without Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia.

It clearly tells how they want to change the world. A world without Alzheimers might be unachievable, but that means they always have room for improvement.

Business Goals

You have to measure success against goals for a business plan to be meaningful. A business plan helps guide a company similar to how your GPS provides a road map to your favorite travel destination. A goal to make as much money as possible is not inspirational and sounds greedy.

Sure, business owners want to increase their profits and improve customer service, but they need to present an overview of what they consider success. The goals should help everyone prioritize their work.

How far in advance should a business plan?

Business planning should be done at least one year in advance, but many banks and investors prefer three to five year business plans. Longer plans show investors that the management team  understands the market and knows the business is operating in a constantly shifting market. In addition, a plan helps businesses to adjust to changes because they have already considered how to handle them.

Example of great business goals

My all time-favorite long-term company goals are included in Tesla’s Master Plan, Part Deux . These goals were written in 2016 and drive the company’s decisions through 2026. They are the reason that investors are so forgiving when Elon Musk continually fails to meet his quarterly and annual goals.

If the progress aligns with the business plan investors are likely to continue to believe in the company. Just make sure the goals are reasonable or you’ll be discredited (unless you’re Elon Musk).

You did target market research before creating a business plan. Now it’s time to add it to the plan so others understand what your ideal customer looks like. As a new business owner, you may not be considered an expert in your field yet, so document everything. Make sure the references you use are from respectable sources. 

Use information from the specific lender when you are applying for lending. Most lenders provide industry research reports and using their data can strengthen the position of your business plan.

A small business plan should include a section on the external environment. Understanding the industry is crucial because we don’t plan a business in a vacuum. Make sure to research the industry trends, competitors, and forecasts. I personally prefer IBIS World for my business research. Make sure to answer questions like:

• What is the industry outlook long-term and short-term?
• How will your business take advantage of projected industry changes and trends?
• What might happen to your competitors and how will your business successfully compete?

Industry resources

Some helpful resources to help you establish more about your industry are:

• Trade Associations
• Federal Reserve
• Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal Structure

There are five basic types of legal structures that most people will utilize:

• Sole proprietorships
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

Partnerships

Corporations.

• Franchises.

Each business structure has their pros and cons. An LLC is the most common legal structure due to its protection of personal assets and ease of setting up. Make sure to specify how ownership is divided and what roles each owner plays when you have more than one business owner.

You’ll have to decide which structure is best for you, but we’ve gathered information on each to make it easier.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the easiest legal structure to set up but doesn’t protect the owner’s personal assets from legal issues. That means if something goes wrong, you could lose both your company and your home.

To start a sole proprietorship, fill out a special tax form called a  Schedule C . Sole proprietors can also join the American Independent Business Alliance .

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is the most common business structure used in the United States because an LLC protects the owner’s personal assets. It’s similar to partnerships and corporations, but can be a single-member LLC in most states. An LLC requires a document called an operating agreement.

Each state has different requirements. Here’s a link to find your state’s requirements . Delaware and Nevada are common states to file an LLC because they are really business-friendly. Here’s a blog on the top 10 states to get an LLC.

Partnerships are typically for legal firms. If you choose to use a partnership choose a Limited Liability Partnership. Alternatively, you can just use an LLC.

Corporations are typically for massive organizations. Corporations have taxes on both corporate and income tax so unless you plan on selling stock, you are better off considering an LLC with S-Corp status . Investopedia has good information corporations here .

There are several opportunities to purchase successful franchises. TopFranchise.com has a list of companies in a variety of industries that offer franchise opportunities. This makes it where an entrepreneur can benefit from the reputation of an established business that has already worked out many of the kinks of starting from scratch.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 5. Products and Services

This section of the business plan should focus on what you sell, how you source it, and how you sell it. You should include:

• Unique features that differentiate your business products from competitors
• Intellectual property
• Your supply chain
• Cost and pricing structure 

Questions to answer about your products and services

Mike gave us a list  of the most important questions to answer about your product and services:

• How will you be selling the product? (in person, ecommerce, wholesale, direct to consumer)?
• How do you let them know they need a product?
• How do you communicate the message?
• How will you do transactions?
• How much will you be selling it for?
• How many do you think you’ll sell and why?

Make sure to use the worksheet on our business plan template .

How to Write a Business Plan Step 6. Sales and Marketing Plan

The marketing and sales plan is focused on the strategy to bring awareness to your company and guides how you will get the product to the consumer.  It should contain the following sections:

SWOT Analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Not only do you want to identify them, but you also want to document how the business plans to deal with them.

Business owners need to do a thorough job documenting how their service or product stacks up against the competition.

If proper research isn’t done, investors will be able to tell that the owner hasn’t researched the competition and is less likely to believe that the team can protect its service from threats by the more well-established competition. This is one of the most common parts of a presentation that trips up business owners presenting on Shark Tank .

SWOT Examples

Examples of strengths and weaknesses could be things like the lack of cash flow, intellectual property ownership, high costs of suppliers, and customers’ expectations on shipping times.

Opportunities could be ways to capitalize on your strengths or improve your weaknesses, but may also be gaps in the industry. This includes:

• Adding offerings that fit with your current small business
• Increase sales to current customers
• Reducing costs through bulk ordering
• Finding ways to reduce inventory
•  And other areas you can improve

Threats will normally come from outside of the company but could also be things like losing a key member of the team. Threats normally come from competition, regulations, taxes, and unforeseen events.

The management team should use the SWOT analysis to guide other areas of business planning, but it absolutely has to be done before a business owner starts marketing. 

Include Competitor Data in Your Business Plan

When you plan a business, taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is key to navigating the field. Providing an overview of your competition and where they are headed shows that you are invested in understanding the industry.

For smaller businesses, you’ll want to search both the company and the owners names to see what they are working on. For publicly held corporations, you can find their quarterly and annual reports on the SEC website .

What another business plans to do can impact your business. Make sure to include things that might make it attractive for bigger companies to outsource to a small business.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing and sales part of business plans should be focused on how you are going to make potential customers aware of your business and then sell to them.

If you haven’t already included it, Mike recommends:

“They’ll want to know about Demographics, ages, and wealth of your target market.”

Make sure to include the Total addressable market .  The term refers to the value if you captured 100% of the market.

Advertising Strategy

You’ll explain what formats of advertising you’ll be using. Some possibilities are:

• Online: Facebook and Google are the big names to work with here.
• Print : Print can be used to reach broad groups or targeted markets. Check out this for tips .
• Radio : iHeartMedia is one of the best ways to advertise on the radio
• Cable television : High priced, hard to measure ROI, but here’s an explanation of the process
• Billboards: Attracting customers with billboards can be beneficial in high traffic areas.

You’ll want to define how you’ll be using each including frequency, duration, and cost. If you have the materials already created, including pictures or links to the marketing to show creative assets.

Mike told us “Most businesses are marketing digitally now due to Covid, but that’s not always the right answer.”

Make sure the marketing strategy will help team members or external marketing agencies stay within the brand guidelines .

This section of a business plan should be focused on pricing. There are a ton of pricing strategies that may work for different business plans. Which one will work for you depends on what kind of a business you run.

Some common pricing strategies are:

• Value-based pricing – Commonly used with home buying and selling or other products that are status symbols.
• Skimming pricing – Commonly seen in video game consoles, price starts off high to recoup expenses quickly, then reduces over time.
• Competition-based pricing – Pricing based on competitors’ pricing is commonly seen at gas stations.
• Freemium services –  Commonly used for software, where there is a free plan, then purchase options for more functionality.

HubSpot has a great calculator and blog on pricing strategies.

Beyond explaining what strategy your business plans to use, you should include references for how you came to this pricing strategy and how it will impact your cash flow.

Distribution Plan

This part of a business plan is focused on how the product or service is going to go through the supply chain. These may include multiple divisions or multiple companies. Make sure to include any parts of the workflow that are automated so investors can see where cost savings are expected and when.

Supply Chain Examples

For instance, lawn care companies  would need to cover aspects such as:

• Suppliers for lawn care equipment and tools
• Any chemicals or treatments needed
• Repair parts for sprinkler systems
• Vehicles to transport equipment and employees
• Insurance to protect the company vehicles and people.

Examples of Supply Chains

These are fairly flat supply chains compared to something like a clothing designer where the clothes would go through multiple vendors. A clothing company might have the following supply chain:

• Raw materials
• Shipping of raw materials
• Converting of raw materials to thread
• Shipping thread to produce garments
• Garment producer
• Shipping to company
• Company storage
• Shipping to retail stores

There have been advances such as print on demand that eliminate many of these steps. If you are designing completely custom clothing, all of this would need to be planned to keep from having business disruptions.

The main thing to include in the business plan is the list of suppliers, the path the supply chain follows, the time from order to the customer’s home, and the costs associated with each step of the process.

According to BizPlanReview , a business plan without this information is likely to get rejected because they have failed to research the key elements necessary to make sales to the customer.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 7. Company Organization and Operational Plan

This part of the business plan is focused on how the business model will function while serving customers.  The business plan should provide an overview of  how the team will manage the following aspects:

Quality Control

• Legal environment

Let’s look at each for some insight.

Production has already been discussed in previous sections so I won’t go into it much. When writing a business plan for investors, try to avoid repetition as it creates a more simple business plan.

If the organizational plan will be used by the team as an overview of how to perform the best services for the customer, then redundancy makes more sense as it communicates what is important to the business.

Quality control policies help to keep the team focused on how to verify that the company adheres to the business plan and meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Quality control can be anything from a standard that says “all labels on shirts can be no more than 1/16″ off center” to a defined checklist of steps that should be performed and filled out for every customer.

There are a variety of organizations that help define quality control including:

• International Organization for Standardization – Quality standards for energy, technology, food, production environments, and cybersecurity
• AICPA – Standard defined for accounting.
• The Joint Commission – Healthcare
• ASHRAE – HVAC best practices

You can find lists of the organizations that contribute most to the government regulation of industries on Open Secrets . Research what the leaders in your field are doing. Follow their example and implement it in your quality control plan.

For location, you should use information from the market research to establish where the location will be. Make sure to include the following in the location documentation.

• The size of your location
• The type of building (retail, industrial, commercial, etc.)
• Zoning restrictions – Urban Wire has a good map on how zoning works in each state
• Accessibility – Does it meet ADA requirements?
• Costs including rent, maintenance, utilities, insurance and any buildout or remodeling costs
• Utilities – b.e.f. has a good energy calculator .

Legal Environment

The legal requirement section is focused on defining how to meet the legal requirements for your industry. A good business plan should include all of the following:

• Any licenses and/or permits that are needed and whether you’ve obtained them
• Any trademarks, copyrights, or patents that you have or are in the process of applying for
• The insurance coverage your business requires and how much it costs
• Any environmental, health, or workplace regulations affecting your business
• Any special regulations affecting your industry
• Bonding requirements, if applicable

Your local SBA office can help you establish requirements in your area. I strongly recommend using them. They are a great resource.

Your business plan should include a plan for company organization and hiring. While you may be the only person with the company right now, down the road you’ll need more people. Make sure to consider and document the answers to the following questions:

• What is the current leadership structure and what will it look like in the future?
• What types of employees will you have? Are there any licensing or educational requirements?
• How many employees will you need?
• Will you ever hire freelancers or independent contractors?
• What is each position’s job description?
• What is the pay structure (hourly, salaried, base plus commission, etc.)?
• How do you plan to find qualified employees and contractors?

One of the most crucial parts of a business plan is the organizational chart. This simply shows the positions the company will need, who is in charge of them and the relationship of each of them. It will look similar to this:

Our small business plan template has a much more in-depth organizational chart you can edit to include when you include the organizational chart in your business plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 8. Financial Statements 

No business plan is complete without financial statements or financial projections. The business plan format will be different based on whether you are writing a business plan to expand a business or a startup business plan. Let’s dig deeper into each.

Provide All Financial Income from an Existing Business

An existing business should use their past financial documents including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to find trends to estimate the next 3-5 years.

You can create easy trendlines in excel to predict future revenue, profit and loss, cash flow, and other changes in year-over-year performance. This will show your expected performance assuming business continues as normal.

If you are seeking an investment, then the business is probably not going to continue as normal. Depending on the financial plan and the purpose of getting financing, adjustments may be needed to the following:

• Higher Revenue if expanding business
• Lower Cost of Goods Sold if purchasing inventory with bulk discounts
• Adding interest if utilizing financing (not equity deal)
• Changes in expenses
• Addition of financing information to the cash flow statement
• Changes in Earnings per Share on the balance sheet

Financial modeling is a challenging subject, but there are plenty of low-cost courses on the subject. If you need help planning your business financial documentation take some time to watch some of them.

Make it a point to document how you calculated all the changes to the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in your business plan so that key team members or investors can verify your research.

Financial Projections For A Startup Business Plan

Unlike an existing business, a startup doesn’t have previous success to model its future performance. In this scenario, you need to focus on how to make a business plan realistic through the use of industry research and averages.

Mike gave the following advice in his interview:

Financial Forecasting Mistakes

One of the things a lot of inexperienced people use is the argument, “If I get one percent of the market, it is worth $100 million.” If you use this, investors are likely to file the document under bad business plan examples.

Let’s use custom t-shirts as an example.

Credence Research estimated in 2018 there were 11,334,800,000 custom t-shirts sold for a total of $206.12 Billion, with a 6% compound annual growth rate.

With that data,  you can calculate that the industry will grow to $270 Billion in 2023 and that the average shirt sold creates $18.18 in revenue.

Combine that with an IBIS World estimate of 11,094 custom screen printers and that means even if you become an average seller, you’ll get .009% of the market.

Here’s a table for easier viewing of that information.

The point here is to make sure your business proposal examples make sense.

You’ll need to know industry averages such as cost of customer acquisition, revenue per customer, the average cost of goods sold, and admin costs to be able to create accurate estimates.

Our simple business plan templates walk you through most of these processes. If you follow them you’ll have a good idea of how to write a business proposal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 9. Business Plan Example of Funding Requests

What is a business plan without a plan on how to obtain funding?

The Small Business Administration has an example for a pizza restaurant that theoretically needed nearly $20k to make it through their first month.

In our video, How to Start a $500K/Year T-Shirt Business (Pt. 1 ), Sanford Booth told us he needed about $200,000 to start his franchise and broke even after 4 months.

Freshbooks estimates it takes on average 2-3 years for a business to be profitable, which means the fictitious pizza company from the SBA could need up to $330k to make it through that time and still pay their bills for their home and pizza shop.

Not every business needs that much to start, but realistically it’s a good idea to assume that you need a fairly large cushion.

Ways to get funding for a small business

There are a variety of ways to cover this. the most common are:

• Bootstrapping – Using your savings without external funding.
• Taking out debt – loans, credit cards
• Equity, Seed Funding – Ownership of a percentage of the company in exchange for current funds
• Crowdsourcing – Promising a good for funding to create the product

Keep reading for more tips on how to write a business plan.

How funding will be used

When asking for business financing make sure to include:

• How much to get started?
• What is the minimum viable product and how soon can you make money?
• How will the money be spent?

Mike emphasized two aspects that should be included in every plan, 

How to Write a Business Plan Resources

Here are some links to a business plan sample and business plan outline. 

• Sample plan

It’s also helpful to follow some of the leading influencers in the business plan writing community. Here’s a list:

• Wise Plans –  Shares a lot of information on starting businesses and is a business plan writing company.
• Optimus Business Plans –  Another business plan writing company.
• Venture Capital – A venture capital thread that can help give you ideas.

How to Write a Business Plan: What’s Next?

We hope this guide about how to write a simple business plan step by step has been helpful. We’ve covered:

• The definition of a business plan
• Coming up with a business idea
• Performing market research
• The critical components of a business plan
• An example business plan

In addition, we provided you with a simple business plan template to assist you in the process of writing your startup business plan. The startup business plan template also includes a business model template that will be the key to your success.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our business hub .

Have you written a business plan before? How did it impact your ability to achieve your goals?

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How to Open a Coffee Shop and Grow It to 19 Locations (2024)

Whether you personally love coffee or are curious about capitalizing on the booming coffee and specialty drink market, you’re not wrong for thinking starting a coffee business could be the answer to all life’s problems.

Before opening super-successful Woods Coffee , Wes Herman was traveling all over the U.S. for work, not seeing his family as much as he'd like, and wanting to empower his kids to live better. You'll never believe how he did it.

[su_quote]We started the company as a homeschool project to teach our four kids how to start a business. We hoped they would love it so much that we could work together for a long time as we grew this new brand.[/su_quote]

The family started serving coffee in 2002 when their homeschool project got a $23,000 loan. Since then, Woods Coffee has steadily grown to 19 shops over the Northwest.

Here, Wes shares coffee business secrets like avoiding tying your funds up in real estate and buying used whenever possible. By the end of this article, you’ll know how to start the coffee shop of your dreams with any budget.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]

We’ll cover the following (click any link to jump to the part that interests you most):

• What is a coffee shop ?

Step 1. Research the coffee shop industry

Step 2. create a coffee shop business plan, step 3. create a business structure, step 4. get your business license, step 5. fund your coffee shop startup costs, step 6. choose the right coffee supplier, step 7. plan the coffee shop layout and decor, step 8. buy coffee equipment and furnishings, step 9. hire employees, step 10. create a menu, step 11. start coffee shop marketing, step 12. comply with all regulations, step 13. soft launch your coffee shop, step 14. host a grand opening, step 15. manage your coffee shop business, step 16. provide excellent customer service, step 17. grow your coffee shop business, what is donut shop coffee, what is a coffee shop bar, what is a café.

• Go start a successful coffee shop [/su_note]

If you want to know how to start a coffee shop, keep reading to find out how Wes started his multi-million-dollar coffee empire without spending his own money.

What is a coffee shop?

A coffee shop is a small restaurant, cart, kiosk, or drive-thru that primarily sells coffee, tea, and other refreshments.

Popular styles of coffee include:

A coffee shop might also carry small snacks like cookie cakes. A coffee shop owner might also consider opening a café, which tends to have more tables and a full menu of food in addition to coffee.

Keep reading to learn about the coffee industry.

How to open a coffee shop business

Opening a coffee shop can be an exciting and rewarding venture, but it also requires careful planning and execution. You’ll need to perform the following steps to start a coffee shop:

• Research the coffee shop industry
• Create a coffee shop business plan
• Create a business structure
• Get your business licenses
• Fund your coffee shop startup costs
• Choose the right coffee supplier
• Plan the coffee shop layout and decor
• Buy coffee equipment and furnishings
• Hire employees
• Create a menu
• Start coffee shop marketing
• Comply with all regulations
• Soft launch your coffee shop
• Host a grand opening
• Manage your coffee shop business
• Provide excellent customer service
• Improve your coffee shop performance

Get ready to learn how to open a coffee shop.

The first step to starting a coffee shop brand is to research coffee businesses to understand how to place yourself within the industry. You’ll have two considerations during the market research phase:

• You’ll want to understand coffee industry earning potential and trends on both a national and local level.
• Choose a strategic location with high foot traffic, accessibility, visibility, and proximity to other businesses.

Identify how to make your new coffee shop unique

Opening a coffee shop can be a lucrative business, but a new coffee shop needs to understand the startup costs, earning potential, fixed and variable costs, and marketing strategies of a successful business.

Companies like Starbucks, Dunkin, and Tim Hortons make hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars each year.

That’s awesome for them, but an independent coffee shop will take years to reach that point. Here, we help you explore your business opportunities for becoming a successful coffee shop starting from scratch.

Cautionary tale about coffee shops

We use IBIS World for all of our industry reports. They provide multiple reports about coffee shops, and there is some contradictory information.

We used the following coffee shop reports in the Industry Section:

• INDUSTRY REPORT OD6 098 : This report covers the retail market for coffee in the U.S. It was last updated in April 2021.
• (NAICS) REPORT 7222 1B : This report covers coffee and snack shops in the U.S. It was last updated in January 2023.
• INDUSTRY REPORT OD5 552 : This report covers coffee store franchises in the U.S. It was updated in January 2023.

We combined data from multiple reports because Starbucks gets nearly 40% of U.S. coffee and snack shop revenue. In addition, the NAICS report indicated that the industry operates at a loss when you exclude Starbucks.

The chart below is the coffee shop data from OD6098 and NAICS Code 72221B. This gives you a more adequate view of coffee shops by the numbers than including just one report's information.

How much does a coffee shop make?

The average coffee shop location makes between $150K and $600K per year with 4-10 people working at the shop, but the exact amount will depend on the coffee shop concept, foot traffic, and number of employees.

If you’re opening a coffee shop or coffee cart as a solo entrepreneur, know that you might make as little as $24K a year, though.

Pro Tip: Plan ahead from the start. Scaling and acquiring an existing coffee shop is how most of the industry improves revenues and profit margins.

How much does a coffee shop make a month?

Depending on the coffee shop location and other factors, you can expect to make somewhere between $40K and $50K per month, but the average Starbucks location approaches $100K monthly.

These numbers will fluctuate seasonally and based on the number of days in each month.

Independent coffee shops will obviously make less in monthly sales than a Starbucks until they develop a reputation and get repeat customers.

How much does an average coffee shop make a day?

An average coffee shop makes between $410 and $1,650 per day, while the average Starbucks makes nearly $3,200 per day.

Coffee shops tend to have the most business when people go to work, during lunch breaks, and after work. Of course, a great coffee business in a place like an airport or casino might have different high-traffic times.

Get ready to find out if a coffee shop is profitable.

How profitable is a coffee shop?

It’s getting harder to measure profits because business owners have established that the ideal profit amount is zero to minimize their tax consequences. That said, a coffee shop can make up to 50% gross profit and 17% net profit.

Wes shared the following about the profit potential of a coffee shop:

[su_quote]You can operate a small business very efficiently in coffee, and if you get a lot of customers, then you can make some serious dough.[/su_quote]

In Wes's case, that's definitely true considering he owns a multi-million-dollar coffee shop empire!

How much do coffee shop owners make?

Estimating how much coffee shop owners make requires analyzing various financial reports since a business owner may make money in the following ways:

• Salary: $59,440 as General Manager or Comparable Position • Tips: 8-20% of revenue • Dividends: Up to $21,142 paid out above salary • Benefits: $17,565 • Total: $59,440 to $120,000

You might make much more if you open a coffee shop like Woods Coffee. They have 19 stores and make millions per year. In that scenario, your salary would be comparable to a CEO or Operations Manager, tips would be removed, and dividends would be much higher. Check out our interview with Wes below to learn more:

Find a great location with reasonable rent

Just because a spot is centrally located doesn't mean it’s the right coffee shop location.

High-traffic locations usually have sky-high rents and cutthroat competition. Meanwhile, a coffee shop starting as a coffee kiosk in a mall will have much lower costs and cover its operating costs quicker.

Pro Tip: Try to see potential in a location that nobody else appreciates. Wes has this to say about his Boulevard Park location, the crown jewel in his entire chain:

[su_quote]As an entrepreneur, you must trust what you see. It will always be different than what others see. There were quite a few businesses that passed on Blvd. Park because they couldn't see it working. We saw it from day one, never wavered, and built one of the finest coffee shops in the world.[/su_quote]

When you do your location analysis, consider the following factors:

• Demographics
• Regulations and zoning
• How close you are to your target market
• How far away suppliers are
• Competition
• Crime rates

Pro Tip: Learn more about picking locations .

Virtually every entrepreneur will tell you to write a business plan when opening a coffee shop.

Wes is no different. However, his coffee shop business plan was only one page long:

[su_quote]I always like to think that a business plan can be put on one sheet of paper. It's the difference between just driving aimlessly without a map versus having a map and understanding where you're going. You'll get there faster, you'll get there more directly, and you won't be distracted trying to figure out where you're supposed to be going.[/su_quote]

The beauty of the one-page coffee shop business plan is that it pares down your idea to its barest essentials. This helps you to focus on your vision with laser-sharp intensity. It makes opening a coffee shop so much easier.

You’ll want to include the following:

• Your Elevator Pitch: Why you are opening a coffee shop and why investors should care
• SWOT Analysis: An analysis of your coffee shop’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• Business Model: How your coffee shop will make money while increasing revenue and profit—the more disruptive to the industry, the higher the likelihood that your coffee shop succeeds
• Unique Value Proposition: What makes you different from other coffee shops?
• Target Demographic: Proof that you’ve performed market research
• Budget: Financial analysis to help you manage coffee shop startup costs and ongoing expenses
• Pricing Strategy: How will you approach pricing your coffee shop menu?
• Marketing: A list of strategies you’ll use to market and become a successful coffee shop
• Funding Plans: Statement of how much funding you’ll need, how you’ll get it, and how you’ll use it

Pro Tip: You can create supplemental materials such as income and cash flow statements for potential investors but save them separately.

A business structure is just how your business is treated from a legal standpoint. It can be considered a separate entity, like a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation. Alternatively, sole proprietors and partners' personal and business interests remain legally connected.

Most business owners opt for an LLC through their Secretary of State website because it’s less costly than a corporation and limits their losses to the startup costs should the business fail. Your coffee business will also need an employee identification number ( EIN ) to file taxes.

Pro Tip: Learn more about the different types of businesses .

Complete all necessary paperwork to register your business with the appropriate local and state authorities. This will normally include:

• A tax permit
• Local business license
• Fire inspection
• Health inspection
• Food serving license
• Liquor or beer license (if you plan to serve alcohol)

Check with your city and state to establish exactly what you need.

How to start a coffee shop with no money

Wes started Woods Coffee using none of his own money. Here's how he made it happen:

[su_quote]In those early days…we were on a very, very, tight budget. We didn't have the money, and so we needed to find the money, and we needed to be creative on how we launched the first store. So, the initial budget was $23,000—that's what we needed to pull this business off. We didn't have the dough, so we went out and asked someone to partner with us that had the money. They weren't coffee drinkers, but they decided that this would be a good investment, and it was.[/su_quote]

That's an excellent way to start a coffee shop with no money down! Of course, if you have savings or other sources of funding to work with, even better.

Cost of opening a coffee shop

Wes thinks it would cost $500,000 to start a coffee shop today.

In our interview with Joe's Fine Coffee, Joe mentions that he was able to start his coffee shop for just $100,000. You can find that interview here:

Our research shows that it costs about $275,000 to open a coffee shop. However, this will vary based on your location, business needs, and several other factors.

To determine your budget, you need to figure out what it'll cost to get your venture off the ground and calculate your ongoing costs. This will consist of the following three types of expenses:

Capital costs are things you only buy once (unless there is something from your equipment list that breaks down). These are things like:

• Espresso machines
• Cash registers
• Building (if you buy instead of rent)

Fixed costs are expenditures that stay the same from month to month. An example of this is rent.

Variable costs are expenses that fluctuate depending on how much business you do. These are things like labor costs because the more customers you have, the more employees you'll need to hire.

Don’t forget ongoing costs

High startup costs mean that you're going to need plenty of startup capital to get your business off the ground. Here's what Wes has to say about that:

[su_quote]Most entrepreneurs forget about working capital and the need for a reserve to get you through the beginning stages of when you start your business… In most people's cases, they have to reserve enough money to get them through the first year to pay themselves.[/su_quote]

Set aside enough money to cover your expenses for six months (if not longer). An excellent strategy to minimize how much money you'll need is only securing enough cash to take you to the next stage of your business.

This is known as “ the lean startup ” and will dramatically increase your chances of success.

Run your coffee shop as a side hustle

You can save money by holding down another job so you don't have to siphon funds from your fledgling business (that's what Wes did):

[su_quote]I worked for a good five years in another job so I wasn't a drag on the company and I was able to keep the money flowing into the company and able to make the company successful before I started drawing salary. So, we actually got to store number six before I ever started earning money out of the company. And I worked another job during the day, and then at night I'd make all the deals, and put these things together, and before you know it, we have six stores.[/su_quote]

How are you going to fund your venture?

With all this in mind, consider how you’ll fund your coffee shop. Your plan can include personal savings, loans, investors, or a combination of these.

Are you going to take a crack at crowdfunding or find a friend willing to invest in your idea like Wes did? Or, perhaps you have relatives who can loan you some startup dough?

You can always seek out venture capital or try to get a bank loan . Whatever funding source you turn to, you're going to need enough moolah to get through the inevitable lean times.

Pro Tip: If you think you need loans or investors, check out our blog on how to get a business loan .

Serving up a superior coffee experience is undoubtedly the most crucial aspect of your business. That's why you'll need to find an excellent source for your coffee beans, milk, syrups, equipment, and other necessary supplies .

In the beginning, it's probably best that you outsource the roasting of your beans.

When trying to find a supplier, look for:

• Superior product
• Price point that'll allow you to maximize your profits
• Exceptional assortment

Here's what Wes advises:

[su_quote]You certainly can hire somebody to roast your coffee for you. In our case, we wanted ultimate control over the process, the quality, and the consistency. And we can do that with our own coffee beans coming from specific countries.

How we control the roasting process is really important because we want to know that the process is done correctly, that it's fresh, and that it's done in the way we want it to be done.

So that's why we roast our own coffee. We didn't originally—that was a process that we had outsourced in the beginning years—but eventually, we were able to bring it in house and roast all of our own coffee, and that's been a huge advantage for us.[/su_quote]

As your profits grow, you might want to start thinking about roasting in your shop so that you have a unique product to offer your clientele.

Plan the layout of your coffee shop for both functionality and aesthetics. Consider factors like seating arrangements, counter space, and decoration. Check out some of these designs for inspiration .

Pro Tip: Want to get started with a coffee truc k or cart? Get all the info you need from our Food Truck Ultimate Buying Guide .

Purchase essential coffee shop equipment like an espresso machine, grinders, brewing equipment, refrigerators, and furniture. Make sure they meet industry standards and regulations.

[su_quote]It's really critical to have the right machines. [/su_quote]

Check out part one of our interview with Wes below.

Try to get high-quality equipment, even if it's not new. If you get the cheap stuff, you'll only end up regretting it later on.

Here's the list of equipment you'll need to make your small coffee shop a resounding success:

• Espresso machine
• Coffee grinders
• Drip coffee machine
• Coffee brewers
• Hot water dispenser
• Reach-in refrigerator
• Ice machine
• Bakery display case
• Three-compartment sink
• Frothing pitchers
• Frothing thermometers
• Tea and coffee mugs
• Espresso cups
• Cup, lid, and straw organizers
• Microwaves or ovens (if serving hot food)
• Point of sale (POS) system

As your business grows and your services expand, you might need other coffee shop equipment like coffee roasters.

One of the biggest lures of a gourmet coffee shop is the atmosphere. Create a relaxing physical space with the right décor, and make sure your café has lots of comfy seating, too.

Hire baristas, kitchen staff, and any other necessary employees. Ensure they are trained in coffee preparation, customer service, and health and safety protocols.

Stellar customer service is crucial when you own a coffee shop, so be selective when hiring new staff.

Although your baristas must know how to make beverages correctly, they should also know a little about the coffee itself. These are things like the flavor profiles of each specialty coffee and where the beans come from.

During training, you might want to teach employees about latte art, quality beans, and how to encourage customers to keep coming back.

This is need-to-know information for coffee connoisseurs, so your baristas must be armed with this knowledge.

Pro Tip: Learn more about hiring before you open your own café or coffee shop.

Create a menu that includes a variety of coffee beverages, tea options, snacks, and possibly light meals. Consider catering to different dietary preferences and restrictions.

When you open your coffee shop, you need to consistently serve the best coffee and snacks. If you succeed in doing this, you'll have customers flocking to you.

When it comes to creating your menu, keep in mind that you're not reinventing the wheel—you're taking the best food and drinks offered by the top coffee shops and finding ways to make them better.

There's no way a coffee shop can remain economically viable on coffee sales alone. That's why you need to offer bakery items. Having a delicious assortment of quality baked goods near the cash register will tempt the customer to buy.

Try to come up with at least a few menu items that'll dazzle customers with their originality.

Here's what Wes has to say on this subject:

[su_quote]It's how you can make something creatively different in this space that attracts people and maybe attracts a different market segment than you're normally pulling.[/su_quote]

Check out part two of our interview with Wes below.

Create a strong brand identity, including a memorable logo and a cohesive visual theme.

Develop a marketing plan that includes an online presence (website, social media), promotions, and possibly partnerships with local businesses.

You want to whip customers into a buying frenzy even before you open your doors.

One way to do that is a direct mail or email campaign sending out coupons for free coffee. Do a little research to find out what sort of marketing would be best for your coffee shop.

Here's what Wes has to say about that:

[su_quote]We actually don't spend a lot of money [on] marketing. It's changed over time. So when we first started, we were looking at what are other people doing, how are they marketing themselves, and we realized we didn't need to do a lot of marketing, we didn't need to put advertisements in newspaper(s), that was a thing, back 18 years ago… there was no Facebook, there was no website you could put up, and people would understand what you're doing. So, we actually realized that the best form of advertising for us was putting multiple locations within a certain geographic territory.[/su_quote]

When he first started out almost 20 years ago, his only marketing was opening up new coffee shops! Which, of course, is an atypical way to market yourself. Today, with the advent of social media, Woods Coffee has changed its marketing tactics:

[su_quote][Now], social media is big for us. We're pretty dominant in our space in this area on social media, and that's been a lot of fun. It's a great vehicle for us to show some of our creativity and how people understand who we are and what we offer.[/su_quote]

Obtain all necessary permits and licenses to operate a food and beverage business in your area. This may include health department permits, business licenses, and signage permits.

There are permits and licenses you're going to need before you can start serving customers. This is a long and drawn-out process, so make sure you start early.

Here's what you might need:

• Business and liability insurance
• Food and drink handler certificate
• Health inspection certificate
• Fire certificate
• Kitchen insurance
• Certificate of incorporation
• Business license
• Employment agreement
• Building permit

Conduct a soft opening to test your operations, gather feedback, and make any necessary adjustments before the official opening. These are normally days when family and friends are invited to try the menu.

This will give your coffee business a chance to work with the POS system and inventory management system.

Plan a grand opening event to generate excitement and attract customers to your coffee shop. Contact the local news or a PR firm to help you get the news out. Run paid ads with a promo.

Pro Tip: At the grand opening, encourage reviews by using a QR code to send customers directly to your shop's review page.

You’ll need to establish efficient operating procedures for ordering supplies, scheduling employees, managing inventory, handling finances, and maintaining equipment.

There are restaurant management systems that combine many of these into one system, or you can choose systems that work best for each process.

Pro Tip: Learn more about restaurant management systems .

Focus on providing excellent customer service, quality products, and a comfortable atmosphere to encourage repeat business and positive word-of-mouth.

Your customer service at a coffee shop is heavily impacted by a few things, including:

• Speed of service: Make sure to have enough staff to get people their coffee in a timely manner . To give you an idea, Dunkin serves customers in less than three minutes, while Starbucks takes about four minutes and 30 seconds.
• Correctness of order: A study by Restaurant Business Online found that over 25% of orders have issues and 42.3% of errors were because restaurants messed up. The rest were due to delivery issues. Make sure to get it right.
• Friendliness of staff: A polite, attentive staff goes a long way. One of the things many restaurants do that should be avoided is trying to dominate the order process. Let your customers order unless they communicate they need help.
• Consistency of drinks: Make it easy for your staff to make the drinks the same every time. Provide recipes and utensils that show how much of each product to use.
• Mobile ordering: Let people order online to save time.
• Delivery apps: Find ways to make sure your cold drinks are cold and hot drinks are hot when they are delivered to a customer. You can’t count on the delivery driver to get that right.

Although opening multiple stores was always a part of the Woods Coffee business plan, it happened much sooner than Wes thought it would.

That's because the opportunity to open a second coffee shop fell into their laps in the form of a perfect location they couldn't let pass by.

They seized this opportunity and opened their second store. It was also a way to show the world they were aggressive, growing, and owned their market.

Put a second store in a 6,000-resident town, and you’re going to get a lot of attention. The bold move drove sales in both stores, and they both grew dramatically!

You can do the same thing—just make sure you open your second spot in a carefully planned way. Wes told us having multiple business locations isn’t always the best approach:

[su_quote]It has to be part of your business plan. If you follow your business plan and have it laid out exactly what you wanna do, then follow it. You can't just change midstream. Some businesses are much more successful with just one location. In our case, it just happens to be part of our growth plan and part of our experience that we have multiple locations, and it was part of that original plan that we're executing today. But the idea of ‘How do you scale? How do you grow?’—it's really important. We don't put a lot of money into real estate and buying things. We'd really like to keep our capital fluid and moving. And if we can open more stores, we feel that's better for us.[/su_quote]

Opening a coffee shop FAQ

Donut shop coffee is typically an Arabica bean that pairs well with donuts. These can be anywhere from a light to dark roast, but they will normally be slightly sweeter than other coffee and work well with cream or milk.

A coffee shop bar is a section in a coffee shop where customers can order and enjoy alcoholic beverages in addition to coffee and other non-alcoholic drinks.

A café is similar to a coffee shop but will normally serve slightly more elaborate food than a coffee shop (without having either the size or the selections of a full restaurant).

Go start a successful coffee shop

If you do the proper market research, write and follow a solid business plan, and focus on continuous improvement, you should find success when you open a coffee shop.

Wes was able to open a coffee shop and grow it to 19 locations. That means you can, too!

What’s the signature drink you’ll use to build your multi-million-dollar coffee empire?

Naughty or Nice? Christmas Bonus Statistics Everyone Needs to Know (2023)

It’s the season of giving, and all the Yuletide joy got us thinking about the ultimate stocking stuffer in the business world: the Christmas bonus.

Veteran and rookie business owners alike might be wondering if they should cap the year off with a bonus, and employees certainly want to know if they’ll be on the receiving end. So we spent the month of November conducting original surveys about expectations and intentions for year-end bonuses.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] How giving are employers during the Christmas season, and what can employees expect to receive? Read our findings from start to finish, or click any link below to jump to the specific topic that interests you most:

Key findings

Christmas bonuses bring tidings of comfort and joy, come december, cash is king, how much do businesses give, christmas bonuses last season, why some companies skip christmas bonuses, christmas bonuses in 2023.

• Conclusion [/su_note]
• Over 80% of respondents say year-end bonuses improve employee morale .
• The majority of respondents think a Christmas bonus equal to a week’s pay is adequate.
• 71% of Christmas bonuses come in the form of cash or one-time paycheck bumps .
• Over one-fifth of companies give bonuses of more than $1,000.
• 42% of companies give less than $100 in Christmas bonuses per employee.
• Insufficient revenue is the main driver for not providing Christmas bonuses.
• 51% of companies plan to give a Christmas bonus in 2023 .

The Christmas season is unmistakably commercial—and the strong link between commerce and the holiday can turn even the jolliest among us into Grinches.

Case in point: Two-thirds of survey respondents think businesses value the holiday season more than kids do . Christmas magic has entrepreneurially minded people under no illusions.

But does that disenchantment mean holidays in the workplace bring no joy? It doesn’t seem so. A healthy 84% of survey participants say employee morale increases after receiving a year-end bonus .

Expectations when it comes to those bonuses vary. According to our survey:

• 50% of people consider a week’s pay a good bonus.
• 21% are okay with a day’s pay or less.
• 29% consider a month’s pay or more to be adequate.

Our takeaway? Giving a bonus of some amount at Christmastime is a no-brainer. Happy employees perform better, and a bonus is a great way to juice morale—and performance—as you head into the new year.

UpFlip pays out Christmas bonuses, so we asked our CEO, Sergei Belous, for his take. He said:

[su_quote]Employees are the cornerstone of the success of any organization, and the least we can do for them is give Christmas bonuses as a token of our appreciation.[/su_quote]

Businesses that give Christmas bonuses like to keep it simple.

Just over 71% of survey respondents who provided year-end bonuses in 2022 gave their employees cash or added money to their paychecks .

Another 21% opted to give gift cards or days off , and one respondent’s company gave money, gift cards, and days off. That’s a Christmas miracle!

The remaining 8% gave something else . If you received something other than money, gift cards, or days off, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

When it comes to dollar amounts, companies’ year-end bonuses vary widely: 42% give each employee less than $100 while 22% give more than $1,000 .

The remaining 36% fall somewhere in the middle, with 19% giving between $251 and $1,000 and 17% giving between $100 and $250 .

46% of surveyed business owners gave Christmas bonuses in 2022, but about one-fifth of them don’t plan to give them again in 2023 .

On the other hand, 53% of businesses didn’t give year-end bonuses in 2022, but one-fifth of them plan to change course by providing them in 2023 .

On the employee side of things, 24% of those surveyed reported receiving Christmas bonuses in 2022, but almost one-fifth of them don’t expect to see one again this year .

76% of respondents didn’t get a Christmas bonus last year . On the bright side, just over one-tenth of them expect that to change this year .

According to our survey, 48% percent of companies don’t generally give Christmas bonuses .

Companies that don’t give during the holidays aren’t necessarily Scrooges, though. Of those that don’t give Christmas bonuses, 62% percent say they simply don’t make enough money .

11% cite poor employee performance for not giving year-end bonuses , and another 11% say they don’t know what to give .

The remaining 15% cited other reasons for not giving , including not celebrating the holiday or living somewhere that already mandates the equivalent of a holiday bonus.

There are a couple of reasons to be jolly this year!

More than half of responding businesses— 51% , to be exact— plan to give their employees Christmas bonuses in 2023 . That includes 89% that plan to offer them for at least the second year in a row .

Unfortunately, 81% of the responding business owners who didn’t give a Christmas bonus last year won’t give one this year, either .

Our surveys show that more companies intend to give Christmas bonuses in 2023 than did in 2022. Unsurprisingly, the holiday bonuses they give are perceived to improve morale.

Thankfully, companies that don’t plan to give Christmas bonuses are actually in the minority.

There’s also agreement on what makes a good Christmas bonus: at least a week’s pay. That should help guide the 11% of business owners who are lost on what to give as a year-end gift.

And since the majority of employers base their holiday bonuses (if they provide them) on the year’s earnings, they should focus on growing their business .

Do you expect to give or receive a Christmas bonus? Let us know in the comments.

How to Start a $24K/Month Laundromat Business (2024)

Did you know the average laundromat makes over $238K, and up to half of that can go to the laundromat owners?

The laundromat industry in the U.S. is worth $5BN, with over 21,000 businesses in operation that employ over 50,000 people.

Do I have your attention? If I do, get ready to learn how to start a laundromat!

We have interviewed the owners of four different laundromat businesses, including Dave Menz, the CEO of Queen City Laundry, who owns four laundromats and makes over $1.8 million annually.

Dave will share his wisdom on finding a laundromat, getting financing, how to value the business, and how to negotiate a deal. We pull in insights from other successful laundromat owners, too. Get ready to learn how to start a laundromat.

Case Study: Queen City Laundry

Learn about the laundry industry, step 1: choose a business model, step 2: write a business plan, step 3: build relationships with distributors, step 4: get financing, step 5: find a location, step 6: get permits and insurance, step 7: set up your business, step 8: develop a marketing strategy.

• Final Remarks About Laundromat Businesses [/su_note]

Dave Menz got into the laundry business in 2010. He told us:

[su_quote] I grew up in poverty and people looking down at me. I fought out of poverty to middle class and then financial independence. I could do nothing if I wanted to, but I prefer to teach people to reach that same level. [/su_quote]

He bought his first laundromat and worked at it on nights and weekends. He bought two more before he made enough that he could quit his job and still live a comparable life. Dave told us:

[su_quote] I don’t love doing laundry, but I love the industry. I love the people, the impact on my community, and the opportunities it provides.

The laundromat industry is not for everyone, but for many it can be a phenomenal business. I see the antiquated nature of the industry as a positive because it makes it easy for you to stand out compared to a coin laundry business. [/su_quote]

His primary services are:

• Self-serve laundry
• Drop-off wash and fold
• Dry cleaning
• Pickup and delivery laundry
• Commercial laundry services

Since starting, Dave has bought four more laundromats. When he buys laundromats, he looks for locations he can fix up that offer services he can improve on to make them more appealing to local clients.

Dave maintains one company that owns the land his laundromats are on. This separate company rents the land to his laundromats, effectively making him his own landlord. This unique strategy has built him a $3.8 million net worth and makes him over $1.8 million in revenue per year. Find out how below:

He’s currently working on upgrading from coin machines to accepting cards and PhonePay in addition to the other services he offers.

Have you ever found yourself wondering how much money a laundromat makes? Or Is the average laundromat cost something I can afford?

Dave told us:

[su_quote] Laundromats are a vital community resource. That’s really why I fell in love with the business. [/su_quote]

Established organizations provide the information you need. Keep reading to find places that conduct market research and provide market analysis.

Check out the free industry overview by the Coin Laundry Association (CLA) . Also, download their most recent Laundry Industry Survey and Laundry Customer Profile, which presents the results of over 400 customer surveys.

For commercial laundry, the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) offers benchmarking reports . Don’t overlook the National Apartment Association (NAA), which provides insight into the industry’s multi-housing segment.

How much do laundromats make?

When you open a laundromat, you should assume that it will make around $300K in revenue annually. You can add additional sources of revenue by adding vending machines , laundry delivery, and other services.

[su_quote] Almost everything is paid upfront before services are provided. This makes running the business easier because you don’t have to chase customers for payment.

Businesses focus on [repairs] and collecting the money from a coin laundry machine. You can reimagine this to save you time, money, and help your customers better.

The laundromat business is not passive income, but semi-passive or flexible. [/su_quote]

Of course, emergencies are bound to occur if all you do is fix things when they’re broken. Take proactive steps to keep your laundromat running smoothly, and you’ll find yourself on the road to laundromat success.

One of Dave’s recommendations: Add an annual sewage drain flush to your maintenance routine to reduce breakdowns.

He does that for all his laundromats, and listen to what happened:

[su_quote] We were looking for a consolidation loan and were putting all the financials together, and I realized I am a millionaire. [/su_quote]

Inspired? Get ready to learn about laundromat profitability.

Are laundromats profitable?

According to Cents , the average U.S. laundromat profitability is 20 to 30% on approximately $300K in revenue assuming they are not using leverage. According to Dave, top-performing laundromats can operate with 50% margins or higher. That's two to eight times higher than the average real estate investment, which is 7 to 10%.

A laundromat's ROI changes depending on:

• Age of Machines: As washers and dryers age, maintenance costs increase.
• Business Expenses: Rent, water, gas, electric, and inventory can easily add up to $10K per month.
• Competition: The less competition you have, the more your new laundromat can charge. Adding full-service makes it so you can charge more.
• Location: Like home mortgages, a new laundromat will cost more to operate in places with higher property values.
• Pricing: While a coin laundromat might charge between $1.50 and $4 a wash, you can charge by the pound when people pay for full-service washing and drying.
• Services Offered: Providing services like full-service washing, drying, and delivery can increase revenue and reduce the employee costs as a percentage.
• Employees’ Pay: Even at minimum wage, payroll is the largest expense for most laundromat owners.
• Local Taxes: Local and state sales taxes can be up to 13% .

Ancillary services like dry cleaning, pickup and delivery, sneaker cleaning, wash and fold, and other luxury services can increase your profitability .

Rosie Wash Express Laundry achieves impressive 36% margins by offering additional services and a rewards program. Want to learn more? Check out our interview with the existing laundry business owner.

How much does a laundromat cost?

Entrepreneurs normally spend between $100,000 and $1,000,000 to start a new laundromat or buy a laundry business for sale.

Dave suggests that you should normally spend between two and five times revenue, but that you should base your business valuation on what it’s worth to you.

The startup costs to open a laundromat depend on:

• Size: Small laundromats will normally cost less than $300K, while larger laundry facilities will cost $500K or more.
• Equipment: The number of machines, capacity, and age will impact the price of a laundromat.
• Services: The startup costs will vary depending on whether you offer other services. An old store with no customers is worth less than one with a great customer base.
• Location: Every city has different property costs.
• Buy vs. Build: Buying an existing laundromat will normally have less startup costs than building a new laundry business. You’ll also earn revenue faster, which should reduce the overall startup costs.
• Future Operational Costs: You should include a budget of approximately $15K monthly for future operating expenses, loan payments, rent, and maintenance.

Where is the best place to put a laundry business?

The best location for a laundry business will have the following characteristics:

• Population Density: Laundromats do best in areas where there are at least 20K to 35K people in a one-mile radius.
• Low-Income Neighborhoods: Locations near apartments, colleges, low-income housing, and trailer parks tend to do better because low-income families often need to use a coin-operated business.
• Accessibility: You’ll want a location that is easily accessible by car, bus, or foot. Signage should be easily viewable and parking abundant.
• Low Competition: Lots of competition means lower profit margins and potential price wars.
• Good Neighbors: Businesses like auto part stores, cash checking, convenience stores, and grocery stores are good neighbors for laundromats because they provide lots of traffic that might need your services.

Get ready to learn step by step how to start a laundry business.

How to Start a Laundromat

Starting a laundromat means you’ll need to

• Choose a business model.
• Write a business plan.
• Build relationships with distributors.
• Get financing.
• Find a location.
• Get permits and insurance.
• Set up your business.
• Develop a marketing strategy.

First, you’ll need to pick a laundry business type, which means selecting your services, business structure, and business model.

Consider the different kinds of laundromat businesses:

• Coin laundry
• Private laundromat equipment for multi-tenant buildings
• Wash-and-fold service
• Commercial laundry for uniforms, linens, and facilities
• Pickup and delivery

Learn about each type of laundry service below.

Self-service coin laundry business

When you want to start a laundry business, you’ll find most business entities offer coin-operated machines that people operate themselves. A business venture that focuses on this strategy is normally going to have the lowest profit margin of companies that clean clothes.

That said, at Ferndale Laundry, the most revenue comes from self-serve machines. Owner Justin says:

[su_quote] There’s little to no maintenance or cost to me because they’re doing all the work. [/su_quote]

Check out our interview with Justin below.

You might also check out this video about a day in the life of a laundromat business owner.

Dry cleaning business

A dry cleaning business uses completely different laundry machines than standard washers and dryers. Dry cleaners normally charge by the garment. Common dry cleaning prices range from:

• Shirts : $2.99 to $8 • Pants: $6 to $11.99 • Sweaters: $7.50 to $12.99 • Dresses : $13.25 to $19.99 • Suits: $14.99 to $25.95 • Coats: $15 to $25.99 • Comforters : $18.99 to $42.99

Wash and fold service

Owning a laundromat that offers wash and fold services can be highly beneficial. It improves your customer experience because they can drop off their clothes on the way to work and pick them up on the way home.

Laundromat prices will normally be based on the pound. That means you make more money per wash and protect your machines by not overloading them, which saves your business entity from increased maintenance costs.

Commercial laundry facility

A commercial laundry facility provides uniforms and other items to service companies and hotels, picks up dirty uniforms and sheets, and washes them. This is highly profitable because you make money from both the rental of clothing and the cleaning.

Check out Cintas’s website for an example of commercial laundry and uniform company offerings.

Laundromat service for apartment complexes

Whether you choose to operate a coin laundry business or laundromat equipment rental business, you can make money by supplying quality equipment to apartment complexes. Check out information about multi-unit housing on NAA’s website.

Delivery service

Rosie Wash Express Laundry uses an app to manage its home delivery business, allowing customers to enter details and pay online. Delivery drivers receive GPS information to complete their routes.

Pro Tip: Get more information about owning a pickup-and-delivery business here .

Choose a business structure

In addition to deciding what kind of laundry services you’ll offer, you need to create a business entity for your laundromat. This requires selecting a business name that is available as a website domain, trademark, and social media handle.

The two most common ways to create a business entity are a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation. There are other types of business entities you might want to consider, but most involve potential liability you don’t want to assume.

Both LLCs and corporations limit your potential losses to the initial investment as long as you don’t sign anything guaranteeing personal liability. You can also run both on your own or with business partners.

Dave uses numerous business structures to manage his business, including LLCs and land-rent agreements between his company that owns the land and his companies that own the laundromat.

Pro Tip : Learn how to register your business and how to get an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS .

This plan should outline your strengths, competitors, goals, and workflow. A good plan can help you attract investors or earn grants.

Iron out your vision, objectives, and strategy into a laundromat business plan that will help you accomplish essentials like securing financing or partnering with other businesses. It’s totally worth your time.

Pro Tip: If you want some extra guidance on how to write a business plan that will appeal to investors, consider working with a company like Wise Business Plans , whose team of MBA-trained writers have experience writing business plans that successfully secure funding from banks and other lenders.

Dave told us that relationships with his distributors contribute to nearly 50% of his success. Some of the most common types of distributors are:

• Fly-by-Night Distributors: Laundromat owners who are doing it because their own distributor was bad. They may work from home and play middleman. They only work with small groups of manufacturers and normally deal with bad customers.
• Plain Janes: They are more established but they just do the bare minimum. They are typically very nice but don’t add much value to the industry.
• Rock Star Distributors: These professionals get you access to an extensive infrastructure and are well-established with a major building and service department. They normally have company vehicles that are branded and fully stocked. You’ll also have access to a full parts department with technicians who can predict problems based on your description of the issue you’re facing. They will train you as a laundry business owner and work with manufacturer reps. Plus, they’ll have a professional installation department.

But how do you find the best distributors? Do a Google search, contact manufacturers, or network with people . After you’ve found a prospective distributor, you’ll want to talk to them on the phone then visit their location.

You'll need money to cover leasing or buying a space, hiring employees, and buying equipment. Getting into the laundromat business isn’t cheap. You’ll want to estimate how much you need to start and operate the business, which you can learn how to do through Udemy .

Once you’ve established how much money you’ll need, you have to find a way to get the money. Some common funding options include:

• Self Financing: If you have a cool $1M lying around, you can open a laundrymat with your own money. Most people don’t have that much, though.
• Equipment Loan: You can secure an equipment loan with the equipment when you start or buy a laundromat. Learn more in our blog about business loans .
• Rollover Business Startup: Create a corporation and a 401K, then sell your shares of the corporation to your 401K. Use the proceeds for buying a laundromat or starting a laundromat business.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers free courses on financing options and funding programs . Consider alternative sources of funding, like crowdfunding or even a home equity loan.

Many small business owners finance their investment at least partially through a business loan. You can inquire about financing options with your business banker, or compare options from multiple lenders on National Business Capital .

You can find a range of financing options on their site, including term loans with flexible financing and business lines of credit. Many of these have no credit score requirement, either, so you can access funds for your business regardless of your personal financial situation.

Pro Tip: Want to know how to open a laundromat with no money? Check out our blog about seller financing to find out how.

Fact: 87% of laundromat customers live within one mile of their preferred location.

Taking the time to find an ideal location is the best investment of your time as a future laundromat owner.

Consider a location near any of the following:

• Apartment buildings
• College students
• Tourist areas
• Hotels and motels
• Large family housing developments

Dave offers some suggestions on how to find a business location in your local market, including:

• Check business listings.
• Network, talk to distributors, and use business brokers.
• Compile a list of attractive locations.
• Visit the locations.
• Value the business.

Self-serve laundromats are normally in small towns or outskirts of suburban areas, under 5,000 square feet, and unmanned. Large laundromats are typically over 5,000 square feet and in busy areas.

High-volume laundromats with lots of ancillary laundry locations are the biggest and largest laundry businesses and normally have four or five streams of revenue that diversify their income.

The CLA offers more information about site selection for a laundromat business.

Once you have found a strategic location, there are things to do before you open to customers. You’ll need to get business licenses, a state tax ID or sales tax permit, and relevant insurance. Some common types of insurance include general liability, commercial property, workers compensation, and crime insurance.

Licenses, permits, and tax forms

Regardless of the legal structure you choose, determine if your business may require any licenses, permits, or tax forms to operate legally. Use the SBA’s tool . Also, you might be required to collect sales tax. Now go out and do it!

Business insurance

During his first week of operations, Jeff, the owner of Rosie Wash Express Laundry, witnessed a customer fall down, crack his head on the floor, and start bleeding. Hopefully, that shows why every laundromat owner needs commercial property insurance and liability insurance.

Both will typically be included in small business general liability insurance that you can get from trusted providers like Simply Business . Even if you have an insurance provider you trust for your personal property, it’s a smart move to work with a company that specializes in small businesses for your laundromat.

Furthermore, if you plan to hire employees, you will need workers compensation insurance and unemployment insurance. Gain general knowledge about insurance for a small business here .

You can also check out CLA’s listing of insurance products that meet the specific needs of a coin-operated laundry business .

Get a business bank account and credit card, and purchase equipment. You'll also need to set up software and prepare marketing materials.

Get a business bank account

Whether you start a new laundromat or buy an existing laundromat, you’ll need a business bank account. You can get a business bank account from major banks, regional banks, or online banks.

Regional banks tend to provide better business loans, but online banks offer better interest rates on cash in your bank account. Learn more about business bank accounts .

Get a business credit card

A business credit card can help fund your laundromat startup cost. You may have to get a secured one at first.

Purchase equipment

You’ll need washers, dryers, and other equipment for your laundromat. This equipment is a major part of the cost to open a laundromat.

Expect to spend between $1K and $5K each for a commercial washer or dryer. Meanwhile, industrial washers and dryers can cost between $10K and $50K depending on the load size and power.

The machines’ capacity can range from 30 to 80 pounds. To learn more, check out this handy formula for calculating the capacity of a machine .

Dave explains that you want to find properties with value-add opportunities. Look at the space usage, the amenities you can add, the services you can add, and how the property can be upgraded to provide a different or better experience. He told us:

[su_quote] We turned a $500-per-week property into a $7,000-per-week business by making changes. [/su_quote]

As you’re shopping and pricing, consider that new equipment comes with a warranty. Read a white paper about replacing laundry equipment . Buy the right laundry equipment for your store by referring to the laundry equipment and services directories .

You might also want to include vending machines or a small convenience store in your laundromat to supplement income.

Technological innovations are fueling a revival of the laundry industry. Laundry apps are becoming increasingly popular, but what’s the bottom line?

• Dexter Pay: According to its website, Dexter Pay is an app “that allows laundry customers to pay for their laundry and track cycle progress via their smartphone or mobile device.”
• Speed Queen Value Center: Speed Queen is a popular laundromat equipment manufacturer that offers an app for cash users. Customers add physical cash to the value center machine, which uploads it to their payment app.
• Accounting Software: Keep track of income and expenses and run regular reports to understand how your laundromat business performs. Try accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks .

You can attract customers with a good location, but you can optimize that even further with marketing such as a website, social media, and advertisements.

Dave explains that you’ll want to invest in

[su_quote] A market differentiator that makes your laundry business stand out against [its] competitors. [/su_quote]

He says some of the things that make a difference include:

• Clean bathrooms
• Air conditioning
• Payment systems
• Other services

You can use all of these to market your business and stand out in the laundromat industry. Provide a value proposition, charge more, and market the differences without putting your competitors down.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing includes email newsletters, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Google My Business helps you:

• Track the number of visitors and impressions.
• Determine where visitors see an advertisement based on a code.
• Know if a new customer is the result of a conversion from your marketing campaign.

Facebook is another great site for marketing your business.

Another pro tip is to invest in an all-in-one marketing software like Semrush . The Site Audit tool demystifies search engine optimization for new business owners, while their Keyword Magic tool can save you tons of time on keyword research. Using this type of program also makes it much easier to track marketing campaigns across multiple platforms to ensure you’re getting the full value from the time and money you spend.

Printed materials

Print marketing includes business cards, flyers, brochures, t-shirts, and even uniforms! Try designing yours in Canva .

You might also run advertisements in local newspapers, or ValPack mailers, which reach 10K residents for $300 a month on a five-month subscription.

Attracting customers

Consider offering extra amenities, such as Wi-Fi. CLA published a guide to help laundry owners through the basics of setting up a secure network .

Other ways to create a welcoming atmosphere include cleanliness, professionalism, a children’s area, and televisions.

Final Remarks About Laundromat Businesses

We’ve discussed the coin laundry industry, startup and monthly cost to run a laundromat, and how to start a laundromat business. Along the way, we provided information on how to craft a great laundromat business plan, getting a business license, financing, choosing locations, and marketing your laundromat.

It’s up to you to decide whether you want to start a new laundromat or buy a laundromat for sale. What strategies will you use to take your laundromat business idea to the next level?

nice work https://binarychemist.com/

My Name is PRETTY NGOMANE. A south African female. Aspiring to do farming. And finding a home away from home for the differently abled persons in their daily needs.

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Written by Jesse Sumrak | May 14, 2023

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

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

Bah. Sounds like homework, right?

Yes. Yes, it does.

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

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

Table of Contents

What Is a Business Plan?

Tips to Make Your Small Business Plan Ironclad

How to Write a Business Plan in 6 Steps

Startup Business Plan Template

Business Plan Examples

Work on Making Your Business Plan

How to Write a Business Plan FAQs

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

A business plan is a roadmap that outlines:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don’t Skip: Business Startup Costs Checklist

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

Be Professional and Legit

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

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

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

Know Your Audience

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

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

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

Invest Time Researching

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

Your audience will want:

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

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

Stay Realistic

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan—6 Essential Elements

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

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

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

1. Executive Summary

While your executive summary is the first page of your business plan, it’s the section you’ll write last. That’s because it summarizes your entire business plan into a succinct one-pager.

Begin with an executive summary that introduces the reader to your business and gives them an overview of what’s inside the business plan.

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

2. Business Overview

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

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

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

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

3. Products and Services

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

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

You’ll need to include:

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

4. Market Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Competitive Analysis

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

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

6. Financial Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

Read More: 16 Financial Concepts Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Startup Business Plan Template (Copy/Paste Outline)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 Frame-Worthy Business Plan Examples

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

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

Get to Work on Making Your Business Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep Learning: New Product Development Process in 8 Easy Steps

What financial information should be included in a business plan?

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

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

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

Who should review my business plan before I submit it?

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

Ready to Write Your Business Plan?

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

Let us help you get started.

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

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

About Jesse Sumrak

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

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

1. Secure Funds

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

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

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

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

2. Monitor Business Growth

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

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

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

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

3. Measure Business Success

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

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

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

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

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

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

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

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

A good executive summary should do the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Add Your Company Overview

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

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

Your company overview should contain the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Mission Statement

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

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

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

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

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

Business Objectives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Market Analysis

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

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

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

• Market Research

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

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

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

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

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

How to Quantify Your Target Market

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

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

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Competitive Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Direct vs Indirect Competition

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

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

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

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

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

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

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

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

1. Cost Leadership

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

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

2. Product Differentiation

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

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

3. Market Segmentation

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

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

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

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

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

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

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

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

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

Management Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

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

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

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

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

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

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

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

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

Organizational Chart

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

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

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

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

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

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

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

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

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

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

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

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

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

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

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

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

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

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

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

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

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

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

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

Target Market and Target Audience

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

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

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

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

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

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

Your Positioning Statement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

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

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

Pricing Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

Advertising

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

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

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

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

Public Relations

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

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

Content Marketing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social Media

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

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

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

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

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

Strategic Alliances

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

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

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

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

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

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

2. Evaluate Your Competition

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

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

These questions can help you know your competition.

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

3. Consider Your Brand

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

4. Focus on Benefits

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

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

5. Focus on Differentiation

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

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

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

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

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

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

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

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

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

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

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

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

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

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

Case for Equity

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

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

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

Case for Debt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use Graphs and Charts

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

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

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Sales Forecast

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Personnel Plan

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

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

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

3. Income Statement

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

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

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

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

4. Cash Flow Statement

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

5. Balance Sheet

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

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

6. Exit Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

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

1. Know Your Audience

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

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

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

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

2. Get Inspiration from People

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

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

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

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

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

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

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

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

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

4. Keep it Simple and Short

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

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

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

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

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

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

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

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

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

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

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

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

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

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

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

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

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

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

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

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

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

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

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

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

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

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

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

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

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

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

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

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

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

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

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

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

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

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

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

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

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

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

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

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

Lean Canvas

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

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

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

Startup Pitch Deck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Business Plan FAQ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exlore Further

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

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Martin luenendonk.

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

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

How to Write the Perfect Business Plan: 10 Essential Steps

Whether you’re starting a new small business or are already years into operating one, a business plan is one of the best ways to clarify your long-term vision. Follow our step-by-step guide to writing a highly effective business plan.

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hether you’re starting a new small business or are already years into operating one, a business plan is one of the best ways to clarify your long-term vision. While every business plan is different, there are several key elements to consider that will benefit you in the long run. 

Follow our step-by-step guide to writing a highly effective business plan. 

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that outlines your business goals and how you plan to achieve them. Ideally, this will become your roadmap for marketing, sales, finance, and growth. 

In other words, a business plan is...

• An explanation of your overall vision.
• A valuable tool to plan and track your business fundamentals.
• An overview of your path to profitability, which can help get funding for your company.

Do You Need A Business Plan?

While it’s not a requirement, having a business plan is strongly recommended. In a recent QuickBooks survey , nearly 70% of current business owners recommended writing a business plan.

Creating a business plan is especially useful in the following scenarios:

• Applying for business loans
• Seeking additional rounds of funding or investors 
• Growing your employee headcount  
• Attracting top-level management candidates 
• Looking for opportunities to scale your business

10 Steps To Creating A Comprehensive Business Plan

While not every business plan is the same, there are a few key steps you should take to create an effective and comprehensive document:

1. Create an executive summary

Think of an executive summary as your company's elevator pitch in written form. It should be 1 to 2 pages in length and summarize important information about your company and goals. If you are pitching your business plan to get funding, you should ensure your executive summary appeals to investors.

What should you include in an executive summary?

• An overview of your business
• Your company mission statement
• A concise description of products or services offered
• A description of your target market and customer demographics
• A brief analysis of your competition
• Financial projections and funding requirements
• Information about your management team
• Future plans and growth opportunities
• An overall summary of your business plan

2. Write your company description

Your company description is a more detailed and comprehensive explanation of your business. It should provide a thorough overview of your company, including your company history, your mission, your objectives, and your vision. A company description should help the reader understand the context and background of the business, as well as the key factors that contribute to its success.

What should you include in your company description?

• Official company name 
• Type of business structure
• Physical address(es)
• Company history and background information
• Mission statement and core values
• Management team members and their qualifications
• Products and services offered
• Target market and customer segmentation
• Marketing and sales strategy
• Goals (both short- and long-term)
• Vision statement

Novo Note : The company description is your chance to expound on the pain points your company solves. It should also give a reader an accurate impression of who you are. 

3. Conduct and outline market analysis

This is one of the most important steps in building a business plan. Here, you will assess the size and dynamics of the market your business operates in.

How to conduct a market analysis

Market analyses include both quantitative and qualitative data. You may want to conduct surveys or lean on existing industry research to gather this information. You’ll want to answer:

• What is the size of the market?
• How much revenue does your industry generate?
• What trends are impacting this industry?
• Where are opportunities for innovation?
• What are the most well-known companies in the industry? What tactics do they use to sell to customers? How do they price their offering?
• Where are there gaps in the market? 
• What are your customer demographics? What problems do they have that need solving? What are their values, desires, and purchasing habits?
• What barriers to entry, if any, exist? These could include startup costs, legal requirements, environmental conditions that impact consumer behavior, and market saturation.

What is your target market?

In this section, you will specify the customer segment(s) you’re targeting . You can divide customers into small segments organized by age, location, income, and lifestyle. The goal is to describe what type of consumer will be most interested in your offering.

Novo Note : Regardless of your company’s size, understanding the trends and opportunities within your target market enables you to build a more effective marketing plan to distinguish yourself from the marketplace and grow your business. This analysis might also help you find potential customers or new products you could offer. 

4. Analyze your competitors

After conducting a market analysis, you need to do a deep dive into your competitors. Look at how the competition is succeeding or failing and how each competitor has positioned itself. For example, you might want to evaluate your competitors’ brand, pricing, and distribution strategies. 

How to conduct a competitive analysis

You’ll want to research your competitors and ask the following questions:

• What are their strengths?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are their customer reviews like?
• How do they price their offering(s)?
• What are their value propositions?
• What marketing and sales channels do they leverage?
• How are they growing and evolving?

Novo Note : After you develop a strong understanding of the competitive landscape, consider how your business is unique. Solidifying your competitive advantage can help you appeal to your target audience.  

5. Describe your products or services

This is your chance to go into more detail about the products and services you offer! Use this opportunity to note where your offering or service differs from others in the industry. Highlight the standout features of your product, your company’s unique ability to solve customer problems, and your product roadmap.

What to include:

• Your product catalog
• Key differentiating features
• Information about the production process
• The resources required for production
• Plans for future product releases

6. Define your marketing and sales strategy

Your marketing plan describes your strategy for connecting with your target market and generating leads. It doesn't need to be full-fledged at this point, but it should answer who you're trying to sell to and how you plan to target them. Investors also want to know how you plan on selling your brand and breaking into the market, so make sure to consider their perspective as you develop your marketing strategy.

• Your sales and marketing budget
• Your key sales and marketing objectives
• Details about your sales process and sales goals
• Platforms or strategies you’ll employ to reach your target audience
• PR initiatives, content ideas, and social media strategies

7. Gather your business financials and outline financial projections

Your financials section lays out your company's past and current performance. You can also include a roadmap that dives into financial projections for your business. Aim to include projections for the next five years at a minimum.

• Income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Explanation of any significant changes

Novo Note : Novo offers integrations with accounting software like Quickbooks and Xero , allowing you to seamlessly access all your financial information within your business checking account .

8. Describe your organization

Your business plan should also include an organizational chart that maps your company’s structure. 

What to include :

• Company’s management structure
• Other key personnel, along with their roles and responsibilities
• Expertise of your team (feature any specialists or experts)

Novo Note : This is also a good place to explain the legal structure of your company — for example, if you are an LLC , a corporation, or a sole proprietorship . 

9. Outline your funding requests

If you’re looking for business funding, include an outline of any funding requests and requirements.

• Why you are requesting funding
• What the funding will be used for specifically
• Desired terms and conditions of funding
• The length of time over which the funding will be used
• Type of funding required (for example, debt or equity)

Novo Note : Propose a five-year funding plan, and aim to be as detailed as possible about how you will utilize the funds to grow your business. 

10. Create an appendix

The last section, the appendix, includes supporting documents and additional information not listed elsewhere in your business plan. Not all of these items are necessary to include, so you’ll need to evaluate which are most relevant to your business. You might also want to include a table of contents to help keep the appendix organized.

Items to consider including:

• Bank statements
• Business credit history
• Legal documents
• Letters of reference

Sample Business Plans

Need an example to help you through the process? Check out the Small Business Administration’s downloadable examples or this even more in-depth one from Harvard Business School.

Tips For Creating A Great Business Plan

Here are some of our favorite tips for creating the most effective and efficient business plan:

• Keep it short and sweet : You want to be sure people will actually read your business plan, so stay on topic and to the point.
• Make it digestible : No need to use the fanciest terminology or draft up the most complex graphs. Keep wording and ideas simple and straightforward — it’s the most impactful way to get your information across.
• Triple-check your work : There’s nothing worse than noticing a grammar, spelling, or mathematical error when you’re presenting your vision. So proofread… and then proofread again!
• Start early : It’s never too late to write a business plan, but the earlier you do it, the stronger your strategy for growth and expansion will be from the start.
• Reference credible sources : If you are going to reference third-party research in your business plan, lean on sources that are widely recognized as authorities. Try tapping into trade associations and government resources, like U.S. Census data or data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Set yourself apart : Wherever you can, explain why your product or service stands out and how it can solve a problem.
• Be objective : Avoid the instinct to only showcase the good. Stakeholders and investors want to know that you are realistic and have a contingency plan if you hit a bump in the road.

Updating Your Business Plan

As with most situations in business (and life), things change! So don’t think that your business plan has to be set in stone after you create it. Instead, you should plan to return to it once a year and make updates.

Be sure to do the following when you review and update your business plan:

• Analyze your progress: Review your original business plan and compare it to your actual financial data. Are you moving in the right direction, or do you need to reevaluate your strategy?
• Consider whether your product offerings need to be adjusted: For example, decide if you want to diversify your product offerings or scale back and focus on a singular product. 
• Reassess your overall goals: Perhaps your sales goals have changed with your new marketing strategy. Or maybe your customer’s needs have changed. In any case, be flexible where needed. 

We know there’s a lot that goes into creating a business plan, but it’s worth it. There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for developing a business plan, but our steps outlined above will put you on the right track for developing a comprehensive, investor-friendly document.

Take time to review your business plan annually and make changes as your needs and goals change.

Novo Platform Inc. strives to provide accurate information but cannot guarantee that this content is correct, complete, or up-to-date. This page is for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice nor an endorsement of any third-party products or services. All products and services are presented without warranty. Novo Platform Inc. does not provide any financial or legal advice, and you should consult your own financial, legal, or tax advisors.

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Understanding The Distinction Between a Business Plan & Business Planning

In the dynamic world of entrepreneurship, our choice of words matters. Our vocabulary can often become a veritable alphabet soup of jargon, acronyms, and those buzzwords (I'm looking at you, "disrupt").

And let's not get started on business cliches – "circle back," "synergy," “deep-dive,” etc.

Yet sometimes, it's worth pausing to consider the words we casually sprinkle around in our business conversations. In a previous article, we explored the differences between strategic and tactical business planning , two related but distinct approaches to guiding a business. Now, we're going to delve into another pair of terms that often get used interchangeably but have unique implications: "business plan" (the noun) and "business planning" (the verb).

The business plan, a noun, is a tactical document. It's typically created for a specific purpose, such as securing a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan . Think of it as a road map – it outlines the route and the destination (in this case, the coveted bank loan). But once you've reached your tactical goal (in this case, getting the loan), it often gets shoved in the glove compartment, forgotten as part of the organization's action plan until the next road trip (i.e., additional funding ).

Business planning is not a static concept, but rather a dynamic verb. It's an ongoing process that necessitates continual adjustments. It's about creating a holistic, interconnected value-creating strategic plan that benefits all stakeholders. This includes attracting top-tier employees, ensuring a return on lending or investment, and making a positive impact on the community, whether online or in real life.

That being said, the customer remains at the heart of this process. Without customers, there are no sales, no revenue, and no value. Everything else is contingent on this key element.

If we were to compare the business plan to a map, then business planning would be the journey. It's a continuous process of making strategic decisions, adapting to new paths, and steering the business towards its goals. Sometimes, it even involves redefining objectives midway.

So, let's do a "deep-dive" (I couldn't resist) into these two terms, examining their application in the real world. Along the way, we'll uncover some tools that can aid us in the ever-evolving process of strategic business planning and the more finite task of crafting a winning business plan.

The Business Plan is a Document

Alright, let's take a closer look at a phrase we've all tossed around: the business plan. Imagine it as the detailed blueprint of your organization's goals, strategies, and tactics. It's like the North Star for your entrepreneurial ship, shedding light on the key questions: what, why, how, and when (speaking of questions, here are some FAQs about the business plan ).

Writing a solid business plan isn't easy , especially if you're just dipping your toes into the world of business planning. But don’t worry; we'll get to that (eventually).

So, let's break it down. What does a business plan document consist of, exactly?

• Executive Summary: Just as it sounds, this is a quick overview of the nitty-gritty that's in the rest of your business plan. It's the introduction to your organization, highlighting your mission statement and serving up the essential details like ownership, location, and structure.
• Company Overview: This is where you will detail your products and/or services, their pricing, and the operational plan. If you're opening a restaurant, this section is where you present your menu, and it's also where you talk about your ingredient sourcing, the type of service you'll provide, and the ambiance you're aiming for. 
• Market Analysis Summary: This section demands a comprehensive analysis of your industry, target market, competitors, and your unique selling proposition. Without access to top-notch (and often not free) research tools, it can be challenging to find current industry data. Check out our  guide on the best market research tools to get started.
• Strategy and Implementation Summary: Here, you'll lay out your short-term and long-term objectives along with the strategies you'll implement to attract and retain customers. This is where you’ll talk about all the different marketing and sales strategies you'll use to charm your future customers.
• Management Summary: This is your chance to spotlight your company's key personnel. Detail the profiles of your key leaders, their roles, and why they're perfect for it. Don't shy away from acknowledging talent gaps that need to be filled, and do share how you plan to fill them!
• Pro Forma Financials: This is where you get down to the dollars and cents with a detailed five-year revenue forecast along with crucial financial statements like the balance sheet and the profit & loss statement.

A business plan is an essential instrument, not just for securing funding, but also for communicating long-term goals and objectives to key stakeholders. But, while a business plan is essential for many circumstances, it's important to understand its scope and limitations. It's a tactical tool, an important one, but it's not the be-all and end-all of business strategy. Which brings us to our next point of discussion: business planning.

Business Planning is a Process

If we view the business plan as a blueprint, then business planning is the architect. But let's be clear: we're not building just any old house here. We're building the  Winchester Mystery House of business. Just as the infamous Winchester House was  constantly under construction , with new rooms being added and old ones revamped, so too is your business in a state of perpetual evolution. It's a dynamic, ongoing process, not a one-and-done event.

In the realm of business planning, we're always adding 'rooms' and 'corridors' – new products, services, and market strategies – to our 'house'. And just as  Sarah Winchester reputedly consulted spirits in her Séance Room to guide her construction decisions, we consult our customers, market data, and strategic insights to guide our strategy. We're in a constant state of assessing, evolving, executing, and improving.

Business planning touches all corners of your venture. It includes areas such as product development, market research, and strategic management. It's not about predicting the future with absolute certainty – we’re planners, not fortune tellers. It's about setting a course and making calculated decisions, preparing to pivot when circumstances demand it (think global pandemics).

Business planning is not a 'set it and forget it' endeavor. It's akin to being your company's personal fitness coach, nudging it to continually strive for better. Much like physical fitness, if you stop the maintenance, you risk losing your hard-earned progress.

Business Planning Case Study: Solo Stove

Now that summer is here, my Solo Stove stands as a tangible testament to effective business planning.

For those unfamiliar, Solo Stove started with a simple yet innovative product – a smoke-limiting outdoor fire pit that garnered over $1.1 million on Kickstarter in 2016, far exceeding its original objective. Since then, it has expanded its portfolio with products tailored to outdoor enthusiasts. From flame screens and fire tools to color-changing flame additives, each product is designed to fit seamlessly into modern outdoor spaces, exuding a rugged elegance that resonates with their target audience.

This strategic product development, a cornerstone of business planning, has allowed Solo Stove to evolve from a product to a lifestyle brand. By continually listening to their customers, probing their desires and needs, and innovating to meet those needs, they've built a brand that extends beyond the products they sell.

Their strategy also includes a primary "Direct To Consumer" (DTC) revenue model, executed via their e-commerce website. This model, while challenging due to increased customer acquisition costs, offers significant benefits, including higher margins since revenue isn’t split with a retailer or distributor, and direct interaction with the customer.

Through its primary business model,  Solo Stove has amassed an email database of over 3.4 million customers . This competitive advantage allows for ongoing evaluation of customer needs, driving product innovation and improvement, and enabling effective marketing that strengthens their mission. The success of this approach is evident in the company's growth: from 2018 to 2020,  Solo Stove’s revenue grew from $16 million to $130 million , a 185% CAGR.

While  85% of their revenue comes from online DTC channels, Solo Stove has also enhanced their strategic objectives by partnering with select retailers that align with their reputation, demographic, and commitment to showcasing Solo Brands’ product portfolio and providing superior customer service.

Solo Stove's success underscores how comprehensive business planning fosters regular assessment, constant evolution, and continual improvement. It's more than setting goals – it's about ceaselessly uncovering ways to deliver value to your customers and grow your business.

However, even successful businesses like Solo Stove can explore additional strategic initiatives for growth and diversification, aligning with their strategic direction and operational planning. For instance, a subscription model could provide regular deliveries of products or a service warranty, creating a consistent revenue stream and increasing customer loyalty. Alternatively, a B2B model could involve partnerships with adventure tourism operators, who could purchase Solo Stove products in bulk.

These complementary business models, when integrated into the operational plan, could support the primary DTC model by driving customer acquisition, providing ongoing revenue streams and expanding the customer base. This strategic direction ensures that Solo Stove continues to thrive in a competitive market.

The Interplay between the Business Plan (Noun) and Business Planning (Verb)

In the realm of business strategy, there's an intriguing chicken-and-egg conundrum: which comes first, the business plan or business planning? The answer is both straightforward and complex: they're two sides of the same coin, each indispensable in its own right and yet inextricably linked.

The process of business planning informs and modifies the business plan, just as the business plan provides a strategic foundation for the planning process. This interplay embodies the concept of Model-Based Planning™, where the business model serves as a guide, yet remains flexible to the insights and adaptations borne out of proactive business planning.

Let's revisit the Solo Stove story to elucidate this concept. Their business model, primarily direct-to-consumer, laid the groundwork for their strategy. Yet, it was through continuous business planning  –  the assessment of customer feedback, market trends, and sales performance –  that they were able to refine their model, expand their product portfolio, and enhance their growth objectives. Their business plan wasn't a static document but a living entity, evolving through the insights gleaned from ongoing business planning.

So, how can you harness the power of both the tactical business plan and strategic business planning in your organization? Here are a few guiding principles:

• Embrace Model-Based Planning™: Start with a robust business model that outlines your strategic plan. But remember, this isn't set in stone—it's a guiding framework that will evolve over time as you gain insights from your strategic planning process.
• Make business planning a routine: Regularly review and update your business plan based on your findings from market research, customer feedback, and internal assessments. Use it as a living document that grows and adapts with your business.
• Foster open communication: Keep all stakeholders informed about updates to your business plan and the insights that informed these changes. This promotes alignment and ensures everyone is working towards the same goals.
• Be agile and adaptable: A key part of business planning is being ready to pivot when necessary . Whether it's a global pandemic or a shift in consumer preferences, your ability to respond swiftly and strategically to changing circumstances is crucial for long-term success.

Fanning the Flames: From Planning to Plan

The sparks truly ignite when you understand the symbiotic relationship between tactical business plans, strategic business planning, and the achievement of strategic goals. Crafting a tactical business plan (the noun) requires initial planning (the verb), but then you need to embark on continuous strategic planning (the verb) to review, refine, and realign your strategic business plan (the noun). It's a rhythm of planning, execution, review, and adjustment, all guided by key performance indicators.

Business planning, therefore, isn't a one-off event, but rather an active, ongoing process. A business plan needs constant nurturing and adjustment to stay relevant and guide your organization's path to success. This understanding frames your business plan not as a static document, but as a living, breathing entity, evolving with each step your business takes and each shift in the business landscape. It's a strategic roadmap, continually updated to reflect your organization's objectives and the ever-changing business environment.

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Investing in Hoboken’s business advocate will make for a bright economic future | Opinion

• Updated: Jun. 17, 2024, 8:14 a.m. |
• Published: Jun. 17, 2024, 8:00 a.m.

"Electric Dandelions," an art installation by Los Angeles based Liquid PXL, was unveiled Feb. 23 along Pier A Park in Hoboken by the Hoboken Business Alliance and were on view until May 24. There were 28 10-foot-tall structures. Joe Shine | For the Jersey Journal

• Jersey Journal Guest Columnist

By Robert Foster and Tony Soares

Hoboken is home to a dynamic and diverse business community that functions best when we lean into our collective strengths and prioritize investments in economic development and tourism efforts. To maintain this environment and our momentum coming out of the pandemic, the city needs an entity that can unify community institutions to ensure Hoboken continues to be a desirable place to live, work and play.

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G7 summit opens with deal to use Russian assets for Ukraine as EU’s traditional powers recalibrate

Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations arrived in Italy on Wednesday ahead of their annual summit. U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will use the summit to discuss challenges related to Ukraine, artificial intelligence, migration, the Russian military’s resurgence and China’s economic might, among other topics. (AP video shot by Luigi Navarra)

From left, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participate in a working session at the G7, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Borgo Egnazia, Italy. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

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Italian Carabinieri, paramilitary policemen, patrol at a roadblock near Borgo Egnazia, venue of the G7 summit in southern Italy, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. A Group of Seven summit aiming to consolidate support for Ukraine opens Thursday under a vastly different political landscape than even a few days ago, after European Parliament elections jolted the leaders of France and Germany and emboldened Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Workers give the last touch to the illumination set for the Patron Saint feast in Fasano, near Borgo Egnazia, southern Italy, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. A Group of Seven summit aiming to consolidate support for Ukraine opens Thursday under a vastly different political landscape than even a few days ago, after European Parliament elections jolted the leaders of France and Germany and emboldened Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian Army soldier patrols at a roadblock near Borgo Egnatia, venue of the G7 summit in southern Italy, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian Carabinieri, paramilitary policemen, patrol at a roadblock near Borgo Egnatia, venue of the G7 summit in southern Italy, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. A Group of Seven summit aiming to consolidate support for Ukraine opens Thursday under a vastly different political landscape than even a few days ago, after European Parliament elections jolted the leaders of France and Germany and emboldened Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

BARI, Italy (AP) — A Group of Seven summit is opening Thursday with agreement on a U.S. proposal to back a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral, giving Kyiv a strong show of support even as Europe’s political chessboard shifts to the right.

Diplomats confirmed that an agreement had been reached on the deal before the leaders even landed in southern Italy for the three-day summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on hand and is expected to sign a separate bilateral security agreement with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Beyond the the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis will become the first pope to address a G7 summit, adding a dash of celebrity and moral authority to the annual gathering that is being held this year in Italy’s sun-drenched Puglia region. He’ll be speaking Friday about the promises and perils of artificial intelligence , but is expected to also renew his appeal for a peaceful end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Italy, which is hosting the summit, has invited several African leaders — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune , Kenyan President William Ruto and Tunisian President Kais Saied — to press Italy’s development and migration initiatives on the continent.

Other guests include Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fresh off his own election, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

With Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and now French President Emmanuel Macron facing elections in the coming months, pressure was on the G7 to get done what it can while the status quo lasts.

Frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine

The U.S. proposal involves engineering a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia that would use interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets, most of them held in the European Union, as collateral.

A French official, briefing reporters Wednesday, said a political decision by the leaders had been reached but that technical and legal details of the mechanism to tap into the assets still had to be worked out. The issue is complicated because if the Russian assets one day are unfrozen — say if the war ends — then the windfall profits will no longer be able to be used to pay off the loan, requiring a burden-sharing arrangement with other countries.

In addition to the deal, Sunak announced up to 242 million pounds (286 million euros or $310 million) in nonmilitary aid to Ukraine for humanitarian, energy and stabilization needs. Washington also sent strong signals of support, with widened sanctions against Russia to target Chinese companies that are helping its war machine.

Europe’s new political chessboard

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni goes into the meeting fortified at home and abroad after her far-right party had an even stronger showing in the European Parliament election than the national general election in 2022 that made her Italy’s first female premier. Known for its revolving-door governments, Italy is now in the unusual position of being the most stable power in the EU.

The leaders of the G7’s two other EU members, Germany and France, didn’t fare nearly as well, rattled after hard-right parties made strong showings in the vote. Macron called a snap election and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saw his Social Democrats finish behind mainstream conservatives and the far-right Alternative for Germany.

As a result, Meloni is likely to be able to steer the three-day meeting to her key priority items as she further cements her role on the world stage, analysts said. One sign of her flexed far-right muscles: Meloni’s office denied media reports that Italy was trying to water down language about access to abortion in the final communique.

A French official, speaking anonymously in line with Macron’s office customary practices, said there were diverging views with Italian negotiators on some topics, including on sexual and reproductive health and vaccines.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed abortion was being discussed, but said discussions were continuing.

“While it’s unlikely the recent results will radically shift the focus of the upcoming G7 Summit, this electoral win offers Premier Meloni additional leverage to frame this as an essentially ‘Mediterranean Summit,” said Nick O’Connell, deputy director of the Atlantic Council.

That includes pushing her migration agenda as Meloni seeks to leverage her program for a nonexploitative relationship with Africa to boost development while curbing illegal migration to Europe.

The pope and artificial intelligence

Pope Francis has called for an international treaty to ensure AI is developed and used ethically, acknowledging the promise it offers but emphasizing the grave and existential threats it poses.

He’ll bring that campaign to the world’s industrialized countries as wars are raging across multiple fronts. One of his greatest concerns has been on the use of AI in the armaments sector, which has been a frequent focus of the Jesuit pope who has called even traditional weapons makers “merchants of death.”

But Francis is also concerned about what AI means for the poorest and weakest: technology that could determine the reliability of an applicant for a mortgage, the right of a migrant to receive political asylum or the chance of reoffending by someone previously convicted of a crime.

It’s happening where?

The G7 summit is taking place in a sprawling luxury resort that’s something of a theater set, a faux town made to resemble one of Puglia’s medieval white-washed hamlets but that actually only dates from 2010.

Located next to an actual archaeological park, Borgo Egnazia features narrow streets, villas, restaurants and a town square complete with a clocktower. A favorite of celebrities, it will be sealed off to outsiders for the duration of the summit.

No such five-star accommodations await the 2,000-plus police and Carabinieri forces who have been brought in to provide security. Authorities on Wednesday sequestered the decommissioned cruise ship that had been housing them in Brindisi’s port, after the police union complained about unacceptable hygienic conditions on board.

As with any G7, an assortment of anti-global, anti-war and climate activists are staging protests around the summit venue, but far from where the leaders are meeting. One group is staging a “dinner for the poor” on Friday night calling for “peace, the rights of peoples and against the Big 7 who claim to decide the destiny of the world and our planet.”

Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report from Paris.

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Cleveland Browns plan to ‘navigate business considerations’ with Amari Cooper

• Updated: Jun. 18, 2024, 12:10 p.m. |
• Published: Jun. 18, 2024, 12:00 p.m.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper runs after a reception during an NFL game against the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 15, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) AP

• Mark Inabinett | [email protected]

Cleveland wide receiver Amari Cooper did not attend the Browns’ minicamp last week, despite its designation as mandatory.

Each NFL team’s offseason program is voluntary for its players, except the mandatory minicamp. Cooper could have been fined $101,716 for skipping the three days of practice last week that concluded Cleveland’s offseason work.

It doesn’t appear the Browns will fine Cooper, but there’s also no indication the Cleveland will have an answer for the former Alabama All-American’s contract concerns by July 23, when the team’s veteran players are scheduled to report for training camp.

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“It’s a standard practice for me that I don’t comment on contract specifics or discussions that we have with our players in this realm just because I do think it’s a pretty deeply personal matter for really anybody when you’re talking about compensation,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said during an appearance on NFL Network on Monday. “What I will say about Amari, though, is since he’s been a member of the Cleveland Browns, he’s obviously been a high-level, Pro Bowl-caliber receiver. But he’s also a great teammate, and he’s a great professional.

“We’re happy to have him as a member of the organization. Sometimes all teams will have periods where they go through these types of situations, but it does not change our affinity for Amari. We’ll navigate, call it, the business considerations, the business aspects, as it goes, but he is a big part of our team, and, just as importantly, he’s a big part of our culture.”

Cooper recorded a career-high 1,250 yards on 72 receptions, with five touchdowns, in 2023. With his seventh 1,000-yard season, Cooper received his fifth Pro Bowl invitation.

Cooper is entering the final season of a five-year, $100 million contract that he signed with the Dallas Cowboys.

In 2022,  Cleveland obtained Cooper  and a sixth-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft from Dallas for 2022 fifth- and sixth-round draft picks. Cooper was two seasons into his contract when it became too rich for the Cowboys’ taste after he had 68 receptions for 865 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021. Dallas traded Cooper just days before his $20 million salary for the 2022 season was to become guaranteed.

When Cooper signed the contract with Dallas in 2020, he had the  only $100 million deal  among the NFL’s wide receivers. This season, the Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams, Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown and Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill will play on contracts with a total value of more than $100 million .

The $20 million annual average of Cooper’s contract is now tied for the 20th highest among the NFL’s wide receivers, and his $20 million pay for 2024 will be the 12th highest among the NFL’s wide receivers.

Cooper has 667 receptions for 9,486 yards and 60 touchdowns during his NFL career. Only two of the 11 wide receivers who will be paid more than Cooper in 2024 meet those numbers. Only two of the 11 matched Cooper’s numbers in those statistical categories for the 2024 campaign.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM ’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR  NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at  @ AMarkG1 .

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VMware: Business Simplification, Portfolio Innovation and Ecosystem Standardization

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Change is never easy. Since the completion of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, we have been all about change. For the VMware Cloud Foundation division, all of this change was necessary to transform our business to deliver faster innovation with more value to customers, and even better profitability and market opportunity for our partners. So, what's changed now, post-acquisition, and why will this benefit your organization?

• Business model transition to subscription licensing which is the standard in the industry
• Radical simplification across our portfolio, go-to-market and organizational structure to make it easier to do business with us.
• Standardization across our ecosystem to drive value through distributors/resellers, Cloud Service Providers, Hyperscalers and technology partners.

Business Transformation: A Strategy Summarized in One Word - Simplification

To recap, we’ve completed our transition from selling perpetual software to subscription licensing only; streamlined what, how, and through whom we will sell our software going forward; and reorganized internally around our VMware Cloud Foundation strategy to streamline execution.

First, subscription is the model all major enterprise software providers are on today. Subscription software is the right model for fueling continuous innovation for customers. This past quarter we finalized the switch fully to subscription software, just like everyone else. We immediately turned this transformation into net new value for our customers. How? Do you want to have deployment flexibility? Now you can. When you purchase VMware Cloud Foundation, you get license portability. This means you will be able to deploy on-premises and then take your subscription at any time to a supported Hyperscaler or VMware Cloud Services Provider environment as desired. You retain your license subscription as you move. Google Cloud will be the first to support VMware Cloud Foundation license portability with other Hyperscaler and partner clouds expected to follow. Read the full Google Cloud announcement here .

How about that portfolio? Offering a few offerings that are lower in price on the high end and are packed with more value for the same or less cost on the lower end makes business sense for customers, partners and VMware. We’re putting all our R&D investment towards fewer offerings, which is a double win for customers. 

Finally, we’ve brought all of the product teams into the VMware Cloud Foundation division. We are now better positioned to deliver a single, integrated product across all core technologies with a single vision for where we are taking the VMware Cloud Foundation platform. We also have professional services and global support practically sitting right next to R&D inside the same business division. This gives us a laser focus on building one product with the services and support needed to drive maximum value.

Three changes, but massive impact.

Portfolio Transformation: Fueling an Engine of Innovation

We are now focusing our innovation engine on VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation, along with some very strategic add-ons related to security, ransomware protection and recovery, application platform services, and private AI.

VMware Cloud Foundation helps organizations modernize their infrastructure with the best possible TCO. It’s fully software-defined compute, network, storage with automated and simplified operations. VMware Cloud Foundation enables a cloud operating model that provides the benefit of public cloud with the security and performance of on-premises private clouds. 

VMware Cloud Foundation provides developers a self-service private cloud experience, which results in greater productivity. Development teams can leverage the embedded Kubernetes runtime and a self-service cloud consumption interface to deploy infrastructure as code. This results in frictionless deployment of business-critical and cloud-native applications. IT teams can maintain compliance against security requirements by building security into the policies deployed with every cluster. 

VMware Cloud Foundation provides enterprise-grade resiliency and security. Customers can scale infrastructure and applications seamlessly through a hardened platform that has built-in      resilience to ensure mission-critical apps are always available. The intrinsic security built into VMware Cloud Foundation helps significantly reduce the attack surface for lateral threats, and our disaster and ransomware recovery capabilities help customers rapidly and efficiently recover from cyber threats.

Through all of this change we’ve not stopped innovating. Here are updates to both the core platform and our add-on services that we have recently made available or will deliver throughout the rest of Broadcom’s Q2FY24.

VMware Cloud Foundation Core Platform Enhancements

Automation for Infrastructure and Application Services: In response to a growing need from VMware customers to deliver and support next-gen cloud-native and AI-powered applications across their private and hybrid clouds, are announcing three new automation capabilities:

• Automation for Data Services: available today, VMware Cloud Foundation provides a native infrastructure automation and management experience for data services. This enables IT to offer self-service, enterprise-hardened Postgres, MySQL, and Google AlloyDB Omni (tech preview) to their teams, boosting developer innovation, reducing IT costs, and ensuring data resilience. For more details read the blog here .
• Automation for Load Balancing Services: through built-in VMware Cloud Foundation capabilities, cloud admins will be able to offer application teams self-service access to L4-L7 load balancing services. This will enable application and infrastructure teams to immediately deploy load balancing at the time of application provisioning, with minimal know-how of load balancing technology or the need to create manual tickets. These capabilities will be available to support the VMware Avi Load Balancer add-on starting in a few months.
• Automation Services for Private AI : customers will be able to use capabilities built into VMware Cloud Foundation to automate private AI service setup and provisioning of GPU-enabled machines for ML workloads when VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA add-on becomes available this quarter. 

Integrated Network Operations Capabilities: The latest integrated network operations capabilities offered exclusively as part of VMware Cloud Foundation help IT users improve their network visibility, gain insights into network performance, and quickly identify and resolve network issues. These new enhancements are available today. Read about them here .

VMware Cloud Foundation Add-On Services Updates

Unified Ransomware and Disaster Recovery : With VMware Live Recovery, customers can protect applications and data from modern ransomware and other disasters across on-premises and public clouds with flexible licensing for changing business needs and threats. VMware Live Recovery will bring together the existing capabilities of VMware Cloud DR, VMware Ransomware Recovery, and VMware Site Recovery Manager, and add new capabilities such as enhanced vSphere replication (1-minute RPO) and seamless extension of on-premises disaster recovery to the public cloud with ransomware recovery. All of this will be delivered with a unified management experience and available through a single add-on subscription for VMware Cloud Foundation, which is expected to become available in Q2FY24.

VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA : unveiled at VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas , VMware and NVIDIA are working to deliver this new add-on service to VMware Cloud Foundation. We’re almost there, and you can expect an update on availability of the solution this quarter. But you don’t have to wait to learn more. Join the team online for AI Field Day 4 on February 21 from 08:00-10:00 PST to get an update on the capabilities we’re driving and the use cases we’re seeing emerge for VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA.

Ecosystem Transformation: Standardization Drives a Better Experience

Broadcom’s strategy is to drive adoption of our full stack VMware Cloud Foundation as the best subscription-based private cloud platform for innovation. We will rely heavily on partners to transition our broad customer base to the new subscription model and help them transform their business with our private cloud infrastructure. This quarter we are welcoming thousands of partners across all routes to market into the Broadcom Advantage Partner Program .

In the channel, we are standardizing pricing so that everyone knows what to expect, all partners are on a level playing field, and partners are competing on value-added differentiation. This will deliver a better customer experience. We’ve also implemented a new customer segmentation model aligned with our simplified portfolio strategy. Here are some important things to know about our customer segmentation model:

• Partners have opportunities across all segments including the strategic segment.
• VMware will have deeper direct relationships with its most strategic customers, in order to accelerate the adoption of VMware Cloud Foundation in these accounts.

It makes business sense for Broadcom to have close relationships with its most strategic VMware customers to make sure VMware Cloud Foundation is being adopted, used and providing customer value. However, we expect there will be a role change in accounts that will have to be worked through so that both Broadcom and our partners are providing the most value and greatest impact to strategic customers. And, partners will play a critical role in adding value beyond what Broadcom may be able to offer itself. 

VMware Cloud Service Provider partners will help take VMware Cloud Foundation to an even broader set of corporate and commercial customers and deliver it as a managed service. And because not all customers are ready to consume VMware Cloud Foundation, our thousands of reseller partners will drive adoption of VMware vSphere Foundation. In the corporate segment, we support co-selling with our CSP partners. And our commercial segment is 100% owned and led by reseller partners. This should help reduce channel conflict, which partners have said was an ongoing challenge previously.

Good Business Hygiene is Never Easy

When you acquire a company, you look at everything. Broadcom identified things that needed to change, and as a responsible company, made the changes quickly and decisively. The changes that have taken place over the past 60+ days were absolutely necessary. We understand this massive transformation and simplification of the portfolio and our business model has raised many questions and concerns as you continue to evaluate how to maximize value from your VMware software investments. We are proactively working with the sales teams and channel partners to help customers make this transition and encourage customers to engage them to work through the best approach for their businesses. 

One thing has not changed…delivering value to you, our customers. You are the reason we build and deliver great software. You drive our innovation. The new VMware Cloud Foundation is the best platform for deploying a private cloud infrastructure that is ubiquitous, flexible and integrated across cloud endpoints. 

It will only get better. 

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