short term business plan example

40 Short-Term Business Goals Examples to Set in 2023

• OKR - Objectives & Key Results

For more than 10 years Weekdone has provided tens of thousands of teams from startups to Fortune 500 with world leading goal-setting software called Weekdone . These are our lessons learned.

Short-term business goals should be a road map that shows where you want to go. Setting short-term goals for a business can get a bit trickier. As they must be very clear, practical, and easily understandable for employees. That is why we’ve compiled 40 + examples of short-term business goals and objectives in this article. Feel free to try them out in Weekdone for free.

What’s more, when setting business objectives you must always keep the long game in mind. Otherwise you might stray from the really impactful daily tasks.

How to Set Business Goals with OKRs

For setting business goals, you can use the popular Objectives and Key Results ( OKR ) method. This is an increasingly flexible methodology for increasing your own and your team’s productivity and focus. In simple terms, OKR is an easy process of setting company, team, and personal goals then connecting each goal with 3-5 measurable results.

Objectives should be qualitative and describe the desired outcome. Make it inspirational and understandable to those reading and working toward it! Key Results are the quantifiable measures that help explain how from reaching your Objective you are – adding metrics to Objectives.

Set OKR Goals in Weekdone

Use the popular OKR goal management framework in a dedicated OKR software with OKR examples to get teams on the right track from day one!

Examples of Short Term (Quarterly) OKRs

Here are some of the example business Objectives you can find also from our resource: okrexamples.co

Objective: Research and improve customer satisfaction. Key Result #1: Achieve Net Promoter Score (NPS) of over 8.0. Key Result #2: Get 1000 survey responses to annual satisfaction survey. Key Result #3: Conduct 50 phone interviews with top customers. Key Result #4: Conduct 15 phone interviews with recently churned customers. Key Result #5: Present an action plan of 10 improvements for next quarter. Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

Objective: Improve internal employee engagement. Key Result #1: Conduct 3 monthly “Fun Friday” all-hands meetings with motivational speakers. Key Result #2: Interview 48 employees on their needs for improving our work culture. Key Result #3: Implement using OKRs and Weekdone software in all of our 23 teams. Key Result #4: Reach weekly employee satisfaction score of at least 4.7 points. Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

Objective: Successfully launch version 3 of our main product. Key Result #1: Get over 10000 new signups. Key Result #2: Get published product reviews in over 15 publications. Key Result #3: Achieve sign-up to trial ratio of over 25%. Key Result #4: Achieve trial to paid ratio of over 50%. Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

40 Examples of Short Term Business Goals

In the next 40 examples, we’ll consider the SMART goals criteria. Meaning a suitable goal will follow the SMART formula: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.

1. Gain X New Customers by the end of X month

Setting business goals in the short term is generally from 1-3 months time. Usually, setting a 3 month (quarterly) period is a good timeframe to satisfy the: achievable, realistic, and timed aspects of the SMART criteria. You’ll gain enough meaningful data to start making better decisions for your company as well.

With all that in mind, ask yourself, when do you want these customers? How many new customers do you want? How can teams set goals to drive this forward as well?

2. Increase Revenue by X Amount This Month

Another great short-term goal to have as a business is to increase your revenue. More revenue = more profits 💵

Set a realistic goal for the amount of revenue you believe you could make in a month.

Note: Before you set your goal, first look at what you’ve done in the past to ensure it really is realistic. If you do reach this goal, you can always make the next month’s goal more ambitious.

Related: Weekdone helps you define your ambitions when setting OKRs since you can set your Objective (goal) with a related confidence level and type! How confident are you that you’ll achieve this goal?

Moonshot: Otherwise known as “stretch goals”, are seemingly impossible to achieve. Forcing you to shoot for the moon (get it?!) and everyone contributing to the success of this goal out of their comfort zone. Aim for 70% achievement here!

Roofshot: These are your more “committed” goals. Maybe you’ve achieved this target before, but it’s been some time. You’re in your comfort zone, but still want to achieve 100%. That’s your drive!

Read more about the difference between aspirational and committed goals.

3. Successfully Host an Event

As a small business owner, a great way to market yourself is by setting business goals that center around hosting events.

While the above goal is a bit broad, you would have to take the event itself and center a more specific and actionable goal around the event.

To use an OKR example for this short term goal, we could frame it like this:

Objective: Host a successful golf tournament with at least 70% attendance Key Result #1: Distribute invitations to 100% of customers Key Result #2: Sign contracts with 12 industry partnerships/sponsors Key Result #3: Raise $50,000 for X charity associated with tournament Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

Key Results help you to break down the Objective into more “bite-sized pieces”. Within each measurable Key Result, you will have various activities that help you make progress toward achieving those targeted outcomes! Using OKRs helps you keep weekly focus on your short term and long term goals.

4. Increase Employee Retention Through the End of the Fiscal Year

If you are a business that sees many employees come and go throughout the year, it’s a good idea to make one of your goals centered around employee retention to reduce turnover.

Whether you choose to put in an incentive program or go through the ropes to find something that makes employees happier like scheduling team-building activities or something else of the sort, setting a goal to keep your employees around is a great way to help the business grow!

5. Reduce Monthly Expenses this Quarter

If you notice that you are spending a lot of money each month, a great short-term goal is to reduce monthly expenses. Review your current expenses to see what you are spending money on, but once you do that, you should be able to eliminate some of the heftier expenses that you realize aren’t needed.

Thinking outside of the box to manage monthly expenses can benefit your business.

6. Create a Budget Tracker

If your business doesn’t have a budget tracker or dedicated accountant, this is a great short term goal! This is the only way to visualize how you’re spending is going and how you can allocate resources better for the next goal term, or quarter.

There are many programs you can use for budget tracking as well as simply using Excel. Just remember to document every single expense so you have access to historic data in order to make better accounting decision in the future

7. Research Various Market Opportunities

As a business, it’s always smart to consider growth and expansion. You’ll notice that this short-term goal only covers “research” – since looking into your possibilities is a big task. Focusing here can set you up for the trial/experimental phase in the next quarter.

If you’re a service provider, are there other parts of the market that you could expand into to offer more services? If you sell products, what other products are in your niche that you could offer to customers? See what opportunities come about as you do some competitor research!

8. Implement a Hybrid Work Model

This short term goal has potential to be carried out in a quarter (3 months) if done so efficiently with the leadership team completely on board!

With so many people working from home these days, hybrid work has proved its value. Happier employees with more flexibility, and offering companies the option to downsize and save on overhead costs.

Of course, in order to do this successfully, you’ll need to find a software solution to support your business goal management and satisfies employees as to keep momentum going rather than deplete it!

Use OKR Software

9. create a social media content plan.

Over 4 billion people use social media, so it shouldn’t go unnoticed as an opportunity to gain new customers or higher engagement levels!

One way to implement social media into your marketing technique is to put all of your energy and focus into one platform until you grow that one. Another way to go about this is to choose several to focus on.

To make sure you are giving social media the time of day, you could consider hiring an agency to do the work for you so you can focus on other parts of the business. Otherwise, it could be an employee’s part-time job to run the social media accounts and calendar.

Whatever you do in terms of who runs your social media, you should ensure that you are posting on your social media platforms a few times per week. The most important thing is to stay consistent. If you post once a week and it’s every Wednesday, keep doing that so customers know when to expect to hear or see something from you!

10. Improve Customer Service

When setting business goals, you have to also take into account who you are serving. This goal is specific to Customer Service Teams, if you find that your rate of engagement with customers is on a downward trend, can set the short term goal of making improvements!

When setting this goal, you have to take actionable steps within this goal to guarantee you are reaching it. How do you plan to improve customer service? What are the challenges you need to surpass in order to achieve the expected outcome?

Here are a few ideas: (if using OKR goals , these would be your Key Results )

• Increase our ratings on 10 review websites
• Create an “after purchase” email automation flow that receives a 2.5% open rate
• Complete 50 customer account checks weekly to reduce churn from 3.2% to 1.5%.

Each of these items will have various activities (or initiatives) that individual teammates work on during the timeline to drive the changes and see progress on a weekly basis!

11. Stay Up-to-Date With Marketing Trends

Since trends are constantly changing, you need to be looking out for the newer trends. Simply being behind the times can make you less successful than if you stayed on top of current trends.

So what types of trends should you be looking for?

As of 2022, marketing is trending toward short-form videos and social media. Most is digital rather than in paper form as well.

12. Develop a New Product

Is it time to create or make changes to your product to meet the demand of what people want?

For example, let’s say you make and sell soy candles. While reviewing sales from last quarter, and discussing customer requests with your Sales team, you learn that customers have been asking for a diffuser option! This is a great time to ramp up production on something new.

Having conversations with your teams is crucial to help find new areas of opportunity. The OKR goal setting methodology helps companies and teams adopt a collaborative process with goal-setting at the forefront!

Read why OKRs are so beneficial to teams

13. Create an Employee Incentive Program 

Employees love recognition. About 45% of workers in America leave their jobs – because they don’t feel recognized by their employers. It’s so important to create some type of employee incentive and recognition program.

As a business owner, it’s important to ensure that your employees feel recognized, motivated, and fulfilled, otherwise a new opportunity awaits them and they could end up leaving your company.

Something as simple as sending a weekly email to acknowledge a job well done, or something worth supporting will go a long way.

14. Create a Blog

Content creation is a huge marketing win and opportunity for people to find you online through organic search.

On the blog, you have to guarantee that you are posting simply about your niche. If you are a lawn care service company, you most likely don’t want to post about the best going-out clothes to wear around town.

Creating a blog is a great example of a short term goal for your marketing team. Here’s an OKR example to show how it would look:

Objective: Create a WordPress blog that stands out among competitors Key Result #1: Research 30 competitors in our niche and create 1 master competitor’s analysis spreadsheet Key Result #2: Create a content calendar and write 10 articles to promote Key Result #3: Research and test SEO tools, choose 1 to move forward with Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

15. Go Paperless

Going paperless is a step closer to being more environmentally friendly as a business. With more and more customers (78% of customers to be exact) preferring to purchase from a green company, you will have a leg-up in the industry if you choose to go paperless.

This could mean a few different things, and doing even just one of these things to start will be working toward your goal.

• Eliminate paper checks for employees
• Eliminate flyers and mail marketing
• Change menus or services/products to online menus

This could be a goal that you set over a three-month period. From there, you could do one of these each month. Making the objective more attainable for a shorter term.

16. Make Company Meetings More Efficient

Teamwork makes the dreamwork, right? So, in order to come up with innovative solutions, create products, or solve problems meetings should give everyone a voice, in an efficient way!

Setting a short term business goal like this, proves to everyone that you:

• understand there is a problem with the current process,
• value individuals’ needs and time,
• are committed to making an improvement

17. Improve Company Data Analysis

It’s always great to implement goals and techniques, but without analyzing how it works, you may be left with more questions than answers.

Make a short-term business goal to improve your collection and analysis of data. This is a very general goal, but for example you could create reports for individual teams based on what they need to measure their success on short-term team goals.

18. Prepare an Investment Portfolio

Investing in your business is crucial for growth and opportunity. If you don’t already have a portfolio for investments, this is a great short-term business goal to implement!

Set yourself a timeline of 3 months (1 quarter) to review investment opportunities, meet with investors or a financial advisor, or whatever you need to make this goal achievable and lasting.

Of course, once you achieve this goal, you could consider an annual goal surrounded by the growth you hope to see within 1 year.

Read about annual vs. quarterly goals

19. Test OKR software for Better Goal Setting

There are so many goals you can have as a business owner, as well as individual team goals. But if you’re not using software to track everyone’s progress it can be frustrating trying to keep up with others, losing momentum all around!

So, it may be time to consider using software to help you track quarterly goals company-wide! At Weekdone, we fully believe in the benefits of the OKR methodology – OKRs not only help you break down your goals into measurable outcomes, but the framework brings focus back to what’s really important.

Read our extensive list of the best OKR software . It shares details about 24 goal management tools + their supporting features that help you make positive changes with lasting results!

20. Raise Brand Awareness on Social Media

As a brand, you should always consider how to grow your audience, whether through social media, blogs, or various email campaigns. For a short-term business goal about raising brand awareness, consider choosing one outlet – social media, or even further, Instagram! This removes the ambiguity and gets you that specificity!

What is your Objective? What is motivating you to raise awareness on social media this quarter? Maybe you saw a drop in traffic from this channel and would like to see more referrals coming in. Consider the “why” and surround your focus on this!

Marketing Short Term Business Goal Example (specific to raising brand awareness using OKRs )

Objective: Increase organic traffic from Instagram and raise brand awareness Key Result #1: Solidify 10 influencer partnerships within our niche Key Result #2: Create, run, and optimize 2 paid advertisement posts to drive organic traffic Key Result #3: Improve engagement from 50% to 90% Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

Now, in order to reach your desired outcome for each Key Result, to drive your Objective forward, you’ll have to create some initiatives or larger projects to work on daily that keep you on track!

Initiative Examples connected to Key Result #3 Example #1: Prepare, Run, and Analyze results from an Instagram Giveaway Example #2: Share 50 relative accounts from ours in stories/reels Sign up to add this goal to Weekdone

Now, you have larger projects that help you stay focused on your goal! Using these, set yourself some weekly plans , and daily tasks to improve focus and motivation for yourself!

21. Test various hashtag methods

On social media, you also want to focus on getting your content seen! There is a method to all of the madness that is social media, and one of them is focusing on the hashtags you use when you post.

For instance, if you are a travel agency, you may use hashtags like:

• #travelagency
• #webooktravel
• #travelmore
• #travelandexplore

Expanding your reach on social media with hashtags is a great option and you could dedicate some time (possibly even shorter than 3 months) to analyzing and testing different options!

22. Start producing video content

Videos are an upward trend for marketing campaigns. Whether you post a short-form customer testimonial video on your website or create a reel on Instagram or TikTok, these are fast moving attractors!

With short playing times, they hold people’s attention a bit longer. Sometimes they are also played quickly, so people will watch them more than once (which, on social media helps you get more reach, and more reach means more customers!).

Short-form videos are trending on websites, blogs, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and even other platforms, too!

23. Improve Customer Feedback Channels

Having a short-term business goal related to customer feedback, allows you to think further into how you receive it, measure it, and what you do with it!

You can get more feedback from your customers through: anonymous customer satisfaction surveys, rewards for reviews, check-in calls or emails! However makes sense for your business.

24. Improve Employee Morale at Work

As a company, you want to ensure your team is connected, happy, and motivated. Some initiatives that could help drive this goal forward are:

• Plan and hold X company events this quarter
• Test and implement an employee engagement tool for the company
• Hold 1:1 weekly check-ins with employees

25. Go Green

Our society is making the push to go green, so your company should also make this a goal. While this is a large goal in itself, there are ways to chunk this “go green” goal into smaller goals.

For instance, as mentioned before, you could take three months to go paperless.

One month you could make the goal to hire a green cleaning company to use healthier cleaning products and fewer paper towels. The next month you could install energy-efficient hand dryers in the workplace.

Another month you could incentivize workers to walk or carpool to work.

Every month could be a different goal toward going green, but each month you grow closer to being as green as possible! The short-term goals help to lead you to your long-term goals.

26. Formulate your Company Mission Statement

Having a mission statement as a company is not only helpful for customers and others to see, but it also helps make the workplace more cohesive. Everyone knows the values and goals you have as a company.

To achieve this goal, it’s important to gather the leadership team for a brainstorming session. Only after this should you include individuals, maybe you could create an anonymous worksheet to help float ideas around and understand what the company means to your workers.

27. Promote a New Version of Your Product

After creating products, you also need to promote them to make sure they sell.

Just before the launch of your new product, start planning the next quarter to be your active promotion time. During this time, Marketing team prepares promotional materials, the Product team is fixing any reported bugs to ensure proper functioning, the Design team could be working on a new landing page on the website to share feature developments!

28. Organize Business Expenses

If you don’t have a way of tracking items that you can write-off for tax purposes, you may find yourself stressed when tax season rolls around since you have to get everything in order. Instead of waiting until the last minute – have a system in place to meet the goal of not being stressed once per year.

Your goal could be to track your business expenses every Monday. This is a short-term goal is more of an individual weekly goal that will help you with your business tracking and tax filing every single year.

29. Improve Internal Organizational Structure

As your company grows, responsibilities are dispersed among teams and you can easily lose sight of whats going on in the day to day, feeling overwhelmed and confused! That’s why it is important to have a system that works and can grow with you as you scale up.

We recommend finding a way to improve this internal struggle for yourself and your employees! There are plenty of tools out there to help you save the day, however we wholeheartedly recommend the OKR framework to help you turn that chaos into confidence! Building internal processes, structure and ultimately a more positive organizational culture through goal-setting and tracking!

30. Improve Company Communication

As a business, it can be difficult to keep track of what everyone is doing! And with so many tools available, where did you make that important note? Improving company communication is a great short term goal or initiative that you should start seeing positive changes immediately!

Some ideas to help you get started here are:

• Create a digital company calendar where everyone has access
• Use a digital communication tool like Slack or MS Teams so everyone stays connected
• If you choose to improve organizational structure and communication in one quarter – test out these OKR software with Slack integrations!

31. Hire consultant for X project

Say you have a new project coming up, but your current resources and employees cant handle the workload, or it’s outside of their wheelhouse – you’ll need to hire outside of your team.

This short term goal would begin with creating a job description, finding the right platforms to list it, interviewing consultants, negotiating contracts, and whatever else you may need.

32. Increase customer retention

If you’ve noticed that your customers are less active over time, or are churning quicker than before – retention is a great place to start. Begin with your Sales team and discuss numbers and try to place where the issue started based on collected customer feedback, product issues, and more. Then start setting yourself some targets related to retention. This helpful article shares 10 customer retention metrics you may want to consider using to help you achieve your outcome!

33. Improve New Market Knowledge

By setting the short term business goal of improving your knowledge and understanding of a new market, you’ll be more active in getting to know potential customers, competitors, and value you could bring to this new market.

This is a short term goal that you could set for yourself in 1 quarter; make sure you consider putting together your research in a report and comparing it against other markets down the line. Having this data will allow you to see how quickly things change and what you’ll need to do to adapt if you want to grow.

34. Participate in X Community Events

This short term marketing goal could be a part of a broader Company Objective to expand community outreach. However, with your Marketing Team aligned with that Objective you’ll be able to move things forward with actionable outcomes.

How many events can you realistically participate in during a 3 month period? Consider choosing, planning, and preparing – given your current available budget and resources.

35. Test New Messaging on X

If your business is going through a transition phase, this is a great short term goal to try out some new messaging. Before you change elements across all of your platforms, it’s important to see what sort of engagement and people this new message drives to your product.

The Marketing team could test and optimize the message, while your Sales Team analyzes the quality of those new leads. A collaborative short team goal that can provide valuable insights into the next quarter.

36. Improve the SEO on Your Website

Assuming you have a website and are creating content for your users, you need to go through and  improve the SEO  throughout.

There are plenty of ways to do this, but to get started:

• Ensure your website is mobile friendly (check Google Search Console )
• Sign up for a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs to help analyze keywords and current positioning.
• Learn some SEO best practices and implement them, examples: strategic internal linking, best page structure, and optimizing images for search.

It’s important to note that SEO is a long term game, most results will show in 3-6 months time, but tracking and keeping up with it will improve your organic reach to bring in new customers!

37. Facilitate More Employee 1:1s

As a business owner or manager, it is crucial to have one-on-one time with employees to make sure they feel valued. This is also a time for them to voice their concerns as well.

Having a monthly meeting to check in with individuals’ progress, challenges, and general thoughts on their role and responsibilities helps employees improve in addition to you as a manager. Ask and give feedback regularly – make it your goal to be a better leader.

38. Complete a Course on X

Learning opportunities are always a great short term business goal to set. You should allow and encourage your employees to do the same. Whether you give them a quarterly stipend to enroll in a certification program, or take a course together as a team/company, you won’t regret it.

39. Encourage Monthly Self Care

To avoid burnout, you need to take care of yourself, and you also need to take care of your staff. But it’s not enough to tell everyone to take care of themselves! 

You have to encourage it in the short and long-term.

Here are a few ways to encourage self-care in the workplace:

• Allow employees the flexibility to work from home
• Give employees one half-day on a Friday each month
• Give a gym stipend to employees every month
• Create a contest that centers around self-care

40. Change Up the Office Space to Be More Trendy

Another goal of yours as a business owner could be to change up the office space. This could be to make it a space that people like to be in or to simply stay up with the times of more collaborative office spaces.

Instead of having individual offices, you could have an open space with tables, couches, and chairs for employees to hang out in and work.

Start with a budget and go from there.

Ready to Set Awesome Business Goals?

Without short term goals for your business, you’ll be overwhelmed by the long-term agenda.

There are so many examples of short-term goals to choose from that it can be easy to get distracted. Ultimately, you’ll want to use these examples as inspiration. In the end, remember the SMART formula for effective goal setting – S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R ealistic, and T imed.

If you found our OKR examples interesting, read more about how to write and set good OKRs .

Try Weekdone to help you set more strategic goals with Objectives and Key Results and lead your company with confidence. Weekdone is your leading OKR software for status reporting, aligning team OKRs with business goals, and visualizing weekly and quarterly achievements. The fundamental concepts of appropriate alignment, structure, and connectivity are important to us. From the ground up, we can make your organization feel more connected by achieving business goals together. Sign up now .

8 Short-Term Business Goals Examples

Have you set any short-term goals lately? If you’re like most entrepreneurs and business leaders, you have a long to-do list. But, it’s important to stop and think about the bigger picture.

Short-term goals can also serve as milestones toward your larger goals. If you have big ambitious goals for your business, you can take steps towards them by lining up smaller, shorter-term goals to accomplish.

Improve Operational Processes

You may have an in-demand product or service, but if the way you operate the business behind the scenes is antiquated and disorganized, you could be wasting time and material resources.

Increase Sales Revenue for This Quarter

Planning for your business to be profitable must be intentional. So, begin now by creating the goal of increasing sales revenue for this quarter. 

Hire “X” Amount of Employees This Year

Ensure you’re placing the right person in each role. These new hires can be pivotal for creating a great culture , and ultimately, cultivating a great reputation for your company. Creating a referral program for your current employees to refer their friends is one easy way of finding great talent.

Improve Customer Retention

How can you improve customer retention? Here are some strategies:

Expand Online Presence by “X”

If you’ve been doing it all yourself- then it might be time to hire an online expert. It may be time to make it a goal to expand your online presence.

There are more reasons to enhance your online presence, such as:

Increase Employee Productivity This Month

Test new product idea the year.

You’ll want to think about the products you’re selling that have already been successful. What do customers already love? What similar products could you launch that would be similar? Are there products that you make – or that are made by a vendor/supplier – that could be sold as a pair to what you sell now?

Diversify Revenue for the Year

If you’ve already increased your quarterly revenue, another goal to consider is diversifying that revenue. Diversifying revenue means that you are earning income from different sources. This can be done without launching a new product, however. Although that is certainly one way to do it. But what this truly means is diversifying how you make your money and where the money comes from.

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Dividends Diversify

5 Examples of Short-Term Business Goals to Set Now

January 17, 2024, best short-term goals for a new business or old.

Let’s talk about short-term goals for business today. Because I have 5 examples of short-term business goals you must have for your company right now.

We will also review how to set your business goals. And how to measure the daily activities leading to the achievement of those goals.

That is what we are going to cover. So, let’s not delay. And get on with short-term goals for your business today…

Disclosure: At no cost to you, I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Examples Of Short-Term Business Goals

Here are my 5 best short-term goals for businesses:

• Define your value proposition
• Analyze your target market
• Develop a business plan
• Increase profits this year
• Make smart investments for future years

First, this group represents great short-term goals for a new business. Or, an old business you are trying to revitalize.

And be sure to understand that this…

Your short-term business goals should be achieved in the next 12 months. While medium-term business goals are 1-5 years out. And, long-term goals span more than 5 years .

Finally, you might be surprised. That long-term thinking is required. When setting these 5 short-term business goals examples .

Here is what I mean. Starting with short-term business goal #1…

Short-Term Business Goal Example #1: Define Your Value Proposition

Clearly define your value proposition. Because if you don’t identify your customers. And deliver value to them.

You don’t have a business.

So, think long and hard about who your customers are. And what they desire from your product or service. In addition to the customer service level they require.

Furthermore, your value proposition should be closely tied to your business strategy. And you should know there are 3 generic business strategies…

1. Cost leadership strategy.

This strategy relies on being a low-cost producer . It is usually best for a commodity-type product or service. But it can be of benefit to other types of businesses too.

2. Differentiation-focused strategy.

Where delivering a unique product to your customer is valued over all else.

Branding, design, and innovation. They are several elements that make this strategy a success.

3. Niche strategy.

Here, both cost and differentiation take a back seat. To a narrow focus on a target market or target customer. And their highly specific needs.

Maybe you have heard the expression. “The riches are in the niches”.

Finally, one of these 3 strategies should be dominant. Because it is very difficult to be good at more than 1.

So take a step back. And do some deep thinking about goals at an early stage in your business. And, the right business strategy to deliver on those goals.

Ask yourself. What value do you want your business to offer? And how does that value relate to the business strategy you want to adopt.

Because a business value proposition. And business strategy should be tightly linked.

And, they should be supported by our second short-term business goal example…

Short-Term Goals For A Business Example #2: Analyze The Market

There is no sense in defining your value proposition. And determining your business strategy. Without knowledge of the market. That your business pursues.

Market analysis involves, at a minimum, knowing the market opportunity. Or, the revenue potential.

Allow me to give you an absurd example to drive home the point…

Let’s say you are going to start a niche retail clothing store in Southern Florida. The store’s focus will be selling heavy winter coats.

Well, I doubt there is much of a market for the products from a store like this in Southern Florida. So, I predict this business will fail.

In theory, the business may have a great value proposition. And a sound strategy.

But, it won’t be successful in Florida. I suggest relocating the business to a city like Minneapolis.

So, complete enough research to suggest that if successful. The market opportunity will support your business.

In addition, there are many other important aspects to market analysis. Beyond market size. For example, pricing and competition are also important things to understand.

What if the market size, pricing, and level of competition do not support your value proposition and business strategy?

Then go back to short-term business goal #1. And reassess.

Once, you have short-term objectives examples for business numbers 1 and 2 working together. It’s time for our 3 rd example of short-term business goals every successful company must have…

Business Short-Term Goals Example #3: Develop A Business Plan

After you have a value proposition. Linked with a business strategy. And supported by a market assessment.

Then you are on your way to having a business plan. But, I suggest you make your business plan more comprehensive.

Because every business should have a plan. No matter how big or small the business happens to be.

Think about and document how you intend to market and sell your product…

Will you use advertising? Develop a social media strategy? Sell through a website? Or have a salesforce?

How will you produce your product or service? Do it yourself out of your home? Secure a facility and hire employees? Or, contract out the production process to a 3 rd party?

Finally, you should complete a financial planning exercise.  Specifically, prepare budgeted financial statements.

Do this to project the financial success of your business. And any outside funding it will require.

If you need help. Outsource your financial management.

Then put all of these pieces together. With an executive summary at the beginning.

And you have the makings of a business plan short-term goal to complete. Get it done in the next six months. Or, twelve months at the very latest.

Because a business plan is your road map.

A perfect tool for pitching your business to partners and investors. It is a key ingredient for setting additional short-term goals for a small business owner .

Okay. Let’s pause for a moment and reflect.

Reflecting On Short Term Business Goals #1-#3:

The first 3 short-term business goals examples must be done immediately. Certainly in the first 12 months of starting a new business. Or, trying to pump new life into an old one.

They require long-term planning and thinking. Even though they are the short-term goals of a business.

So, think long-term. But get these goals done in the short term.

Because your business is more than the side hustle you were running. To improve your finances in your 20s .

Then you are ready for the 4 th short-term business goal…

Short-Term Business Goals Example #4: Increase Profits

Profits, and the cash flow they generate, are the lifeblood of your business. So set a short-term goal to increase your business profits in the next 12 months.

This is one of many standard financial business goals . That every company should have.

There are 3 ways to go about increasing business profits in the short term.

3 Examples Of Short-Term Business Goals For Improving Financial Performance

1. Raise prices.

Increasing prices can be the fastest way to boost profit. Because price increases fall right to the bottom line profits of a business.

But make sure your pricing strategy aligns with your business strategy.

For example, if you sell a commodity.  Raising prices may not be one of the best financial goals .

Because your customers will switch to a lower-cost supplier. Since there are other products like yours in the market.

On the other hand, a differentiation-focused business strategy. Is usually better suited for price increases.

2. Sell more.

As long as your product or service is profitable. Increase market share by selling more.

So, put some sales and marketing muscle behind your business. And sell more to make more money.

3. Reduce costs.

Finally, and especially for executing a cost leadership strategy. Look for ways to reduce expenses.

Go through every expense line on your income statement. Look for ways to reduce costs. And become more productive. To benefit from higher cash flows .

Here’s another suggestion to reduce costs. ..

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Okay. It’s time for our 5 th and final short-term business goal example. And we are going back to long-term thinking again…

Short-Term Goals For Business Example #5: Make Smart Investments For The Future

Identify investments to make in your business . During the next 12 months.

That will increase profits. Not only in the following year. But for many years in the future.

Only you can decide what is a smart investment for your business. Some examples include:

• Outsourcing a business process
• Adding a new employee
• Buying a new piece of machinery
• Implementing business software
• Expanding facilities
• Developing a new product
• Moving to a business-friendly state

The possible investments come down to a simple formula. Will the money spent today bring more money back in profits in the future?

Once again. It takes long-term thinking. To set short-term goals in a business.

And remember. Your business investments must support your value proposition and business strategy. And they should be included in the cash flow of your business plan .

Finally, making an investment for the future is much easier. When your business makes money today. So, don’t forget about short-term business goal #4: increase profits.

However, some investments will require outside funds. So, you may need financing.

Consider a small business loan. Look for a lender who is easy to work with. And offers very competitive rates.

I hope you are starting to see it. Specifically, how these short-term goals for business inter-relate. And need to fit within your business strategy.

Okay. It’s transition time as I promised at the beginning of this article. To discuss business goal setting…

Make Your Short-Term Goals For Business SMART

You can learn much more about setting SMART goals . But allow me to give you a brief overview.

SMART goals have 5 main ingredients. They are…

Define precisely what you want to accomplish. Because a goal is the desired outcome.

Document your short-term business goals. And include as many details as possible.

Next, determine how you will measure your success. Success is when the desired outcome is achieved.

Each of the 5 short-term business goals examples we discussed today is easy to measure. For example, take the goal “increase business profits this year”.

The goal should state exactly how much profit increases. Will meet the desired outcome.

It’s okay to set aggressive business goals . But, make them achievable.

Is increasing profits by $100,000 this year your goal?. Well, it may sound like a good goal. But perhaps only $50,000 is achievable.

Business goals must be realistic too. This is closely related to achievability. But, slightly different.

For example, increasing revenue by $200,000 may be achievable. Especially if you have done your market research. And fine-tuned your value proposition.

But if it requires 5 new people on the sales team. And you haven’t hired 1 yet. Perhaps this is not a realistic goal in the next 12 months.

A better goal might be hiring and training the 5 salespeople. Then setting a medium-term goal to increase revenue by $200,000.

Finally, give yourself a date to accomplish the goal. We are talking about short-term goals for business today. So the completion date must fall within the next 12 months.

Okay. One more topic. And then I will wrap up.

You now have 5 examples of short-term goals for a business. They represent both financial goals. And non-financial business goals too.

Furthermore, you know the characteristics of SMART short-term goals for a small business. Or, a larger business you are trying to refocus and revitalize.

Then here is our final topic. That is measuring the daily activities required. To achieve the business goals you have set forth.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) To Support Each Of These Short-Term Business Goals Examples

KPIs are daily, weekly, and monthly performance indicators. They measure the activities required to achieve your business’s short-term goals.

Underlying them are the employee activities that drive business outcomes you desire. So companies set and measure KPIs. To achieve their business goals.

Thus, a KPI is a measurable activity. That drives the result. That result is the achievement of a business goal.

For example, let’s say the short-term business goal is to increase revenue by $200,000. And you feel you have the resources in place to do just that.

Then what is the activity that will drive the achievement of the goal? That’s for you to decide depending on the type of business you are in.

But let’s say you determine increasing sales by $200,000 is realistic and achievable. But only if each salesperson calls on 5 potential new accounts each week.

Then there is your KPI. 5 new sales calls by each salesperson each week. Because you believe this activity will result in achieving the increased sales goal.

This assumes the products or services your sales staff is promoting. Are tightly aligned with your business strategy and value proposition.

Finally, as your business meets with more success. I think it is wise to keep your personal finances separate from the finances of your business.

I use Personal Capital to pull all of my non-business expenses and investments together in one place. And keep them separate from my business.

Best of all, Personal Capital is free to sign up and use. You can learn more about Personal Capital here .

Let’s summarize to wrap this article up…

Summary: Short-Term Goals For A Business

First of all, understand that long-term thinking is required. When setting and achieving short-term goals .

Then we have the goals…

Short-Term Goals Examples For Business

List of short-term goals for business examples:

Short-Term Goals Of A Business Should Be SMART

Furthermore, make your business goals SMART. Whether they are short-term, medium-term business goals , or long-term business goals.

SMART is an acronym that stands for:

Short-Term Goals Business KPIs

Finally, set key performance indicators (KPIs). They are the daily activities required. To meet each of these short-term business goals examples we have discussed today.

That’s all for now. Good luck to the small business owners in the audience. And the big business owners too.

Now it’s time to get to work on the 5 examples of short-term goals for businesses.

More Reading About Setting And Achieving Goals

• Our money management library of articles
• Make financial plans in your 30s and beyond

Excellent Resources To Jump-Start Your Business Goals

I mentioned several resources throughout the article. They are useful for attaining both your individual financial goals. And your business goals.

Here is a summary…

• Get cash back on your online purchases with Rakuten
• Manage all your money with Personal Capital

Author Bio : Tom Scott founded the consulting and coaching firm Dividends Diversify, LLC. He leverages his expertise and decades of experience in goal setting, relocation assistance, and investing for long-term wealth to help clients reach their full potential.

Short-Term Goals For Business

5 Examples of Short-Term Business Goals to Set Now

• March 13, 2023

As a business owner, it is essential to set short-term business goals routinely. Setting clear goals for your company helps you to keep your business growing. 

Short-term business goals are:

• Raising revenue
• Increasing client retention and satisfaction
• Improving employee productivity
• Developing a new product or service
• Streamlining business operations

Read this guide to learn more about these short-term business goals and how they can help you expand your business. 

5 Examples of Short-Term Business Goals

It may be challenging for new or existing business owners to decide which business goals to set now. So, here are five examples. 

1. Raise Revenue and Decrease Debt

Most companies are in business to earn revenue. So, setting a goal to increase sales is beneficial.

You can increase revenue by supporting your sales team, offering discounts to new or repeat customers, and marketing your business to target audiences. 

With inflation high , it is also beneficial to work towards decreasing debt . You can do so by cutting back on unnecessary spending, shopping for less expensive vendors and materials, and evaluating your business for other areas where you can decrease expenditure or the time it takes to produce products or provide services. 

2. Increase Customer Satisfaction and Retention

Increasing customer retention and satisfaction helps to ensure that you have repeat customers and word-of-mouth advertising, which is powerful and free. So, it is always a good idea for businesses to work towards increasing client satisfaction. 

You can achieve this goal by listening to your current customer base and giving them what they want or need. You can also train customer service employees to actively listen, promptly resolve concerns, and show gratitude to customers . 

3. Improve Employee Productivity

The more productive your employees are, the better your business will perform. So, working to help your employees be more effective is a great goal. 

Worker productivity is easily increased by offering training and education opportunities, communicating with your staff, and providing them with the support they need to do their jobs more efficiently. 

4. Develop and Launch a New Product or Service

If your sales have recently plateaued, setting a goal to develop a new product or service can be the perfect way to accelerate your business. 

To complete this goal, you must conduct market research to see what products or services will perform well. Then, you must develop a prototype and marketing plan for the new offering. 

5. Streamline Business Operations

Streamlining day-to-day operations can help you in every aspect of your business. You can streamline marketing by creating a sales funnel-driven website, using social media, and automating the client onboarding process. You can also develop self-service options that allow customers to add services through a client portal. 

What are Short-Term Business Goals?

Short-term business goals are those a company aims to achieve within a year or less. These targets should align with the long-term goals you set for your company and act as steps to reaching them. 

All of your short-term business goals should be: 

• Measurable. 
• Have a specified timeframe for completion of less than a year. 
• Push you to grow but be attainable.

Why Should You Set Short-Term Business Goals?

You need to set short-term business goals because they help to keep your business on an upbeat track. However, they also provide many other benefits. 

1. Promotes Accountability 

Setting goals helps to promote accountability in your office. When people have something to work toward, they are more likely to hold themselves and others to a higher standard. 

2. Gives Employees a Sense of Purpose

When you set goals and share them with your employees, you give them a greater sense of purpose than just earning a paycheck. Often having something more to work towards helps with employee productivity and satisfaction on the job. 

3. Increases Employee Retention

Low employee retention rates are a costly problem for some businesses. In addition to increasing pay, offering better benefits packages , and promoting from within, you can increase employee retention by setting clear goals and sharing them with your organization. When employees have a sense of purpose and are accomplishing things, they are happier in their position and more likely to stay with your organization for extended periods. 

Final Advice on Setting Short-Term Business Goals

Short-term business goals should be smaller steps that help you reach the most significant goals you have for your company. Each short-term target you set and meet helps motivate you and the rest of your organization to accomplish others.  So, do not wait. Set short-term business goals now to start reaping the benefits.

For more business and personal finance motivation, check out the other posts on our site, like 25+ Motivational Quotes About Money.

Amy Gilmore

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How to Create a Short-Term Business Strategy?

Strategy helps you manage both individual and environmental factors easily while achieving what you want. The role of strategy is very important in your consistent progress from the first moment you take action for your goals.

• Release Date: 28 December 2021
• Update Date: 02 April 2024
• Author: Speaker Agency

What is Strategic Management?

What to consider when creating a short-term business strategy, what are the benefits of strategic thinking.

Strategy helps you manage both individual and environmental factors easily while achieving what you want. The role of strategy is very important in your consistent progress from the first moment you take action for your goals. One of the most effective and important ways to reach a goal is to determine the right strategy. With the right strategies created for the future, you can move yourself to the point you want to see.

Strategic plans can be arranged in accordance with your personal expectations. At this point, the duration of the plan, your expectations and external factors play a decisive role. With the right planning from the short-term business strategy process, you can achieve great gains.

Before we move on to this concept, we should ask ourselves what does strategy mean? Strategy is the predetermination of ways and methods to be followed for a purpose. Managing using the right strategy for small and large-scale organizations provides many advantages in the short and long term. 

Strategic management, which is extremely important for institutions, businesses and organizations in today's conditions, is basically the achievement of a business or organization's goals within the competitive system and achieving sustainable success.

With this form of management, it becomes easier for individuals or companies to understand the path they want to go and to concentrate on these issues. 

At the same time, taking environmental factors into account, makes it easier to adapt to development and changes. Thus, while reaching the targets in a strong and careful way, it is ensured that this situation is sustainable. 

The characteristics of this form of management are shaped depending on the organizations and the industry. You can get one step closer to the results you desire with this method, which has been used by many organizations for years.

A short-term business strategy ensures that companies take the right steps for developments and changes that will happen in the near future. More positive results than expected can be achieved by regularly completing the issues that will not affect the long-term during strategic planning. While creating a short-term business strategy, it is important to pay attention to certain points in order to achieve the desired results.

Acting by considering each unit of the organization or institution in strategic planning gives the theory a large scale effect. Successful situation analysis in planning facilitates reaching the desired vision. After strategically determining goals and objectives, you need to consider in what direction and how long the activities will take. 

At all these points, monitoring the process both organizational and individual wise will help you complete the situation analysis in a more practical way. In the period when the strategy is implemented, the change management approach can also be adopted.

This approach regarding method of change enables individuals within the organization to adapt quickly to the situation. You can consider these points when creating a short-term business strategy and realize the most ideal planning for you.

Strategic thinking is a planned thinking process in which an organization, team or individual analyses environmental factors and variables to achieve its goals. Considering its benefits, it plays an indispensable role in the decision-making processes of companies. In addition, this approach, which enables us to organize the development and processes in a planned way, brings about being prepared for negative situations.

With strategy-based thinking that helps develop leadership, determination and good communication skills, you can express yourself better in meetings and negotiation platforms. Afterwards, you can come to a more dominant position in your field and be much more effective in problem solving. In addition, with this approach, the desired conditions are created more easily both within the organization and against other organizations in a competitive environment.

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Short-term Financial Goals Examples for Businesses  

Nov 6, 2019 | Financial Planning

All businesses need to have financial stability in order to achieve long-term goals. Yet, most companies only focus on those long-term financial goals, leaving behind the steps to getting to that point. What types of short-term financial goals should your company have in place? Consider a few examples:

Clearly Defined Revenue Goals

A good place to start is with revenue goals. Create achievable goals for how much money your business will bring in over the course of a fiscal year. Your goals for the following quarter or month may be to increase revenue by 10 to 20 percent, depending on your market.

Create a Comparative Analysis of the Competition

It may not seem like a financial goal, but understanding how well your competition does can provide an opportunity for you to adjust pricing, offer additional products, or alter advertising to reach a larger audience that you could be missing now.

Cost Reductions

Determine where the biggest opportunity cost is within your expenses. Then, if possible, find a way to reduce it slowly over time. Don’t expect instant results. Yet, decreasing costs should always be one of the financial goals your business has. Every penny saved is another that can be put towards growing your business.

Improve Financial Margins

Working to increase your company’s profits by focusing on your margins. Focus on areas such as overhead expenses as well as the production process. Consider testing different price margins, as well.

Work to Manage Debt

Another example of a short-term goal is to work on debt management. First, create a plan to stop adding to existing debt. Then, work to find a way to reduce your existing debt in a stepped process over time. Your end goal should always be to eliminate the need to use debt, which also requires building capital.

Get a Better Level of Control Over Cash Flow

Managing cash flow is a difficult area for most companies. Yet, cash flow planning provides an opportunity for your business to manage expenses, unexpected costs, and debt better.

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24 of My Favorite Sample Business Plans & Examples For Your Inspiration

Published: February 06, 2024

I believe that reading sample business plans is essential when writing your own.

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As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, it’s easier for you to learn how to write a good one.

But what does a good business plan look like? And how do you write one that’s both viable and convincing. I’ll walk you through the ideal business plan format along with some examples to help you get started.

Table of Contents

Business Plan Format

Business plan types, sample business plan templates, top business plan examples.

Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games, and they’ll tell you they have a unique plan for every single game. To me, the same logic applies to business.

If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare for battle before breaking into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.

With so much at stake, I’m sure you’re wondering where to begin.

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First, you’ll want to nail down your formatting. Most business plans include the following sections.

1. Executive Summary

I’d say the executive summary is the most important section of the entire business plan. 

Why? Essentially, it's the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers' attention and guide them through the rest of the business plan. This is important, because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

There are two main elements I’d recommend including in your executive summary:

Company Description

This is the perfect space to highlight your company’s mission statement and goals, a brief overview of your history and leadership, and your top accomplishments as a business.

Tell potential investors who you are and why what you do matters. Naturally, they’re going to want to know who they’re getting into business with up front, and this is a great opportunity to showcase your impact.

Need some extra help firming up those business goals? Check out HubSpot Academy’s free course to help you set goals that matter — I’d highly recommend it

Products and Services

To piggyback off of the company description, be sure to incorporate an overview of your offerings. This doesn’t have to be extensive — just another chance to introduce your industry and overall purpose as a business.

In addition to the items above, I recommend including some information about your financial projections and competitive advantage here too.:

Keep in mind you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. So, keep the executive summary clear and brief, and only include the most important takeaways.

Executive Summary Business Plan Examples

This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template:

This executive summary is so good to me because it tells potential investors a short story while still covering all of the most important details.

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Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary

• Start with a strong introduction of your company, showcase your mission and impact, and outline the products and services you provide.
• Clearly define a problem, and explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
• Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
• Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
• Customize your summary to your audience. For example, emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists.

Check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary for more guidance.

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market.

The main question I’d ask myself here is this: Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will my product fill that gap?

More specifically, here’s what I’d include in this section:

• The size of the market
• Current or potential market share
• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
• Where the gap is
• What caused the gap
• How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry.

You may also benefit from creating a SWOT analysis to get some of the insights for this section.

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example

I like this example because it uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.

Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section

• Focus on demand and potential for growth.
• Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
• Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
• Refer to reliable sources.
• Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.

3. Competitive Landscape

Since we’re already speaking of market share, you'll also need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are.

After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you'll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another.

My favorite part of performing a competitive analysis is that it can help you uncover:

• Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing
• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle
• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points
• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example

I like how the competitive landscape section of this business plan below shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are.

It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location, which shows useful experience in this specific industry. 

This can help build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.

Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape

• Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
• Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
• Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
• Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
• Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
• Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience

Use this section to describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is "everyone," you'll need to dig deeper. Here are some questions I’d ask myself here:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

I’d also recommend building a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear on why you're targeting them.

Target Audience Business Plan Example

I like the example below because it uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.

Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section

• Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
• Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
• Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
• Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
• Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
• Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you'll discuss how you'll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. I’d suggest including information:

• Your brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it
• The goal targets you aim to achieve
• The metrics you'll use to measure success
• The channels and distribution tactics you'll use

I think it’s helpful to have a marketing plan built out in advance to make this part of your business plan easier.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler.

In my opinion, it really works because it offers a comprehensive picture of how they plan to use digital marketing to promote the community.

Tips for Writing Your Marketing Strategy

• Include a section about how you believe your brand vision will appeal to customers.
• Add the budget and resources you'll need to put your plan in place.
• Outline strategies for specific marketing segments.
• Connect strategies to earlier sections like target audience and competitive analysis.
• Review how your marketing strategy will scale with the growth of your business.
• Cover a range of channels and tactics to highlight your ability to adapt your plan in the face of change.

6. Key Features and Benefits

At some point in your business plan, you'll need to review the key features and benefits of your products and/or services.

Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you're positioning yourself in the market and the messaging you're likely to use. It can even help them gain better insight into your business model.

Key Features and Benefits Business Plan Example

In my opinion, the example below does a great job outlining products and services for this business, along with why these qualities will attract the audience.

Tips for Writing Your Key Features and Benefits

• Emphasize why and how your product or service offers value to customers.
• Use metrics and testimonials to support the ideas in this section.
• Talk about how your products and services have the potential to scale.
• Think about including a product roadmap.
• Focus on customer needs, and how the features and benefits you are sharing meet those needs.
• Offer proof of concept for your ideas, like case studies or pilot program feedback.
• Proofread this section carefully, and remove any jargon or complex language.

7. Pricing and Revenue

This is where you'll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. 

For this reason, here’s what I’d might outline in this section:

• The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service
• Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition's
• (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more
• (If lower) How you're able to offer your products or services at a lower cost
• When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

Pricing and Revenue Business Plan Example

I like how this business plan example begins with an overview of the business revenue model, then shows proposed pricing for key products.

Tips for Writing Your Pricing and Revenue Section

• Get specific about your pricing strategy. Specifically, how you connect that strategy to customer needs and product value.
• If you are asking a premium price, share unique features or innovations that justify that price point.
• Show how you plan to communicate pricing to customers.
• Create an overview of every revenue stream for your business and how each stream adds to your business model as a whole.
• Share plans to develop new revenue streams in the future.
• Show how and whether pricing will vary by customer segment and how pricing aligns with marketing strategies.
• Restate your value proposition and explain how it aligns with your revenue model.

8. Financials

To me, this section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to figure out funding strategies, investment opportunities, and more.

 According to Forbes , you'll want to include three main things:

• Profit/Loss Statement - This answers the question of whether your business is currently profitable.
• Cash Flow Statement - This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to give insight into how much cash a business has on hand.
• Balance Sheet - This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how much a business is worth.

While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details I’d include in this section.

Financials Business Plan Example

This balance sheet is a great example of level of detail you’ll need to include in the financials section of your business plan.

Tips for Writing Your Financials Section

• Growth potential is important in this section too. Using your data, create a forecast of financial performance in the next three to five years.
• Include any data that supports your projections to assure investors of the credibility of your proposal.
• Add a break-even analysis to show that your business plan is financially practical. This information can also help you pivot quickly as your business grows.
• Consider adding a section that reviews potential risks and how sensitive your plan is to changes in the market.
• Triple-check all financial information in your plan for accuracy.
• Show how any proposed funding needs align with your plans for growth.

As you create your business plan, keep in mind that each of these sections will be formatted differently. Some may be in paragraph format, while others could be charts or graphs.

The formats above apply to most types of business plans. That said, the format and structure of your plan will vary by your goals for that plan. 

So, I’ve added a quick review of different business plan types. For a more detailed overview, check out this post .

1. Startups

Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas.

If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business.

You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .

2. Feasibility Studies

Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.

3. Internal Use

You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. In my opinion, internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.

4. Strategic Initiatives

Another business plan that's often for sharing internally is a strategic business plan. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.

5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning

When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.

Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.

Now that you know what's included and how to format a business plan, let's review some of my favorite templates.

1. HubSpot's One-Page Business Plan

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template..

The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for businesses of any size — no matter how many strategies we still have to develop.

Fields such as Company Description, Required Funding, and Implementation Timeline give this one-page business plan a framework for how to build your brand and what tasks to keep track of as you grow.

Then, as the business matures, you can expand on your original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.

Why I Like It

This one-page business plan is a fantastic choice for the new business owner who doesn’t have the time or resources to draft a full-blown business plan. It includes all the essential sections in an accessible, bullet-point-friendly format. That way, you can get the broad strokes down before honing in on the details.

2. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

We also created a business plan template for entrepreneurs.

The template is designed as a guide and checklist for starting your own business. You’ll learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it.

There’s also a list for you to check off when you finish each section of your business plan.

Strong game plans help coaches win games and help businesses rocket to the top of their industries. So if you dedicate the time and effort required to write a workable and convincing business plan, you’ll boost your chances of success and even dominance in your market.

This business plan kit is essential for the budding entrepreneur who needs a more extensive document to share with investors and other stakeholders.

It not only includes sections for your executive summary, product line, market analysis, marketing plan, and sales plan, but it also offers hands-on guidance for filling out those sections.

3. LiveFlow’s Financial Planning Template with built-in automation

This free template from LiveFlow aims to make it easy for businesses to create a financial plan and track their progress on a monthly basis.

The P&L Budget versus Actual format allows users to track their revenue, cost of sales, operating expenses, operating profit margin, net profit, and more.

The summary dashboard aggregates all of the data put into the financial plan sheet and will automatically update when changes are made.

Instead of wasting hours manually importing your data to your spreadsheet, LiveFlow can also help you to automatically connect your accounting and banking data directly to your spreadsheet, so your numbers are always up-to-date.

With the dashboard, you can view your runway, cash balance, burn rate, gross margins, and other metrics. Having a simple way to track everything in one place will make it easier to complete the financials section of your business plan.

This is a fantastic template to track performance and alignment internally and to create a dependable process for documenting financial information across the business. It’s highly versatile and beginner-friendly.

It’s especially useful if you don’t have an accountant on the team. (I always recommend you do, but for new businesses, having one might not be possible.)

4. ThoughtCo’s Sample Business Plan

One of the more financially oriented sample business plans in this list, BPlan’s free business plan template dedicates many of its pages to your business’s financial plan and financial statements.

After filling this business plan out, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.

I absolutely love this business plan template because of its ease-of-use and hands-on instructions (in addition to its finance-centric components). If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of writing an entire business plan, consider using this template to help you with the process.

6. Harvard Business Review’s "How to Write a Winning Business Plan"

Most sample business plans teach you what to include in your business plan, but this Harvard Business Review article will take your business plan to the next level — it teaches you the why and how behind writing a business plan.

With the guidance of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of " Business Plans That Win: Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum ", you'll learn how to write a convincing business plan that emphasizes the market demand for your product or service.

You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of my favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.

7. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know writing a business plan is one of the most challenging first steps to starting a business.

Fortunately, with HubSpot's comprehensive guide to starting a business, you'll learn how to map out all the details by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it’s important to include them. The guide also fleshes out an entire sample business plan for you.

If you need further guidance on starting a business, HubSpot's guide can teach you how to make your business legal, choose and register your business name, and fund your business. It will also give small business tax information and includes marketing, sales, and service tips.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of starting a business, in addition to writing your business plan, with a high level of exactitude and detail. So if you’re in the midst of starting your business, this is an excellent guide for you.

It also offers other resources you might need, such as market analysis templates.

8. Panda Doc’s Free Business Plan Template

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and fleshed-out sample business plans on this list. It describes what you should include in each section, so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch.

Once you fill it out, you’ll fully understand your business’ nitty-gritty details and how all of its moving parts should work together to contribute to its success.

This template has two things I love: comprehensiveness and in-depth instructions. Plus, it’s synced with PandaDoc’s e-signature software so that you and other stakeholders can sign it with ease. For that reason, I especially love it for those starting a business with a partner or with a board of directors.

9. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several free business plan templates that can be used to inspire your own plan.

Before you get started, you can decide what type of business plan you need — a traditional or lean start-up plan.

Then, you can review the format for both of those plans and view examples of what they might look like.

We love both of the SBA’s templates because of their versatility. You can choose between two options and use the existing content in the templates to flesh out your own plan. Plus, if needed, you can get a free business counselor to help you along the way.

I’ve compiled some completed business plan samples to help you get an idea of how to customize a plan for your business.

I chose different types of business plan ideas to expand your imagination. Some are extensive, while others are fairly simple.

Let’s take a look.

1. LiveFlow

One of the major business expenses is marketing. How you handle your marketing reflects your company’s revenue.

I included this business plan to show you how you can ensure your marketing team is aligned with your overall business plan to get results. The plan also shows you how to track even the smallest metrics of your campaigns, like ROI and payback periods instead of just focusing on big metrics like gross and revenue.

Fintech startup, LiveFlow, allows users to sync real-time data from its accounting services, payment platforms, and banks into custom reports. This eliminates the task of pulling reports together manually, saving teams time and helping automate workflows.

"Using this framework over a traditional marketing plan will help you set a profitable marketing strategy taking things like CAC, LTV, Payback period, and P&L into consideration," explains LiveFlow co-founder, Lasse Kalkar .

When it came to including marketing strategy in its business plan, LiveFlow created a separate marketing profit and loss statement (P&L) to track how well the company was doing with its marketing initiatives.

This is a great approach, allowing businesses to focus on where their marketing dollars are making the most impact. Having this information handy will enable you to build out your business plan’s marketing section with confidence. LiveFlow has shared the template here . You can test it for yourself.

2. Lula Body

Sometimes all you need is a solid mission statement and core values to guide you on how to go about everything. You do this by creating a business plan revolving around how to fulfill your statement best.

For example, Patagonia is an eco-friendly company, so their plan discusses how to make the best environmentally friendly products without causing harm.

A good mission statement  should not only resonate with consumers but should also serve as a core value compass for employees as well.

Patagonia has one of the most compelling mission statements I’ve seen:

"Together, let’s prioritise purpose over profit and protect this wondrous planet, our only home."

It reels you in from the start, and the environmentally friendly theme continues throughout the rest of the statement.

This mission goes on to explain that they are out to "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature."

Their mission statement is compelling and detailed, with each section outlining how they will accomplish their goal.

4. Vesta Home Automation

This executive summary for a smart home device startup is part of a business plan created by students at Mount Royal University .

While it lacks some of the sleek visuals of the templates above, its executive summary does a great job of demonstrating how invested they are in the business.

Right away, they mention they’ve invested $200,000 into the company already, which shows investors they have skin in the game and aren’t just looking for someone else to foot the bill.

This is the kind of business plan you need when applying for business funds. It clearly illustrates the expected future of the company and how the business has been coming along over the years.

5. NALB Creative Center

This fictional business plan for an art supply store includes everything one might need in a business plan: an executive summary, a company summary, a list of services, a market analysis summary, and more.

One of its most notable sections is its market analysis summary, which includes an overview of the population growth in the business’ target geographical area, as well as a breakdown of the types of potential customers they expect to welcome at the store. 

This sort of granular insight is essential for understanding and communicating your business’s growth potential. Plus, it lays a strong foundation for creating relevant and useful buyer personas .

It’s essential to keep this information up-to-date as your market and target buyer changes. For that reason, you should carry out market research as often as possible to ensure that you’re targeting the correct audience and sharing accurate information with your investors.

Due to its comprehensiveness, it’s an excellent example to follow if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar store and need to get external funding to start your business .

6. Curriculum Companion Suites (CSS)

If you’re looking for a SaaS business plan example, look no further than this business plan for a fictional educational software company called Curriculum Companion Suites. 

Like the business plan for the NALB Creative Center, it includes plenty of information for prospective investors and other key stakeholders in the business.

One of the most notable features of this business plan is the executive summary, which includes an overview of the product, market, and mission.

The first two are essential for software companies because the product offering is so often at the forefront of the company’s strategy. Without that information being immediately available to investors and executives, then you risk writing an unfocused business plan.

It’s essential to front-load your company’s mission if it explains your "Why?" and this example does just that. In other words, why do you do what you do, and why should stakeholders care? This is an important section to include if you feel that your mission will drive interest in the business and its offerings.

7. Culina Sample Business Plan

Culina's sample business plan is an excellent example of how to lay out your business plan so that it flows naturally, engages readers, and provides the critical information investors and stakeholders need. 

You can use this template as a guide while you're gathering important information for your own business plan. You'll have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do since Culina’s plan outlines these details so flawlessly for inspiration.

8. Plum Sample Business Plan

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All Hail Medium-Term Planning

• Dominic Houlder
• Nandu Nandkishore

The short term is a free-for-all and the long term is just a dream.

There is a chronological no-man’s land that executives steer diligently clear of, as if it were a sort of Bermuda triangle. Think about it. When did you last hear a CEO utter the words, “In nine months time…” or “This time next year…” or “By the fall…”

• DH Dominic Houlder is an Adjunct Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School.
• NN Nandu Nandkishore is an Executive Fellow at London Business School. Previously he was an executive board director of Nestlé S.A.

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FREE 10+ Short Term Action Plan Samples [ Personal, Goals, Ecosystem ]

At work and in our personal life, we all have goals and aspirations. We write them in our planners , in our visions boards, or even just etched in the back of our minds. The thing is, are these goals and aspirations just a far-fetched dream? Or are you willing to put in the work to achieve them in reality? It might be daunting– intimidating, even– to try and reach these ambiguous ideas. But the key is to develop short-term targets that will assist you get closer to your desired outcome. In this article, we provide you with free samples of Short Term Action Plans to guide you in making all of your dreams a reality. Keep on reading to find out more!

Short Term Action Plan

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A Short Term Action Plan’s purpose is to provide direction for achieving the defined corporate goals and objectives, as well as higher revenue and improved bottom line profitability. Furthermore, it is necessary to strategically improve a management team’s operational efficiency; to set attainable company milestones and goals; and to discover target market prospects while enhancing bottom line profitability.

An action plan is a list – or a set of lists – that outlines everything you need to do to finish a task. Action plans aid project management by ensuring that you focus on little activities and decisions that lead to the achievement of your larger objectives. They can also boost your confidence in your capacity to succeed and achieve your goals.

Action plans are used by many people and organizations as a framework for thinking about how to complete a project fast and efficiently. Organizations frequently develop short-term strategies to attain long-term objectives, whether for the entire company or for a small team. Action plans help create tangible steps in achieving individual or team goals. Aside from the variety of free Short Term Action Plan templates provided above, you can also try make one of your own. If you’re interested in creating your very own short-term action plan, here are some general information you should remember:

Make a list of the tasks you’ll need to complete to reach your goal. For many teams, starting at the beginning and working your way to the finish might be beneficial.

Consider how you can work more efficiently, using your brainstorming sheet as a guide. Make a rough template to list all of the tasks that need to be completed, as well as the due dates and personnel who are responsible. It’s critical that everyone on your team participates in this process and has access to the document. Everyone will be aware of their roles and duties in the project as a result of this.

Because an action plan is all about taking action and getting things done, it’s critical to specify deadlines for each job as well as broader project milestones. This will help you stay on track and focused on your objectives. The benefit of introducing milestones is that they offer team members something to look forward to and help them keep motivated even if the final due date is still a long way off.

Set aside some time to assess the progress your team has achieved. This will also reveal any jobs that are outstanding or postponed, in which case you must determine why and devise appropriate remedies. The action plan will then be updated accordingly.

Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound are the acronyms meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. SMART goals are created utilizing a set of criteria that ensures your objectives are met within a certain time limit.

Short-term plans provide resources for a period of one year or less. Because they are focused with daily tasks and typical business operations, they are also known as operational plans.

If your short-term goal is to raise sales, make it SMART by describing it more precisely, such as increasing company revenue by 10% by the first quarter of the following year.

Short-term goals serve as checkpoints on your way to achieving your life’s long-term objectives. They assist you in determining how far you have traveled and how much longer you have to travel to reach your final destination. Download our easily customizable and printable samples of Short Term Action Plans today to help you realize this.

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Short Term Action Plan

Starting any project without a goal is risky. This often fails and half the time, if it succeeds, there are a lot of casualties. To avoid having to risk time and failure, you would need to make a goal or an action plan. For a business, a project or an investment to be successful, you need to do some planning . Having goals to set for your business can really help you either start up or continue on. Your goals don’t need to be long term if the project and investment is a quick one. You can also start out with short term action plans.

10+ Short Term Action Plan Examples

1. infrastructure short term action plan.

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2. Ecosystem Short Term Action Plan

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3. Project Short Term Action Plan

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4. Short Term Investment Action Plan

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5. General Short Term Action Plan

6. Basic Short Term Action Plan

7. Standard Short Term Action Plan

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8. Printable Short Term Action Plan

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9. Rivers Short Term Action Plan

10. Formal Short Term Action Plan

11. Community Short Term Action Plan

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Definition of Short Term

When we mean short term, it means it happens on a short term basis. A short period of time. May it be a project or a goal, if it has a deadline as short as a week or a month, it is considered short term. Something that happens only a limited amount of time. Happening in the present and ending in the future.

Definition of Goals

A goal is a guideline. A general guideline that expresses an individual’s aim. An individual’s ambition. Something they want to achieve and aim for a desired outcome. Goals can be short term or long term . The main purpose of a goal is to make it come true.

Definition of Action Plan

An action plan is a comprehensive method that outlines the actions needed to achieve your goals. An action plan can also be defined as a chain of steps taken to achieve that goal. A step by step instruction taken or the following activities that should be performed to achieve success.

Definition of Short Term Goals

Short term goals as the name suggests, are action typed goals that happen immediately. These types of goals have a certain deadline that needs to be achieved. At a certain time frame, these types of goals are temporary. In addition to that, these types of goals can be considered a stepping stone for your long term goals.

Importance of a Short Term Action Plan

The importance of a short term action plan is that they act as a simple to do list. A milestone in your journey to reach the goal you plan on. Another important reason is that it helps you concentrate on focusing to reach that plan. In addition to that , to reach long term action plans, you must start with your short term plans. An action plan also gives you a framework to think how you are going to complete this. What steps you are going to take and the time that you are investing to make it happen.

Tips on Making Short Term Action Plans

Making short term action plans may sound like a chore. But it really is not. The fact that this helps you with your projects and investments, Short term action plans can be achieved through simple steps broken down into daily , weekly or monthly goals. Here are some tips to help you on that.

• Make your goals possible – write down the goals you want to achieve. Make your goals possible to achieve. The reason for this is because these are your stepping stones for long term goals.
• Think of what you want to achieve- Think about what you want to achieve. List them down. Whether they may be for long term or for short term, list them down as well. Once you have done them, check them off your list.
• Set a deadline – What is a goal without a deadline? Set some possible deadlines for your goals. It is okay if you have not achieved your goal after the deadline.
• Focus on getting it done –  We may get distracted once in a while and that is completely normal. As part of your short term action plan, you may place focus on getting things done today. The main purpose of making these action plans is to work on them.
• Make daily, weekly and monthly goals –  Your daily goals can be as simple as “I am going to make my investment reach 10% for this month.” Your daily goals are simply personal goals. Weekly and monthly goals may depend on what you wish. As long as you have made a list of your goals you are achieving.

When writing my short term action plans, do I need to write them in bullet form?

You can write them in any way you please. Bullet form, paragraph form, checklist form or even a table form.

Why should my short term action plans need a deadline?

All plans need deadlines. Regardless if they are short or long term.

Is it risky not to have any short term plans for my business?

Yes. For a business to succeed, there must always be a goal. A plan.

How many short term action plans should I list?

You can list as much as you want. As long as they are achievable.

Short term action plans are sometimes called a list of short term goals. To build a business or to build a project, one must have goals to set up. As well as plans to call for action. They are your guidelines to building, to succeeding and to help you where you are at the moment. They can be written through a checklist form or even a paragraph form. Your action plans must also co-depend on your goals. They always go together.

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Create a study plan for final exams in high school

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Here's how to start a profitable short-term rental business.

Launching a short-term rental can be an exciting venture for those with a knack for hospitality and a space to share with travelers and guests.

Whether you're a seasoned real estate investor aiming to capitalize on the booming vacation rental market or a homeowner looking to earn extra income from your spare room or property, setting up a short-term rental requires strategic foresight and attention to detail.

In this blog post, we'll navigate you through the key phases of starting a short-term rental, from preparing your space to welcoming your first guests.

How you should prepare to start a short-term rental business

Market research and concept, choose a concept.

Choosing a concept is one of the first steps in setting up a short-term rental because it will influence the type of guests you attract, the design and amenities of your property, and how you market it.

Your concept will be the guiding principle behind decisions such as location, interior design, pricing, and the overall guest experience. A well-defined concept can help your rental stand out in a crowded market and draw in guests who are looking for exactly what you offer.

Think of your concept as the theme of the story you want your rental to tell. It's about creating an experience that begins the moment a guest looks at your listing and continues throughout their stay.

To assist you in choosing the right concept for your short-term rental, we have summarized the most popular concepts in the table below.

Pick an audience

When launching a short-term rental, it's crucial to consider the specific audience you aim to attract, as this will shape the entire concept of your rental property.

For instance, if you're targeting tourists who are visiting for leisure, you might want to offer a rental that's centrally located, close to major attractions, and equipped with amenities that enhance their vacation experience, such as a hot tub or a guidebook of local recommendations.

Conversely, if your ideal guests are business travelers, you'll want to ensure that your rental provides a reliable high-speed internet connection, a workspace, and is situated in proximity to business centers or conference venues.

Understanding your target audience is essential because it influences every aspect of your short-term rental – from the amenities you provide to the design of your space and even the marketing channels you choose. It's akin to selecting a present; you think about the recipient's preferences before choosing the gift to ensure they'll appreciate it.

Moreover, knowing your audience allows you to communicate with them more effectively. If you're aware of who you're trying to attract, you can tailor your advertising to reach them where they're most likely to notice it. For example, if you're aiming to attract adventure seekers, you might promote your rental on travel blogs or outdoor activity forums.

In our guide to setting up a short-term rental , we've identified various customer segments that could be pertinent to your venture.

To provide you with a clearer understanding of potential audiences for your short-term rental, we've compiled a few typical examples below.

Get familiar with the industry trends

When venturing into the short-term rental market, it's crucial to stay abreast of the latest consumer trends to ensure your property stands out. These trends can guide you in creating a rental space that appeals to the modern traveler's desires and expectations.

For instance, travelers are increasingly looking for accommodations that offer a unique and local experience. They want to stay in places that feel personal and authentic rather than generic hotel rooms. Additionally, the rise of remote work has led to a demand for rentals with dedicated workspaces and high-speed internet.

Moreover, sustainability is a growing concern among travelers. Properties that implement eco-friendly practices, such as using renewable energy sources or providing recycling options, are becoming more attractive to environmentally conscious guests.

Our business plan for short-term rentals is updated biannually to reflect these new trends, helping you to develop a competitive and successful rental business.

Another trend is the integration of smart home technology for a seamless guest experience, including self-check-in and voice-controlled devices.

And let's not forget the power of social media. Aesthetically pleasing and 'Instagrammable' spaces can significantly increase your property's online presence and appeal.

We've compiled a list of emerging trends in the table below for your reference.

However, some trends are on the decline.

For example, the traditional model of short-term rentals that offer minimal interaction and personalization is losing favor as guests seek more immersive experiences.

Additionally, properties that haven't embraced technology for ease of access and communication may find themselves at a disadvantage compared to tech-savvy competitors.

Lastly, with a growing emphasis on sustainability, rentals that ignore eco-friendly practices or have a high carbon footprint may become less attractive to a significant segment of the market.

Choosing the ideal location

Choosing the optimal location for your short-term rental is a key factor in maximizing occupancy rates and ensuring a profitable venture. This decision should be based on a comprehensive evaluation of several critical elements.

Firstly, assess the area's tourism appeal. Is the location near popular tourist attractions, business centers, or event venues? Properties close to such points of interest tend to attract more guests. Consider the type of travelers you want to attract—business travelers, couples, families—and ensure the location aligns with their needs.

Accessibility is crucial. A rental that's easily reachable by various modes of transportation, including airports, train stations, and major highways, will be more attractive to guests. Proximity to public transportation, such as bus or subway stations, is also a significant plus.

While a central location can be advantageous due to its proximity to attractions and amenities, it's also important to consider noise levels and the safety of the neighborhood. A balance between a convenient and a peaceful, secure environment is ideal.

Competition in the area should be analyzed. An oversaturated market may require you to lower prices or offer additional amenities to stand out. Conversely, a location with few short-term rentals could indicate untapped potential or a lack of demand, so market research is essential.

Rental costs are a major consideration. Prime locations often come with higher property costs, which need to be offset by higher rental prices or increased occupancy. Calculate the break-even point to ensure that the expected income will cover the expenses.

Negotiating lease terms, if you're leasing the property, can greatly affect your bottom line. Options such as a longer lease duration for a lower rate, or the ability to sublet, can be negotiated to enhance profitability.

Consider the growth trajectory of the neighborhood. An area with planned infrastructure or commercial development can increase the value of your rental and attract more guests in the future.

Convenience factors, like nearby grocery stores, restaurants, and other amenities, can greatly enhance the appeal of your rental. Guests often look for the comforts of home when choosing a short-term rental.

Utilize data analytics and market research tools to identify areas with high demand for short-term rentals. These tools can help pinpoint locations with the right mix of demand, price, and guest preferences.

The choice between an urban and a suburban location should be guided by your target audience and the experience you want to offer. Urban areas typically provide convenience and excitement, while suburban locations might offer tranquility and space.

Being situated near landmarks, convention centers, or universities can lead to a steady stream of guests, especially if your rental caters to the specific needs of visitors to these institutions.

Understanding local regulations regarding short-term rentals is imperative. Ensure that your chosen location allows for such rentals and that you comply with any licensing, tax, and safety requirements.

Lastly, evaluate the long-term prospects of the location. Keep an eye on upcoming developments that could enhance or detract from the desirability of your rental. A strategic location that aligns with future growth can secure the success of your short-term rental business for years to come.

Startup budget and expenses

Calculate how much you need to start.

On average, the initial capital needed to start a short-term rental business can vary significantly, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for a modest property to $50,000 to over $100,000 for a luxury property or a prime location .

If you want to know the exact budget you will need for your own short-term rental and also get a full detailed list of expenses, you can use the financial plan we have created, tailored to short-term rentals . This excel file is extremely user-friendly and will provide you with an instant and full detailed analysis of your future project.

The budget can vary the most due to the location of the rental. Properties in popular tourist destinations or city centers tend to have higher purchase or rental costs, which can significantly impact startup expenses.

The size and type of the property also play a crucial role in determining the initial investment. A larger space or a property with more amenities not only increases costs but also requires more maintenance and potentially higher utility expenses, leading to higher operational costs.

The quality of furnishings and renovations is another significant factor. High-quality, durable furnishings are expensive but can enhance guest experience and lead to better reviews, which are crucial in this industry. Conversely, starting with budget-friendly or second-hand furnishings can reduce initial costs but may not appeal as much to potential guests.

If the available capital is limited, it's still possible to start a short-term rental, but careful planning and prioritization are crucial. The very minimum budget could be around $5,000 to $15,000 if you choose a less sought-after location, a smaller property, furnish with second-hand items, and manage the rental yourself. This approach requires a hands-on strategy and a focus on creating a unique and appealing space to stand out in the market.

To make the most of a limited budget, consider the following tips.

Identify all your expenses

The expenses when starting a short-term rental business include property acquisition or leasing, furnishing and decor, licensing and permits, insurance, marketing and advertising, technology and software, cleaning and maintenance, and a reserve for unexpected expenses.

Acquiring or leasing a property is the most significant expense. The cost can vary greatly depending on location, size, and condition of the property. Purchasing a property might range from $100,000 to $1,000,000 or more, while leasing will depend on local market rates.

Furnishing and decor are essential to create an appealing space for guests. This can include furniture, bedding, kitchenware, and decorative items. The cost can range from $5,000 to $30,000, depending on the quality and number of items needed.

Licenses and permits are necessary for legal operation and may include short-term rental permits, business licenses, and safety inspections. Costs can vary by location but typically range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

Insurance is crucial to protect your business against liability, property damage, and other potential risks. Essential policies include general liability, property insurance, and possibly additional coverage for short-term rentals. Annual premiums can range from $500 to $3,000 or more, depending on your coverage levels and property value.

Marketing and advertising are important for attracting guests. Initially, you might spend between $500 to $3,000 on marketing efforts, including listing services, social media advertising, and creating a website. The amount can vary based on your strategy and the competitiveness of your market.

Investing in technology and software for booking systems, guest communication, and financial management is important. Costs can range from $200 to $2,000, depending on the sophistication of the systems you choose. Subscription-based services may have ongoing monthly fees.

Cleaning and maintenance are ongoing expenses that ensure your property remains attractive and functional for guests. Initial setup for cleaning supplies and equipment might cost between $300 to $1,000, with ongoing cleaning services varying based on frequency and property size.

Finally, setting aside a reserve for unexpected expenses or emergencies is crucial. A good rule of thumb is to have at least three to six months' worth of operating expenses saved. This can cover unforeseen repairs, replacements, or shortfalls in bookings.

Here is a summary table to make it easier to digest. For a full breakdown of expenses, please check our financial plan for short-term rentals .

Business plan and financing

Make a solid business plan.

Embarking on the journey of starting a short-term rental business? Then you'll certainly benefit from crafting a detailed business plan for your short-term rental venture .

Why is this important? A business plan is your blueprint for success. It helps you map out the specifics of your business and discover any unknowns. It's a vital tool for understanding the market, setting clear objectives, and managing the financial aspects of your business. Moreover, if you're looking to attract investors or secure loans, a solid business plan is indispensable to show the profitability and sustainability of your short-term rental.

What should be included in a short-term rental business plan ? Key elements are market research, financial projections, and operational strategies. Market research is crucial to identify your target guests, understand their needs, and analyze your competition. This involves studying the short-term rental market trends, pinpointing your direct competitors, and determining what unique experiences or conveniences you can offer to stand out.

Financial planning is equally important. This section should detail your anticipated income, such as average nightly rates and occupancy rates, and expenses, including property maintenance, utilities, taxes, and service fees. It should also encompass forecasts for profit and loss, cash flow, and a break-even analysis. A comprehensive financial plan will give you and potential financiers a transparent view of your short-term rental's financial outlook and potential for growth. You can find a detailed example in our financial plan for a short-term rental .

While the structure of a short-term rental business plan shares commonalities with other business plans, certain areas will receive more emphasis.

For instance, a short-term rental business will focus heavily on location analysis (properties in desirable areas or near tourist attractions are key), customer service excellence (providing a memorable guest experience), and regulatory compliance (adhering to local zoning and short-term rental laws). Additionally, marketing strategies to promote your rental on various platforms and garner positive reviews are critical.

To create an effective short-term rental business plan, thorough research is essential. Be realistic with your financial projections and understand the level of service you need to provide. Engage with your target market to grasp their booking behaviors and preferences. Also, consider how you might scale your business or diversify your property portfolio in the future.

For a short-term rental, it's also crucial to establish a strong brand and marketing approach that appeals to your ideal guests. Whether it's the luxury of your accommodations, the uniqueness of the local experience, or the convenience of your location, these factors can set your rental apart in a competitive market.

Success in the short-term rental industry is not just about having a great property; it's about strategic planning, understanding your guests, managing your finances effectively, and executing your operational plan with precision.

Remember, a business plan is a dynamic document that should be revisited and refined as your short-term rental business grows and the market evolves.

Get financed

Don't have the capital to start your short-term rental business? There's no need to worry, as there are multiple financing options available to you.

Financing for a short-term rental can come from various sources, including raising capital from investors, securing loans from banks or other lending institutions, and applying for grants or subsidies.

Each financing method has its own set of benefits and things to consider.

Raising capital means finding investors who will provide funds in exchange for equity in your short-term rental business. This is advantageous because it doesn't require immediate repayment like a loan does.

However, it also means you'll be sharing ownership and may have to compromise on some business decisions.

For a short-term rental, this could be a good option if you're looking to scale quickly or need a substantial amount of money for property acquisition or high-quality renovations. To attract investors, you'll need a compelling business plan that shows the potential for growth and profitability, as well as a deep understanding of the short-term rental market.

Securing a loan is another common financing route.

With a loan, you'll have to pay back the borrowed amount plus interest, but you get to keep full ownership of your business. Loans can be used for buying property, covering startup costs, or financing property improvements.

Banks usually require a down payment or collateral, which might range from 20% to 40% of the loan amount. It's crucial to ensure that the portion of your budget financed by loans doesn't overwhelm your business with debt. Ideally, the income from your short-term rentals should be able to cover the loan repayments while still allowing for operational costs and business growth.

Grants and subsidies are less common but can be a valuable resource.

These funds are typically provided by government bodies or non-profit organizations to support small businesses or promote tourism. They don't need to be repaid but are often competitive and come with specific requirements.

For a short-term rental, grants might not be the main source of funding but could help with particular aspects of your business, such as eco-friendly renovations or community-based initiatives.

To convince lenders or investors to back your short-term rental venture, you must prove that your business is viable and profitable.

This means creating a detailed business plan that includes market analysis, a clear definition of your target market, precise financial forecasts, and an effective marketing strategy. Your business plan should emphasize what makes your short-term rental unique, such as exceptional locations, luxury amenities, or niche market appeal.

Lenders and investors will assess your short-term rental based on criteria like your creditworthiness, industry experience, available collateral, and the robustness of your business plan.

They'll examine your financial projections to determine if you can generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses, repay debts, and still profit. A thorough understanding of the short-term rental market, including trends, customer preferences, and competitive analysis, will also strengthen your case.

Below is a summary table of the various financing options mentioned for starting a short-term rental business, along with their advantages, considerations, and potential uses:

Legal and administrative setup

Permits and licenses.

Starting a short-term rental business involves understanding and complying with a range of regulations and requirements to ensure the safety and comfort of your guests, as well as to safeguard your investment.

The specific permits, licenses, zoning regulations, inspection schedules, consequences of non-compliance, and insurance policies you'll need can differ greatly depending on your location, but there are commonalities in many jurisdictions.

Firstly, you'll need to secure the necessary business permits and licenses.

This often includes a business license from your city or county, and possibly a short-term rental permit or a vacation rental license. If your area charges a tourist or hotel tax, you may also need to register to collect and remit these taxes. you should check with your local government and possibly a legal advisor to understand the specific requirements for your area.

Regarding zoning regulations, you must ensure that your property is located in an area zoned for short-term rentals. Some cities have strict rules about where these rentals can operate and may require a home inspection before granting a permit.

Inspections may be conducted to ensure that your rental meets building codes, fire safety standards, and health regulations. The frequency of these inspections can vary, but they are often tied to the renewal of your short-term rental permit.

Non-compliance with regulations can lead to penalties such as fines, suspension of your permit, or even legal action. In some cases, repeated violations could result in the revocation of your license to operate a short-term rental.

Insurance is a crucial component of running a short-term rental. You will need a comprehensive short-term rental insurance policy that covers liability in case guests are injured on your property, as well as property damage protection to cover potential damages caused by guests. Traditional homeowners' insurance policies often do not provide adequate coverage for short-term rental activities, so it's essential to obtain a policy designed for this purpose.

If you hire staff to help manage your property, workers' compensation insurance may be required to cover any work-related injuries or illnesses they might sustain.

Additionally, you might consider business interruption insurance, which can help cover lost income if your rental property becomes uninhabitable due to a covered event, such as a fire or natural disaster.

By carefully navigating these regulations and securing the appropriate insurance, you can establish a successful and compliant short-term rental business.

Business Structure

The three common structures for starting a short-term rental business are LLC (Limited Liability Company), partnership, and sole proprietorship. Each has distinct features and implications for your business operations.

Please note that we are not legal experts (our expertise is in business and financial planning) and that your choice should be based on how much risk you're willing to take on, how you prefer to manage taxes, and your plans for growing and potentially selling your short-term rental business.

In simple terms, a sole proprietorship is easy to set up but comes with personal liability. A partnership allows for shared responsibility but necessitates clear agreements to mitigate risks. An LLC provides a mix of liability protection and flexibility, which can be advantageous for many businesses aiming to expand.

Consider your long-term objectives, and consult with a financial advisor or attorney to make the most informed decision for your short-term rental business.

To help you out, here's a summary table.

Getting started to start a short-term rental business

Offer development, design and lay out.

Designing and laying out your short-term rental for operational efficiency and an exceptional guest experience requires thoughtful consideration and strategic planning.

Let's explore how you can accomplish this, focusing on guest flow, balancing amenity needs with budget, and ensuring safety and comfort.

Firstly, envisioning guest flow is crucial.

Your rental's design should guide guests seamlessly from the entrance to the living areas, through the kitchen, and into private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms. This flow should be intuitive, reducing any confusion and ensuring a smooth transition from one area to the next. Place your most attractive and comforting amenities, like a welcome basket or a guidebook, in visible areas to immediately make guests feel at home.

This setup not only makes the space inviting but also encourages guests to fully utilize and enjoy the rental during their stay.

Regarding the design to facilitate this flow, consider the layout's functionality and coziness.

Open-concept living areas, clear instructions for appliance use, and a logical arrangement of the space promote easy movement and a homely feel. The living area should be welcoming and separate from the sleeping quarters to offer privacy and tranquility. If your rental includes outdoor space, ensure it's easily accessible and furnished for relaxation or dining.

Balancing the need for high-quality amenities with budget constraints is a challenge many hosts face.

Start by prioritizing essential amenities that directly impact the guest experience, such as comfortable bedding and reliable Wi-Fi. These are worth investing in because they are critical to your guests' comfort and satisfaction. For other items, consider buying gently used or high-quality second-hand goods to save money without significantly compromising the guest experience.

Additionally, plan for amenities that offer convenience and efficiency, like a keyless entry system or a smart thermostat, to get the most value for your investment.

Safety and comfort in the rental layout are non-negotiable. Your design must incorporate clear emergency exits, first aid kits, and safety information in an easily accessible area. For example, separate the entertainment area from quiet zones to ensure that guests can find peace and restfulness when needed. Install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in key areas, especially near bedrooms and the kitchen, to ensure guest safety.

Specific protocols for property maintenance, cleanliness, and guest support are crucial for a safe and welcoming environment. Implement a system that ensures the property is cleaned thoroughly between stays, with all linens and towels washed and amenities restocked.

Train your cleaning staff or service thoroughly in cleanliness practices, emphasizing the importance of sanitization, attention to detail, and the guest's comfort.

Regularly review and update these protocols to comply with local safety regulations and hospitality best practices.

Craft your offer

Your property and the amenities you offer will be the reason why your short-term rental is successful (or why it is failing).

To start, identify the preferences and needs of your target market through direct engagement, such as surveys and social media interactions, and indirect research, like analyzing market data on popular rental platforms and reviewing what successful competitors are doing.

Once you have a clear picture of your target market's preferences, you can begin to tailor your rental space to not only meet their expectations but also to stand out from the competition.

Incorporating local design elements and providing amenities that cater to the local climate and culture is a fantastic way to enhance appeal and guest experience.

This approach not only supports local artisans and businesses but also ensures that your rental space offers a unique and authentic experience. Make connections with local suppliers to understand what items or services you can include to make your guests' stay more enjoyable. This knowledge allows you to plan your amenities and decor to reflect the local vibe, offering a special experience that can attract travelers looking for an immersive stay. Customized experiences also create anticipation among your guests, as they look forward to a unique and memorable visit.

To ensure your short-term rental stands out in a competitive market, focus on uniqueness and comfort.

This can be achieved by offering special features that are hard to find elsewhere, such as a rooftop terrace with a stunning view, a hot tub, or smart home technology. Telling the story behind your rental, such as the history of the building or the inspiration behind the interior design, can also add a unique appeal.

Ensuring consistency and quality in your rental involves establishing rigorous standards and processes.

This can include a detailed list of amenities, clear instructions for use of appliances and electronics, thorough training for your cleaning and maintenance staff, and regular quality checks. Consistency is key to building trust with your guests, as they will know exactly what to expect each time they book your rental. Invest in high-quality furnishings and maintenance, and don’t shy away from upgrading your space to ensure it meets your standards.

Also, utilizing guest feedback is essential for continuous improvement and refinement of your rental offerings. Create channels for feedback, such as online reviews, direct communication after their stay, and social media engagement, to understand what your guests love and where there might be room for improvement.

Be open to constructive criticism and willing to make changes based on guest input. This not only helps in refining your property but also shows your guests that you value their opinions, fostering loyalty and encouraging repeat bookings.

Determinate the right pricing

When managing a short-term rental, it's crucial to establish a pricing strategy that balances profitability with guest satisfaction. Here's a structured approach to setting your rental rates.

Firstly, calculate your operating costs, which include mortgage or rent, utilities, maintenance, cleaning services, property management fees, and any amenities you provide to guests. This will ensure your rates cover these expenses and contribute to your financial goals.

Once you have a clear picture of your costs, research the local short-term rental market to understand the going rates for properties similar to yours. This will give you a competitive baseline without necessarily having to be the cheapest option available.

Understanding the price sensitivity and preferences of your target guests is also key. Collect feedback, conduct surveys, or experiment with different price points to see how demand changes. This will help you find the sweet spot where guests feel they're getting good value.

Psychological pricing strategies can be effective in the short-term rental market as well.

For example, setting a rate at $99 per night instead of $100 can make a psychological difference to potential guests, making the price seem more attractive even though the actual difference is minimal.

However, you should maintain the perceived value of your rental. If you position your property as a luxury retreat, too much charm pricing could undermine that image.

The perceived value of your rental is influenced by its location, amenities, decor, and the overall experience you provide. High-quality furnishings, exceptional service, and a unique experience can justify higher rates because guests perceive they are receiving more value.

Seasonal pricing is particularly relevant for short-term rentals. Adjusting prices for peak seasons, special events, or holidays can maximize earnings when demand is high. Conversely, offering lower rates during off-peak times can attract guests who are looking for a deal.

Introductory pricing can be a great way to attract initial guests when you first list your rental. Offering a lower rate for the first few bookings can generate early reviews and buzz. Once you've built up a reputation, you can adjust your rates accordingly.

For direct bookings versus third-party platforms, consider the fees and commissions involved. Direct bookings might allow for slightly lower rates due to the absence of platform fees, while listings on third-party sites might need to include these costs.

Finally, be cautious with discounting. While promotions can help fill your calendar during slow periods, frequent discounts can lead to a perception of lower quality or desperation. Use discounts strategically, such as for last-minute bookings or longer stays, without undermining the value of your property.

Manage relationships with your customers

Poor management of your short-term rental property could lead to a quick downturn in business.

On the contrary, meticulous attention to the details of your rental space can ensure a consistently high-quality guest experience.

Regular maintenance, prompt responses to guest inquiries, and showing appreciation for guest feedback can build a strong reputation and repeat business. Be clear about your rental's unique selling points and ensure your listings accurately reflect the amenities and services you provide. Whenever possible, personally inspect your property to ensure everything is in top condition. This hands-on approach allows you to anticipate and address potential issues before they affect your guests.

Additionally, consider offering value-added services or amenities that can differentiate your rental from others. This could include partnerships with local businesses for discounts or special experiences, but also maintain a list of reliable service providers to handle cleaning, maintenance, or emergencies.

For managing bookings and turnovers, efficient scheduling is key. Utilize a reliable property management system that can help you keep track of reservations, cleanings, and maintenance tasks. Implementing a dynamic pricing strategy can also be effective, where rental rates are adjusted based on demand, seasonality, and local events, though this requires careful market analysis.

Technology can significantly improve the management of your short-term rental.

Implementing a property management system that integrates with booking platforms allows for seamless synchronization of calendars and financial tracking. This technology can help optimize occupancy rates, automate guest communication, and streamline the check-in and check-out processes.

Additionally, smart home devices can enhance guest convenience and security, enabling remote management of access, climate control, and energy usage.

Scaling your short-term rental business presents challenges such as maintaining property standards, managing increased operational costs, and ensuring guest satisfaction. Address these challenges by creating detailed operational checklists, training cleaning and maintenance staff thoroughly, and investing in durable furnishings and fixtures that can withstand frequent use.

Scaling up also means more properties to manage, so negotiate with service providers for bulk rates without sacrificing service quality. Guest satisfaction becomes even more critical as your portfolio grows, requiring consistent quality across all properties and swift resolution of any issues that arise.

Implementing effective cost control measures involves scrutinizing every aspect of managing and maintaining your short-term rental properties. Regularly review and negotiate with service providers to ensure you're getting the best rates without compromising quality.

Also, consider smart investments in energy-efficient appliances or amenities that may offer long-term savings. Utilize technology to track and analyze costs, guest reviews, and occupancy rates to identify areas for improvement. Reducing operational inefficiencies not only cuts costs but also enhances the guest experience, leading to better reviews and more bookings.

Hire the right people

When starting a short-term rental business, you should consider the staffing needs to ensure your guests have a memorable stay. Initially, you may not need a large team, but there are key roles that are essential to the smooth operation of your rental.

For property management, you'll need a reliable property manager or management team to oversee the day-to-day operations. This includes managing bookings, coordinating check-ins and check-outs, and addressing any guest issues that arise.

Housekeeping staff are crucial for maintaining the cleanliness and readiness of the property between guest stays. They ensure that the rental meets high standards of hygiene and comfort.

Maintenance personnel are also important to handle any repairs or upkeep, ensuring that the property is safe and functional for guests.

Customer service representatives are needed to provide guests with a point of contact for any inquiries or assistance during their stay. They play a key role in enhancing the guest experience.

As your short-term rental business grows, you may consider hiring additional staff such as a concierge to provide personalized services or a marketing specialist to increase your rental's visibility and bookings.

Outsourcing can be a strategic option for roles like accounting, digital marketing, and even concierge services, allowing you to focus on your core business while benefiting from expert services.

When hiring, prioritize candidates with a mix of hospitality experience, customer service skills, and a passion for creating a welcoming environment for guests.

For property management roles, look for organizational skills and experience in the hospitality or real estate industry. Housekeeping staff should have a keen eye for detail and prior cleaning experience. Maintenance personnel should have a broad set of handyman skills and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

To ensure a good fit for your rental's unique needs, consider practical assessments during the hiring process, such as role-playing guest scenarios for customer service representatives or conducting a trial period for housekeeping staff.

Seek candidates who are passionate about hospitality and understand the importance of guest satisfaction. They should also be adaptable, as the short-term rental industry can be dynamic and fast-paced.

Finding the right candidates can be challenging, so utilize online job platforms, hospitality networks, and social media to reach potential hires. Offering internships or part-time positions can also attract talent from hospitality schools or those looking to enter the industry.

Here is a summary table of the different job positions for your short-term rental, and the average gross salary in USD.

Running the operations of your short-term rental business

Daily operations.

Running a short-term rental can be a smooth and profitable venture if you implement the right systems and strategies. Here's how you can optimize your daily operations to ensure guest satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Firstly, utilizing a property management system (PMS) tailored for short-term rentals can greatly enhance your operational workflow.

Choose a PMS that integrates booking management, guest communication, and financial reporting. This integration allows you to monitor reservations in real-time, streamline guest interactions, and keep track of your earnings and expenses with ease.

Many advanced PMS platforms also include channel management features, which enable you to list your rental across multiple booking sites like Airbnb, Booking.com, and VRBO, all from one central location.

For maintenance and housekeeping, you need a system that schedules tasks automatically following guest check-outs and sends reminders to your cleaning staff.

The most effective systems provide checklists for cleaners to ensure that every aspect of your rental meets high standards of cleanliness and readiness for the next guest. They can also notify you when a task is completed or if there are any issues that need your attention.

Building strong relationships with your service providers, such as cleaning crews, maintenance workers, and linen services, is essential for the smooth operation of your rental.

Establish clear communication channels and set expectations early on regarding service quality and turnaround times. A good relationship can lead to more efficient service and reliability. It's also prudent to have backup providers to ensure that your rental is always guest-ready.

Creating a positive work culture for any staff you employ is crucial. Offer regular training, communicate goals and expectations clearly, and provide constructive feedback. Acknowledging and rewarding excellent performance can help maintain high morale. Fair and considerate work schedules are also important for work-life balance.

Ensuring a memorable stay for guests begins with the presentation of your rental, the amenities you offer, and the service you provide.

Train any staff to be responsive, courteous, and helpful. Personal touches, such as a welcome basket or a guidebook with local recommendations, can make a guest's stay feel unique and cared for.

Maintaining a clean, well-maintained property with clear instructions for guests on how to use various amenities enhances their experience.

Effective customer service policies for a short-term rental might include a clear and fair cancellation policy, a 24/7 contact line for any issues, and a system for gathering and responding to guest feedback.

Encourage guests to leave reviews and provide feedback through follow-up emails or messages. Address feedback promptly and constructively, showing that you value their opinions and are dedicated to continuous improvement.

When dealing with guest complaints, listen fully before responding. Apologize if necessary and offer a resolution, such as a partial refund, a future discount, or an immediate remedy to their issue.

Use negative feedback as a chance to refine your rental, amenities, or guest services. Turning a less-than-ideal situation into a positive outcome can often secure a repeat booking or a glowing recommendation.

Revenues and Margins

Know how much you can make.

Understanding the financial dynamics of a short-term rental business is crucial for success in this industry.

We have an in-depth article on the profitability of short-term rentals that you might find useful. Below, we'll provide a summary of some key points.

One important metric for short-term rentals is the average daily rate (ADR). This figure represents the average rental income per paid occupied room in a given time period.

For luxury short-term rentals, which offer high-end amenities and services, the ADR can be quite high. We might see rates between $250 and $500 per night .

Standard short-term rentals, which provide comfortable but no-frills accommodation, typically have a lower ADR, possibly between $100 and $200 per night .

Budget-friendly short-term rentals, aimed at travelers looking for the most economical options, might have an ADR between $50 and $100 per night .

Occupancy rate is another critical metric, representing the percentage of available rental days that are actually booked. A high occupancy rate is often indicative of a successful rental strategy.

When it comes to revenue, it can vary widely based on location, type of rental, and management efficiency. Urban short-term rentals in high-demand areas might see monthly revenues from $3,000 to $10,000 , leading to annual revenues between $36,000 and $120,000 .

Rural or less frequented locations may have lower occupancy rates and thus lower revenues, with annual figures potentially between $20,000 and $60,000 .

Newly listed short-term rentals may take some time to gain traction and build up a solid base of reviews, which can limit initial revenue to below $2,000 per month .

Conversely, well-established short-term rentals with strong ratings and repeat guests can achieve higher and more consistent revenues.

Luxury rentals, while commanding higher prices, might have a more limited audience due to their pricing and exclusivity, potentially capping annual revenue below $150,000 .

Standard rentals often balance a moderate pricing strategy with good occupancy rates, which can lead to annual revenues between $40,000 and $80,000 .

Budget rentals rely on high occupancy rates to compensate for their lower prices, making revenue predictions more variable.

Short-term rentals don't just earn money from nightly bookings. There are multiple revenue streams to consider.

If you're looking for inspiration, here's a table that outlines various ways a short-term rental can generate income.

Understand your margins

As with any business, understanding the difference between revenue and profit is crucial for short-term rental owners. Before you can determine your actual earnings, you should consider both the income and the expenses associated with managing your property.

Let's delve into the gross and net margins, which are key indicators of your rental's profitability.

To calculate your own margins and get a precise figure for your potential profit, you can adjust the assumptions in our financial model designed for short-term rentals .

The typical range of gross margins for short-term rentals can vary significantly, often ranging from 60% to 80%.

Gross margin is calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS), which for rentals includes direct costs such as cleaning, maintenance, and supplies, from the revenue generated from bookings. This figure is then divided by the revenue and multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

Net margins, however, factor in not just COGS but also all other expenses a rental incurs, such as mortgage or rent payments, utilities, property management fees, and taxes. This figure is obtained by subtracting all operating expenses from the gross profit.

Net margins offer a more complete view of a rental's profitability and are typically lower than gross margins, with averages often ranging from 20% to 40% in the industry, reflecting the tighter profitability after all costs are considered.

Different types of short-term rentals—urban apartments, beachfront homes, and rural cabins—can have varying profit margins due to differences in their business models, location, and target markets. Here is a table to illustrate these differences.

It's probably clear by now that the margins of a short-term rental are significantly influenced by factors such as location, pricing strategy, and operational efficiency.

A prime location can command higher rental rates but may also come with higher costs. Pricing strategy is critical; rates must be competitive yet sufficient to cover costs and yield a profit. Operational efficiency can affect cost savings, with streamlined processes often leading to lower operational costs.

Ongoing expenses that impact rental margins include property maintenance, cleaning services, utilities, and property management fees. Maintenance costs can vary based on property size and condition, affecting gross margins. Cleaning services are a significant expense, especially for high-turnover rentals. Utilities can fluctuate with usage, and property management fees are a consideration if you're not self-managing your rental.

Rentals with unique features or in niche locations may see different margin dynamics compared to those in more traditional vacation spots.

While unique rentals can charge higher prices, they also face the challenge of attracting a consistent guest flow and potentially higher maintenance costs, impacting overall margins.

External factors such as market demand, economic conditions, and travel trends also play a crucial role in rental margins. Economic downturns can reduce travel spending, while travel peaks can significantly increase occupancy rates. Staying informed of travel trends and adapting your rental offerings accordingly can help manage these fluctuations.

The challenge of maintaining healthy margins in the face of variable occupancy rates and operational costs is significant. Rental owners can mitigate these challenges through efficient cost management, dynamic pricing strategies, optimizing the guest experience for repeat business, and investing in marketing for visibility improvements.

Regularly tracking and analyzing financial performance (good news - you can do all of that with our financial model tailored to short-term rentals ), including gross and net margins, is essential for ensuring the financial health and sustainability of your rental business.

Implement a strong marketing strategy

Marketing doesn't need to be as complex as some experts make it seem. We understand you'll be busy managing your short-term rental and won't have an abundance of time for extensive promotions. That's why we'll keep our advice simple and impactful, much like the marketing strategy we've detailed in our business plan for short-term rentals .

Creating a brand for your short-term rental is not just beneficial; it's essential.

Your brand is the way guests recognize and remember your rental. It's not only about the name or the design of your listing, but also the experiences and comforts you provide. Your brand should mirror the quality of your accommodations, the unique features of your property, and the values you uphold, such as exceptional hospitality or eco-friendliness. This helps your rental stand out in a competitive market and cultivates a dedicated guest base.

For your marketing plan, begin by identifying your target audience. Who are your ideal guests? What do they seek in a rental? Are they after a cozy home-away-from-home, a luxurious retreat, budget-friendly accommodations, or perhaps a pet-friendly space? Knowing your audience will steer your branding and promotional efforts.

When it comes to promotion, social media and online marketing are invaluable for short-term rentals. Platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook are ideal for displaying your property with high-quality images and engaging narratives.

Share glimpses of the local area and experiences, which adds a personal touch and showcases the lifestyle guests can enjoy while staying at your rental.

Guest reviews and testimonials are powerful in building credibility and persuading others to book your rental. Sharing travel tips or local guides can also engage your audience, providing them with useful information and positioning your rental as a top choice in the area.

Content strategies that are effective for short-term rentals include highlighting the comfort and amenities of your space, promoting local events or attractions, and featuring any unique aspects or services you offer, like a hot tub or a custom city tour. Collaborating with local businesses or travel influencers can also increase your visibility.

However, not all strategies may be suitable for your rental. For instance, if your rental is in a secluded area, promoting urban nightlife won't align with your brand. Similarly, if your rental is budget-friendly, advertising high-end luxury services may not resonate with your target audience.

Even on a tight budget, there are clever tactics you can employ to attract new guests.

First, consider listing your property on multiple rental platforms to maximize exposure. This not only increases potential bookings but also broadens your market reach.

You can also create special offers or discounts for first-time guests to encourage bookings.

Partnering with local tour operators or businesses can provide guests with a unique experience while promoting your rental.

Implementing a referral program can incentivize past guests to recommend your rental to others. Simple referral codes or discounts on future stays can be quite effective.

Lastly, never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Encourage your happy guests to leave reviews and share their experiences on social media, offering them small tokens of appreciation or future stay discounts for their efforts.

Grow and expand

We want you to thrive with your short-term rental business. The insights provided here are designed to help you reach that goal.

Imagine you're already running a successful short-term rental with high occupancy rates and excellent guest reviews. Now, it's time to consider how you can scale and expand your portfolio.

There's always potential for greater success, and we're here to show you the path to achieve it.

Also, please note that there is a 3-year development plan tailored for short-term rentals in our business plan template .

Successful short-term rental owners often possess qualities such as attention to detail, hospitality, a keen understanding of the travel market, and the ability to connect with guests from diverse backgrounds. These traits are essential as they work on scaling their business.

Before adding more properties to your portfolio, consider the existing market demand, the uniqueness of your new listings, and how these additions will affect your operations.

Market research is critical in this phase. By analyzing travel trends, guest preferences, and the performance of similar rentals in the market, you can make informed decisions that align with your business's capabilities and guest expectations.

Evaluating the success of current operations involves looking at occupancy rates, guest feedback, and operational efficiency. If your rentals consistently achieve high occupancy, receive glowing reviews, and operate smoothly, it may be time to consider expansion.

Acquiring additional properties should be based on concrete evidence of demand, a deep understanding of the target market, and the financial health of your current operation.

Creating a brand for your short-term rental business can significantly boost your visibility and appeal. A strong, consistent brand identity across all your properties can enhance guest loyalty and attract new bookings. Strengthen your brand by ensuring that every guest experience reflects your business's values and quality.

Maintaining consistency across multiple properties is challenging but vital. This can be achieved through detailed operational guidelines, training for any staff involved, and quality control systems.

Regular visits and reviews, along with fostering a strong, shared culture, help ensure each property upholds the standards that contributed to your original rental's success.

Financial metrics and business benchmarks indicating readiness for expansion include consistent profitability, robust cash flow, and meeting or exceeding occupancy projections over a significant period.

Additionally, having a scalable business model and the operational capacity to support growth is essential.

Partnerships with local businesses and participation in travel events can introduce your rentals to new guests and markets. These opportunities allow for creative collaboration, community engagement, and increased visibility, contributing to your business's growth.

Scaling your portfolio to meet increased demand involves logistical considerations such as property management systems, efficient booking processes, and possibly hiring additional staff or using property management services. Ensuring that your operations can handle the increased volume without sacrificing guest satisfaction is key.

Finally, it's crucial that your expansion efforts stay true to your short-term rental's core values and long-term goals. Growth should not come at the expense of the unique experiences and quality that made your rentals successful in the first place.

Regularly revisiting your business plan and values can help ensure that your expansion strategies align with your vision and mission, sustaining the essence of your short-term rental business as it grows.

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Vacation Rental Business Plan: 15 Steps for Success (Free Template)

Investing in a vacation rental business isn’t a decision to take lightly. However, as the short-term rental industry continues to grow, 2024 could be the perfect time to do so.

The success of any short-term rental business will depend on having actionable goals and clear objectives based on thorough market research, whether you’re a newbie or an experienced property investor.

It’s crucial to create a strategic business plan for short-term rentals before you hand over a deposit or receive the keys. A viable business and management plan will help you identify the risks and prepare you for the challenges ahead.

In this article, we look at what a business plan is, give you samples and templates to use, and analyze the 15 steps your vacation rental business plan needs to help you get started.

Don’t see the form to download our Vacation Rental Business Plan PDF? Click here .

What is a vacation rental business plan?

Simply put, your business plan is an overarching set of rules, goals, and frameworks to help you make decisions for your new business and its future.

Not only will a vacation rental business plan help you define your strategy, but you can repeatedly refer back to it to ensure you are going in the right direction.

Business plan vs. vacation rental business model

Many aspiring rental owners confuse these two documents or assume they’re the same, so let’s review the differences.

A short-term rental business plan is a detailed document that outlines your business goals and how you plan on achieving them. A short-term rental business model, on the other hand, is your core framework for providing value to guests and operating profitably. Business models are much shorter, often including only a customer value proposition and pricing strategy.

Why do you need a vacation rental business plan?

Vacation rental owners are eager to hit the ground running when they buy their first properties—who wouldn’t be? Any vacancy or downtime on the property means more money that’s coming out of your pocket. A vacation rental property business plan will guide you through the initial steps and beyond, helping you maximize your profit and success as a host.

Beyond just making money, having a good business plan for vacation rentals will allow you to measure success and identify areas for improvement accurately. For example, it will help you focus on key metrics, such as your budget, local market insights, and expansion opportunities.

How to write a short-term rental business plan: video summary

15 steps to create your vacation rental business plan

To make things easier for budding entrepreneurs, we’re including 15 steps to help you succeed in writing your short-term rental business plan. We also reached out to the following industry professionals for their insights!

• Antonio Bortolotti , founder of Vacation Rental Secrets and host of the Vacation Rental World Summit
• Cynthia Chan , co-founder of Airhosts Forum (the largest Airbnb host forum online)
• Karen Spencer , founder of The Business of Holiday Rental

Prefer a downloadable template? Scroll to the bottom of the page to download our customizable Short-Term Rental Business Plan PDF !

Step 1. Executive summary

For people outside Fortune 500 companies, writing an “executive summary” can be a bit scary. However, it’s a lot simpler than you may think!

An executive summary is just a few sentences that summarize your vacation rental business and includes all the essential information you want to get across. This is so that anyone can read the first page of your plan and know, at a glance, what your business entails.

Start by asking yourself the famous five Ws:

• Where is your vacation house located? By the beach, in the middle of the city, or in the countryside?
• What is it? A family vacation home, a glamping accommodation, or an ideal spot for business travelers?
• Who is it for? Families , couples , or large groups of friends?
• When is it best to stay at your rental? The summer, winter, or year-round?
• Why do you have this property? Is this a spare room you’re renting out for extra cash, a way to top up your pension if you’re retired, or your main form of income?

Answering these questions will help you outline what information you would like to include in your executive summary. You can then rewrite your responses to make sure your summary sounds professional.

Note: If you are still unsure about the details of your executive summary, feel free to do it at the end of your business plan—it’s a case of saving the best until last!

Step 2. Business goals

Your executive summary is going to give you a broad overview of where your business is going, but the goals section will help to further solidify this vision. Goals are what help you to set markers for what success in your business looks like.

Are you satisfied with a couple of bookings a month, or are you expecting a full reservation calendar by the end of the year? You’ll need to set goals to help pin this down.

What’s more, make sure your business goals are SMART: smart, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

Step 3. Value proposition

As with any business, you’ll need to state why customers are going to choose your business. It’s difficult to take yourself out of the equation when evaluating your business. After all, you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into this project, so why wouldn’t guests choose you?

No amount of effort is enough if it’s not adding any value to your vacation rental. Consider how your vacation rental will provide a guest experience that the other properties in your area simply can’t provide.

Step 4. Company analysis

In this section, you should aim to explain the unique selling points (USPs) of your new vacation rental business, outlining what it will bring to the existing market.

Start by asking a few simple questions to figure out how you’re different (and better) than other rental properties out there. After all, once you are confident in your strengths, your guests will be, too!

Here are a few examples:

Is it better than others because of its location?

• Is it close to the beach?
• Main public transport lines?
• Is it off-the-grid?

Is the price of your accommodation better?

• Are you the cheapest accommodation around?
• Are you the best value?
• Do you offer discounts at certain times of the year?

Are the interiors of your property different or better than the rest?

• Do you offer a cozy, rustic getaway?
• Do you offer a fireplace where a family can sit at night?
• Is it a themed vacation rental ?

Step 5. Industry analysis

If you want to be successful in the rental business industry, you’ll need to be strategic and competitive in your company management plan. So, this section is where you state some key facts about current trends and expectations.

One of the ways to do this is by carrying out an industry analysis. This is basically looking at other vacation rental businesses and evaluating them.

Here are some sample questions that will help start your industry analysis:

What do vacation rentals near me charge per night?

• Would you class it as affordable or good value?
• Is it less than $50 per night? Or Is it more than $300?
• Think about the figures you come up with in relative terms, weighing the value of what the business is offering against the price they charge. This will help you start to price competitively.

Who is their target audience and clientele?

• Are they families ?
• Couples looking for a romantic break?
• Do they target students and school groups who need large but basic accommodations?

Are they luxury units or more basic rentals?

• Are they upmarket rentals in the most expensive parts of your area?
• Or are they modest vacation home rentals that students could afford?
• Do the rentals tend to fall in one end of the price range, leaving a gap in the market?

Are they self-catered or Bed & Breakfast?

• Do they offer a light breakfast?
• Or do they offer a breakfast buffet?

What websites/agencies do they use for bookings and advertisements?

• Are all your competitors advertising on Airbnb , Vrbo , etc.?
• Do they collaborate with local tourism agencies?
• Are they all missing out on a popular booking website that only you know about?

“I recommend owners to focus on profit per booking, not occupancy rates. We’re in it to make money, not fill as many nights as possible (that comes next). We could all be 100% full if we undervalued what we were offering. That doesn’t make good business sense. Be prepared to spend more when you first start out, to bring a quality product to the market. You’ll soon reap the rewards this investment in your future business will bring.” – Karen Spencer

Step 6. Customer analysis

Your customers—or rather, your guests—are how you are going to make your money. That’s why it’s important to understand and target them properly.

In your plan, create different buyer personas based on the types of guests you want to attract. This is like a profile of your ideal customer, from age to income. You should try to make it as detailed as possible because it will help your business grow later.

Creating buyer personas starts with a customer analysis. A customer analysis is just getting to know your customers and what they want and need from a rental property and a vacation.

Here are some key questions you should ask yourself about your ideal guest:

• What’s their name? It may seem silly to name a fictional person, but it will bring your customer analysis to life and help you imagine the buyer persona.
• What do they work as? For example, are they a high-flying banker, a medical professional, or an educator?
• How old are they? Think in terms of age ranges: 18-25, 25-40, and 40-60, and 60+.
• Do they have a family? If so, how many children do they have?

Keep going with questions like this until you’ve built an entire profile of the person. This will then help you understand their values, spending habits, common complaints, and amenities they’ll be looking for.

Getting anxious to dive in? Scroll to the bottom of the page to download our customizable Vacation Rental Business Plan PDF and get started!

Step 7. Competitive analysis

Another element of your vacation rental property business plan is conducting competitor research. Take a look at the market to find your direct competitors and analyze them to see how your business can thrive.

Competitive analysis is similar to industry analysis, but this time you’re going to focus on your immediate competitors rather than the industry as a whole. For example, if your short-term rental is a house by the beach, your direct competitors would be other accommodation providers on the beach.

With competitive analysis, you want to look at the people who may win a booking over you and use what you find to put yourself on top. Ask questions such as the following:

How much are my competitors charging per night?

• Competitor 1 – $100
• Competitor 2 – $150
• Competitor 3 – $200

Using this information, you may decide to drop your prices below $100 to become the cheapest option among your competitors and increase your booking rates.

What standard of accommodation do they offer?

• Are they all standard camping sites?
• Or are they high-end units?
• Are they somewhere in between, suitable for most travelers?

Do they offer airport transfers/pick-up service?

• Yes, but for a very high price.
• Yes, and for a reasonable price.

Do they offer a wide range of amenities in the house?

• No, most don’t even offer Wi-Fi.
• Yes, some offer basic things like a washing machine and television.
• Yes, all offer basic amenities, and some even include luxury amenities (like a swimming pool or gym).

Step 8. Operations plan

The operations plan is simply an insight into how you’re going to run your new business on a day-to-day basis. It will consider whether you will hire any staff, what standards you will set, and how you will keep track of inventory and other administrative duties.

This will be one of the most straightforward parts of your business plan. Chances are, you already have all of this planned.

Here are a few helpful prompts and examples in case you get stuck:

Am I going to hire any staff?

• No, I’m only renting out one room in my home, which I can do myself.
• Yes, I’m renting out several large apartments, and I have a separate, full-time job.
• No, my partner and I will do the work together.

Who is going to clean the rentals between guests?

• A cleaning agency?
• A neighbor?

Do I need to hire an accountant to help me handle the finances of my business?

• No, I’m comfortable dealing with all of those things.
• Yes! I don’t know the first place to start when dealing with taxes or business records.

Who will deal with bookings and customer complaints?

• Myself, with only one room it will be very manageable.
• I will hire an assistant to help with all of this administration stuff, I won’t have time!
• My daughter/son, it will be a good part-time job for them to give them an allowance.

To keep things simple, you can also use solutions such as Lodgify’s property management software and channel manager .

Step 9. Marketing plan

Explain which strategies you will use to advertise your business and generate bookings. Think about both online and offline marketing , as well as any campaigns or promotions you plan to run externally.

This is when your buyer persona (which you created earlier) will come in handy. If you know the people you’re trying to target, you’ll know what websites they use and what type of marketing will be suitable for them.

Your marketing strategy can be really diverse. Here are some questions to help you sketch it out:

What methods of online marketing should I use?

• I will just list my bookings on one travel website because that is enough for me.
• I will have my own, personal vacation rental website . My site, my rules!
• I have several properties to rent, so I will list them on several vacation rental websites to increase traffic and booking numbers.
• I will pay for Google Ads in my local area.

What methods of offline marketing should I use?

• None, online marketing will be enough for me.
• I will print flyers and leave them in local tourist offices.
• I will give each guest business cards and ask them to recommend me to friends and colleagues.

Do I have a website?

• No, I don’t want/need to create one.
• No, but I want one! I need to hire someone to create one for me or try a professional website builder .
• Yes, I have one, and I’m going to hire a search engine optimization specialist to help me increase the number of visits to it.

Do I have business cards ?

• No, I don’t need any.
• Yes, I have some but I won’t use them.
• Yes, I have some, and I’m going to use them as part of my marketing strategy.

“While I’m not sure there is a one-formula-fits-all, there are a few things that helped me: a great website, awesome warm-hearted, personal communication skills, finely tweaked standards, procedures and operations, an open mind and willingness to widen your horizon by questioning what you’ve achieved and learning what’s next. Because we are in an ever-changing and challenging world and only those willing to adapt to the changes will survive.” – Antonio Bortolotti

Step 10. Task delegation and employee management plan

It pays off to dream big, but make sure you have the capacity to do so. How will you manage guest turnover if you’re planning to rent your property every night? Better yet, who will manage guest turnover?

Depending on the scale, your goals will take some serious work to get there. Make sure you’ve factored in how you will manage it alone or how you plan to delegate tasks.

If you know that you’ll need to hire some staff, be it a property manager, cleaning service , or maintenance person, you’ll have to plan for how you’re going to distribute and delegate the work. Using task management tools and including them in your business plan outline will help you to make the most of your teams’ efforts.

“In such a demanding and dynamic industry as ours, finding the right combination of software that aligns with your individual business needs is key to accomplishing all this. And it’s not easy.” – Antonio Bortolotti

Step 11. Distribution plan

Websites like Airbnb and Vrbo are referred to as online travel agencies , or OTAs. For all new hosts, presence on OTAs and listing sites is essential to get bookings.

Your distribution plan should consider which channels you’ll be advertising on, how much they’ll cost you, and how you’ll manage them (hint: you might need a channel manager ).

Here are some helpful example questions to get you started writing a distribution plan:

Which OTAs do I want to list my property on?

• Every OTA that is available? I need lots of bookings!

How much will this cost me?

• Is it free?
• Do you have to pay monthly to list on these websites?
• Do they take a commission off bookings you receive from that website?

Are there any tools available to help me manage all of this?

• Yes! A channel manager .
• A channel manager is a tool you can use to ensure all of your bookings, dates, and arrangements remain in one place so you don’t get overwhelmed managing calendars from multiple OTAs.

When I do get a booking, how will I receive the payment?

• PayPal account.
• Bank transfer.
• Cash/card payments directly from guests upon arrival.

“If a host’s goal is to maximize their revenue and bookings, it definitely makes sense to list on several platforms. Based on research from one of our partners, Tokeet, they found that some of their hosts had reported a 20% increase in bookings once they used a channel manager to list across several home-sharing sites. I would recommend that if a host is listing across several platforms, they should utilize a channel management program to make it easier to manage their listings and their calendars so they don’t double book.” – Cynthia Chan

Step 12. Revenue management plan

So, this is the numbers part. But don’t worry— revenue management is not as scary as it sounds!

In this section, you’ll have to include information about the rates you plan to charge for your vacation rental, alongside any details about pricing or yield management tools you will use.

For people who feel overwhelmed by this, there are a lot of tools and software out there to help. To start with, we’ve written some quick questions to cover the basics of your revenue management plan to make sure your accounts and business stay well in the green.

How much will I charge per night?

• Fixed price: $100 per night.
• I’ll use dynamic pricing , increasing the amount during busy periods.
• I’m still undecided.

Pro tip: Lodgify Dynamic Pricing uses an algorithm that factors in 40+ listing attributes, market conditions, and local trends to automatically optimize your nightly rates.

What level of taxes will I have to pay to the government?

• I’m not sure. I need to research this before writing my revenue management plan.

How much will my utilities cost?

• Water is $50 a month.
• Trash collection is $30 a month.
• Electricity will vary depending on how many guests I’ll have.

What will my staff costs be?

• Zero, I’m doing all of the work myself.
• Low, I’m paying my teenage children an allowance to help me with some household chores.
• High, I’m going to hire a cleaning agency, a marketing specialist, a website developer, etc.

What’s my target monthly income?

• Anything above $0 at the beginning?

“Set stretching yet realistic prices. Quality holiday homes can charge more (because they are worth more) than an average place. When it comes to setting your prices, you need to know what it costs you to welcome each set of guests and work up from there, ensuring a healthy profit per booking every time. The more you charge per week, the more revenue per booking, yet your changeover costs, your marketing costs, your time spent, will be the same.” – Karen Spencer

Step 13. Financial plan

Think about how you are going to finance your new business. As with anything in life, proper budgeting will prevent future stress and help your business thrive.

So, what kind of information makes up a financial plan?

Will I need to take out a loan?

• No, I’m just renting out an existing property with everything ready to go.
• Yes, I will need a small loan to renovate this property.
• Yes, I will need a substantial loan to purchase the property/land where I’m going to build my rental.

What will the interest rates be?

Do I have savings I’m ready to invest into it?

• I don’t want to put my savings into it.
• Yes, I have a small amount that I’ll use for redecoration.
• Yes, I have lots of savings that I’ve been keeping for a project like this!

What level of monthly loan payments can I manage?

• None, my business has small incomings, so I don’t want to take a loan.
• $100 for a small loan?
• $750+ for substantial mortgage repayments?

“Not factoring in the cost of educating yourself is a luxury you can’t afford. The reason I’m part of online communities (I go to industry conferences like VRMA and I put together the Vacation Rental World Summit ) is because I’m the first one to not know everything.

I’m aware that if I want my business to thrive while this industry changes and crashes, I need to stay informed on what’s changing, adjust my strategies accordingly, and be prepared for what’s coming.” – Antonio Bortolotti

Step 14. Key milestones and business future

Write down your plans and goals for your business, plus what key milestones will help you achieve these targets.

When you start any project, whether it is going back to university, exercising, or starting a business, it is really important to track your progress. This section will be useful to refer back to and ensure you’re on the right track.

Here are some good milestones to use for your rental business:

How much do I want to make each month?

• $500? $750? $3.000?
• This answer will be linked to your financial plan, so this is a good time to go back and look at what you wrote down in Step 10.

How many guests do I want in the first quarter?

• As many as possible—I know I’m still in the beginning.

What rate of growth do I want in my bookings year-on-year?

• I’ll figure this out in the second year. I’m just getting started at the moment.

How many returning clients do I want each year?

• At least 10?
• More than 20—I’m confident in the service I provide.
• As many as possible!

“The biggest hurdle that Airbnb hosts have to get through in their first few years of business is to get enough reviews so that guests are comfortable staying at your listing. The more reviews you have, the higher your listing appears in the search results as well, so the biggest focus for hosts should be to get as many good reviews as possible.” – Cynthia Chan

Step 15. Vacation rental business plan: appendix

The appendix in your vacation rental business plan should include all of the relevant documents you have for your business, containing the vital information you need to keep things running.

For example, ask yourself:

• What’s the number for a plumber, just in case I have problems with the pipes?
• Where are my tax registration details?
• Have I kept receipts of all of the things purchased for my business recently?
• Have I backed up my online bookings and calendar somewhere?

Scroll to the bottom of the page to download our customizable Short-Term Rental Business Plan PDF and get started!

Vacation rental business plan: tips and tricks

So, you followed the 15 steps above. Now you’re done, right?

Well, not quite. With the industry growing increasingly competitive, it pays off to follow a few additional tips to get a competitive edge:

• It’s all about the timing. Writing a business plan before buying the rental home is advisable, so you can truly judge if it is a worthwhile investment and business venture.
• You get back what you put in. If you invest time, money and effort into your business, you will reap financial and personal rewards. And to be number one, you need to invest more effort and time than your competitors.
• Quality over quantity. Don’t forget that most people will choose value over price, so don’t compromise one for the other.
• Get yourself out there. The more places you advertise your business (your own website , third-party platforms , social media , etc.), the more bookings you’re going to get.
• Enjoy yourself! The old saying that you’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do is completely true with vacation rentals. And the more you enjoy yourself, the better the experience will be for guests.

“Quality is essential in everything you do. From the product you bring to the market to the excellent customer service you offer your guests.” – Karen Spencer

Common mistakes found in short-term rental business plans

For many hosts, owning a vacation rental is their first business venture. So, it’s all too easy to make mistakes along the way. Here are some of the most common mistakes to look out for:

• Targeting everyone: We know you want to welcome as many guests as possible. Still, you should avoid trying to attract all guest types, as it might lead to attracting none. Instead, define your target customers based on your value proposition.
• Ignoring the competition: Evaluate your competitive edge in price, value, style, and availability to see where you need to improve. Recognize that rivals may outdo you, even if you believe your rental is the best.
• Making an unrealistic finance plan: Avoid overestimating revenue and underestimating the budget. You may have big goals, but maintain a realistic approach to financial planning.
• Assuming standard home insurance covers you: Include vacation rental insurance , and specifically a policy tailored for vacation rental owners, in your business plan to ensure proper coverage.

Download our free vacation rental business plan template

Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry!

All you have to do is download our free vacation rental business plan sample below and fill in your own information. Our handy guide includes all of the questions you need to ask yourself before starting your new venture.

Hi, Amazing article to learn from basics to advanced in vacation rental business. Thanks for sharing this wonderful article with us.

Fantastic article Jess as always. Even though we’re on our 2nd property and they both are doing well we are going to go back and go through the steps in the business plan. I bet it will help us refine our ideas for moving forward. Thanks again!

Well… consider yourself added to my blogroll. I have like six other blogs I read on a weekly basis, guess that number just increased to seven! Keep writing!

What kind of insurance is available?

Hi Dorothy,

I suggest you check out our article about the different types of vacation rental insurance available. You’ll find it here .

Riley & The Lodgify Team

Thanks for sharing this useful information! Hope that you will continue with the kind of stuff you are doing.

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How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template   to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

• Average income
• Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s working, and what’s not?
• Who is engaging with you?
• What are your most valuable partnerships?
• Which networks does your target audience use?
• How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my audience here?
• If so, how are they using this platform?
• Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

• X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

• Make sure you fill out all profile fields
• Include keywords people would use to search for your business
• Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

• Create a Facebook business page
• Create an Instagram business account
• Create a TikTok account
• Create a X (Twitter) business account
• Create a Snapchat account
• Create a LinkedIn Company Page
• Create a Pinterest business account
• Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

• 50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
• 25% of content will be curated from other sources
• 20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
• 5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

• 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
• 20% can directly promote your brand.

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

• One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
• One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
• One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

• Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
• TikTok: 3-5 times per week
• Facebook: 1-2 times per day
• X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
• LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

• Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
• Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance  right in the summary section:

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

• Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
• Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
• Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
• Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

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Top 10 Long-Term Planning Templates with Examples and Samples

Lakshya Khurana

A long-term business plan considers the company's objectives and market dynamics for a period of over five years or more. These goals represent a zeal and educated intent to grow the enterprise into the future while navigating an ever-changing business landscape.

The previous blog covered templates to help you implement short-term tactical plans that you construct from the objectives of the long-term plans. This blog covers the templates that will aid you with those. These readymade presentations will cover all aspects of a company’s ultimate goals, be it in sales, brand recognition, shareholder growth, investments, social media presence, etc.

Why Long-Term Planning?

There are several reasons that showcase why long-term plans are critical to business success:

• Alignment of purpose- It gives employees a sense of direction in their work to have a clear long-term goal that aligns with their short-term objectives.
• Resource Allocation- Using projections of resource use, assets can be delegated in an informed manner to prevent issues such as overspending, production delays, etc.
• Growth- Business expansion without a defined long-term plan is a pipe dream. With a plan, however, the business can recognize and capitalize on opportunities and create mutually beneficial partnerships that lead the company to scale up.
• Risk Management- With time to anticipate risks, the business can create contingency plans to mitigate them.

Other benefits, like talent development, financial management, regulatory compliance, etc., enable you to make your mark in the industry and remain a formidable presence.

You will need the tools to create and share such a plan, delegate responsibilities, and deliver progress reports. Our pre-made Long-Term Planning Templates will do this for you.

How Long-Term Planning Templates Can Help?

We at SlideTeam understand your business requirements, and using this know-how, we have created content-ready and 100% editable PowerPoint Presentations that do the work for you. A team effort by the company's workforce and even beyond is needed to execute your plans, and our slides are the perfect resource to generate and maintain this momentum.

Our PPT Designs give you a starting point, a structured framework, and the flexibility to later the slides to suit your needs. This means a lot of time and energy saved for you that can be put to better use.

Let us dive into our curated list of the 10 best Long-Term Planning Templates that offer you all you could ask for.

Template 1: Short, Medium, and Long-Term Planning PowerPoint Template Bundles

Plan your business strategy to achieve your short-to-long-term goals with this PPT Deck. Contained within these slides are templates to share and execute an action plan for objectives such as delivery of products, shareholder growth, tourism, change adaptation, integrated business planning, investment, and more. Most slides serve a particular industry but can be easily transformed for your needs. Some slides provide a general strategy for long-term planning that you can use as step one. Download this presentation from the link below.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Template 2: Short-Term and Long-Term Planning PowerPoint Presentation Slides

This template bundle delivers a visually diverse collection to lay out your short- and long-term goals for stakeholders. Showcase the timeline that defines the nature of the objectives. This also includes mid-term and SMART goals. There is ample space to detail the goals, including delegating roles and responsibilities, KPIs to track progress, etc. You can also showcase an overview of the business, including your mission and visions, as well as graphs and charts to deliver information. Download now.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Template 3: Long-Term Strategic Planning Slide Presentation Tips

Use this PowerPoint Slide to present your long-term plan with the added advantage of iterative continuous improvement. This six-step strategy includes proposing the goals and mission, examining internal and external issues, conducting a SWOT analysis, and formulating the strategy. Follow this loop to improve business operations and get closer and closer to your ultimate business goals. Download this template now.

GET IT HERE

Template 4: Long-Term Growth Planning Template PPT Slides

This diagram is a visual representation that connects your annual business operations plan with the long-term business plan. The planning loop consists of plans for supplies, short-term goals, annual budget, capital budget, and sales forecasting. Download this slide to integrate annual planning within your long-term plan and execute a strategy to achieve all objectives.

Template 5: Short-Term And Long-Term Planning PowerPoint Slide

This PPT Layout presents a planning model with different levels of government taken as an example. Break down the mayor’s vision (highest level in the local government) into local board plans for the given city. This can then be categorized for local board agreements, including a unity plan, place-based plans, core strategies, and finally, the long-term plan. Download this template to present a detailed overview of the implementation of ideas with a strategy that has been tackled from all directions.

Template 6: Career Path Planning Showing Long-Term and Personal Goals

Plan out your career with your long-term objectives supported by short-term goals. Begin by noting details like quick wins and short steps you’ve taken in the first 3-6 months, proceed by introspection on the previous year in the months 6-12, and add information on plans that would take more time to execute than 12 months. List your long-term and personal goals at the bottom of the layout for reference and motivation. Download this template now.

Template 7: Personal Financial Planning Sheet with Short and Long-Term Goals

Long-term financial planning is critical to the success of a business. Convert raw numbers into easy-to-follow information with tables that deliver it as short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals. Detail the priority of each objective and present the total cost supplemented by the monthly cost and the duration and target date. Download this template to make the fiscal objectives more accessible to understand and achieve.

Template 8: Five Years Roadmap with SWOT Analysis

A five-year plan is quite the perfect duration to set and achieve long-term goals. Detail your goals in marketing, product, business support, and finance. Use your data to conduct a SWOT analysis to crack the code for achieving these objectives. The side presents them in a timeline that acts as the audience's visual reference. Download now.

Template 9: Six Months Roadmap Process

This PPT Layout presents a six-month roadmap to achieve your long-term goals. Beginning with gathering facts, the tasks on the timeline are conducting a SWOT analysis, reviewing inputs, creating a strategic matrix, defining strategies, and finally conducting a review to adjust the plan. Under each step, the readymade slide presents the elements for each task. Download this template now to have the right tools for a six-month plan.

Template 10: Six Months Roadmap for Business Growth

Use this Gantt Chart Slide to deliver a six-month plan to achieve business growth. Detail the tasks along the monthly timeline for departments such as operation, product, engineering, and marketing. The color-coding feature of the chart helps the team understand their goals and keep tack of their work. Grab this template from the link below.

It’s Time to Plan

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”

— Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father

This quote has never been more valid than for long-term business success. Fulfilling in business for years is too hard without a definitive strategy, and failure is inevitable. But do not forget that SlideTeam’s Long-Term Planning Templates will give you the helping hand you need and even do most of the work for you (it’s already done!).

Access these slides with a single click and streamline your long-term planning process. You can choose one of our subscription services: monthly, semi-annual, annual, annual+ with a click here .

P.S. The templates in this blog are not ranked in any particular order. Pick the one(s) you like and download it!

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Simple Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | April 2, 2020

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In this article, we’ve compiled a variety of simple business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats.

On this page, you’ll find a one-page business plan template , a simple business plan for startups , a small-business plan template , a business plan outline , and more. We also include a business plan sample and the main components of a business plan to help get you started.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

This simple business plan template lays out each element of a traditional business plan to assist you as you build your own, and it provides space to add financing information for startups seeking funding. You can use and customize this simple business plan template to fit the needs for organizations of any size.

One-Page Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Excel | Word | PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this one-page business plan to document your key ideas in an organized manner. The template can help you create a high-level view of your business plan, and it provides easy scannability for stakeholders. You can use this one-page plan as a reference to build a more detailed blueprint for your business. 

For additional single page plans, take a look at " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Download Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Use this fill-in-the-blank business plan template to guide you as you build your business plan. Each section comes pre-filled with sample content, with space to add customized verbiage relevant to your product or service.

For additional free, downloadable resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Simple Business Plan for Startup

‌ Download Startup Business Plan Template — Word

This business plan template is designed with a startup business in mind and contains the essential elements needed to convey key product or service details to investors and stakeholders. Keep all your information organized with this template, which provides space to include an executive summary, a company overview, competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, financial data, and more. For additional resources, visit " Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples ."

Simple Small-Business Plan Template

Download Simple Small-Business Plan Template

This template walks you through each component of a small-business plan, including the company background, the introduction of the management team, market analysis, product or service offerings, a financial plan, and more. This template also comes with a built-in table of contents to keep your plan in order, and it can be customized to fit your requirements.

Lean Business Plan Template

Download Lean Business Plan Template

This lean business plan template is a stripped-down version of a traditional business plan that provides only the most essential aspects. Briefly outline your company and industry overview, along with the problem you are solving, as well as your unique value proposition, target market, and key performance metrics. There is also room to list out a timeline of key activities.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Word  | PDF

Use this simple business plan outline as a basis to create your own business plan. This template contains 11 sections, including a title page and a table of contents, which details what each section should cover in a traditional business plan. Simplify or expand this outline to create the foundation for a business plan that fits your business needs.

Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Download Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

This template doubles as a project plan and timeline to track progress as you develop your business plan. This business planning template enables you to break down your work into phases and provides room to add key tasks and dates for each activity. Easily fill in the cells according to the start and end dates to create a visual timeline, as well as to ensure your plan stays on track.

Simple Business Plan Rubric Template

Download Simple Business Plan Rubric

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

Once you complete your business plan, use this business plan rubric template to assess and score each component of your plan. This rubric helps you identify elements of your plan that meet or exceed requirements and pinpoint areas where you need to improve or further elaborate. This template is an invaluable tool to ensure your business plan clearly defines your goals, objectives, and plan of action in order to gain buy-in from potential investors, stakeholders, and partners.

Basic Business Plan Sample

Download Basic Business Plan Sample

This business plan sample serves as an example of a basic business plan that contains all the traditional components. The sample provides a model of what a business plan might look like for a fictional food truck business. Reference this sample as you develop your own business plan.

For additional resources to help support your business planning efforts, check out “ Free Strategic Planning Templates .”

Main Components of a Business Plan

The elements you include in your business plan will depend on your product or service offerings, as well as the size and needs of your business. 

Below are the components of a standard business plan and details you should include in each section:

• Company name and contact information
• Website address
• The name of the company or individual viewing the presentation
• Table of Contents
• Company background and purpose
• Mission and vision statement
• Management team introduction
• Core product and service offerings
• Target customers and segments
• Marketing plan
• Competitive analysis
• Unique value proposition
• Financial plan (and requirements, if applicable)
• Business and industry overview
• Historical timeline of your business
• Offerings and the problem they solve
• Current alternatives
• Competitive advantage
• Market size
• Target market segment(s)
• Projected volume and value of sales compared to competitors
• Differentiation from competitors
• Pricing strategy
• Marketing channels
• Promotional plan
• Distribution methods
• Legal structure of your business
• Names of founders, owners, advisors, etc.
• Management team’s roles, relevant experience, and compensation plan
• Staffing requirements and training plans
• Physical location(s) of your business
• Additional physical requirements (e.g., warehouse, specialized equipment, facilities, etc.)
• Production workflow
• Raw materials and sourcing methods
• Projected income statement
• Projected cash flow statement
• Projected balance sheet
• Break-even analysis
• Charts and graphs
• Market research and competitive analysis
• Information about your industry
• Information about your offerings
• Samples of marketing materials
• Other supporting materials

Tips for Creating a Business Plan

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the thought of putting together a business plan. Below, you’ll find top tips to help simplify the process as you develop your own plan. 

• Use a business plan template (you can choose from the variety above), or refer to the previous section to create a standard outline for your plan.
• Modify your outline to reflect the requirements of your specific business. If you use a standard business plan outline, remove sections that aren’t relevant to you or aren’t necessary to run your business.
• Gather all the information you currently have about your business first, and then use that information to fill out each section in your plan outline.
• Use your resources and conduct additional research to fill in the remaining gaps. (Note: It isn’t necessary to fill out your plan in order, but the executive summary needs to be completed last, as it summarizes the key points in your plan.)
• Ensure your plan clearly communicates the relationship between your marketing, sales, and financial objectives.
• Provide details in your plan that illustrate your strategic plan of action, looking forward three to five years.
• Revisit your plan regularly as strategies and objectives evolve.
• What product or service are we offering?
• Who is the product or service for?
• What problem does our product or service offering solve?
• How will we get the product or service to our target customers?
• Why is our product or service better than the alternatives?
• How can we outperform our competitors?
• What is our unique value proposition?
• When will things get done, and who is responsible for doing them?
• If you need to obtain funding, how will you use the funding?
• When are payments due, and when do payments come in?
• What is the ultimate purpose of your business?
• When do you expect to be profitable?

To identify which type of business plan you should write, and for more helpful tips, take a look at our guide to writing a simple business plan .

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan can be very time-consuming, especially if you aren’t sure where to begin. Finding the right template for your business needs can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. 

Using a business plan template — instead of creating your plan from scratch — can benefit you in the following ways:

• Enables you to immediately write down your thoughts and ideas in an organized manner
• Provides structure to help outline your plan
• Saves time and valuable resources
• Helps ensure you don’t miss essential details

Limitations of a Business Plan Template

A business plan template can be convenient, but it has its drawbacks — especially if you use a template that doesn’t fit the specific needs of your business.

Below are some limitations of using a business plan template:

• Each business is unique and needs a business plan that reflects that. A template may not fit your needs.
• A template may restrict collaboration with other team members on different aspects of the plan’s development (sales, marketing, and accounting teams).
• Multiple files containing different versions of the plan may be stored in more than one place.
• You still have to manually create charts and graphs to add to the plan to support your strategy.
• Updates to the plan, spreadsheets, and supporting documents have to be made in multiple places (all documents may not update in real time as changes are made).

Improve Your Business Plan with Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Updated: May 4, 2024, 4:37pm

Table of Contents

Why business plans are vital, get your free simple business plan template, how to write an effective business plan in 6 steps, frequently asked questions.

While taking many forms and serving many purposes, they all have one thing in common: business plans help you establish your goals and define the means for achieving them. Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even uncover a few alternate routes to success.

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Whether you’re a first-time solopreneur or a seasoned business owner, the planning process challenges you to examine the costs and tasks involved in bringing a product or service to market. The process can also help you spot new income opportunities and hone in on the most profitable business models.

Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. However, if you’re seeking startup funding or partnership opportunities, you’ll need a write a business plan that details market research, operating costs and revenue forecasting. Whichever startup category you fall into, if you’re at square one, our simple business plan template will point you down the right path.

Copy our free simple business plan template so you can fill in the blanks as we explore each element of your business plan. Need help getting your ideas flowing? You’ll also find several startup scenario examples below.

Download free template as .docx

Whether you need a quick-launch overview or an in-depth plan for investors, any business plan should cover the six key elements outlined in our free template and explained below. The main difference in starting a small business versus an investor-funded business is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.

1. Your Mission or Vision

Start by declaring a “dream statement” for your business. You can call this your executive summary, vision statement or mission. Whatever the name, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Keep it brief, such as an elevator pitch. You’ll expand these answers in the following sections of the simple business plan template.

• What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information or a combination?
• Where does this happen? Will you conduct business online, in-store, via mobile means or in a specific location or environment?
• Who does your business benefit? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your concept?
• Why would potential customers care? What would make your ideal customers take notice of your business?
• How do your products and/or services outshine the competition? What would make your ideal customers choose you over a competitor?

These answers come easily if you have a solid concept for your business, but don’t worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of your plan template to brainstorm ideas and tactics. You’ll quickly find these answers and possibly new directions as you explore your ideas and options.

2. Offer and Value Proposition

This is where you detail your offer, such as selling products, providing services or both, and why anyone would care. That’s the value proposition. Specifically, you’ll expand on your answers to the first and fourth bullets from your mission/vision.

As you complete this section, you might find that exploring value propositions uncovers marketable business opportunities that you hadn’t yet considered. So spend some time brainstorming the possibilities in this section.

For example, a cottage baker startup specializing in gluten-free or keto-friendly products might be a value proposition that certain audiences care deeply about. Plus, you could expand on that value proposition by offering wedding and other special-occasion cakes that incorporate gluten-free, keto-friendly and traditional cake elements that all guests can enjoy.

3. Audience and Ideal Customer

Here is where you explore bullet point number three, who your business will benefit. Identifying your ideal customer and exploring a broader audience for your goods or services is essential in defining your sales and marketing strategies, plus it helps fine-tune what you offer.

There are many ways to research potential audiences, but a shortcut is to simply identify a problem that people have that your product or service can solve. If you start from the position of being a problem solver, it’s easy to define your audience and describe the wants and needs of your ideal customer for marketing efforts.

Using the cottage baker startup example, a problem people might have is finding fresh-baked gluten-free or keto-friendly sweets. Examining the wants and needs of these people might reveal a target audience that is health-conscious or possibly dealing with health issues and willing to spend more for hard-to-find items.

However, it’s essential to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be too specialized. For example, our baker startup can attract a broader audience and boost revenue by offering a wider selection of traditional baked goods alongside its gluten-free and keto-focused specialties.

4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing

Thanks to our internet-driven economy, startups have many revenue opportunities and can connect with target audiences through various channels. Revenue streams and sales channels also serve as marketing vehicles, so you can cover all three in this section.

Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In your plan template, list how you’ll make money upon launch, plus include ideas for future expansion. The income possibilities just might surprise you.

For example, our cottage baker startup might consider these revenue streams:

• Product sales : Online, pop-up shops , wholesale and (future) in-store sales
• Affiliate income : Monetize blog and social media posts with affiliate links
• Advertising income : Reserve website space for advertising
• E-book sales : (future) Publish recipe e-books targeting gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Video income : (future) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos for the gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Webinars and online classes : (future) Monetize coaching-style webinars and online classes covering specialty baking tips and techniques
• Members-only content : (future) Monetize a members-only section of the website for specialty content to complement webinars and online classes
• Franchise : (future) Monetize a specialty cottage bakery concept and sell to franchise entrepreneurs

Sales Channels

Sales channels put your revenue streams into action. This section also answers the “where will this happen” question in the second bullet of your vision.

The product sales channels for our cottage bakery example can include:

• Mobile point-of-sale (POS) : A mobile platform such as Shopify or Square POS for managing in-person sales at local farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals
• E-commerce platform : An online store such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail sales and wholesale sales orders
• Social media channels : Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest shoppable posts and pins for online sales via social media channels
• Brick-and-mortar location : For in-store sales , once the business has grown to a point that it can support a physical location

Channels that support other income streams might include:

• Affiliate income : Blog section on the e-commerce website and affiliate partner accounts
• Advertising income : Reserved advertising spaces on the e-commerce website
• E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Video income : YouTube channel with ad monetization
• Webinars and online classes : Online class and webinar platforms that support member accounts, recordings and playback
• Members-only content : Password-protected website content using membership apps such as MemberPress

Nowadays, the line between marketing and sales channels is blurred. Social media outlets, e-books, websites, blogs and videos serve as both marketing tools and income opportunities. Since most are free and those with advertising options are extremely economical, these are ideal marketing outlets for lean startups.

However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help build a marketing plan and budget.

5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations

This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also, include any certifications or permits needed to launch your enterprise in this section.

Our cottage baker example might use a structure and startup plan such as this:

• Business structure : Sole proprietorship with a “doing business as” (DBA) .
• Permits and certifications : County-issued food handling permit and state cottage food certification for home-based food production. Option, check into certified commercial kitchen rentals.
• Roles and responsibilities : Solopreneur, all roles and responsibilities with the owner.
• Supply chain : Bulk ingredients and food packaging via Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with annual membership costs. Uline for shipping supplies; no membership needed.
• Day-to-day operations : Source ingredients and bake three days per week to fulfill local and online orders. Reserve time for specialty sales, wholesale partner orders and market events as needed. Ship online orders on alternating days. Update website and create marketing and affiliate blog posts on non-shipping days.

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6. Financial Forecasts

Your final task is to list forecasted business startup and ongoing costs and profit projections in your simple business plan template. Thanks to free business tools such as Square and free marketing on social media, lean startups can launch with few upfront costs. In many cases, cost of goods, shipping and packaging, business permits and printing for business cards are your only out-of-pocket expenses.

Cost Forecast

Our cottage baker’s forecasted lean startup costs might include:

Gross Profit Projections

This helps you determine the retail prices and sales volume required to keep your business running and, hopefully, earn income for yourself. Use product research to spot target retail prices for your goods, then subtract your cost of goods, such as hourly rate, raw goods and supplier costs. The total amount is your gross profit per item or service.

Here are some examples of projected gross profits for our cottage baker:

Bottom Line

Putting careful thought and detail in a business plan is always beneficial, but don’t get so bogged down in planning that you never hit the start button to launch your business . Also, remember that business plans aren’t set in stone. Markets, audiences and technologies change, and so will your goals and means of achieving them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revisit, expand and restructure it as market opportunities and business growth demand.

Is there a template for a business plan?

You can copy our free business plan template and fill in the blanks or customize it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word processing app. This free business plan template includes the six key elements that any entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a new business.

What does a simple business plan include?

A simple business plan is a one- to two-page overview covering six key elements that any budding entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a startup. These include your vision or mission, product or service offering, target audience, revenue streams and sales channels, structure and operations, and financial forecasts.

How can I create a free business plan template?

Start with our free business plan template that covers the six essential elements of a startup. Once downloaded, you can edit this document in Google Docs or another word processing app and add new sections or subsections to your plan template to meet your specific business plan needs.

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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Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and logistics, website platforms, payment systems, side-gig and affiliate income, and multichannel marketing. Krista holds a bachelor's degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin and held senior positions at NASA, a Fortune 100 company, and several online startups.

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What To Know About Payday and Car Title Loans

What To Know About Payday Loans

What to know about car title loans, possible alternatives to payday and car title loans, what information to look for when applying for a payday or car title loan, special protections for military servicemembers, report fraud or deception.

Payday loans are small, short-term loans. They’re usually for $500 or less, and typically have to be repaid within two to four weeks. Also called cash advance loans, they are legal in many states.

To get a payday loan, you give the lender a personal check for the amount you want to borrow, plus the lender’s fees. Or, you authorize the lender to electronically debit the loan amount, plus fees, from your bank, credit union, or prepaid card account. If you don’t repay the loan on time, the lender can cash the check or electronically withdraw money from your account.

Payday loans are expensive. Lenders usually charge from $10 to $30 for every $100 borrowed. On a typical two-week payday loan, a fee of $15 per $100 translates to an annual percentage rate (APR) of 391%. The APR tells you how much it costs you to borrow money for one year. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2023, the average APR for credit cards was just under 21%.

Here’s how a typical payday loan works: You want to borrow $500. The lender offers you a two-week loan. The fee is $15 for every $100 you borrow. So your fee will be $75. ($15 x 5 = $75). You give the lender a check for $575, or you authorize the lender to electronically debit your bank account. The lender gives you $500 in cash. Two weeks later, you owe the lender $575. The lender will either debit your bank account, cash your check, or take cash or another form of payment from you, depending on how you agreed to repay the loan. The bottom line: You paid $75 to borrow $500 for two weeks.

Costs increase with rollovers. If you can’t repay the loan when it’s due, many lenders will let you extend the due date for another two or four weeks — but you have to pay the fee that's due, plus a new fee to extend the due date. It's called a “rollover.” Each time you roll over the loan, the lender will charge you a new fee and you'll still owe the entire original loan amount. With rollovers, the cost of the loan goes up very quickly.

Here’s how a typical rollover works: Using the example above, on the original due date you don’t repay the $500 loan. Instead, you pay only the $75 fee and roll over the $500 loan for another two weeks. The rollover will cost you another $75 fee. Two weeks after rolling over the loan, you still owe the lender $500 for the loan, plus the new $75 fee. The bottom line: The cost of the original $500 loan has gone from $75 to $150 due to the rollover.

If you roll over the loan several times, you may pay hundreds of dollars in fees and still owe the original amount you borrowed.

Car title loans, often just called title loans, also are short-term loans. They typically last 15 or 30 days. The loans use your car, truck, motorcycle, or other vehicle as collateral. They’re usually for amounts ranging from 25% to 50% of the vehicle’s value.

To get a car title loan, you must give the lender the title to your vehicle. Usually, you need to own the vehicle free and clear, but some lenders will take your title if you’ve paid off most of your vehicle loan. The lender will want to see the vehicle, a photo ID, and proof of insurance. Many lenders also want a duplicate set of keys for the vehicle.

If you get the title loan, you won’t get your vehicle title back until you repay the amount you borrowed, plus the lender’s finance charge and any other fees.

Car title loans are expensive. Title loans often have monthly finance fees as high as 25%, which translates to an APR of about 300%. Title lenders often add other charges to the loan amount, like processing, document, and loan origination fees. You also may have to buy add-ons, like a roadside service plan. If you have to pay added fees and buy add-ons, the cost of your loan will be higher.

Here’s how a typical car title loan works: You want to borrow $1,000 for 30 days. The finance fee is 25%. That means that you have to pay $250 to borrow $1,000. You give the lender the title to your car, and the lender gives you $1,000 in cash. When it’s time to repay the lender in 30 days, you must pay $1,250, plus any other fees the lender charges.

Costs increase with rollovers. If you can’t repay a title loan when it’s due, the lender may let you roll it over into a new loan. But rolling over the loan will add more interest and fees to the amount you owe.

Here’s how a typical title loan rollover works: Using the example above, on the original due date you don’t pay but instead roll over the 30-day, $1,000 loan for another 30 days. The rollover will add another $250 in finance fees, plus any other fees, to the amount you owe. That $250 is added to the $1,250 you already owe, so now you owe $1,500, plus any other fees that the lender may charge for the rollover. The rollover brings your cost of borrowing $1,000 for 60 days to at least $500.

You could lose your vehicle. If you can’t repay the money you owe, the lender may repossess your vehicle , even if you’ve been making partial payments. When you get the loan, some lenders insist on installing Global Positioning System (GPS) and starter interrupt devices so that they can locate the vehicle and disable its ignition system remotely, making repossession easier.

Once the lender repossesses your vehicle, they can sell it. In some states, lenders can keep all the money they get from selling the vehicle, even if they get more than you owe.

Here are some less expensive and less risky options to payday and car title loans:

• Ask your creditors for more time  to repay them. They may be willing to work with you. If they offer an extension on your bills, find out if they’ll charge you for that service — through a late charge, an additional finance charge, or a higher interest rate.
• Try to get a loan from a credit union. Credit unions typically offer lower interest rates than banks or other lenders, and some federal credit unions offer “payday alternative loans,” or “PAL loans,” for small loans. PAL loans are much less expensive than payday or car title loans. Some state-chartered credit unions offer loans similar to PAL loans.
• Visit a community bank. Local banks can offer smaller loans with easier repayment terms than many large regional and national banks. Talk with a small bank in your area to find out if you could qualify for a loan.
• Check with local branches of large banks in your area.  Some large U.S. banks now offer small loans or lines of credit to customers with low or no credit scores. The loans can be for up to $1,000, depending on the bank, and borrowers can access the money quickly. Like the PAL loans, these loans are much safer and more affordable than payday and car title loans and can save you hundreds of dollars.
• Use your tax refund.  If you think you might have a tax refund coming, file as soon as you can. The IRS says it usually issues refunds in 21 days or less if you file electronically. Ask the IRS to direct deposit your refund into your bank account.
• Get help managing debt.  A credit counselor may be able to help you manage your debt . Non-profit groups in every state offer credit guidance to people for no or low cost. Check with your employer, credit union, or housing authority for no- or low-cost credit counseling programs , too.
• Ask family and friends for help. It can be hard to borrow money from family or friends, but it can be worth it to avoid taking out or rolling over a payday or title loan. And even if friends and family can't loan you the whole amount, every dollar they can lend is a dollar you don't have to pay high interest rates on.
• Contact local charities and churches. Charities, churches, and other centers of worship often offer financial and other help at no cost to community members who are hitting a rough spot. It’s what they do, and they encourage people to ask for help.

Federal law treats payday and title loans like other types of credit: lenders must tell you the cost of the loan in writing before you sign the loan agreement. They must tell you the finance charge, which is a dollar amount, and the APR, which is a percentage. The APR is based on how much money you borrow, the monthly finance charge, the fees you’ll have to pay (like processing fees, document fees, and other charges), and how long you borrow the money. Use the APR to compare the cost of borrowing money from different lenders. It’s the clearest way to see how expensive a loan is.

Be sure to read the loan agreement carefully to see if there are other costs or fees. These can include late or returned check fees. There also may be fees to roll over the loan.

Also, check with your state attorney general or state regulator about payday and title lending laws in your state. A number of states protect people from high-cost payday lending with small-loan rate caps or other measures. Many states also require lenders to be licensed if they operate in the state.

If you’re in the military, the Military Lending Act protects you and your dependents. The law limits the APR on many types of credit, including payday loans, car title loans, personal loans, and credit cards, to 36%. The law also tells lenders to give you information about your rights and the cost of the loan.

The military also offers financial help and help managing your money. If you’re facing financial trouble, talk with a Personal Financial Manager (PFM) about your options. Do you need more time to pay your bills or a possible advance on your paycheck? Do you want to talk with a certified credit counselor about managing your money? Do you want some help from a military relief society? Call DoD’s  Military OneSource help line at 1-800-342-9647 to discuss alternatives. Visit MilitaryConsumer.gov to learn more.

If you think a payday or car title lender has been dishonest, contact your state attorney general or state consumer protection office . Tell the FTC too, at ReportFraud.ftc.gov . The FTC doesn’t resolve individual reports, but your report helps law enforcement detect patterns of wrongdoing and may lead to an investigation.