Need a Template Business Plan?

A template business plan is a useful thing to have if you’ve never written a business plan before. Most entrepreneurs place a lot of value on the finished product of the business plan, but its real value goes beyond that. A business plan forces you to do research and plan out your business in a strategic, systematic manner. It may take some time and a lot of revisions, but writing a business plan will help you avoid costly mistakes in the future. Typically, a business plan is made up of a narrative about your business and some financial worksheets. This template business plan will help you get started.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is the first part of any business plan, but it should be written last and should only occupy a page or two. In your executive summary, you need to explain the fundamentals of your business as if you were given only five minutes to talk about it. Make it concise, yet complete and enthusiastic.

General Company Description

Your general company description describes your business’s mission statement, goals and objectives, and your business philosophy. Your mission statement should describe why your business exists and what its guiding principles are. The goals of your business describe where you want your company to be in the future, whereas objectives are markers that guide the path towards your goal. Your business philosophy should describe what you want out of your business.

You also need to briefly state your market, your industry, your company’s strengths, and legal form of ownership (partnership, sole proprietor, corporation, or LLC).

Products and Services

In this section, you need to describe your products or services in great details. Include drawings, photos, technical specifications, brochures in the appendix. Explain what gives your company a competitive edge over other companies, and include information on pricing and leasing structures.

Marketing Plan

The marketing plan is one of the most detailed sections of any business plan. Describe how you intend to do your market research, and based on this information, give out the facts about your industry, your growth potential, the barriers to entry, and what you can do to overcome these barriers. In the previous section, you described your products and services. You will need to describe them again in the marketing plan, but this time from your customers’ point of view. Write down the features and benefits of your product or service, and how it can benefit your customers. You will also need to identify your customer’s demographic profile as well as competing products and companies.

After you have identified all these factors, you now need to come up with a marketing strategy based on this information. Include your budget, distribution channels, and sales forecast.

Operational Plan

The operational plan will also make up a huge bulk of your business plan. In here you will explain your business’s daily operation, employees, equipment, and environment. Here are some basic questions that will help you get started:

• Where and how will your products/services be produced?
• What kind of location do you want?
• How many employees do you need?
• What kind of inventory are you going to keep?
• Who are your suppliers?

Management and Operations

In Management and Operations, you need to be able to answer who will manage the business daily and the qualifications they need.

Financial Plan

This section will be of interest to bankers and investors. The financial plan is the estimate of your business’s financial future. Include a 12-month profit and loss projection, a balance sheet, a cash-flow projection, and break-even calculation.