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.
Almost there: please enter your email below to gain instant access.
- 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.
This free business plan template includes the following sections:
A professional business plan example to inspire you
The easiest way to simplify the work of writing a business plan is to start with a business plan template.
Although even the best-crafted plan may not survive its first contact with reality, the act of planning is still invaluable for any business owner.
- Executive summary. A one-page summary of your whole plan, typically written after the rest of the plan is completed.
- Company description. An overview can include many potential sub-sections, from the basics (your type of business model) to the meaningful (your business’ vision and mission statement).
- Market analysis. Everything from estimated market size to your target markets. It’ll also include a competitive analysis of your industry to address competitors strengths and weaknesses.
- Products and services. What you sell and the most important features of your products or services. It’ll also include any plans for intellectual property, like patent filings or copyright. If you do market research for your products, it’ll show up in this section of your business plan.
- Marketing plan. How you intend to get the word out about your business, and what strategic decisions you’ve made about things like your pricing strategy.
- Logistics and operations plan. Everything that needs to happen to turn your raw materials into products and get them into the hands of your customers.
- Financial plan. It’s important to include a look at your financial projections. This section includes templates for three key financial statements: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement.
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.
Who's going to create content? Who's going to manage the servers? Who's going to handle taxes, invoices, accounting? Do you have an accountant, or legal adviser? What about consultants?
Cloud-based productivity. Communicate, collaborate and get things done from anywhere, on any device.
You can also learn some neat tricks about online marketing to kickstart early phase growth and bring in customers and money quickly.
The purpose of this template is really to help owners get started. If the information in this plan is not sufficient to meet your needs, there are excellent, professional templates and software packages available (see below).
Recommended reading
Starting out with a great business plan is especially important for online startups (like blogs, professional sites & eCommerce stores) because knowledge and understanding rule the highly competitive Web based economy.
- Cash flow analysis
- Break-even analysis
- Opening day balance
Otherwise, focus on what personnel, skills, equipment and services are needed in order to work efficiently and grow quickly.
Include motivation as to why your company is going to succeed in this market. What skills and insight do you have that sets you apart? Bloggers, for example, might want to talk about published articles or books, or noteworthy things about themselves that help to bring a unique perspective.
As you write a business plan, take time to not only analyze your business idea, but yourself as well. Ask the following questions to help you analyze your business idea along the way:
- Why do I want to start or expand my business?
- Do my goals (personal and professional) and values align with my business idea?
- What income do I need to generate for myself?
- What education, experience, and skills do I bring to my business?
According to the business plan template created by SCORE, Deluxe, and the SBA , a traditional business plan encompasses the following sections.
Pro tip: These are the details you’ll use each time you create a business profile, whether that's on social media, business directories, or other networks. Keep your information consistent to reduce confusion and instill more confidence in potential customers.
How to Create a Business Plan: Questions to Ask Yourself
Think of this as a great way to evaluate the strengths of each individual running your business. When self-evaluating, you’ll be able to identify the aspects of your business that’ll be easier to manage and which ones to delegate to freelancers, contractors, employees, and third-party services. This also makes it easier to find the best way to utilize their strengths for business growth.
In addition to the above sections, some business plans also include a SWOT Analysis. This is a one-page summary of your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strengths and weaknesses you include will be internal, whereas opportunities and threats you include will be external.
The Products & Services section details what you plan to sell to customers. For a dropshipping business , this section should explain which trending products you’re going to sell, the pain points your products solve for customers, how you’ll price your products compared to your competitors, expected profit margin, and production and delivery details.
No budget for a professional designer? Save 20+ hours of design time and hours of frustration with our easy-to-customize business plan templates.
Not a designer? No problem. With our easy-to-edit templates and online Business Plan builder, anyone can create a winning business plan for free. Over 40,000 businesses already use and trust Venngage.
You can also use My Brand Kit to set title, subtitle and body font styles and sizes.
Create unique charts and graphs for your data, too. Add bar or line charts, pie charts, Venn diagrams, interactive maps and more and edit them with a few clicks.
Pro data visualizations
Not all businesses, or business plans, are created equally. Make sure the plan you share with investors, lenders and other stakeholders is not only packed with key data and information, but visually engaging too.
Upload and save your brand colors, fonts and logo to your Brand Kit. Add your branding to any of our templates with one click.
Whatever the case, Venngage's drag-and-drop business plan generator lets anyone create a beautiful, professional business plan without any design experience.
Don't like how your brand colors look in a template? Toggle through the options to get a variety of combinations.
“The thing I like best about this free business plan template is the fact that it lets you go back in and edit as needed, so you don’t have to have all of the information in front of you the first time you set out to tackle the task. Creating a well thought-out business plan requires research and planning, so the edit option comes in very handy. The end result is a very professional looking business plan.”
Telling the story of your opportunity from problem / solution to testimonials and financial requirements, the business pitch presentation has 19 easy-to-edit slides, along with pro designer tips for working with the financial tables and other graphics.
Editor’s note: Get PowerPoint and other proven Microsoft Office products with Microsoft Office 365 from GoDaddy. Plans are simple to set up and include GoDaddy’s award-winning 24/7 support.
In order to download the business plan created, you will have to sign up for a trial subscription, but that can be cancelled if you don’t plan on using the service.
1. U.S. Small Business Administration business plan builder
This Business Strategy presentation template could be a cornerstone for all business leaders. This deck will help you clearly present on the following:
- Project timelines
- Data visualization
- Project checklists
- Business models
- Strategies
- Payments
- Security
- Revenue
“There are a lot of free business plan templates available online, but very few are as well structured as the offering from SCORE. There are 150 questions to answer, all designed to help you create the best business plan for your specific situation. I highly recommend this template, especially if it’s your first time writing a business plan.”