- Evaluate your business ideas. Whether you’ve got one business idea or many, a business plan can make an idea more tangible, helping you see if it’s truly viable.
- Plan for your next phase. Whether your goal is to start a new business or scale an existing business to the next level, a business plan can help you understand what needs to happen and identify gaps to address.
- Clarify marketing strategy, goals, and tactics. Writing a business plan can show you the actionable next steps to take on a big, abstract idea. It can also help you narrow your strategy and identify clear-cut tactics that will support it.
- Scope the necessary work. Without a concrete plan, cost overruns and delays are all but certain. A business plan can help you see the full scope of work to be done and adjust your investment of time and money accordingly.
- Hire and build partnerships. When you need buy-in from potential employees and partners, especially in the early stages of your business, a clearly written business plan is one of the best tools at your disposal. A business plan provides a refined look at your goals for the business, letting partners judge for themselves whether or not they agree with your vision.
- Secure funds. Securing funding for your business, whether from venture capital or a bank, is one of the most common reasons to create a business plan.
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This template is designed to ensure you’re thinking through all of the important facets of starting a new business. It’s intended to help new entrepreneurs and small business owners consider the full scope of running a business and identify functional areas they may not have considered or where they may need to level up their skills as they grow.
Before you write your own, read through the following business plan example. You can download a copy in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and use it to inspire your own planning.
Why write a business plan at all?
This free business plan template includes the following sections:
Business plans often are used to secure funding, but plenty of businesses find writing a plan valuable, even if they never work with an investor. That’s why we put together a free business plan template to help you get started.
A business plan can be as informal or formal as your situation calls for, but even if you’re a fan of the back-of-the-napkin approach to planning, there are some key benefits to starting your plan from an existing outline or template.
Are you super organized and love working behind the scenes? If so, you might be the perfect candidate to start a virtual assistant (VA) business.
This process lets you skip over a lot of obstacles that might be standing in the way of you starting your own business. More importantly, it eliminates the risk of finding out there’s no market for your product after placing a huge order with a manufacturer or supplier.
To help you find the inspiration to start, we compiled a list of 100+ in-demand business ideas, broken down into categories like fitness, apparel, and gaming.
If you already own a Shopify store, you can set up your own clothing line using Oberlo, Printify, Printful, or a similar product-sourcing app. Each automatically links your store to apparel printers and clothing manufacturers. They also handle every step of the retail fulfillment process for you, giving you the freedom to design and ship a wide range of pieces right out of the gate.
10. Try your hand at being an influencer
Think you need a warehouse full of inventory to run your own business? Think again! Dropshipping is a great way to start a business on a budget. You can hit the ground running by sourcing a pre-existing product from a supplier and having them take care of things like packaging and fulfillment.
If you’re interested in dropshipping, read our Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping to help you get started.
Getting your first paying customer is a huge milestone for a new small business owner. Now that you’ve got your store set up, you’ll want to start getting your business out there. But finding new customers and creating convincing promotions takes time and energy.
Here are a few other resources to help you get started with your ecommerce site:
Use HubSpot's Free Business Plan Template to Get Started with Your Business
On the marketing side, you'll want to cover answers to questions like: How do you plan to penetrate the market? How will you grow your business? Which channels will you focus on for distribution? How will you communicate with your customers?
Include both an analysis of research that others have done, as well as primary research that you've collected yourself -- whether by customer surveys, interviews, or other methods.
What makes yours stand out from the others? Are you planning to make clothing for specific sports or athletic activities, like yoga or hiking or tennis? Do you use environmentally friendly material? Does a certain percentage of your proceeds go to charity? Does your brand promote positive body image?
Free Business Plan Template
Accelerators are highly competitive programs that typically involve applying and then competing against other startups in a public pitch event or demo day. In addition to winning funding and seed capital, winners of these programs are also rewarded with mentorship and educational programs.
Remember: You're not just selling your product or service -- you're selling a combination of product, value, and brand experience. Think through these big questions and outline them before you dive in to the nitty-gritty of your business plan research.
Many founders need external start-up capital to get their business off the ground. If that sounds like you, keep on reading to learn about the most common kinds of external capital you can raise.
The Harvard Business Reviews defines "Threats" as "possible events or forces outside of your control that your company or unit needs to plan for or decide how to mitigate."
Any new business, especially startups, need a business plan. The document is an essential tool to identify need and address uncertainty (e.g. sales projections, operating costs, expense budgets, etc.).
1. Keep it concise 2. Keep your reader in mind 3. Make sure the language, prose, and jargon is easy for your target audience to understand
Details how your business will earn profits or lose money over time (generally three months).
Cash vs Accrual Accounting: the two methods of accounting
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted a SWOT worksheet in advance of a Webinar on their Open Government program. In this case, SWOT provided an opportunity for employees to brainstorm and prepare their assessments of the program in advance of the more thorough evaluation of the Open Government at the Webinar.
I would introduce the [SWOT] tool, then ask the team to focus on identifying organizational strengths and weaknesses, and end up in abstract, navel-gazing discussions about "what are we good at" and "what are we bad at."
Are you starting an accounting business? Our accounting business plan can help you establish exactly what you need to successfully start your business.
Lastly, just as technological innovation may provide an opportunity, it can also issue a threat.
If you’re tech savvy, acquire some coding skills and start building. Whether it’s mobile apps, Shopify apps, or websites, you can create digital products for purchase or as a service provider.
If you’re interested in dropshipping, read our Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping to help you get started.
“How do I open a business bank account?” is a common question for many new entrepreneurs. After you’ve officially registered your business with your local government, you should have the tax identification numbers and other information required to open a business bank account.
You’ve validated your idea, now it’s time to turn it into a reality. Whether you’re selling a product or service, you need to create it. Find a manufacturer to bring your product to life, create packages of your service offerings, or write your book and identify a self-publishing option to bring it to fruition.
Why build apps and websites?
First, find a business name. You can use a Business name generator to help come up with one if you’re stuck. You’ll need one to start building your website.
As you grow, you might need funding for future endeavors, be it a new product launch or marketing and advertising spend. Having business bank accounts makes it easier for you to manage that capital, as well as track your revenue and expenses.
We used Printful to create THINK PUP, an apparel store for dog owners, and ended up making over $1,200 in just three weeks. With some time and research, you could be well on your way to building a successful t-shirt company, too.
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