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• The Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Solid Business Plan

Business Plans 201: The dos and don’ts of writing a solid business plan

We get it. That new business or venture that you’ve been dreaming about can be nerve-racking, but it’s possible. 

Starting a new business starts with an idea which comes to life with a strong business plan. Your business plan is more than a piece of paper or a writing exercise. It’s a roadmap that will keep you focused and give you a baseline for measuring success and achieving your goals. 

It isn’t a fixed or final artifact. Instead, think of it as a living document that you’ll revisit, learn from and adjust as your business grows. 

Writing your plan at first may take a lot of effort and it’s normal to go through several drafts. Consult your advisory team as they can support your plan’s development. And your plan will develop as you get new ideas, make new decisions and learn about changing business developments. 

Your plan is also key to unlocking funding. Whether you finance your business or solicit investors, either party will want to learn more about your plan before they invest. Effective language is key to communicating your business plan successfully to potential investors.

Follow these guidelines to start writing a solid business plan that communicates your vision and speaks to your audience.

The “dos” for writing a solid business plan

Be professional yet simple.

Writing with a professional tone allows investors to appreciate your vision and understand your short- and long-term goals. At the same time, it’s best to write in a simple manner. Aim for your plan to be understood by a non-expert. Replace jargon with active verbs. You can always get your final draft edited by a professional.

Refer to your business in third person

Writing in third person allows objectivity which can be more convincing and accepted by audiences like banks and investors. Avoid using “we” or “I” throughout your business plan. Writing in first person may come across as too personal. Remember to keep it business, not personal.

Be direct throughout your plan. Avoid ambiguous or vague language. Being direct allows you to be convincing about the steps you’ll take to bring your idea to life.

Supply evidence 

Do your research and present data to support your case. Showing statistics about your business, competitors, customers and industry allows investors to get a bigger picture of the survival and growth of your business.

Be realistic 

Avoid adding assumptions in your business plan. Instead of over-promising, show solid data backed up by research on how your business can be successful.

Practice makes perfect

Read your business plan out loud. Ask yourself these questions: Does it sound effective? Does it have the tone of confidence? Is it easily understood by your audience? What are the strengths and opportunities to tackle in your plan? Have a friend read your plan and summarize it back to you .

Be optimistic

The language of your business plan should be assertive, yet optimistic. Allow your passion to shine through in your business plan and show your advisor that you’re serious about bringing your vision to life.

The “don’ts ” of writing your business plan

Avoid acronyms and abbreviations.

Use industry specific abbreviations and acronyms only if necessary and if they’re part of your business operations. 

Don’t assume the reader knows your industry

Investors and advisors are here to support you. Allow them to understand what industry your business lives in. Provide in-depth knowledge of your industry so they can understand your business functions.

Don’t turn it into an essay

When writing your business plan and conducting industry research, sometimes it’s easy to get sidetracked and turn your plan into an essay. Make sure your business plan has a solid focus and includes all the required information. 

Avoid extensive research

Use only credible sources and findings for your research and analysis. It’s a great practice to use government-issued statistics and data. Use this data in your own language for business projections and goals. Simplicity is key.

Don’t be repetitive

Avoid repeating yourself throughout the plan. You can do this by reading your plan out loud and removing duplicate ideas. Include the key points and messages you need to relay.

Don’t forget about it

Be proactive and don’t forget to follow up with your advisor within the right time frame. Communicate with your advisory team and take advantage of your relationships with your investors, business partners and CIBC business advisor. 

Updating your business plan on a quarterly basis is a great practice for staying on track of your business growth. Our team is here to support you as you develop your plan and assemble your team.

To create a tailored plan for your business needs and help you achieve your goals, meet with us opens in a new window. . We’re here to help. Talk to a CIBC Business Advisor today by calling 1-866-992-7223 . Opens your phone app.

Written By Lauren Rabindranath

Lauren Rabindranath is a copywriter and communications consultant based in Toronto, Ontario, who works with clients across industries. Working with CIBC Business Banking, Lauren supports content development for online platforms, relating her personal experience as an entrepreneur to CIBC’s tailored services.

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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What is a business plan?

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

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

ZenBusiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

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

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

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

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

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

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

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Crafting a Business Plan: The Art of Perspective – First Person vs. Third Person

In the realm of entrepreneurship, a well-crafted business plan serves as the North Star, guiding startups toward success. Yet, a subtle yet significant decision often arises in the planning process – should the business plan be written in the first person or the third person? In this blog, we delve into the nuances of these perspectives, exploring the advantages and drawbacks of each. By the end, you'll have a clearer understanding of which approach aligns better with the standards of the business world.

The First Person Perspective: The Personal Touch

Writing a business plan in the first person brings a personal touch to the narrative. Using "I" and "we" allows the entrepreneur to directly address the reader, creating a sense of connection and ownership. This can be particularly effective in conveying passion and commitment. Entrepreneurs often choose the first person when presenting their personal experiences, expertise, and qualifications. This approach can help establish credibility, as it allows the writer to highlight their unique skills and insights that contribute to the venture's success. 

First-person narratives provide clarity regarding roles and responsibilities within the business. It allows the entrepreneur to explicitly outline their role, the team's functions, and the collective vision, fostering a better understanding of the business dynamics. However, a first-person perspective can be limiting when it comes to scalability and future growth. It may create an impression of a business too centered around a single individual, potentially raising concerns about the company's ability to function without key personnel.

The Third Person Perspective: Professional Impersonality

Writing in the third person introduces an element of professional impersonality. The use of "the company," "he," "she," or "they" creates a formal tone, often associated with established businesses. This approach can be perceived as objective and unbiased. The third person allows for a more objective representation of the business, focusing on facts, figures, and strategic initiatives. This can be advantageous when presenting the business plan to potential investors or partners, fostering an image of objectivity and future-focused planning.

Highlighting Team Dynamics:

In a third-person narrative, emphasis can be placed on the collective strength of the team rather than individual personalities. This can be particularly beneficial when showcasing a collaborative effort and assuring stakeholders of the team's collective capabilities. However, the third person runs the risk of creating a sense of detachment. It may distance the reader from the entrepreneur's passion and commitment, potentially making the business seem more like an abstract entity rather than a venture driven by dedicated individuals.

Which is More Standard?

The standard approach to writing a business plan often depends on the industry, the nature of the business, and personal preferences. While first person might be more common in startup environments where personal connections and passion are crucial, third person is often favored in more formal and established industries. Striking a balance that aligns with industry standards and effectively conveys the business's essence is key. In the grand tapestry of business planning, the choice between first person and third person is a stylistic decision with far-reaching implications. Whether you opt for the personal touch of "I" or the formal detachment of "the company," the key is to maintain clarity, coherence, and authenticity. By understanding the nuances and considerations of each perspective, entrepreneurs can wield this choice strategically, creating a business plan that not only captures the essence of their vision but also resonates with their intended audience.

As you navigate the intricate decisions of crafting your business plan, whether choosing the perspective that best resonates with your audience or brainstorming your next big business idea, remember that Plannit AI is here to streamline your journey. Our platform simplifies the process, guiding you through each step, from the initial concept to the final presentation. With Plannit AI, you can focus on what truly matters – your vision and strategy – while we handle the complexities of business planning. Embark on your entrepreneurial adventure with Plannit AI and transform your ideas into actionable, impactful business plans, all for free.

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How to Write a Professional Business Plan in 10 Easy Steps

Home » Blog » How to Write a Business Plan in 10 Easy Steps

During financial uncertainty, many of us press pause on our entrepreneurial aspirations.

Wondering if now’s the right time to start our business . Doubting our ideas and worrying about the what-ifs and maybes! 

A business plan removes the uncertainty and what-ifs from the equation. It validates our business ideas, confirms our marketing strategies, and identifies potential problems before they arise.  

Replacing our doubts with positivity, ensuring we see the complete picture, and increasing our chances of success.

Because you could be starting and running your own business . But you’ll only know for sure it’s the right move for you when you write your business plan.

Here’s everything you need to know to create the perfect business plan.

What is a business plan?

A well-written business plan contains the recipe for your new business’s growth and development. 

It’s your compass. 

It describes your goals and how you’ll achieve them by infusing the ingredients you need to turn your dream into a reality. 

• Your business description- Tells readers about your idea, why it'll succeed, and how you'll make it happen.
• A market analysis- That backs up your company description.
• Your management and organization plan- Includes employees or contractors because even a one-person show may need a team's help on a contract basis, like bookkeeping services, graphic design, research, and if your business grows, with time, also full-time employees.
• Your products or services descriptions- Explaining how they work, where you'll get them, and how much they`ll cost.
• A target audience analysis- So, you know exactly who you`re selling to and what makes them buy what you`re offering.
• Your marketing and sales plan- Proving your chosen niche is profitable and how you'll reach your customers.
• A financial funding request/projections - What you need and how you'll get it.

Your business plan is like a GPS, guiding your business to its destination for the next 3 to 5 years. 

Why is a business plan important?

Here’s the short answer.

A business plan enables you to convey your vision to those who can help you make it a reality.  

It does it in 2 ways:

• It empowers you to evaluate your goals and confirm their viability before entering a marketplace.
• And equips you with the information, using a proven outline, that convinces others to help you achieve them.

A business plan does it by explaining who you are, what you are going to do, and how you’ll do it. It clarifies your strategies, identifies future roadblocks, and determines your immediate and future financial and resource needs.

Let’s look at what that means and why each part is important.

A business plan helps you evaluate your ideas

Do you have over one business idea or a range of products or services you believe you could bring to a single marketplace? 

If so, a business plan helps determine which is worth focusing on and where to apply your energy and resources by evaluating your idea’s possible market share and profitability before investing.

Clarifies your costs

Your chosen market determines your initial investment and future revenue. And it would be best if you knew those before you invest a dollar in your business idea.

With your chosen idea, your business plan can help you understand your set-up and running costs, the resources you’ll need, and the time it’ll take to get started.

It’s also where you’ll calculate your future sales and revenue goals to ensure they fit your budget and required breakeven point.  

And those are essential because every business needs a consistent cash flow to stay afloat!

Steers your business in the right direction

Your business plan guides you through every stage of starting and running your business . 

It acts as your GPS, giving you a course to steer. Ensuring your business stays on track, helping you achieve your goals every step of the way.  

Acts as your financial guide

As your new business grows, you might need to expand. 

But with expansion come big spending decisions, such as purchasing expensive equipment, leasing a new location, or hiring your first employees.

Your business plan’s financial forecast gives you a solid foundation to build on by clarifying when you’re ready to make those investments, ensuring you don’t overreach.

And when you are ready to employ staff, it helps you with that too!

Helps recruit the people you need

Your business is often only as good as its employees. A business plan helps you communicate your vision and pitch your dream to the best candidates. Building their confidence in your venture and encouraging them to join you.

It's essential if seeking a loan or investment

Do you need a loan from a bank or a venture capitalist/angel investor?

If so, you’ll need a business plan that shows your past and future financial trajectory so potential investors can evaluate your business’ feasibility to determine whether you’re worth the risk.

It's an asset if you want to sell your business

Owners of legal entities, such as LLCs, can sell all or part of their business to raise funds for other business ventures or expand their existing ones.

A solid business plan with proven financial recordings and realistic forecasts based on current performance can make your business more attractive to potential investors. 

And it makes sense because when buyers understand your business model and its potential growth, they’ll see the value in it for them.  

All great reasons to write a business plan, don`t you agree?

Okay, here’s how you do it: 

The steps for creating a business plan

Most business plan templates are similar, containing several steps for writing a conclusive plan. If you’re interested in a very short plan, we prepared a lean (one-page) version, including a template . 

The perfect business plan isn’t one or the other; it’s the plan that meets your business needs.

That said, every business plan should contain crucial elements and essential details . And a rhythm to your outline that encourages action, growth, and investors to read it from start to finish. Our step-by-step guide, along with our template, will help you achieve both. 

But first, you must choose the style that works for you:

Pick a business plan format that works for you

You can tackle creating a business plan in different ways; one could be a long-form, more traditional approach or a one-page business plan that acts as a summarized road map.

Traditional business plans use a standard, industry-expected structure, with each section written in great detail. They require a lot of research because businesses often use them to gain investment, and they can be anywhere from 10 to 50 pages long. 

A one-page business plan uses a similar structure but summarizes each step by highlighting the key points. 

You can write a one-page plan in an hour and use it as a personal blueprint for running your business or as a guide to writing a future traditional plan.

Here are the core component that create a great business plan:

1.  An executive summary

2.  Your company’s description

3. Market analysis

4. management and organization outline, 5. products and service description, 6. target audience analysis, 7. marketing and sales plan.

8. Financial funding request 

9. Financial projections

10. an appendix, 1. an executive summary.

The first section of your business plan’s an executive summary that tells anyone reading in simple terms what your business is and why you believe it’ll be successful.

It’s the most crucial part of your plan because anyone reviewing it often decides whether to continue reading based on what’s in your executive summary.

Your executive should contain your mission statement (why you’re starting your business). A product/service description. Your leadership team and financial information.

Even though the first thing people read is your executive summary, it’s the last section you write. 

The next step is about you:

2. Your company's description

Here you sell yourself and your business by telling readers why you’re starting your business and know it’ll succeed.

You must be realistic, business-like, and detailed.  

Begin by explaining who you are, what you plan on doing, and how you’ll do it. Describe your future market, your target audience, and why they need your product/service. 

Elaborate on your unique selling point (USP) and how your competitive advantage will ensure your success. 

Describe your team, highlight their skills and technical expertise, and if you`re a brick-and-mortar business, discuss your location and why it’s right for your target audience or logistics. 

Now your market:

A great business idea is only as good as its future marketplace. Enter a declining market with an insufficient or uninterested audience, and you’ll be toast.

Choose one on an upward trajectory with people you understand and need your product, and you’ll be in business. 

That makes your market analysis a crucial step in your business plan outline. Here’s where you identify your target audience, competitors’ performance, strengths and weaknesses, and whether the market can sustain your business needs.

Your market analysis should include the following:

• Your market description and outlook- Provide a detailed outline defining your market, including its size, trends, growth rate, and outlook.
• Target Market- Describe your ideal customers, including their demographics such as age, gender, employment status, income level, and lifestyle preferences. Also, include your market size, what motivates your ideal clients, and how you'll reach them.
• Competitive Analysis- Identify your main competitors and list their strengths and weaknesses. Also, highlight any potential roadblocks that might prevent you from entering your chosen marketplace.

Step 4 is where you tell readers how you’ll construct your business and who’ll run it.  

Describe your business’s legal structure, whether you’re a sole proprietor intending to form an LLC or a limited/general partnership with dreams of incorporating an S or C corps. 

Include your registered business name and any DBA brand name you have. And any member’s percentage ownership and managerial duties per your operating agreement.

And consider using a chart to show who runs what section of the business. Explain how each employee, manager, or owner’s experience and expertise will contribute to your venture’s success. And if you have them, include your team’s resumes and CVs.

Now you must get technical about what you plan to offer.

List your products or services and explain how they work. If in the development stage, describe the process and when you’ll be market ready.

Include the following product/service information:

• Describe how your product/service will benefit your target audience.
• Provide a breakdown of costs per unit made/sold, life cycle, and expected profit margins.
• Explain your supply chain, order fulfillment, and sales strategy.
• Include your plans for intellectual property, like trademarks and patents.

Your product and service description brings you to those who matter most. Your target audience:

The target audience section of your business plan is the most important one to get right. After all, your customers are your business. And the better you know them, the easier it’ll be to sell to them. 

To gain a clear picture of your ideal clients, learn about their demographics and create a client persona.

Those include: 

• Their location
• Education level
• Employment status
• Where they work
• How much they earn
• How they communicate
• Preferred social media platforms
• Common behavior patterns
• Free time interests
• And what their values and beliefs are

You need your target audience’s demographics to create a branding style that resonates with them. To build marketing strategies that engage their interest. And to identify where to spend your advertising dollars.

Target market’s persona in place, your next step is to describe how you’ll reach and sell to them:

Your marketing plan outlines your strategies to connect with and convert your ideal clients. 

Here’s where you explain how you’ll reach your audience, describe your sales funnel, and develop customer loyalty to keep customers.

Your business plan doesn’t require your complete marketing/sales plan but should answer basic questions like:

• Who's your target market?
• Which channels will you use to reach them? (Social media, email, website, traditional marketing, etc.)
• What sales strategies will you use?
• Which resources do you need to implement those strategies?
• Do you have the resources, and if not, where will you get them?
• What are the potential marketing obstacles, and how you'll overcome them?
• What's your initial marketing campaign timeline and budget?
• What your success metrics are, and how you'll measure them?

8. Financial funding request

This step applies if you require funding to start or grow your business.

Similar to the marketing plan step, including your entire financial plan is unnecessary. However, you’ll need to answer specific questions to explain how much investment you require and how you’ll use it.

The following financial funding outline will suffice:

• Your current capital balance and how much future capital you'll need.
• Specify whether you want equity or debt.
• The terms and conditions you need and the duration of any loan repayments.
• Provide a detailed description of why you need investment, IE., to pay salaries, buy equipment or stock, and what percentage will go where.

Start-ups that need investment must rely on something other than past sales and balance sheets. Here, you’ll need to use financial projections to persuade lenders you’ll generate enough profit to repay their loans. And that investors will get a worthwhile return. 

Your goal is to convince potential lenders or investors that your business will make enough profit to repay any loans or fulfill your equity promises.

Depending on your loan requirements and market, these projections can vary from 3 to 5 years. 

Financial projections aren’t an exact science; you’re forecasting the future! However, accuracy is essential (meaning your projected numbers must add up correctly). And while your goals should be positive, they must also be realistic.

What to include in your financial forecast:

• Forecasted income statements.
• Capital expenditures, fixed and variable.
• Quarterly and annual balance sheets.
• Projected cash flow statements.

Be specific with your projections and ensure they match your funding requests. And if you have collateral to put against a loan, include it at the end of your financial projections to improve your chances of approval. 

Also, consider using charts and graphs to tell your financial story, as visuals are great for conveying your message.

Use your appendix to list and provide supporting information, documents, or additional materials you couldn’t fit in elsewhere.

If the appendix is lengthy, start it with a table of contents.

What to include:

• Key employee resumes.
• Letters of reference.
• Licenses and permits.
• Intellectual property - patents or trademarks.
• Legal documents.
• Any current contracts.
• Product pictures and information.
• Bank statements/credit history.

Financial uncertainty shouldn`t stop you from following your dreams. In fact, recessions are often the best time to start a business . 

And your business plan is one of the main things that can help you make your dream of owning a business a reality.

Take it one step at a time, do your research, and use your business plan to remove the uncertainty of the unknown. 

Because then you’ll know if the time is right to start your business.

This portion of our website is for informational purposes only. Tailor Brands is not a law firm, and none of the information on this website constitutes or is intended to convey legal advice. All statements, opinions, recommendations, and conclusions are solely the expression of the author and provided on an as-is basis. Accordingly, Tailor Brands is not responsible for the information and/or its accuracy or completeness.

How to Write Your First Business Plan

Bryce Warnes

Reviewed by

April 8, 2021

This article is Tax Professional approved

A business plan lays out where your business stands in the present and where it’s headed in the future. If you’re applying for a loan or bringing on investors, your business plan proves that your business is making money, and that you’re well positioned to make more.

I am the text that will be copied.

But even if you aren’t looking for working capital, having a business plan can be a huge benefit. It helps you set future goals, put together strategies to help you reach them, and make decisions along the way.

What a business plan tells you

Every business plan is different. The way you create yours will depend on the nature of your business. However, it should include the following:

• The value you offer customers or clients
• How your business makes money
• The resources you rely on to operate
• New products or services you may provide in the future
• Your position in the market versus competitors
• How you plan for your business to grow
• Current financial report
• Financial projections

There are different ways to communicate this information—we’ll get to those shortly.

Reasons to write a business plan

A business plan is like a Swiss Army knife—it can do a lot of things really well. And once you have one, it soon becomes indispensable.

While each industry’s business plan will look different— an ecommerce business plan will be different than a medical tech company—there are very basic commonalities. Broadly speaking, here are five important goals you can achieve with a business plan.

1. Test out your business idea

Maybe you’re considering turning your side hustle into a full-time gig, or maybe it’s still just a twinkle in your eye. Either way, writing a plan is a good way to see if it’s feasible before you start investing serious time and money.

Working through a business plan can lay bare your idea’s strengths and weaknesses, and flag any roadblocks you may face down the line. Specifically, when you do market and competitor analysis for your prospective business, you should quickly be able to tell whether it will be profitable. Financial projections can help you determine what type of income you’ll be earning, and what you need for funding.

2. Get funding

If you’re applying for a small business loan, having a thorough business plan is essential. Lenders want to be sure you’ll be able to pay off the loan, with interest. A business plan shows them how you’ll do that.

3. Attract investors

Similar to lenders, investors—whether they’re angel investors, venture capital firms, or even friends and family—want to know your business will turn a profit. After all, they’ll want a good return on their investment. Most investors expect to see your business plan before they risk their money.

4. Plan for the future

With financial projections and marketing objectives, your business plan sets a roadmap for the future. That can help you decide what to do in the here and now, and prepare for the years to come.

5. Make decisions more easily

When you’ve got a map guiding you, you spend less time at the crossroads picking a direction to take. As you face decisions during periods of business growth, your business plan acts as a powerful tool.

Should you open a brick-and-mortar location, or offer a wider range of products online? Should you apply for a loan now, or wait until next year? If your business plan is thorough, you already have the answers. That means less time debating, and more time acting.

Steps to writing a business plan

1. Determine its purpose

First, decide what goals you hope your business plan will help you achieve. Your business plan’s purpose will determine how you format it, what type of documentation you need to support it, and the kind of research you’ll need to conduct. For instance, if your aim is to secure financing, your plan will be different than it would be if you were using it internally to make business decisions.

2. Pick your audience

Who will read your business plan? Potential investors, lenders, or buyers? Employees? All of the above? Write your plan, choosing the language you use and the information you present with your specific audience in mind.

3. Do the research

Any claims you make need to be supported by hard facts. Research will take up the bulk of the time you spend creating your business plan. For instance, if your business plan assumes your industry is on the upswing, you should have the numbers to prove it.

Some questions you should be prepared to answer with the support of research:

• Who are your main competitors?
• What services/products are your target clients or customers looking for?
• Where is your industry headed?
• What is the history of your industry or niche?
• What types of roadblocks could you potentially face down the line?

4. Get documentation together

The most important documents in your business plan are your financial records . Past tax returns, financial reports, and comprehensive bookkeeping demonstrate your company’s history and future viability. You’ll use them to create financial projections.

You’ll also need a list of all employees and their positions within the company. And if your business relies on licensing agreements or intellectual property, be prepared to compile those as well.

5. Create a company profile

Your company profile is a public-facing document. For inspiration, make a list of companies you admire and then check their website’s “About” page and their LinkedIn profile.

Your company profile should explain:

• The problems your business solves for customers and clients
• What sets you apart from the competition
• The resources you use to get the job done
• Your company’s history
• What inspired you to go into business
• Your mission statement and vision for the future

This should be a short document, no longer than one page. These topics will be covered in greater detail within the business statement itself, but spelling out all the info now can help you get started and guide you as you write it.

6. Write the business plan

When you’ve decided what you’re aiming to achieve and who you’re addressing, compiled all the information you need, and laid the groundwork with a company profile, you’re ready to write your plan. Don’t start until you’ve covered the previous five steps—it’s better to over prepare for writing your plan rather than scramble for information when you’re in the thick of it.

It’s also best practice to include a cover page . It should be simple and introduce the key information of your business including a logo and legal information.

7. (Optional) Prepare a presentation

If you’re looking for funding or sharing your work with partners and employees, you may want to create a business plan presentation. This can take the form of a speech, slideshow, promotional video, audio track, or any combination of the above.

Think of it as a pitch for your company and your plans for the future. Boil down the information in your business plan into a digestible format, with the goal of getting your audience excited.

Types of business plans: traditional vs. lean

Business plans can be split into two categories: traditional and lean (or “startup”). Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the type that’s relevant to your business will depend on how you intend to use your business plan.

Traditional

A traditional business plan is highly detailed, and relies on plenty of research. This is the type favored by investors and lenders—if you’re seeking out more working capital, it’s a good choice.

The drawback? Traditional plans take longer to research, plan, and write than lean business plans.

A lean business plan is less detailed than a traditional one, relying on less research. Specifically, it doesn’t feature financial projections or detailed competitor and market analysis. It’s relatively quick to write, and leaves you more flexibility—you can write a lean business plan now, and a traditional one later on. That makes it a great choice for startups still sketching out exactly what their business will look like.

Since it’s less detailed than a traditional plan, if you present a lean business plan to lenders or investors, they may ask you for more information. A lean plan is best used as a “rough draft” to help guide you in the early days of your business.

Business plan formats

Even if you’re seeking funding, the traditional format may seem like overkill. But each of the following nine parts plays an important role—feel free to adjust them to suit your needs.

The lean business plan is based on the Lean Business Model Canvas , a classic format for startup business plans. When creating a lean business plan, keep it brief and digestible. It can be as short as one page.

Even if you aren’t using your business plan to seek funding, including financial projections offers major benefits. By looking into the future of your business, you can make plans for growth and set realistic goals to reach along the way. Get started with our guide to financial forecasting .

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When Should Entrepreneurs Write Their Business Plans?

• Francis J. Greene
• Christian Hopp

Don’t write a plan before you understand your customer.

It pays to plan. Entrepreneurs who write business plans are more likely to succeed, according to research. But while this might tempt some entrepreneurs to make writing a plan their very first task, a subsequent study shows that writing a plan first is a really bad idea. It is much better to wait, not to devote too much time to writing the plan, and, crucially, to synchronize the plan with other key startup activities.

It pays to plan. Entrepreneurs who write business plans are more likely to succeed, according to our research, described in an earlier piece for Harvard Business Review . But while this might tempt some entrepreneurs to make writing a plan their very first task, our subsequent study shows that writing a plan first is a really bad idea. It is much better to wait, not to devote too much time to writing the plan, and, crucially, to synchronize the plan with other key startup activities.

• FG Francis J. Greene is Chair in Entrepreneurship in the University of Edinburgh Business School.
• CH Christian Hopp is Chair in Technology Entrepreneurship in the TIME Research Area, the Faculty of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University.

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Common Business Plan Mistakes

Many startup business plans have the same errors. It seems new business owners have gone through a list of common business plan errors and checked them off! Here's is a list of what to avoid, so you don't make the same mistakes.

What a Lender Wants in a Business Plan

A lender wants to know only two things:

• How much money do you want?
• How will you pay it back?

That's it. Everything else is just fluff. You don't need a 200-page business plan to tell a potential lender this. Remember KISS - Keep it short and simple. In the thousands of business plans that have been reviewed over the years, these are the most common errors:

Not Using Third Person 

Write as if you were not the business owner, but a hired writer talking about the business. Saying, for example, "XYZ Corporation will open its doors on September 1, 2010...." not "We will open our doors ...." The third person (he, she, it, they) sounds more professional and business-like and banker-friendly. If you use the first person, you tend to sound like a cheerleader and less like a reasonable person. I know it seems picky; just trust me on this one.

Not Checking Numbers 

If your executive summary states you want $158,000 and your financial statements show you need $190,000, your banker will question your competence. Every number must match in every section of the business plan. 

Another example, if you discuss having three employees, but your cash flow shows only salary/benefits for one, you have consistency errors. Have someone go through the plan before you send it out, just to look at all the numbers and make sure they match every time they are used.

Another problem with numbers is being vague with numbers. Don't say, "We'll make a profit soon." What does "soon" mean? In a year? Three years? Some experts say six months to make a profit is a minimum, while others state that three years is a minimum . Of course, it depends on the type of business. In advertising, don't say, "We will spend money on advertising." You should know how much you will be spending over the first year at least. Include details in your narrative as well as in your projections. 

If you can't be specific, skip the sentence. 

Not Making Sure Everything Is Perfect 

I have caught lots of typographical errors, misspellings, sentence fragments, and other small and large mistakes in business plans. For example, one plan I viewed switched fonts several times, back and forth from Arial to Tahoma; another plan changed from the first person to the third person. In another document, photos or graphs were on the wrong pages from what the narrative said they were. Having errors in your business plan sends a message to your lender that you don't care about the details.  

Being Too Optimistic 

A lender wants realistic, not overly optimistic. For example, over-estimate your expenses and underestimate your income. A lender wants to see what will happen if your "worst case" scenario happens. Use meaningful charts, graphs, financial statements, or spreadsheets to show what your cash flow will look like. Include a break-even analysis , so the lender can see how and when you will start making a profit. Don't spend pages telling how wonderful your business it; talk about how it will provide a benefit to your customers and how it is different from the competition.

Confusing Cash with Profits

Your business can be profitable and you can have no cash. Without positive cash flow over a period of time, your business will not have solvency (ability to pay its bills) or long-term viability (survival). No cash means that business loan isn't going to get paid back and you close your doors. Show how your cash flow will support your loan payment.

Leaving Questions Unanswered 

Don't assume your lender knows about your business. Pretend he or she is an idiot (not necessarily untrue, in many cases), at least about the business you are going into. Have someone who is not in your business read the business plan and ask you questions. Then put those questions into the plan in the appropriate place. If confused customers don't buy, confused bankers don't lend.

Not Including an Executive Summary 

Business loans often go up the line in a bank, and the higher up executives want to know the "bottom line." Just tell them (1) A sentence or two about your business, (2) How much you need, in numbers or a simple chart, and (3) How you expect to pay back the loan. That's it. One to two pages is all you need for the executive summary. Put it at the beginning, so the reader doesn't have to search for it. 

How to Fix these Errors

Most of these errors can be avoided by having several people read your plan. Ask each person to review a specific item above and tell them what to look for. Get a good grammarian/writer to review the plan. Remember, there is no second chance to make a good first impression.

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Creating a business plan

Key takeaways

• A business plan is a roadmap that helps you structure, run, and grow your business, providing the clarity you need when getting started. 
• Business plans typically define your mission and vision, services, value proposition, target market, competition, marketing and sales strategy, financial plan, and business structure. 
• Some small businesses may require a more formal business plan, particularly if seeking funding or investors, while a freelancer may prefer something less comprehensive.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is usually relevant for 3 to 5 years. You may want to update it as your business evolves.

What are components of a business plan?

• Your mission and vision 
• Our services 
• Your value proposition 
• Your target market 
• Your competition 
• Your marketing and sales strategy 
• Your financial plan 
• Your business structure

How to write a business plan

A mission statement outlines what your business does and what purpose it serves today. A good mission is clear and concise, with intentional language that’s action oriented. Your vision statement is more aspirational, articulating an ideal future state in 5 to 10 years. A mission and vision statement can help to focus your business objectives and can serve as a North Star to guide business decisions. Traditional business plans usually include these in the executive summary.

Freelancers may benefit from developing personal mission statements as well. These focus on why working for yourself is important: 

• Have more freedom and flexibility 
• Take more control over your time and income 
• Fulfill a creative passion 

2. Define your business’s products and services

What does your business do? What are the products and services you plan to sell? Your business plan should clearly define what your products and services are, and how they are part of your business’s overall mission and vision.

Do you plan to offer more or different products or services in the future? If so, include that in your plan as well. It may be a good idea to start small with a limited set of products or services to build expertise and credibility, then layer on additional services that expand your value offer.

3. Create a value proposition for your business

When defining your business’s value proposition, consider these two questions: 

Your value is more than the product or service you offer. It’s the customer need you address. Be specific about the problem your business will solve, and make sure it’s a high priority one for your target market. Focus on the end impact to the client—for example, a landscaping company doesn’t just mow the lawn, it “creates a backyard oasis” and “gives you your Saturday back.” 

What will drive customers to pick you rather than someone else? Maybe it’s speed. Or perhaps it’s extensive experience in a particular topic or industry. Or it could be proven impact.

Once you determine your value and what makes you special, you can then use that when marketing your services and speaking to clients.

• Demographics – their age range, gender, job title, industry, education level, nationality, and language 
• Geographics – where they work and live (if relevant) 
• Psychological aspects – their beliefs and attitudes; interests and passions; hopes and aspirations; problems, challenges, and concerns; and motivations related to their job title and industry 
• Behaviors – the types of content they consume (like written, audio, video), and if they prefer to engage with it on a desktop or mobile device

Creating buyer personas 

Consider breaking your target market into smaller groups based on common needs or behavioral characteristics. For example, you may be a copywriter who works for small tech startups, environmental non-profits, and large government organizations—each of these client groups will want something slightly different from your product.

One technique is to build a buyer persona—a semi-fictional person within your target market—that reflects common characteristics based on real data. Once developed, you can refer to your persona as you build out your product, sales, and marketing strategies to ensure you’re considering your customer needs and preferences.

5. Understand your business’s competition

Be sure to identify and understand your competition when creating a business plan: How many other freelancers or businesses are offering similar products or services in your market? What other businesses are solving similar problems? What makes you different? Determine who your competitors are and the edge you have against them.

6. Define your marketing and sales strategy

You’ll need a clearly defined strategy for marketing your products and reaching your customers. You probably already have experience and projects you’re proud of, so how do you want to showcase your capabilities and build credibility? Consider communication, sales, and distribution channels: Do you plan to start with a website detailing your services or an email campaign to your contacts? How will you set (and achieve) sales targets? How will a sale happen? You’ll likely use a combination of tactics to attract and retain your clients—here’s where you define them.

7. Establish a financial plan for your business

Your financial plan will help ensure that your business will be sustainable in the long term. While many businesses don’t make money right away, you’ll want to lay out a path to profitability through an analysis of cash flow, revenue, and expenses. This plan will usually include projected profit and loss and projected cash flow for the first few years, as well as a break-even analysis.

Learn more about financial planning for your business, including 5 tips to manage your business finances and creating a business budget to manage cash flow .

8. Decide how to structure your business

Your business structure affects how much you pay in taxes, your ability to raise money, the paperwork you need to file, and your personal liability. To get a tax ID number, you’ll need to make this decision. Some common business structures include: 

• Sole proprietorship – Often the default entity for freelancers and the easiest structure for a one-person business, giving you complete control of your business. Does not separate business assets from personal ones, meaning you’re personally liable for any debts and obtaining funding may be more difficult.
• Partnership – Can be formed with one or more people, includes different types that may have different tax and liability implications. 
• Limited liability company (LLC) – May be appropriate if you’d prefer to protect your personal assets in the event of bankruptcy or lawsuits. Also, may be required by certain investors or lenders. 
• Corporation – Different types include B, C, and S corps, as well as non-profits. Provides its owners with limited liability but tends to be much more complex.

According to a 2023 report from the SBA, most businesses without employees are sole proprietorships (86.5%) followed by partnerships (7.4%) and S corporations (4.6%). Meanwhile, most small businesses with employees are S corporations (52.4%), followed by other types of corporations (22.3%) and sole proprietorships (13.3%).*

You may want to consult with a lawyer (either in-person or online) to help form your business structure. Find a lawyer near you  

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How to Write Your First Business Plan

Planning a business means planning to succeed in business. A business plan helps you define what you do so that you can explain this clearly and succinctly to customers. It helps you see if your plans are going astray so that you can take corrective action. It helps you think about your position in your market and how to be competitive.

It’s worth noting that there are different schools of thought on business planning. Some people argue it’s unnecessary, such as the authors of Rework , Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, who also founded 37 Signals and created Ruby on Rails. Some say that it’s essential such as Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin. Others, such as the Interaction Design Foundation, try to take a middle path like the one we’ve detailed for you here.

We advocate for a simple plan that helps you towards your goals and keeps you on track without getting you bogged down forever in writing that plan.

Not every business has a business plan, but businesses that do tend to do much better than those that don’t have one. Some very good reasons to have a business plan include:

It helps you to define what your business is (and isn’t) about.

It helps you plan how to sell and market your services.

It can define your current objectives and help you evaluate your progress against them.

It can help to raise funding or with a loan application.

It can help to define relationships between business partners (including expectations and how to end such a partnership if things don’t work out).

It can help you value a business if you want to sell it.

Here, we will help you get started creating your business plan whether you’re a freelancer or an entrepreneur. You’ll get to know what goes into a business plan for a start-up business. It’s enough to get you started.

Now, this article can’t teach you everything you need to know about business planning. Excellent books that run to hundreds of pages which define everything in detail for a complex business plan await you on a shelf or in a warehouse. Using these, when your business grows bigger and more successful, you’ll have to find more in-depth knowledge and advice. When you’re 6 to 24 months down the road and need to develop your business plan further, that’ll probably be the right time to pick up one of those heavy books and start a more in-depth planning exercise.

Author/Copyright holder: Philip Wilson. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-ND 2.0

Planning a business means planning to succeed in business.

What Should Be In Your First Business Plan?

Your first business plan will be for your own use, so it doesn’t need to be a thing of beauty which has been professionally polished. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of pages. You can save that long, polished business plan for the day that you want to use the plan to secure investment in your business or to help you guide your employees in the right direction. It should take a maximum of one day to create your first business plan.

Your First Business Plan Should Include

1. a brief company description.

The name of your company, the date it was formed, the names of any shareholders, your company registration number, your address, etc. In the future, you’ll add a bit more detail to this section and add important milestones in the development of your business. To start, keep it short and simple.

2. A description of the services you offer

This should also include a description of how they stand out (your unique selling points – USPs) from your competition. For example, it might be that your logo design is proven to increase brand recognition by 40% or that your sales copy delivers increased sales by 25%.

3. A simple market analysis

Who are your customers? Who are your competitors? What’s the size of the market you will serve? How will the market grow in the next few years? You should make a simple SWOT analysis where you define the opportunities and the threats in your market as well as your business’s strengths and weaknesses: nothing too complex—just enough detail to be sure that you understand the market you are working in.

Market analysis is often done using a simple SWOT analysis – where you assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business and competitors.

4. An implementation strategy

How will you sell your services? How will you put those plans into action? What milestones will you use to show progress in your plan?

5. A personal summary

In essence, this a canned version of your CV—what’s your background? Your key accomplishments? Your overall relevant experience?

6. A financial plan

What are your projected sales? What will your cash flow look like? How much profit do you expect to make? For this exercise, be pessimistic and realistic; do not assume you will be working for forty hours a week, every week, at your maximum rate from the outset. It’s unlikely that you will achieve that—ever. It’s much better to underestimate your financial performance and overachieve than vice versa. Never forget that you’re going to spend a lot of time on unpaid work, from accounting to marketing to administration. And, perhaps, you would like some time for vacation as well?

7. A short summary or executive summary

The summary is often called the “executive summary”, of the whole plan. This will help when you come to selling your services; it’s the basis of your elevator pitch – which is what you’d say to your ideal clients if you were trapped in an elevator with them for five minutes.

Your executive summary should include:

what your core service is

who your main customers are

why they should choose you and your services over your competitors

how you will sell your services

It can’t be clearer than, this can it? You would think that it doesn’t matter if your executive summary sucks if it’s only meant for yourself. But really, the executive summary can be your biggest help and guide in understanding and summarizing what your main services are, what makes your services more attractive than your competitors’, who you sell your services to and how you sell them.

It takes time to develop your elevator pitch and executive summary as it should only sum up the very essence of your business plan. That’s why you should start by defining the rest of your business plan and then, at the very end of your process of making your business plan, you’ll be able to define the essence and the executive summary of your business plan.

You should always place your executive summary in the very beginning of your business plan.

Best practice: Ideally, you’ll be able to explain your executive summary as an elevator pitch in only a few sentences. You should continue working on your executive summary until you are able to explain your perfect pitch in one minute. You should also practice an elaborated version of your pitch which should take approximately five minutes. You’ll find it harder to explain yourself in one minute than in five.

You can start practicing by inserting your answers into this short sentence: “My core service is (xxx) which is essential to (xx customers), because I can help them (in xx ways) compared to my competitors.”

When you think you’ve nailed the two versions of your elevator pitch, you should try saying it out loud, and when you can say it in approximately one- and five-minute versions, you should pitch your executive summaries to your friends, family, and, of course, your peers—and get their feedback before you reach out to your future clients.

You’ll find that you will improve your pitch every time you practice it. Most likely, you will find that for each pitch you make, you can make it shorter and more precise. Your friends’ and peers’ questions and feedback will help you crystallize what your soon-to-be business is all about.

It may feel a bit odd the first few times you try your pitch, but you’ll soon understand that this is the best way to get to the core of what you will be doing as a freelancer or entrepreneur. This way, it will be much easier to move from planning to executing the plan in the near future.

Length of your first business plan

Keep your plan as short as possible. Aim for two pages. A short, simple plan is easy to review and refer to. If you write something resembling a book, it will serve no purpose except to take up a lot of time that could be spent doing something useful when you write it. You’ll never want to read it or see it again if it’s that long. Keep it short, sweet and to the point.

The Take Away

A business plan serves a purpose for a start-up whether you’re a freelancer or an entrepreneur. It helps you define what you do so that you can explain this clearly and succinctly to customers. It helps you see if your plans are going astray so that you can take corrective action. It helps you think about your position in your market and how to be competitive.

Writing a business plan for your own use should be a simple, straightforward exercise. You don’t need to worry about presentation, spelling or grammar – no one else will see it. You just need to capture the relevant information.

Later on, when your business is better established, you’ll want to update the plan, and if you then intend to show it to other people, you might want to read up on how to develop a more complex plan.

You might also, at that point, consider using a software tool for writing your business plan. However, to start with—keep it simple. Don’t get bogged down with the process; if you spend more than a day on this, you’re spending too much time and overthinking things. You can always go back and correct your business plan’s course when you’ve started working.

References & Where to Learn More

Hero Image: Author/Copyright holder: Pixabay. Copyright terms and licence: CC0

You can also find some great example business plans here: 500+ Free business plan examples

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• The Definitive Guide to Writing a Business Plan

• Startup Culture
• Business Skills

Last Updated: July 25, 2023 By TRUiC Team

This free step-by-step guide to writing a business plan was built just for you, if you aren't really sure what planning a business is all about. To save time, stress and energy we'll walk you through everything you need to know without fluff or heavy brain work.

Instead, we're focusing on the basics. If you're looking to create a super-dense collegiate 40-page plan, then you should probably take a business planning course at the nearest college.

This guide just covers what your average startup needs to dramatically increase chances of follow-through and success. Enjoy!

Note: Business planning software  can help you write a professional business plan that will lead you to success.

Step 1) Create A Business Plan Shortcut

For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re the most gifted cat burglar on earth-- a real savvy savant of the steal. Put yourself in the mindset where strategy and planning are time-erasing pleasures, delicious treats that reward you with immense prosperity-- not complex tasks that can be skipped or shelved.

Too many entrepreneurs perceive putting a business plan together as some kind of chore. It's not. When the product or service is something you believe in, it’s as awesome as it is for those cat burglars in the movies, except you're plotting honest work.

Fact : It’s possible to create your initial business plan in less than an hour!

Let’s build a “lean plan” that’s simple to create and helps you identify core assets. You start with a pitch, a single page overview which can become your executive summary later on. It’s your business strategy all on one page that's easy to update as you evolve.

You may be thinking,

“ Wait a minute. If I’m not raising money from investors, why do I need a pitch? ”

Well, after years working with entrepreneurs we've found a pitch is really the ideal format to document your business idea , share it with others, and quickly adjust as you learn more about/analyze how you’re going to build your brand.

Furthermore, once you have your pitch done you can easily convert it into a presentation-ready business plan with massive clarity. To begin, follow the simple outline below or allow tools like LivePlan (what we used for Startup Savant) to walk you through the entire process with examples and video tutorials.

What To Include in Your Pitch

As you tackle your one-pager, mentally channel Twitter and try to keep each section as short/concise as possible-- the size of a solid tweet.

• Mini-Pitch : Typically a refined sentence summarizing your USP (unique selling proposition).
• Market Need : The problem your business solves for your customers.
• Your Solution : How you’re solving the problem through your products and services.
• Primary Competition : The products and services your customers choose today instead of yours.
• Target Market : This is where you detail your ideal client and niche.
• Sales & Marketing : How you plan on marketing.
• Budget & Sales Goals : How much do you project/calculate you’ll sell and how much is it going to cost to make your product or deliver your service? Also, show other key expenses when your business is up and running.
• Milestones : What you’ve achieved so far and your major goals for the next few months and years.
• Team : Why you and your team are the right people to make your company successful.
• Partners & Resources : List primary companies/organizations needed to go the distance.
• Funding Needs : If you need to raise money, how much and where will this capital be going (channels)?

That might seem like a fair amount of work if you’ve never put together a real pitch before, but remember, that’s just one page of content. Another way to look at it is a one page resume for your business.

A Couple Writing Tips

First, you start with the putty. Don’t try to self-edit or curate, just barf everything out on paper as it flows from your brilliant mind. Format each section out and just let it go. That’s putting the basic shape together.

Now you need to let it dry, so walk away for a day (week) or two. After that, begin chipping away and condensing. Cut the fat and keep tightening the ideas until you’re down to one page. Be brutal! Stick to the facts. Numbers are easier, but when you’re tackling words remember the average person these days has a shorter attention span (if not compelled by your ideas) than a goldfish.

Taking Action on This Step

Create a pitch outline from the points mentioned above and refine down to one or two sentences. If you need help, check out LivePlan. It’s a solid tool that walks you through the entire process. Plus, they offer a 50% Discount .

Step 2) What To Include in Your Plan

Now that you have a running outline, it’s time to go deeper into the framework of your platform.

Perhaps you’re thinking the one-page pitch is all you’ll need? That would be like going on a road trip in unfamiliar territory with a map that only shows destinations-- no routes, no roads, no other icons whatsoever. Even if you never plan on showing this to anyone, the process of creating a solid plan optimizes everything about you and your business! Here’s a quick overview of what you need to include in your business plan:

• Cover Page/Pitch
• Executive Summary
• Products & Services
• Target Market
• Marketing & Sales Plan
• Milestones & Metrics
• Company & Management Team
• Financial Plan

If you need extra space for product images, detailed financial forecasts, or general additional info, use the appendix. There are three layers of complexity here. First, your pitch with a very brief summary. Then, your Executive Summary that adds details and context. Then into the finer points of the overall business plan.

Not too shabby, right?

Taking Action on The Step

Please revisit your pitch and find a good way to optimize it just a smidgen. The better your pitch, the better the overall plan.

As you fill in the structure, first focus on providing “mental barf” data you can go through and optimize later. Remember, if you need help, LivePlan will walk you through the entire process with video tutorials and examples.

Step 3) Create a Unique Selling Proposition

When copywriters are given a business idea to optimize, they often begin by defining the USP (unique selling proposition) and mini-pitch. A USP can be just a couple words or an incomplete sentence, while the mini-pitch is usually one or two concise sentences.

Just in case you’re fuzzy on the whole copywriter thing, these folks are paid big bucks to write sales and marketing copy which often includes core slogans.

As an example, here’s what the USP and Pitch for Startup Savant sound like:

USP : " Entrepreneurship Simplified "

Pitch : " Startup Savant is a free website that shows you how to start a business and own your future ." Now let’s get past the “How to Write Your USP 101” stuff and dive straight into three core truths.

USPs & Pitches Evolve

The first thing a copywriter will tell you if you’re struggling with this is to relax. They know sales and branding copy optimizes (matures) over time, especially in the first 2-5 years in business.

If possible, avoid thinking your USP is set in stone, never to be altered. It’s more like a sculpture that the market chips away at. Your pitch evolves as you and your platform do. What matters is whether your USP & Pitch are as refined as they can be based on where you are now.

• USPs can be creative & full of personality, but they also need to make sense.
• Is your pitch wordy and confusing? Hazy or unclear?
• Sometimes you have the right words, they just need to be in an optimized order.

Always be ready to “kill your darlings” as copywriters would say. Meaning, get rid of any and all words,

“ That aren’t necessary for the idea or concept you’re conveying to make perfect sense within the context it’s delivered, and to whom it’s being written to. ”

You can begin with half a page, but systematically chisel down to a core concept like, Entrepreneurship Simplified.

Your Ideal Customers Will Do It For You

Copywriters care what you have to say as a business owner or marketing manager, but they know you’re not the ultimate authority in terms of advertising copy.

They’re writing for buyers. In any and all ways your business can optimize over the years, your customers, clients and users should steer the course as much as possible. Be on the lookout for their valuable signals and indications!

Hop at 20 Questions

Copywriters ask TONS of questions. They’re a bit like copy-detectives in how they search high and low for very precise data from their clients. Never fear giving your users, clients or customers a megaphone with which to bark their concerns.

We all love sharing our opinions, right? Yes we do. Let us. Prompt us. Ask us. Bribe us with incentives and discounts… then listen… carefully. Easily 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs are given the ultimate USPs on silver platters by their customers but fail to recognize when they see, read, or hear them.

• If you’ve been stressing on your USP, relax. If it doesn’t feel perfect right now, or 100% distilled, let it happen naturally.
• Your audience can and will steer the course if you choose to notice their cues. Ask three people you haven’t spoken to before how they feel about your product or service.
• Are there any indications out there waiting to be plucked? Blog or social media comments and reviews are primary starting points. It only takes one solid indicator for the magic “pivots” to cause your business or brand to see huge boosts.

Step 4) Crafting the Executive Summary

In brief, what exactly is an executive summary? An executive summary (ES) is an overview of your business and your vision. It comes first in formal/informal business plans and is ideally 1-2 pages.

The ES introduces your business to your reader. If you don’t nail it, no one’s going to read any further. And if an ES sucks, despite it being professionally crafted, then the business model itself needs work or isn’t worth your time. Every ES should include a brief overview of the following:

• The problem your business addresses.
• Your solution.
• Your target market.
• Why the timing’s right for your brand.
• Financial forecast highlights, along with initial/current customer acquisition costs (CAC) and lifetime customer value (LCV).

If you’re raising money or presenting to investors, you’ll also want to cover:

• Your existing team and partners.
• How much money you’re looking to raise and the type of exit strategies in place.

Ideally your ES should fit on one or two pages and be able to stand alone, apart from your business plan. A common strategy is to send your ES out to investors/family/friends and then the complete plan if more detail is requested.

Remember to try and position your writing for people who don’t know anything about your business before they start reading. Explain things simply so that anyone can understand your opportunity, whether they be an in-tune player, an 8th grader, or a grandma.

• Over the next couple weeks, refresh your ES!
• Who is the first person you’re going to send your ES to that has no real previous knowledge of what your business is? It helps having someone in mind when writing.
• Find one amazing ES to read over and see what you can learn from it. Here and here are two great examples.

Well done, in the next step we’ll help you explain your product or service and how it makes an impact on customers.

Step 5) Understanding Customers

Once upon a time there was this lovely, vibrant and ambitious entrepreneur who decided to sell organic breast enlargement cream. It sold well for a while, but then her numbers plateaued, and eventually began to decline.

She knew her business needed a makeover after years in the trenches. So, she created an automated incentive program, a 25% discount coupon code offer sent with every order in exchange for an anonymous review with a photograph. Just a simple before/after image showing the front of their body from neckline to belly button (to confirm usage).

They started rolling in and here are the gems she unearthed :

• A small portion of her customers were husbands buying a discreet gift for their wives/girlfriends, but most (85%) were transgender folks in transition.
• For the vast majority of her cis-female customers, larger breasts had more to do with enhancing self-esteem/identity and filling out clothes than attracting mates.
• Almost 100% really hammered down on the fact her cream was all-natural, organic and didn’t cause irritation or allergic reactions.

She went back and dusted off her original copy she put together years before.

From: “ A certified organic breast enlargement cream. ”

To something more along the lines of: “ Increase confidence and femininity through an organic non-allergenic breast enlargement cream. ”

When stuck in a rut, and we all get there as entrepreneurs, the quickest and most effective way out is to look at your predicament from different perspectives.

Begin with the fundamental question, “What problem does my product/service solve for customers?” then look deeper and from unique angles. Who are your buyers? They have the answer. And remember, actions speak louder than words.

Oftentimes we rationalize buying things for one reason, but in reality have a more potent ulterior motive. Sure, her customers want larger breasts, that’s what prompt initial sales. But the needs her product solves in their day-to-day lives are more interesting. It actually made her customers feel more confident, happy, and healthy.

Find one deeper way your product or service materializes in everyday life for your customers. Pay close attention to the simple verbiage you and others use to describe it, e.g. “Your earphones really get rid of all the noise on the bus.”

If possible, get hold of one fresh buyer perspective. Who and where are they? That woman in our example had spent years excluding nearly half her customer base in her advertorial copy. Do you use your own product or service? If so, find a way to record yourself explaining it in the most natural language possible. Use a smartphone or leave yourself a voicemail. Then, just listen.

But wait, what if you’re just starting out and don’t have much to draw on in terms of direct customer or user feedback? Glad you asked! In the next section we’re going to talk about competition, which is another valuable source of indicators.

Step 6) Leveraging Competition

What products and/or services are people choosing instead of yours?

Whether you’re new to the market or not, these so-called “competitors” are really the ideal source of optimization for your brand. And it’s not about being better per se. All things equal, it’s more about uniqueness.

Would you rather be a prettier, more flashy brand trying desperately to stand out, or develop intense brand-character that the right people notice? Once you’ve narrowed down your competitors, look at them from new angles to discover what makes you distinctive.

• Can they help you better define your target market/sub-markets?
• How effective are their social media marketing methods and website copy?
• What do you know about their buyers’ needs?
• What do they make “stand out” when shoulder to shoulder with your brand?

A common practice entrepreneurs use in pitch presentations to venture capitalists or investors is the Comparison Matrix.

You’ve seen these a zillion times. In short, list your competitors across the top of the page and your features and benefits along the side, then check the boxes for which company offers each. Don’t forget you can be creative here. You may even already use one of these on your website, or within some other marketing media.

• Could these features and benefits be communicated in different, more compelling ways?
• What real need-based copy is being left out?
• How can you simplify it? An easy way is to reduce the number of competitors, so shoot for less players with more interesting copy.

Got time to put something simple together? In reality what we’re looking for are the things about your competitors that help you stand out.

• Think about your biggest competitor: what do they make obvious about your brand?
• What are you doing with more personality from the perspective of ideal clients or customers?
• Could you take your primary competitor’s copy and make it clearer, or more optimized?

All in all, understanding your competition is an important part of the planning process. This is where you find your true competitive advantage.

For a more in-depth look at how you stand up to the competition, check out LivePlan's Benchmark feature. You can see at-a-glance how you compare to companies just like yours. Tell LivePlan your industry and location, and it shows if/how you're doing better or worse than your competition.

Now let's talk about your unique marketing approach. This will help you stand out and connect with your customers on multiple levels.

Step 7) Create a Marketing Plan

Fred is a brand spanking new entrepreneur with a neat new fitness product he believes is going to make a big splash.

He knows exactly who his ideal customers are and his niche is carved out like a Renaissance marble sculpture. Fred’s also managed to get his hands on $100k in debt-free funding (don’t ask us how, this is hypothetical)…

• His product costs exactly $32 to source, make and package.
• To be competitive, and account for shipping/processing, he’s going live at $55.
• Initial margin is about $13 per sale.

Admittedly, that would be pretty amazing, but that’s because we’re coming from a standpoint of experience. Fred’s just showing up to the 21st-Century party. He’s never built, owned, or managed a business before, let alone an ecommerce platform.

He’s never outsourced a graphic artist or content writer before; never had to choose which analytic dashboard to use; never designed a conversion model or tangled with paid advertising platforms. Let’s say Fred called and begged us to lunch. We accepted. And so there we are, the three amigos with Fred sitting on a huge meal ticket drooling for answers.

“ How Do I Market My Product? ”

Once the table conch gets passed to us, we’re going to hit him hard with massive bombshells:

• Tight responsive funnels can be constructed in a couple months with the right designer, or design agency (website, landing pages, ecommerce setup, branding packages, etc.).
• Initial market testing and adjustment can be bootstrapped.
• There are a variety of intuitive and relatively simple software tools, apps, plugins, add-ons, and cloud-based solutions that range from free to expensive.
• It takes a savvy mix of highly-focused content, social exposure and paid advertising.
• It takes a team.

Question is, what advice would you give Fred? That’s what we’d like you to consider. And it needs to be marketing-based. The money’s there, the production system’s in place, it’s just a matter of reaching his fitness-based audience and selling.

Let’s imagine Fred’s offered you a lifetime, no questions asked, 5% share of his company from now till doomsday. All you have to do is provide valuable direction in these three areas:

• Content : What kind of content should he invest in? Blogs, video, infographics, imagery, etc.
• Social : How to handle social media if he a) doesn’t have the time, b) has no clue what works?
• Paid Advertising : AdWords? Facebook? TV? Magazine ads? How does he get to buyers?

Just let your mind wander, and don’t worry, in the next section we’ll talk about setting milestones for your business.

Step 8) Set Milestones

If there’s one specific part of the entrepreneurial journey that we get really nerdy about, it’s the way people verbally describe their trials and successes. We’re listening intently for clues as to how they set milestones and metrics and then track them.

Let's spend some time pondering the way(s) you’re measuring your journey and how you approach KPIs (key performance indicators) in relation to both your marketing and your competition. Or, if you’re trying to figure out how viable a product idea is, how you’re calculating acceptable setbacks and struggle.

What have you achieved so far and what are your major goals for the next few months or years?

Sure, it’s cliché to talk about tracking milestones in an era of big data, but truth be told too many aspiring entrepreneurs either skip this part until much further down the road when it can’t be ignored anymore, or they only take it seriously in the beginning then fail to stick to the plan.

Avoid Drowning Out Customer Journey!

Of course there are folks who obsess on this part and try to manage a small army of analytic dashboards and amazing software solutions like FreshBooks or Xero.

Once it becomes too much they end up transforming their perspective of the customer journey from something organic into a mesh of math and graphs. Most of their day is spent pouring over dense numbers or marketing data and trying to figure out how to alter this metric or that.

• How many of your milestones are focused entirely on your customers instead of you and your business?
• Instead of views, likes, and shares, what about the amount of service calls you’re getting? How many people are actually reaching out with questions and concerns?
• How well do your metrics allow you to understand each part of their trek from initially discovering your business to making a purchase?

Find ways to do more with less data. It’s always within reach these days, especially when you’re tuned in to your customers!

• Find one way to streamline how you’re dealing with milestones/metrics, or how you intend to.
• Also, look for one single way to be more holistic in your approach to setting goals.
• Find a part of your customer journey/behavior and decide if current metrics help or hinder it.

Need help in this area? LivePlan has a really impressive dashboard  to help you set goals and stay accountable over the lifetime of your business. This dramatically increases your chances of success.

Step 9) Refine Aquisition Costs

Without question, failure to clearly know the cost of acquiring customers is a mighty new business demolisher. It’s crushed more entrepreneurial dreams than every economic collapse combined since the creation of fiat currency. To come to grips, or optimize your Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), begin by figuring out exactly how you’re reaching customers.

Or, if you’re building an initial business plan, how much will it cost to reach buyers on the platforms where they spend their time? Your financials should easily allow you to calculate CAC.

Now, in the simplest terms here’s how:

• Take (estimate) the entire cost of sales and marketing over whatever period of time you’re dealing with, for example when forecasting sales and financials. Make sure to include salaries and any other headcount-related costs.
• Divide that number by the amount of buying customers/clients/users that were acquired within this time.

If you happen to run a purely web-based business, headcount likely doesn’t need to grow as you scale customer acquisition, but it’s a useful metric to include nonetheless.

The second part of this is your Lifetime Customer Value, or LCV, because in most cases 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of overall customers and happen AFTER the initial sale. Never shortchange the follow-through!

If your CAC is too high, it must be able to come down through optimization. If LCV is horrid, then in the long run it’s an unsustainable business model. Or in other words, once CAC exceeds LCV, something needs to change or you’ll have to close shop.

• Begin looking at one stream of cost per lead. So for example, maybe a Google AdWords or Facebook advertising campaign.
• What’s one single way you could get more in touch with a hot-spot within your customers’ buyer experience?
• Let your mind stew a little on the level of ‘touch’ required to increase LCV. How can you up-sell or generate more revenue from each customer long term?

After you make these calculations three or four times, it starts becoming second nature. LivePlan's forecasting  handles this pretty well. It walks you through creating expenses that are a certain percentage of sales.

Step 10) Forecast Sales

Smart entrepreneurs start forecasting sales early on.

And while ‘the numbers’ part of business planning can be intimidating, this exercise is definitely a small mountain worth karate chopping down.

Keep in mind that if you get stuck at any point, LivePlan's Forecasting and Budgeting  feature is extremely helpful. Whether you're starting a bakery, a subscription software business, or a manufacturing company, LivePlan walks you through the entire forecasting process within a few clicks.

How Detailed Does it Need to Be?

Don’t be too generic and just forecast sales for your entire business. But on the other hand, don’t go nuts and create a forecast for everything you sell if you’ve got a large assortment.

For example, if you’re starting a restaurant you don’t want to create forecasts for each item on the menu.

Instead, focus on broader categories like lunch, dinner, and drinks. Or if you’re starting a clothing brand, forecast key categories like outerwear, casual wear, and so on.

Top-Down or Bottom-up?

In our humble opinion, forecasting “from the top down” can be costly. What that means is figuring out the total size of the market you’re in and trying to capture a small percentage.

For example, in 2015, more than $1.4 billion smartphones were sold worldwide. It’s pretty tempting for a startup to say they’re going to get 1% of that total market. After all, 1% is such a tiny little sliver it’s got to be believable, right?

The problem is this kind of guessing isn’t based on reality. Sure, it looks like it might be credible on the surface, but you have to dig deeper.

• What’s driving those sales?
• How are people finding your new smartphone company?
• Of the people that find out, how many will buy?

Instead of “from the top down,” do a “bottom-up” forecast. Just like the name suggests, bottom-up starts at the bottom and works its way up to a forecast. Start by thinking about how many potential customers you might be able to make contact with.

This could be through advertising, sales calls, or other marketing methods. Of the people you can reach, how many do you think you’ll be able to bring in the door or get onto your website?

And finally, of the people that come in the door, get on the phone, or visit your site, how many will buy?

Here’s an example:

• 10,000 people see my company’s ad online,
• 1,000 people click from the ad to my website,
• 100 people end up making a purchase.

Obviously, these are all nice round numbers, but it should give you an idea of how bottom-up forecasting works. The last step of the bottom-up forecasting method is to think about the average amount that each of those 100 people in our example ends up spending (remember LCV).

On average, do they spend $20? $100? It’s fine to guess here, and the best way to refine your guess is to go out and talk to potential customers. You’ll be surprised how accurate a number you can get with a few simple interviews.

How Far to Forecast

Try forecasting monthly for a year into the future and then just annually for another three to five years.

The further your forecast into the future, the less you’re going to know and the less benefit it’s going to have for your company. After all, the world’s going to change, your business is going to change, and you’ll be updating your forecast to reflect them.

And don’t forget, all forecasts are wrong—that’s fine. Your forecast is just your best guess at what’s going to happen. As you learn more about your business and your customers, you’ll adjust. It’s not set in stone.

• First, remind yourself that ALL forecasts are wrong. Forecasting is more about learning and evolving.
• Without adding too much to your plate, take a look at your monthly sales chart and see what kinds of optimizations forecasting might bring to light. If you aren’t already charting sales, start today or begin planning how.
• Try two easy bottom-up projections with nice round numbers to get the feel for it.

Just remember that sales forecasting doesn’t have to be hard. Anyone can do it and you, as an entrepreneur, are the most qualified to do it for your business. You know your customers and you know your market, so you can forecast your sales.

But if you decide you'd appreciate help, we highly recommend forecasting your sales with LivePlan. LivePlan  automatically generates all the charts and graphs you need and automatically includes them in your plan.

Wrapping Up: Formatting Your Plan

The format of your business plan is critical. It goes a long way toward refining and achieving your goals: raising money, setting the strategy for your team and growing your platform. That being the case, let's breeze through seven tips that can help you create, refine, and optimize your brilliant business plan.

1. Always Start with Your Executive Summary

An ES should be written for ideal readers, customers, potential investors or team members, or even just to help you ‘goal-map’ your way to where you need to be. Regardless, nailing the Executive Summary is critical in terms of understanding the potential behind your business idea.

2. End with Supporting Documents

The appendix is composed of key numbers and other details that support your plan. At a minimum, your appendix should include financial forecasts and budgets. Typically, it’s wise to include a Profit & Loss statement, Cash Flow forecast, and a Balance Sheet. With practice and a smidgen of savvy software like LivePlan these pages can take a couple hours or so.

You might also use your appendix to include product diagrams or detailed research findings, depending on your business, your industry, and how deep your business plan needs to go given the reader/purpose.

Quick Recap of the Lineup Pitch Executive Summary Products & Services Target Market Marketing & Sales Plan Milestones & Metrics Company & Management Team Financial Plan & Appendix

3. Keep it Short

Let’s face it: no one has time to read a 40-page business plan. If you’ve nailed your ES, you’ll want to follow up with 8 to 12 additional pages at most in support. Instead of trying to cram everything in using small fonts and tiny margins, focus on trimming down your writing (‘kill your darlings’). Use direct, simple language that gets to the point.

4. Get Visual

As the old adage goes, “ A picture is worth a thousand words. ” This is especially true when you’re formatting a business plan. Use charts and graphs to explain forecasts. Add pictures of your product(s). Again, there are plenty of software solutions that make it easy to do more showing and less telling. That said…

5. Don’t Obsess on Looks

It’s your ideas that matter. A beautiful plan that talks about an ill-conceived business with incomplete financial forecasts is never going to beat a plan that’s formatted poorly but discusses a great, clearly explained vision. Spending days making a beautiful plan isn’t going to make your business ideas better. Instead, focus on polishing the words. Trim extra content you don’t need, and make sure ideas are well-presented.

6. Keep Formatting Simple

• For general formatting use single spacing with an extra space between paragraphs.
• If you’re printing your plan, use a nice serif font like Garamond or Baskerville.
• If your plan will mostly be read on a computer screen, go with a sans serif font like Verdana or Arial.

Why choose different fonts for on-screen versus off-screen? Well, research shows readers have higher comprehension when they read a document with a serif font on paper, and higher comprehension reading with a sans serif font on a screen.

Don’t stress too much about this, though. Choose any one of the four fonts mentioned above and move forward.

• For font size, 10 to 12 point is usually ideal and readable for most people. If you need to reduce the font size to make your plan shorter, then you should be cutting content, not adjusting the font size.
• The same rule goes for margins: use typical one-inch margins to make the plan readable.

Cover pages are always a good idea, too. Use the cover page to show off your logo, tagline, and pitch.

Finally, make sure your plan document flows well and doesn’t have any “widows” or “orphans” when it prints out. A “widow” is when the last line of a paragraph appears alone at the top of a page, and an “orphan” is a single word that gets left behind at the bottom of a paragraph.

7. Get a Second Pair of Eyes

The last piece of advice is to get a second pair of eyes. When you’re the only one working on your plan, you can become blind to common errors. Recruit a friend or family member, or even hire a copy-editing professional to give it that last bit of polish. There’s nothing worse than a plan with grammatical or spelling errors. A second pair of eyes will go a long way toward catching the majority of those potential problems or holes.

• Who’s your second, third, and possibly fourth pair of eyes going to be?
• What’s one part of your business plan you could optimize today?
• What’s one piece of visual content you could add to your appendix?

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How to write a business plan in 10 easy steps

Does writing your first business plan sound a bit daunting? You’re not alone. Many startups struggle with this essential step in getting a small business off the ground. If you need a helping hand with writing a business plan, we’ve broken it down into ten easy steps.

Before we get started, let’s understand why writing a business plan is such an important ingredient in the recipe for startup success.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document where you record everything you plan to achieve, state how you’re going to do it and detail the resources you’ll need to succeed. It includes information about your vision for the business, the products or services you plan to provide and financial projections.

From outlining your goals and organisational structure to explaining your marketing strategy, your business plan should keep you on track and help you avoid potential pitfalls. The document doesn’t have to be complicated but it does have to be well thought through and based on strong research.

Why do I need to write a business plan?

Writing a business plan is the first step to startup success. Research shows that business owners who write a business plan are more likely to succeed than those who don’t .

But why? How can a single document make so much difference?

• Writing a business plan helps you think through every element of your business in advance, so there should be no unexpected surprises to derail you along the way.
• Referring to your business plan during your first year of trading can help you stay on track, prioritise your resources and measure progress against your goals.
• A business plan is essential if you hope to secure startup funding, such as a Start Up Loan or other investment.

How to write a business plan

Ready to get stuck in? Use the ten sections below to write your business plan and you’ll be one step closer to starting your dream business.

• Cover page and contents
• Executive summary
• Mission, vision and goals
• Products and services
• Market analysis
• Marketing plan
• Organisational details
• Financial plan

Before you start, remember, your business plan needs to be a living document: something that articulates your vision to potential investors and employees. So keep it simple and don’t use complicated jargon.

Most importantly, be realistic. Base your plan on market research and sensible financial projections. Underestimating costs or overestimating demand will only harm your chances of success, and it will undermine your credibility with potential funders.

With that in mind, let’s get started.

1. Cover page and contents

Despite the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, it’s best to be on the safe side! Prepare a smart cover page that includes your company name, a high-resolution image of your logo, your name and contact information.

Once you’ve completed your business plan, you can insert a contents page in between the cover page and executive summary to list key sections and page numbers.

2. Executive summary

The executive summary communicates the key points of your business plan. This may be the only part of your business plan that someone will read, so it needs to summarise the rest of the document in a single page and encourage them to read on.

Potential funders are busy people, so get straight to the point and use concise paragraphs . Cover the headline news about your business, namely:

• What your business does
• Your products or services
• What makes you unique ( your USP )
• The target market and projected demand
• A brief financial overview

As this section is an overview of everything else in your business plan, you should write this last, once the rest of the content is finalised.

3. Mission, vision and goals

Why does your business exist and what do you want to achieve? You can answer these questions with your mission, vision and goals.

Your mission statement is a short and inspiring summary of why your business exists. It’s a way to communicate what you do and provide a focus for your business activities. It can even help you plan and prioritise, by reminding you of your core purpose.

For example, a commercial cleaning business might have the following mission: ‘To make businesses a better place to work by providing high-quality commercial cleaning that goes above and beyond the industry standard.’

For more inspiration, take a look at these examples of mission statements from successful businesses .

Your vision is how the world will look if you’re successful in your mission. Consider the ultimate benefit your business will bring to its customers. How do you want people to see your business?

Express the dream scenario, whether it’s to be the leader in your market or to make a difference in your customers’ lives.

For example, our cleaning company’s vision might be ‘Higher standards, healthier workplaces, happier staff’. This communicates the company’s USP (higher standards) and the benefit they bring to their customers (healthier workplaces, happier staff).

Goals are an essential part of your business plan. These aren’t just guesses about what you might like to do. Strong business goals are based on what you need to deliver in your first year of business and how you plan to achieve that.

Remember, goals always need to be SMART : specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.

For example, our cleaning firm might have a goal to recruit 24 new clients in their first year. That’s a great start because it’s definitely SMART.

Next, they’ll need to break that down into smaller, more manageable goals, to help them achieve it. For example:

• To have a basic website in advance of launch, and online booking within three months
• To grow a social media audience comparable to their nearest competitor within the first six months
• To distribute flyers to 250 local businesses each month and follow up with a phone call within two working days

Each of these goals could be broken down even further to create a month-by-month work plan for the business. This makes it much easier to stay on track and prioritise time effectively.

4. Products and services

Next, it’s time to talk about what your business is actually going to sell. Whether that’s products or services, describe them in detail. Consider information like:

• What the product or service is
• Unique features
• Customer need
• Whether you’re filling a gap in the market
• Why customers will choose you over competitors
• Where customers will buy it
• Where customers will use or experience it
• Pricing strategy (what you plan to charge and why)

You want to paint a clear picture of what you’re selling, why people will choose to spend their money with you and what benefits they get as a result. Thinking this through will really help when you start to promote your business.

5. Market analysis

This, alongside your financial projections, is the most important part of your business plan. It’s where you’ll record the results of any market research you’ve conducted. And if you want to have a successful startup, market research is a must!

Below is a quick rundown of basic market research. Once you’ve conducted it, use what you’ve discovered to demonstrate the potential of your product or services. Use graphs and charts to make it easier to digest.

Identify your target market

Firstly, you need to decide who your target market is. Who exactly will buy your products or services? Are they individuals or businesses? Where are they based? What income group do they belong to? This will help you plan effective pricing, marketing and sales.

For example:

• Young professionals aged 21-35 in the Liverpool region
• UK-based food manufacturers
• Cost-conscious fashion fans in north-east England

Assess the size of your target market

Next, you need to work out how many people there are in your target market and how many, realistically, are likely to become customers. There are lots of sources of information to help you, including census information and commercial reports.

Survey your target market

Market research with your target customers can provide valuable insights that will help hone your business plan. For example:

• Do they like the product?
• What would they be willing to pay?
• Who else might they buy from?

There are lots of ways to solicit opinion: from online surveys to in-person focus groups. Find out about different market research techniques and choose what’s right for you.

Identify your place in the market

Once you’ve researched your target market, you need to understand your place within it. Who are your competitors? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Market analysis typically includes:

• SWOT analysis - looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
• PEST analysis - political, economic, social and technological factors that might impact your business
• Competitor analysis - who you’re competing against and how you compare

6. Marketing plan

Once you’ve completed your market analysis, you’re well equipped to write your marketing plan.

Marketing is made up of different elements which are sometimes referred to as ‘the four Ps’:

• Product: what are you selling and what’s the USP?
• Place: where will you sell your product to maximise access to your target market?
• Price: what will you charge for your product to appeal to your target market?
• Promotion: what’s your strategy for reaching your target customer?

Your marketing plan should explain how you’ll combine these different elements to stand out and maximise your appeal to your target market.

Consider your budget and how you will measure success. If you’d like to know more, check out this beginners’ guide to startup marketing .

7. Operations

This is where you go into detail about what you’ll need to deliver your product or services.

For relatively simple businesses, such as offering freelance services, this might be uncomplicated. But for other businesses, such as manufacturers or retailers, it can require more advance planning. Consider factors like:

• Ingredients, materials and supplies
• Suppliers and distributors
• Routes to market
• Technology, including accounting software such as FreeAgent

This will prepare you for the reality of setting up your business, the relationships you’ll need to develop and the potential costs you’ll incur.

It will also help funders understand how you plan to spend their investment and have confidence that you understand what you’re proposing.

8. Organisational details

This is where you record information about how your company will be structured and run. This section should provide clarity about different roles within the business. It should also give any investors confidence in your ability to deliver.

Include information like:

• Your business structure ( limited company , sole trader or Limited Liability Partnership )
• When you were established and began (or plan to begin) trading
• Your management team, their roles, qualifications and experience - even if it’s just you!
• Any actions you’ve taken as a business so far, such as registering patents or copyright
• Your registered address and contact details

9. Financial plan

Now it’s time to outline your business finances. Investors will be reading this section carefully, so make sure to double-check your figures.

Many startups fail because of poor financial planning - such as failing to understand the impact of cashflow on a fledgling business - so this stage is really important.

As a new business, you’re likely to incur startup costs before you start making any sales, so you’ll always need enough money in the bank to keep you afloat.

A financial plan typically includes:

• Profit and loss (income statement) - the income statement allows your reader to see your revenue and expenses. If you’ve only just started your business, this can be a forecast.
• Cashflow statement - this is an estimate of what you expect to spend and receive over a period of time.
• Balance sheet ( assets and liabilities ) - outline what you own and what you owe.

If you’re unclear on any of the above, it’s worth speaking to a bookkeeper or accountant.

Software such as FreeAgent can help you keep an eye on your business finances and prepare for Self Assessment.

10. Appendix

The appendix is a section where you can include additional information to support your business plan. It lets you provide extra detail for people who are interested, without making the body of your business plan too bulky.

Here, you can include numbers in more detail, your CV, legal agreements and any additional product information, such as market data, imagery, copy and designs.

Congratulations, you’ve made it. You’ve written your business plan, gone back to complete the executive summary, and you’re ready to share it with the world.

If you’re going to use your business plan to apply for funding, it’s a good idea to print a copy and professionally bind it, so it looks smart and credible.

Even if it’s just for your reference, keep a copy of your business plan to hand and refer to it regularly. Think of it as your roadmap to success.

Say hello to FreeAgent!

Award-winning accounting software trusted by over 150,000 small businesses and freelancers.

FreeAgent makes it easy to manage your daily bookkeeping, get a complete view of your business finances and relax about tax.

Related articles

• How to register as a sole trader
• How to set up a limited company (in 10 easy steps)
• Alternative funding for small businesses in the UK

Are you an accountant or bookkeeper?

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

• 3 years ago

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

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

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

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

What Is a Business Plan?

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

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

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

Get a Business Idea

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conduct Market Analysis

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

Product and Service Demand

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

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

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

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

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

Identify Demographics of Target Market

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

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

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan

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

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

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

SWOT Analysis

• Competitor Data
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Expenses Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike told us,

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

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

It consists of three basic parts:

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

Example of an informal executive summary 

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

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

What should I include in an executive summary for investors?

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

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

Successful business plan examples

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

Here’s the interview with the owner of Urbanity:

When to write an executive summary?

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

What mistakes do people make when writing an executive summary?

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

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan Step 4. Company Description

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

• Mission statement
• Philosophy and vision
• Company goals

Target market

• Legal structure

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

Mission Statement

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

Company Philosophy and Vision

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

What makes your company different?

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

Examples of core values

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

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

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

What is a vision statement?

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

Example vision statements

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

A world without Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia.

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

Business Goals

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

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

How far in advance should a business plan?

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

Example of great business goals

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

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

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

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

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

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

Industry resources

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

• Trade Associations
• Federal Reserve
• Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal Structure

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

• Sole proprietorships
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

Partnerships

Corporations.

• Franchises.

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

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

Sole Proprietorship

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

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

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Questions to answer about your products and services

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SWOT Examples

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

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

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

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

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

Include Competitor Data in Your Business Plan

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

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

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

Marketing Strategy

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

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

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

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

Advertising Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some common pricing strategies are:

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

HubSpot has a great calculator and blog on pricing strategies.

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

Distribution Plan

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

Supply Chain Examples

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

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

Examples of Supply Chains

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quality Control

• Legal environment

Let’s look at each for some insight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legal Environment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan Step 8. Financial Statements 

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

Provide All Financial Income from an Existing Business

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

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

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

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

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

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

Financial Projections For A Startup Business Plan

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

Mike gave the following advice in his interview:

Financial Forecasting Mistakes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ways to get funding for a small business

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

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

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

How funding will be used

When asking for business financing make sure to include:

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

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

How to Write a Business Plan Resources

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

• Sample plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brandon Boushy

Brandon Boushy lives to improve people’s lives by helping them become successful entrepreneurs. His journey started nearly 30 years ago. He consistently excelled at everything he did, but preferred to make the rules rather than follow him. His exploration of self and knowledge has helped him to get an engineering degree, MBA, and countless certifications. When freelancing and rideshare came onto the scene, he recognized the opportunity to play by his own rules. Since 2017, he has helped businesses across all industries achieve more with his research, writing, and marketing strategies. Since 2021, he has been the Lead Writer for UpFlip where he has published over 170 articles on small business success.

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8 Business Plan Templates You Can Get for Free

8 min. read

Updated April 10, 2024

A business plan template can be an excellent tool to simplify the creation of your business plan. 

The pre-set structure helps you organize ideas, covers all critical business information, and saves you time and effort on formatting.

The only issue? There are SO many free business plan templates out there. 

So, which ones are actually worth using? 

To help remove the guesswork, I’ve rounded up some of the best business plan templates you can access right now. 

These are listed in no particular order, and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

What to look for in a business plan template

Not all business plan templates are created equal. As you weigh your options and decide which template(s) you’ll use, be sure to review them with the following criteria in mind:

• Easy to edit: A template should save you time. That won’t be the case if you have to fuss around figuring out how to edit the document, or even worse, it doesn’t allow you to edit at all.
• Contains the right sections: A good template should cover all essential sections of a business plan , including the executive summary, product/service description, market/competitive analysis, marketing and sales plan, operations, milestones, and financial projections. 
• Provides guidance: You should be able to trust that the information in a template is accurate. That means the organization or person who created the template is highly credible, known for producing useful resources, and ideally has some entrepreneurial experience.
• Software compatibility: Lastly, you want any template to be compatible with the software platforms you use. More than likely, this means it’s available in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or PDF format at a minimum. 

1. Bplans — A plan with expert guidance

Since you’re already on Bplans, I have to first mention the templates that we have available. 

Our traditional and one-page templates were created by entrepreneurs and business owners with over 80 years of collective planning experience. We revisit and update them annually to ensure they are approachable, thorough, and aligned with our team’s evolving best practices.  

The templates, available in Word, PDF, or Google Doc formats, include in-depth guidance on what to include in each section, expert tips, and links to additional resources. 

Plus, we have over 550 real-world sample business plans you can use for guidance when filling out your template.

Download: Traditional lender-ready business plan template or a simple one-page plan template .

Brought to you by

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Using ai and step-by-step instructions.

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2. SBA — Introduction to business plans

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two different business plan templates along with a short planning guide. 

While not incredibly in-depth, it’s enough to help you understand how traditional and lean plans are structured and what information needs to be covered. The templates themselves are more like examples, providing you with a finished product to reference as you write your plan.

The key benefit of using these templates is that they were created by the SBA. While they may provide less guidance, you can be assured that the information and structure meet their expectations.

Explore: The SBA’s planning guide and free templates

3. SCORE — Planning workbook

SCORE’s template is more like a workbook. It includes exercises after each section to help you get your ideas down and turn them into a structured plan.

The market research worksheets are especially useful. They provide a clear framework for identifying your target market and analyzing competitors from multiple angles. Plus, they give you an easy way to document all the information you’re collecting.

You will likely have to remove the exercises in this template to make it investor-ready. But it can be worth it if you’re struggling to get past a blank page and want a more interactive planning method.

Download: SCORE’s business plan template

4. PandaDoc — A template with fillable forms

PandaDoc’s library offers a variety of industry-specific business plan templates that feature a modern design flair and concise instructions. 

These templates are designed for sharing. They include fillable fields and sections for non-disclosure agreements, which may be necessary when sending a plan to investors.  

But the real benefit is their compatibility with PandaDoc’s platform. Yes, they are free, but if you’re a PandaDoc subscriber, you’ll have far more customization options. 

Out of all their templates, the standard business plan template is the most in-depth. The rest, while still useful, go a bit lighter on guidance in favor of tailoring the plan to a specific industry.

Explore: PandaDoc’s business plan template library  

5. Canva — Pitch with your plan

Canva is a great option for building a visually stunning business plan that can be used as a pitch tool. It offers a diverse array of templates built by their in-house team and the larger creative community, meaning the number of options constantly grows.

You will need to verify that the information in the template you choose matches the standard structure of a traditional business plan. 

You should do this with any template, but it’s especially important with any tool that accepts community submissions. While they are likely reviewed and approved, there may still be errors.

Remember, you can only edit these templates within Canva. Luckily, you only need a free subscription, and you may just miss out on some of the visual assets being used. 

To get the most value, it may be best to create a more traditional planning document and transfer that information into Canva. 

Explore: Canva’s business plan gallery

6. ClickUp — The collaborative template

Out of all the project management tools that offer free business plan templates, ClickUp’s is the most approachable.

Rather than throwing you into all the features and expecting you to figure it out—ClickUp provides a thorough startup guide with resource links, images, and videos explaining how to write a plan using the tool. 

There’s also a completed sample plan (structured like an expanded one-page plan) for you to reference and see how the more traditional document can connect to the product management features. You can set goals, target dates, leave comments, and even assign tasks to someone else on your team. 

These features are limited to the ClickUp platform and will not be useful for everyone. They will likely get in the way of writing a plan you can easily share with lenders or investors. 

But this is a great option if you’re looking for a template that makes internal collaboration more fluid and keeps all your information in one place.

Sign Up: Get a free trial of ClickUp and explore their template library

7. Smartsheet — A wide variety of templates

I’m including Smartsheet’s library of templates on this list because of the sheer number of options they provide. 

They have a simple business plan template, a one-page plan, a fill-in-the-blank template, a plan outline, a plan grading rubric, and even an Excel-built project plan. All are perfectly usable and vary in visual style, depth of instructions, and the available format.

Honestly, the only drawback (which is also the core benefit) is that the amount of templates can be overwhelming. If you’re already uncertain which plan option is right for you, the lengthy list they provide may not provide much clarity.

At the same time, it can be a great resource if you want a one-stop shop to view multiple plan types.

Explore: Smartsheet’s business plan template library  

8. ReferralRock affiliate marketing business plan

I’m adding ReferralRock’s template to this list due to its specificity. 

It’s not your standard business plan template. The plan is tailored with specific sections and guidance around launching an affiliate marketing business. 

Most of the template is dedicated to defining how to choose affiliates, set commissions, create legal agreements, and track performance.

So, if you plan on starting an affiliate marketing business or program, this template will provide more specific guidance. Just know that you will likely need to reference additional resources when writing the non-industry sections of your plan.

Download: ReferralRock affiliate marketing business plan template

Does it matter what business plan template you use?

The short answer is no. As long as the structure is correct, it saves you time, and it helps you write your business plan , then any template will work. 

What it ultimately comes down to, is what sort of value you hope to get from the template. 

• Do you need more guidance? 
• A simple way to structure your plan? 
• An option that works with a specific tool?
• A way to make your plan more visually interesting?

Hopefully, this list has helped you hone in on an option that meets one (or several) of these needs. Still, it may be worth downloading a few of these templates to determine the right fit. 

And really, what matters most is that you spend time writing a business plan . It will help you avoid early mistakes, determine if you have a viable business, and fully consider what it will take to get up and running. 

If you need additional guidance, check out our library of planning resources . We cover everything from plan formats , to how to write a business plan, and even how to use it as a management tool . 

If you don’t want to waste time researching other templates, you can download our one-page or traditional business plan template and jump right into the planning process.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

Table of Contents

• Qualities of a good template
• ReferralRock
• Does the template matter?

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Student-loan borrowers could benefit from Biden's new debt cancellation plan as early as this fall. Here's what you need to know.

• Biden unveiled details for a new student-debt relief plan that could benefit 30 million borrowers.
• The new plan could go into effect as early as this fall.
• While there could be lawsuits, the White House said it's confident in the legality of the plan.

A new student-loan forgiveness plan is coming — and millions of borrowers could benefit.

President Joe Biden's administration unveiled new details for a student-debt relief proposal that could benefit over 30 million borrowers. While this plan is more narrow than Biden's first attempt for broad relief that the Supreme Court struck down , it would aim to tackle a range of issues borrowers face, including interest capitalization and decadeslong repayment without relief .

Biden formally announced the new plan during a speech in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, saying that even when borrowers "have worked hard and paid their student loans, their debt increases, not diminishes."

Related stories

"Too many people feel the strain and stress, wondering if they're going to get married, have their first child, start a family, because even if they get by, they still have this crushing, crushing debt," Biden said.

I said I wouldn't back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need. That's why today we're announcing new plans that, if implemented, would cancel student debt for millions more. pic.twitter.com/rNiCxzzlU3 — President Biden (@POTUS) April 8, 2024

While more details on the plan will be announced in the coming months, Monday's announcement offers a fresh look into the types of borrowers that could benefit from this debt relief. Here are the key details from the administration's proposal.

Which borrowers will qualify for this relief?

The administration outlined five groups of borrowers that could benefit from this relief. They include:

Up to $20,000 in debt relief for over 25 million borrowers whose balances have grown due to unpaid interest. 23 million of those borrowers would have "all of their balance growth forgiven," per the White House.

Relief for borrowers eligible for loan forgiveness under repayment programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or an income-driven repayment plan but who have not yet enrolled

Relief for borrowers who entered repayment over 20 years ago. Borrowers with undergraduate student debt would qualify if they entered repayment on or before July 1, 2005, and borrowers with graduate debt would qualify if they first entered repayment on or before July 1, 2000.

Relief for borrowers with who took on debt for "low-financial-value programs," including schools that lost financial aid eligibility or were found to have defrauded students.

Relief for borrowers experiencing financial hardship . A senior administration official told Business Insider that more details on hardship requirements will be released in the coming months, but it's likely to address those who are at high risk of defaulting, along with borrowers who have other financial burdens on top of their student debt.

What is the timeline for this relief?

The administration said it expects to begin implementing this relief in the fall. In the coming months, it will publish the proposed text for the new rules to the Federal Register, after with the public will have an opportunity to submit comments on the proposals.

Is this relief legal?

This new plan results from the Supreme Court striking down Biden's first attempt at broad debt cancellation at the end of June. While the first plan used the HEROES Act of 2003, which allows the education secretary to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, this new plan uses the Higher Education Act of 1965, which doesn't require an emergency but does require a lengthy regulatory process.

Senior administration officials told reporters during a Sunday press call that they believe this new plan for relief is consistent with the Supreme Court's decision, noting that the new plan differs significantly from the one the high court struck down.

Of course, the plan's legality is ultimately up to the courts, and it's likely conservative groups will launch legal challenges against the plan in the coming months. There are already ongoing challenges to some of Biden's other targeted debt relief efforts — for example, a group of GOP state attorneys general recently sued the administration over its new SAVE income-driven repayment plan, arguing that loan forgiveness through the plan is unconstitutional.

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

• Main content

Money latest: At what age do you reach peak earnings?

People are 47 before they reach peak earnings, data for 2023 shows - a huge increase from five years ago. Read about this and the rest of today's consumer and personal finance news in the Money blog, and leave a comment in the form below.

Friday 12 April 2024 07:25, UK

• UK economy grows slightly for second month in a row
• Prescription costs are rising - here's how to beat the hike
• At what age do you reach peak earnings
• Authentic or Greek-style? Your guide to getting healthier yoghurt for less
• Basically...  Tax codes
• Cheap Eats : Great British Menu legend shares ultimate toastie recipe

Ask a question or make a comment

Jeremy Hunt says the latest economy figures are a "welcome sign".

The chancellor said GDP growth of 0.1% shows "that the economy is turning a corner, and we can build on this progress if we stick to our plan".

"Last week our cuts to national insurance for 29 million working people came into effect across Britain, as part of our plan to reward work and grow the economy," he said in a statement.

The UK economy has grown slightly for the second month in a row, official figures show.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew just 0.1% in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

It's another signal that the UK economy is working its way out of recession.

Growth of 0.3% was recorded last month - and that figure has been revised upwards from a previous estimate of 0.2%.

A recession was declared in February after data showed two quarters of economic contraction.

If the economy expands for three months, the UK will be officially out of recession.

It can be hard to balance getting nutritious foods that make you feel good without emptying your wallet.

In this series every Friday, we're trying to find the cheapest ways to identify the healthiest options in the supermarket.

We've asked  Sunna Van Kampen,  founder of  Tonic Health ,  who went viral on social media for reviewing supermarket products in the search of healthier choices, for his input. 

The series does not aim to identify the outright healthiest option, rather how to get better nutritional value for as little money as possible.

This time we're looking at yogurt - specifically the differences between some of the most popular: authentic Greek and Greek-style. 

"You have to watch out for Greek-style yoghurt masquerading as the authentic variety," Sunna says. 

Typical Greek-style yoghurt has around 4.6g of sugar per 100g, he says.

But swivel your cart towards the authentic Greek yoghurt, and you'll find only 3.3g per 100g.

"That's an impressive 28% reduction in sugar content, or a teaspoon of sugar a day if you have a 300g portion." 

To be clear - this isn't added sugar, this is the naturally-occurring kind from lactose in the milk.

Protein is the building block of our bodies, and something around 66% of Brits don't get enough of.

"Authentic Greek yoghurt boasts around double the protein content of its Greek-style cousins - with branded versions having 9g per 100g compared to just 3.7g per 100g," Sunna says. 

This means in a typical 300g bowl, you are getting 27g of protein versus only 11.1g in Greek-style. 

Here's the bottom line - it is more expensive, but the investment is worth it, Sunna says. 

• Greek-style yoghurt – supermarket own label – 22p per 100g
• Authentic Greek yoghurt - supermarket own label – 46p per 100g
• Authentic Greek yoghurt – branded versions – 50-58p per 100g

"Okay, so we are talking double the price, but you get what you pay for with double the protein," Sunna says.

Think of it this way - every 300g bowl is an extra 72p per day for nearly 16g of extra protein and nearly 30% less sugar. 

"Far cheaper than what you'd pay for a protein bar with the same amount of protein," Sunna notes. 

The key here: value isn't exclusive to the price tag - and investing in your health is more important than ever. 

So, next time you're navigating the dairy aisle, remember that not all yoghurts are created equal - opting for authentic Greek yoghurt can be a small but effective step towards a healthier diet without breaking the bank.

The nutritionist's view - from  Dr Laura Brown , senior lecturer in nutrition, food, and health sciences at Teesside University...

Yes, absolutely for a source of protein. 

Yogurt is better than protein bars and powders that are full of protein, as they come along with a long list of other potentially artificial ingredients that are not necessary. 

If we are looking at yoghurts from a health perspective, then you're definitely wanting to look for this style - natural, Greek, low sugar or sugar free but not fat-free! 

Families should avoid investing in sugar-laden yoghurts that do not serve any nutritional purposes. 

If someone is eating yoghurt specifically as a source of protein, then there are much better sources like beans and lentils which are affordable and will provide other additional benefits including fibre. 

The price of a prescription is set to to rise from £9.65 to £9.90 in England in May - but there are ways you can save money on your medicines.

Fee-free options remain in place for some, such as those who are pregnant, have certain disabilities, students or the elderly.

But if you're not exempt, there are still some means of cutting the costs of treatments.

Prepayment certificates

Prescription prepayment certificates (PPC) cover NHS prescriptions over a given time period, no matter how many medicines you need.

There are two options: A three-month PPC (£32.05 from May), which will start to save you money if you buy four or more prescriptions in that period, or a 12-month PPC (£114.50), which pays off if you buy 12 or more in a year.

Ask for a larger prescription

Doctors may agree to prescribe a longer course of medicine - such as two months' worth instead of one, halving the cost.

Just ask the question - they might say yes, especially if there's no danger of overuse.

Menopause medication

The NHS offers a particular PPC for hormone replacement therapy.

It lasts for 12 months and costs £19.30, rising to £19.80 from 1 May.

Women can use the PCC as many times as they need within the year.

You might not need a prescription

For some ailments, there are over-the-counter options sold cheaper than their prescribed alternative. You can ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

People are 47 before they reach peak earnings, data for 2023 shows - a huge increase from five years ago.

Office for National Statistics figures show the age for the highest average wage had risen from 38 in 2013 and 40 in 2018.

In 2023, this highest average wage (gross median hourly earnings, including overtime) was £18.78 per hour.

The ONS said: "While the age at which earnings peak has changed, the overall trends in earnings throughout a person’s working career have remained very similar. 

"Young people earn the lowest hourly wage, people aged between 30 and 50 earn the most and median hourly earnings fall from around age 50 until retirement.

"Whilst median earnings fall between age 50 and retirement, this does not mean that individuals' pay will decrease. 

"Higher earners may retire early, reducing the median wage of those remaining in employment, and people may change roles and hours worked."

Yesterday we reported on ONS data showing the age at which people reach life milestones - with all of them being pushed later in life except one...

Fake flights and caravans are the two most common items being sold by fraudsters in relation to travel, Lloyds Bank's research has found.

As Britons head online to book deals for the upcoming bank holidays and summer, they have been urged to "remain vigilant", with the average holiday scam victim being conned out of £765.

Amid rising flight costs post-COVID, people have been flocking to social media and other lesser-known websites to secure cheaper deals.

A food delivery company claims to have created an  "unshakeable bag" to avoid spillage in transit.

Bolt, which owns the Bolt Food delivery platform, said its design is based on gyroscope technology and will keep food stable "during the most abrupt movements".

In a post to its website, the firm said it would make the design available to its competitors as it is "too powerful to be owned by any one company".

"We believe everyone should enjoy a perfect meal, regardless of which app they order it from," it said.

Assaulting a shopworker is to be made a separate criminal offence after a government U-turn following pressure from campaigners.

The government previously said "more legislative change" was not needed to tackle the "intolerable violence and abuse" faced by shopworkers, arguing it did not think it was "required or will be most effective".

But Rishi Sunak is now set to announce his government will be amending the Criminal Justice Bill to bring in the new offence.

The drugmaker was on its knees when Sir Pascal Soriot took over in 2012. 

But under his leadership it now does just about everything the UK wants from a business - creating high value-added jobs and developing products that improve people's lives.

The FTSE 100's performance has lagged that of many of its peers, both in the United States and Europe, more or less since the Brexit vote in 2016.

That poor performance has reflected the poor valuation of many UK-listed companies - resulting in numerous foreign takeovers of UK businesses in recent months and years.

It has also led to a scarcity in the number of companies floating on the London Stock Exchange, most notably the  Cambridge-based chip designer ARM Holdings , which last year opted to list in the US instead.

The situation has alarmed the government, which has announced a number of reforms  aimed at raising the UK's attractiveness .

An imminent shareholder vote on Sir Pascal's pay makes a particularly interesting test case because few would dispute that he has been the most outstanding FTSE 100 chief executive of his generation.

This rise could take his potential earnings to £18.5m this year - which critics say is excessive.

Read my full piece here ...

England's average house price has risen by £103,000 over the last decade, while the average annual wage has risen by £7,734.

But some areas have seen homeownership affordability decline more than others... 

The London borough of Barking and Dagenham has seen the most significant fall, according to moving platform Getamover. 

The platform found the area has seen house prices more than double to £380,000 in the last 10 years - but wages have only risen by £2,182. 

Hillingdon in West London took the second spot, with the average property shooting up by £230,000 to £495,000, while the average income increased by just £143. 

While London remains the most unaffordable region, the East Midlands has also seen a notable fall. 

Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire ranked fifth in the table, with the average house price increasing by £129,000 and the median annual income growing by £2,644.   

Gedling ranks sixth among the areas of England where the affordability of buying a home has declined most. 

The Nottinghamshire region has seen house prices soar by 84.8% to £231,000, while the average income has risen by just 13.11% to £33,454. 

You can see how other areas fared in the table below...

Rishi Sunak's post-Brexit rules for foreign workers are getting tough press in Italy this week - with claims they could mark the end of Italian waiters in London.

April saw the minimum salary requirement for a skilled worker visa increase from £26,200 to £38,700 - a near 50% rise as the government tries to reduce immigration.

Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica published an article on its site headlined "Italians in London, the long goodbye" after the new rule was brought in this month.

There were an estimated 342,000 Italians living in the UK in 2021, according to the latest Office for National Statistics census data.

La Repubblica said the new rule change would lead to the "end of the story" of Italy's "ancient roots" in the capital, which was founded by the Romans in 43 AD.

Separately, Italian journalist Antonio Polito wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper that the new salary for skilled workers was "an amount that no young novice can realistically earn".

"Thus London gives up one of its great assets, the fact of being an offshore and cosmopolitan city," he said.

Mr Sunak's post-Brexit rule change has worried hospitality bosses who are still struggling to get to grips with a post-COVID reality and rising costs. 

Conor Sheridan, founder of Nory and Mad Egg restaurant chain, previously told the Money blog that roughly 14% of his 15,000 UK employee base were on working visas that could be affected.

Trade body UKHospitality also said the changes would "further shrink the talent pool that the entire economy will be recruiting from".

As the migration law came in, Home Secretary James Cleverly said it was "time to turn off the taps and end the flow of cheap workers from abroad".

"We are refocusing our immigration system to prioritise the brightest and best who have the skills our economy needs, while reducing overall numbers," he said.

Several of the UK's biggest supermarkets closed their gender pay gap in the last year - while Morrisons saw the biggest rise, figures show.

Ocado and Lidl reduced their gap by the largest amounts in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, while Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Iceland and Waitrose owner John Lewis also saw a reduction.

The data comes from the government's gender pay gap service and states the difference in hourly rates of pay. 

In contrast to other big-name brands, Morrisons saw its mean pay gap widen to 12.5% from 7.6%. M&S also saw a slight increase from 12.5% to 12.6%.

The mean figure gives the best overall view of the gender pay gap but includes extreme values which could skew the average.

Of the 11 biggest UK supermarkets, Co-op has the largest pay gap with 13.2%, followed by M&S and Morrisons.

An M&S spokesperson said: "We're committed to driving equal opportunities and making M&S a great place to work for women. Encouragingly our median pay gap has decreased, and women now make up more than 50% of our UK store management population, but we know there is more to do. 

"We're making progress with the launch of new initiatives, talent programmes, and policies, including our flexible working offer – Worklife, a Job Share Finder, and our industry-leading family leave offer."

A spokesperson for Co-op said: "We are committed to treating our colleague member owners fairly, and this includes driving equitable outcomes for female colleagues. We've seen a significant reduction in our gender pay gap since we started to report data in 2017, and this year's data shows further progress towards closing it.

"It's important to reiterate that we don't pay people differently based on their gender at Co-op. The gender pay gap is caused by us having fewer females in leadership role, where salaries are higher.

"Our focus on improving representation remains, as we know this is one of the key drivers causing the gender pay gap. Today, 40% of our leadership population are female - this is not enough, which is why we’ve launched a series of development programmes and have a coaching and mentoring offer to support women with career progression.

"We know there’s still much to do in this space and will hold ourselves to account and continue to strive for gender equality."

Morrisons has also been contacted for comment.

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