what should be in a 3 year business plan

3 Year Strategic Plan Example PDF: A 3 Year Plan for Business Growth in 2024 and Beyond

By Jessica Wishart

Strategies for Growth

Working on your 3-5 Year Strategic Plan (PDF) is a best practice during your 2-day annual planning session, but what should the outcome of that time look like? What do you need to accomplish in that time? How does it connect to your mission statement?

3-Year Business Plan Foundation:

• 1-3 Targets
• 2-3 Strategic Winning Moves for Revenue.
• 1-2 Strategic Winning Moves for Profit

3 Year Strategic Plan Examples PDF

Obviously, no cookie-cutter plan or template works for every company, but if you are struggling with a place to start or curious about what a plan might look like, here are some examples of each component of your 3 Year Plan. (For these examples, I will focus on the 3-year time horizon. Based on industry standards and your own growth goals, determine whether you want a 3 Year Plan—or 4 or even 5—to double the revenue for your company. Choose a specific time horizon, focus on that period, and choose the appropriate goals for the required team members.  The shorter the time frame, the more detailed the action plan and clarity around SMART goals with Rhythm Systems SMART AI Goal Coach has 20 years of experience behind it.  ( How to Write a Goal ).

Most companies track revenue as a Target in your 3 year strategic plan. Consider if there are other important strategic metrics for your business, and add those to your list. Think about your goal to achieve in 3 years, what the goal is for this year, and what the goal is next year to help you get there. You can't manage what you can't measure.  

• 2024 Goal: $50 m
• 2025 Goal: $70 m
• 2026 Goal: $100 m
• # of Customers
• 2024 Goal: 200
• 2025 Goal: 300
• 2026 Goal: 450
• Gross Margin
• 2024 Goal: 30%
• 2025 Goal: 35%
• 2026 Goal: 40%

Other examples of Targets could be Net Profit, EBITDA, # of Locations, Revenue by Product Line, Revenue/Employee, Net Income, etc. Do individual business units require their own targets and goals? Now is the time to discuss them.

3-Year Strategic Plan Video

You can download our free strategic planning example template by clicking below.

Strategic Winning Moves for Revenue

Most companies grow in a few ways: acquisitions, organic growth, or expanding into new products, services, or markets. Depending on your business, industry, and specific opportunities and challenges, you should think through and determine the right mix of Winning Moves to help you achieve the Targets you set for your 3-Year Plan in your planning session . Your Winning Moves should help you double your revenue in the next 3-5 years. Make sure that the objective is as clear as you can make.  By definition, you won't know all the answers, but the better the team understands the mission - even if the details aren't clear - the more they are connected to the why, the more they can help in strategy development.

Examples of Winning Moves for revenue growth could include strategies like the following:

• Successfully integrated 3 key acquisitions
• Launch our core product to customers in Asia
• Monetize internal database technology solutions (package and sell to companies)
• Increase wallet share by 8%.
• Create additional products and services for our core customers.
• Increase recurring revenue and service contracts by 12%.

Other examples could be things like developing a new product, shifting your business to a subscription model, selling your product or service to a new industry, etc. The best ideas for how to grow your business will come from you and your team. If you have trouble brainstorming and choosing ideas, we have a proven process to help.

Strategic Winning Moves for Profit.

These strategies are all about maintaining profitability as you grow. If your company doubles in revenue over the next 3 years, what do you need to have in place from an infrastructure perspective as you scale (or from a leadership and talent growth perspective)?

Examples of Winning Moves for Profit:

• Expand IT infrastructure to support growth
• Generate a consistent engine to hire, develop, and retain A-Players in management roles
• Increase revenue per employee by 25%
• Reduces employee churn 18%
• Implement Artificial Intelligence to boost productivity 15%

How to Build Your 3-Year Plan:

Once you’ve identified the right mix of Winning Moves (no more than 3-5 total), you should do the following with each:

• Assign an Owner on your team—one person to be accountable for moving the idea forward.
• Set Red-Yellow-Green success criteria for each to create alignment on what success and failure would be on each goal.
• Set Revenue Projections on each Winning Move for the next 3 years. Compare this to the revenue Target you set in your 3-year plan, providing a number one long-term goal. If your revenue projections on your Winning Moves don’t add up to your revenue Targets, you have more work to do.
• Identify and test assumptions for each Winning Move. What has to pan out for your financial model to work? Consider your assumptions, and validate those before you spend time, money, and energy on your strategies.
• Build an execution plan . Your annual and quarterly execution plans should link back to your Winning Moves and advance your strategy with the planning process.
• Discuss opportunities and threats - both short-term and long-term.

Establishing your 3-year strategic plan will help you get closer to achieving your long-term visionary BHAG and give your annual plans a strategic anchor. If you aren’t sure how to get started, let one of our expert facilitators guide you.

We hope you enjoy our strategic plan template; please feel free to  drop us a line if we can help.

Check out these other blogs on three-year strategic plans..

The CEO Strategy-Execution Gap...And How To Fix It

Choose Your 3 Year Strategic Growth Initiatives Wisely With This 4-Step Process

5 Steps to Getting Started on 3 Year Strategic Plans with Winning Moves

Have you been able to validate your 3-Year Strategic Plan?

Robust 3-Year Strategic Plans to Grow Revenue and Stay Competitive

16 Strategic Planning Tips to Keep Your Strategic Plan Alive

Don't Confuse Strategic Thinking And Strategy Execution Plans

9 Steps to a New Revenue Growth Strategy [Infographic]

Photo Credit:   iStock  by Getty Images

Jessica Wishart

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images

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Strategic growth initiatives: create your 3 year strategic growth plan wisely, create 3 year strategic plans with revenue growth, two truths and a lie: the sears saga and your 3-5 year strategic plan, strategy validation: have you validated your 3-5 year strategic plan, 3 year strategic plans to grow revenue and stay competitive, 3 year strategic plan: how to achieve your 3 year strategy.

How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated March 18, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information you need to cover in a business plan sometimes isn’t quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

If you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template to get you started, download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

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

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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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.

On a similar note...

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Strategic Business Planning: Create a Powerful 3-5 Year Business Plan

Business owners need  strategic business planning  to maintain a competitive and profitable company. A three to five-year business plan will help you get there.

Having no plan is planning to fail. Without a well-thought-out business plan, you’ll run the risk of generating few results for your customers. You want to be productive, not just busy. 

A three to five-year business plan tells investors where you currently are, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there. 

Our #1 tip for getting started with a business plan

When you write your  business plan , be sure to use bullets and subheads outlining your topics and ideas. Breaking up the text will help people follow your train of thought and your goals. Remember to include SWOT analysis, a mission and vision statement, and  KPIs . 

Start your business plan with an executive summary. 

Lead with your executive summary. The executive summary aims to give readers a birds-eye-view of what your three to five-year business plan contains. You’ll provide more details on the key points in the executive summary throughout the rest of the plan.

Although you’ll start the business plan with the executive summary, you want to save writing it last. That gives you the best chance of leading with the most critical points in the rest of the plan and ensures the summary is concise and on-point. 

Give your mission statement.

A mission statement is a succinct description of the main objectives of your business and what you hope to achieve. It won’t be long — just a few sentences. But despite its brevity, a mission statement will take some time to craft. 

Clearly explain what your business is all about, why it exists, whom it serves, and where it wants to be in the future. The mission statement should fully encapsulate and communicate your vision. 

Conduct a SWOT analysis. 

SWOT stands for:

• Opportunities

Take an honest look at your team leaders and your company. What are you doing great? What needs some improvement? 

List the opportunities you see in the market and any threats that may stand in your way of capitalizing on those opportunities. 

List your strategic goals in the business plan next. 

Lofty aspirations have their place. But in a strategic business plan, you want to list specific, actionable, and measurable goals you wish to achieve. 

A goal may require more than one specific action, a fluctuating budget, or changing personnel resources. Goals you hope to achieve over several years will also require you to outline the smaller goals and action plans they’ll need to get you from point A to B. 

Outline your KPIs. 

Strategic plans need measurable goals. Your KPIs or key performance indicators will help you communicate how you’ll measure your success. Start with the result you want to achieve, and then work backward to communicate KPIs to your readers adequately.

Get started with strategic business planning today. 

At C&A, we work closely with business owners to create strategic business plans and organization planning for achieving long-term goals.  Contact us today  for a free consultation.

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The Complete Guide to Writing a Strategic Plan

By Joe Weller | April 12, 2019 (updated March 26, 2024)

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Writing a strategic plan can be daunting, as the process includes many steps. In this article, you’ll learn the basics of writing a strategic plan, what to include, common challenges, and more.

Included on this page, you'll find details on what to include in a strategic plan , the importance of an executive summary , how to write a mission statement , how to write a vision statement , and more.

The Basics of Writing a Strategic Plan

The strategic planning process takes time, but the payoff is huge. If done correctly, your strategic plan will engage and align stakeholders around your company’s priorities.

Strategic planning, also called strategy development or analysis and assessment , requires attention to detail and should be performed by someone who can follow through on next steps and regular updates. Strategic plans are not static documents — they change as new circumstances arise, both internally and externally.

Before beginning the strategic planning process, it’s important to make sure you have buy-in from management, a board of directors, or other leaders. Without it, the process cannot succeed.

Next, gather your planning team. The group should include people from various departments at different levels, and the planning process should be an open, free discussion within the group. It’s important for leaders to get input from the group as a whole, but they don’t necessarily need approval from everyone — that will slow down the process.

The plan author is responsible for writing and putting the final plan together and should work with a smaller group of writers to establish and standardize the tone and style of the final document or presentation.

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to hire an external party to help facilitate the strategic planning process.

“It often can be helpful to have a really good facilitator to organize and pursue strategic conversations,” says Professor John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and author of Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement .

Byson says the facilitator can be in-house or external, but they need experience. “You need to make sure someone is good, so there needs to be a vetting process,” he says.

One way to gauge a facilitator’s experience is by asking how they conduct conversations. “It’s important for facilitators to lead by asking questions,” Bryson says.

Bryson says that strong facilitators often ask the following questions:

What is the situation we find ourselves in?

What do we do?

How do we do it?

How do we link our purposes to our capabilities?

The facilitators also need to be able to handle conflict and diffuse situations by separating idea generation from judgement. “Conflict is part of strategic planning,” Bryson admits. “[Facilitators] need to hold the conversations open long enough to get enough ideas out there to be able to make wise choices.”

These outside helpers are sometimes more effective than internal facilitators since they are not emotionally invested in the outcome of the process. Thus, they can concentrate on the process and ask difficult questions.

A strategic plan is a dynamic document or presentation that details your company’s present situation, outlines your future plans, and shows you how the company can get there. You can take many approaches to the process and consider differing ideas about what needs to go into it, but some general concepts stand.

“Strategic planning is a prompt or a facilitator for fostering strategic thinking, acting, and learning,” says Bryson. He explains that he often begins planning projects with three questions:

What do you want to do?

How are we going to do it?

What would happen if you did what you want to do?

The answers to these questions make up the meat of the planning document.

A strategic plan is only effective when the writing and thinking is clear, since the intent is to help an organization keep to its mission through programs and capacity, while also building stakeholder engagement.

Question 1: Where Are We Now?

The answer (or answers) to the first question — where are we now? — addresses the foundation of your organization, and it can serve as an outline for the following sections of your strategic plan:

Mission statement

Core values and guiding principles

Identification of competing organizations

Industry analysis (this can include a SWOT or PEST analysis)

Question 2: Where Are We Going?

The answers to this question help you identify your goals for the future of the business and assess whether your current trajectory is the future you want. These aspects of the plan outline a strategy for achieving success and can include the following:

Vision statement about what the company will look like in the future

What is happening (both internally and externally) and what needs to change

The factors necessary for success

Question 3: How Do We Get There?

The answers to this question help you outline the many routes you can take to achieve your vision and match your strengths with opportunities in the market. A Gantt chart can help you map out and keep track of these initiatives.

You should include the following sections:

Specific and measurable goals

An execution plan that identifies who manages and monitors the plan

An evaluation plan that shows how you plan to measure the successes and setbacks that come with implementation

What to Include in a Strategic Plan

Strategic planning terminology is not standardized throughout the industry, and this can lead to confusion. Instead, strategic planning experts use many names for the different sections of a strategic plan.

“The terms are all over the map. It’s really the concept of what the intention of the terms are [that is important],” says Denise McNerney, President and CEO of iBossWell, Inc. , and incoming president of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). She recommends coming up with a kind of glossary that defines the terms for your team. “One of the most important elements when you’re starting the strategic planning process is to get some clarity on the nomenclature. It’s just what works for your organization. Every organization is slightly different.”

No matter what terms you use, the general idea of a strategic plan is the same. “It’s like drawing a map for your company. One of the first steps is committing to a process, then determining how you’re going to do it,” McNerney explains.

She uses a basic diagram that she calls the strategic plan architecture . The areas above the red dotted line are the strategic parts of the plan. Below the red dotted line are the implementation pieces.

While the specific terminology varies, basic sections of a strategic plan include the following in roughly this order:

Executive summary

Elevator pitch or company description

Vision statement

Industry analysis

Marketing plan

Operations plan

Financial projections

Evaluation methods

Signature page

Some plans will contain all the above sections, but others will not — what you include depends on your organization’s structure and culture.

“I want to keep it simple, so organizations can be successful in achieving [the strategic plan],” McNerney explains. “Your plan has to be aligned with your culture and your culture needs to be aligned with your plan if you’re going to be successful in implementing it.”

The following checklist will help you keep track of what you have done and what you still need to do.

‌ Download Strategic Plan Sections Checklist

How to Write a Strategic Plan

Once you’ve assembled your team and defined your terms, it’s time to formalize your ideas by writing the strategic plan. The plan may be in the form of a document, a presentation, or another format.

You can use many models and formats to create your strategic plan (read more about them in this article ). However, you will likely need to include some basic sections, regardless of the particular method you choose (even if the order and way you present them vary). In many cases, the sections of a strategic plan build on each other, so you may have to write them in order.

One tip: Try to avoid jargon and generic terms; for example, words like maximize and succeed lose their punch. Additionally, remember that there are many terms for the same object in strategic planning.

The following sections walk you through how to write common sections of a strategic plan.

How to Write an Executive Summary

The key to writing a strong executive summary is being clear and concise. Don’t feel pressured to put anything and everything into this section — executive summaries should only be about one to two pages long and include the main points of the strategic plan.

The idea is to pique the reader’s interest and get them to read the rest of the plan. Because it functions as a review of the entire document, write the executive summary after you complete the rest of your strategic plan.

“If you have a plan that’s really lengthy, you should have a summary,” says Jim Stockmal, President of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). He always writes summaries last, after he has all the data and information he needs for the plan. He says it is easier to cut than to create something.

For more information about writing an effective executive summary, a checklist, and free templates, read this article .

If you want a one-page executive summary, this template can help you decide what information to include.

Download One-Page Executive Summary Template

Excel | Word | PDF

How to Write a Company Description

Also called an elevator pitch , the company description is a brief outline of your organization and what it does. It should be short enough that it can be read or heard during the average elevator ride.

The company description should include the history of your company, the major products and services you provide, and any highlights and accomplishments, and it should accomplish the following:

Define what you are as a company.

Describe what the company does.

Identify your ideal client and customer.

Highlight what makes your company unique.

While this may seem basic, the company description changes as your company grows and changes. For example, your ideal customer five years ago might not be the same as the current standard or the one you want in five years.

Share the company description with everyone in your organization. If employees cannot accurately articulate what you do to others, you might miss out on opportunities.

How to Write a Mission Statement

The mission statement explains what your business is trying to achieve. In addition to guiding your entire company, it also helps your employees make decisions that move them toward the company’s overall mission and goals.

“Ideally, [the mission statement is] something that describes what you’re about at the highest level,” McNerney says. “It’s the reason you exist or what you do.”

Strong mission statements can help differentiate your company from your competitors and keep you on track toward your goals. It can also function as a type of tagline for your organization.

Mission statements should do the following:

Define your company’s purpose. Say what you do, who you do it for, and why it is valuable.

Use specific and easy-to-understand language.

Be inspirational while remaining realistic.

Be short and succinct.

This is your chance to define the way your company will make decisions based on goals, culture, and ethics. Mission statements should not be vague or generic, and they should set your business apart from others. If your mission statement could define many companies in your line of work, it is not a good mission statement.

Mission statements don’t have to be only outward-facing for customers or partners. In fact, it is also possible to include what your company does for its employees in your mission statement.

Unlike other parts of your strategic plan that are designed to be reviewed and edited periodically, your company’s mission statement should live as is for a while.

That said, make the effort to edit and refine your mission statement. Take out jargon like world class, best possible, state of the art, maximize, succeed , and so on, and cut vague or unspecific phrasing. Then let your strategic planning committee review it.

How to Write a Vision Statement

Every action your company does contributes to its vision. The vision statement explains what your company wants to achieve in the long term and can help inspire and align your team.

“The vision is the highest-ordered statement of the desired future or state of what you want your business to achieve,” McNerney explains.

A clear vision statement can help all stakeholders understand the meaning and purpose of your company. It should encourage and inspire employees while setting your company’s direction. It also helps you rule out elements that might not align with your vision.

Vision statements should be short (a few sentences). They should also be memorable, specific, and ambitious. But there is a fine line between being ambitious and creating a fantasy. The vision should be clearly attainable if you follow the goals and objectives you outline later in your strategic planning plan.

Because you need to know your company’s goals and objectives to create an accurate vision statement, you might need to wait until you have more information about the company’s direction to write your vision statement.

Below are questions to ask your team as you craft your vision statement:

What impact do we want to have on our community and industry?

How will we interact with others as a company?

What is the culture of the business?

Avoid broad statements that could apply to any company or industry. For example, phrases like “delivering a wonderful experience” could apply to many industries. Write in the present tense, avoid jargon, and be clear and concise.

Vision statements should accomplish the following:

Be inspiring.

Focus on success.

Look at and project about five to 10 years ahead.

Stay in line with the goals and values of your organization.

Once you write your vision statement, communicate it to everyone in your company. Your team should be able to easily understand and repeat the company’s vision statement. Remember, the statements can change as the environment in and around your company changes.

The Difference Between Mission and Vision Statements

Mission and vision statements are both important, but they serve very different purposes.

Mission statements show why a business exists, while vision statements are meant to inspire and provide direction. Mission statements are about the present, and vision statements are about the future. The mission provides items to act upon, and the vision offers goals to aspire to.

For example, if a vision statement is “No child goes to bed hungry,” the accompanying mission would be to provide food banks within the city limits.

While many organizations have both mission and vision statements, it’s not imperative. “Not everyone has a vision statement,” McNerney says. “Some organizations just have one.”

If you choose to have only one statement, McNerney offers some advice: “Any statement you have, if you have just one, needs to include what [you do], how [you do it], why [you do it], and who you do it for.”

During the planning process, these key statements might change. “Early on in the process, you need to talk about what you are doing and why and how you are doing it. Sometimes you think you know where you want to go, but you’re not really sure,” McNerney says. “You need to have flexibility both on the plan content and in the process.”

How to Write Your Company’s Core Values

Company core values , sometimes called organizational values , help you understand what drives the company to do what it does. In this section, you’ll learn a lot about your company and the people who work with you. It should be relatively easy to write.

“The values are the core of how you operate [and] how you treat your people, both internally and externally. Values describe the behaviors you really want to advance,” McNerney says.

There are both internal and external values looking at your employees and coworkers, as well as customers and outside stakeholders. Pinpointing values will help you figure out the traits of the people you want to hire and promote, as well as the qualities you’re looking for in your customers.

Your values should align with your vision statement and highlight your strengths while mitigating weaknesses. McNerney says many organizations do not really consider or are not honest about their company’s values when working on strategic plans, which can lead to failure.

“Your strategies have to align with your values and vice versa,” she explains.

Many companies’ values sound like meaningless jargon, so take the time to figure out what matters to your company and push beyond generic language.

How to Write about Your Industry

When planning ahead for your business, it’s important to look around. How are matters inside your company? What are your competitors doing? Who are your target customers?

“[If you don’t do a thorough industry analysis], you’re doing your planning with your head in the sand. If you’re not looking at the world around you, you’re missing a whole dimension about what should inform your decision making,” McNerney advises.

Writing about your industry helps you identify new opportunities for growth and shows you how you need to change in order to take advantage of those opportunities. Identify your key competitors, and define what you see as their strengths and weaknesses. Performing this analysis will help you figure out what you do best and how you compare to your competition. Once you know what you do well, you can exploit your strengths to your advantage.

In this section, also include your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. You can choose from many templates to help you write this section.

Next, identify your target customers. Think about what they want and need, as well as how you can provide it. Do your competitors attract your target customers, or do you have a niche that sets you apart?

The industry analysis carries a price, but also provides many benefits. “It takes some time and money to do [a thorough industry analysis], but the lack of that understanding says a lot about the future of your organization. If you don’t know what is going on around you, how can you stay competitive?” explains McNerney.

How to Write Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives

This section is the bulk of your strategic plan. Many people confuse goals and objectives, thinking the terms are interchangeable, but many argue that the two are distinct. You can think of them this way:

Goals : Goals are broad statements about what you want to achieve as a company, and they’re usually qualitative. They function as a description of where you want to go, and they can address both the short and long term.

Objectives : Objectives support goals, and they’re usually quantitative and measurable. They describe how you will measure the progress needed to arrive at the destination you outlined in the goal. More than one objective can support one goal.

For example, if your goal is to achieve success as a strategic planner, your objective would be to write all sections of the strategic plan in one month.

iBossWell, Inc.’s McNerney reiterates that there are not hard and fast definitions for the terms goals and objectives , as well as many other strategic planning concepts. “I wouldn’t attempt to put a definition to the terms. You hear the terms goals and objectives a lot, but they mean different things to different people. What some people call a goal , others call an objective . What some people call an objective , others would call a KPI. ” They key, she explains, is to decide what the terms mean in your organization, explain the definitions to key stakeholders, and stick to those definitions.

How to Write Goals

Goals form the basis of your strategic plan. They set out your priorities and initiatives, and therefore are critical elements and define what your plan will accomplish. Some planning specialists use the term strategic objectives or strategic priorities when referring to goals, but for clarity, this article will use the term goals.

“[Goals] are the higher level that contain several statements about what your priorities are,” McNerney explains. They are often near the top of your plan’s hierarchy.

Each goal should reflect something you uncovered during the analysis phase of your strategic planning process. Goals should be precise and concise statements, not long narratives. For example, your goals might be the following:

Eliminate case backlog.

Lower production costs.

Increase total revenue.

Each goal should have a stated outcome and a deadline. Think of goal writing as a formula: Action + detail of the action + a measurable metric + a deadline = goal. For example, your goal might be: Increase total revenue by 5 percent in three product areas by the third quarter of 2020.

Another way to look at it: Verb (action) + adjective (description) = noun (result). An example goal: Increase website fundraising.

Your goals should strike a balance between being aspirational and tangible. You want to stretch your limits, but not make them too difficult to reach. Your entire organization and stakeholders should be able to remember and understand your goals.

Think about goals with varying lengths. Some should go out five to 10 years, others will be shorter — some significantly so. Some goals might even be quarterly, monthly, or weekly. But be careful to not create too many goals. Focus on the ones that allow you to zero in on what is critical for your company’s success. Remember, several objectives and action steps will likely come from each goal.

How to Write Objectives

Objectives are the turn-by-turn directions of how to achieve your goals. They are set in statement and purpose with no ambiguity about whether you achieve them or not.

Your goals are where you want to go. Next, you have to determine how to get there, via a few different objectives that support each goal. Note that objectives can cover several areas.

“You need implementation elements of the plan to be successful,” McNerney says, adding that some people refer to objectives as tactics , actions , and many other terms.

Objectives often begin with the words increase or decrease because they are quantifiable and measurable. You will know when you achieve an objective. They are action items, often with start and end dates.

Use the goal example from earlier: Increase total revenue by 5 percent in three product areas by the third quarter of 2020. In this example, your objectives could be:

Approach three new possible clients each month.

Promote the three key product areas on the website and in email newsletters.

Think of the acronym SMART when writing objectives: Make them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and time-bound.

Breaking down the process further, some strategic planners use the terms strategies and tactics to label ways to achieve objectives. Using these terms, strategies describe an approach or method you will use to achieve an objective. A tactic is a specific activity or project that achieves the strategy, which, in turn, helps achieve the objective.

How to Write about Capacity, Operations Plans, Marketing Plans, and Financial Plans

After you come up with your goals and objectives, you need to figure out who will do what, how you will market what they do, and how you will pay for what you need to do.

“If you choose to shortchange the process [and not talk about capacity and finances], you need to know what the consequences will be,” explains McNerney. “If you do not consider the additional costs or revenues your plan is going to drive, you may be creating a plan you cannot implement.”

To achieve all the goals outlined in your strategic plan, you need the right people in place. Include a section in your strategic plan where you talk about the capacity of your organization. Do you have the team members to accomplish the objectives you have outlined in order to reach your goals? If not, you may need to hire personnel.

The operations plan maps out your initiatives and shows you who is going to do what, when, and how. This helps transform your goals and objectives into a reality. A summary of it should go into your strategic plan. If you need assistance writing a comprehensive implementation plan for your organization, this article can guide you through the process.

A marketing plan describes how you attract prospects and convert them into customers. You don’t need to include the entire marketing plan in your strategic plan, but you might want to include a summary. For more information about writing marketing plans, this article can help.

Then there are finances. We would all like to accomplish every goal, but sometimes we do not have enough money to do so. A financial plan can help you set your priorities. Check out these templates to help you get started with a financial plan.

How to Write Performance Indicators

In order to know if you are reaching the goals you outline in your strategic plan, you need performance indicators. These indicators will show you what success looks like and ensure accountability. Sadly, strategic plans have a tendency to fail when nobody periodically assesses progress.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) can show you how your business is progressing. KPIs can be both financial and nonfinancial measures that help you chart your progress and take corrective measures if actions are not unfolding as they should. Other terms similar to KPIs include performance measures and performance indicators .

Performance indicators are not always financial, but they must be quantifiable. For example, tracking visitors to a website, customers completing a contact form, or the number of proposals that close with deals are all performance indicators that keep you on track toward achieving your goals.

When writing your performance indicators, pay attention to the following:

Define how often you need to report results.

Every KPI must have some sort of measure.

List a measure and a time period.

Note the data source where you will get your information to measure and track.

ASP’s Stockmal has some questions for you to ask yourself about picking performance indicators.

Are you in control of the performance measure?

Does the performance measure support the strategic outcomes?

Is it feasible?

Is data available?

Who is collecting that data, and how will they do it?

Is the data timely?

Is it cost-effective to collect that data?

ls the goal quantifiable, and can you measure it over time?

Are your targets realistic and time-bound?

Stockmal also says performance indicators cannot focus on only one thing at the detriment of another. “Don’t lose what makes you good,” he says. He adds that focusing on one KPI can hurt other areas of a company’s performance, so reaching a goal can be short-sided.

Some performance indicators can go into your strategic plan, but you might want to set other goals for your organization. A KPI dashboard can help you set up and track your performance and for more information about setting up a KPI dashboard, this article can help.

Communicating Your Strategic Plan

While writing your strategic plan, you should think about how to share it. A plan is no good if it sits on a shelf and nobody reads it.

“After the meetings are over, you have to turn your strategy into action,” says Stefan Hofmeyer, an experienced strategist and co-founder of Global PMI Partners . “Get in front of employees and present the plan [to get everyone involved].” Hofmeyer explains his research has shown that people stay with companies not always because of money, but often because they buy into the organization’s vision and want to play a part in helping it get where it wants to go. “These are the people you want to keep because they are invested,” he says.

Decide who should get a physical copy of the entire plan. This could include management, the board of directors, owners, and more. Do your best to keep it from your competitors. If you distribute it outside of your company, you might want to attach a confidentiality waiver.

You can communicate your plan to stakeholders in the following ways:

Hold a meeting to present the plan in person.

Highlight the plan in a company newsletter.

Include the plan in new employee onboarding.

Post the plan on the employee intranet, along with key highlights and a way to track progress.

If you hold a meeting, make sure you and other key planners are prepared to handle the feedback and discussion that will arise. You should be able to defend your plan and reinforce its key areas. The goal of the plan’s distribution is to make sure everyone understands their role in making the plan successful.

Remind people of your company’s mission, vision, and values to reinforce their importance. You can use posters or other visual methods to post around the office. The more that people feel they play an important part in the organization’s success, they more successful you will be in reaching your goals of your strategic plan.

Challenges in Writing a Strategic Plan

As mentioned, strategic planning is a process and involves a team. As with any team activity, there will be challenges.

Sometimes the consensus can take priority over what is clear. Peer pressure can be a strong force, especially if a boss or other manager is the one making suggestions and people feel pressured to conform. Some people might feel reluctant to give any input because they do not think it matters to the person who ultimately decides what goes into the plan.

Team troubles can also occur when one or more members does not think the plan is important or does not buy into the process. Team leaders need to take care of these troubles before they get out of hand.

Pay attention to your company culture and the readiness you have as a group, and adapt the planning process to fit accordingly. You need to find the balance between the process and the final product.

The planning process takes time. Many organizations do not give themselves enough time to plan properly, and once you finish planning, writing the document or presentation also takes time, as does implementation. Don’t plan so much that you ignore how you are going to put the plan into action. One symptom of this is not aligning the plan to fit the capacity or finances of the company.

Stockmal explains that many organizations often focus too much on the future and reaching their goals that they forget what made them a strong company in the first place. Business architecture is important, which Stockmal says is “building the capabilities the organization needs to fulfill its strategy.” He adds that nothing happens if there is no budget workers to do the work necessary to drive change.

Be careful with the information you gather. Do not take shortcuts in the research phase — that will lead to bad information coming out further in the process. Also, do not ignore negative information you may learn. Overcoming adversity is one way for companies to grow.

Be wary of cutting and pasting either from plans from past years or from other similar organizations. Every company is unique.

And while this may sound obvious, do not ignore what your planning process tells you. Your research might show you should not go in a direction you might want to.

Writing Different Types of Strategic Plans

The strategic planning process will differ based on your organization, but the basic concepts will stay the same. Whether you are a nonprofit, a school, or a for-profit entity, strategic plans will look at where you are and how you will get to where you want to go.

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a Nonprofit

For a nonprofit, the strategic plan’s purpose is mainly how to best advance the mission. It’s imperative to make sure the mission statement accurately fits the organization.

In addition to a SWOT analysis and other sections that go into any strategic plan, a nonprofit needs to keep an eye on changing factors, such as funding. Some funding sources have finite beginnings and endings. Strategic planning is often continuous for nonprofits.

A nonprofit has to make the community care about its cause. In a for-profit organization, the marketing department works to promote the company’s product or services to bring in new revenue. For a nonprofit, however, conveying that message needs to be part of the strategic plan.

Coming up with an evaluation method and KPIs can sometimes be difficult for a nonprofit, since they are often focused on goals other than financial gain. For example, a substance abuse prevention coalition is trying to keep teens from starting to drink or use drugs, and proving the coalition’s methods work is often difficult to quantify.

This template can help you visually outline your strategic plan for your nonprofit.

Download Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template

Excel | Smartsheet

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a School

Writing a strategic plan for a school can be difficult because of the variety of stakeholders involved, including students, teachers, other staff, and parents.

Strategic planning in a school is different from others because there are no markets to explore, products to produce, clients to woo, or adjustable timelines. Schools often have set boundaries, missions, and budgets.

Even with the differences, the same planning process and structure should be in place for schools as it is for other types of organizations.

This template can help your university or school outline your strategic plan.

‌ ‌Download University Strategic Plan Outline – Word

How to Write a 5-Year Strategic Plan

There is no set time period for a strategic plan, but five years can be a sweet spot. In some cases, yearly planning might keep you continually stuck in the planning process, while 10 years might be too far out.

In addition to the basic sections that go into any strategic plan, when forecasting five years into the future, put one- and three-year checkpoints into the plan so you can track progress intermittently.

How to Write a 3-Year Strategic Plan

While five years is often the strategic planning sweet spot, some organizations choose to create three-year plans. Looking too far ahead can be daunting, especially for a new or changing company.

In a three-year plan, the goals and objectives have a shorter timeframe and you need to monitor them more frequently. Build those checkpoints into the plan.

“Most organizations do a three- to five-year plan now because they recognize the technology and the changes in business that are pretty dynamic now,” Stockmal says.

How to Write a Departmental Strategic Plan

The first step in writing a strategic plan for your department is to pay attention to your company’s overall strategic plan. You want to make sure the plans align.

The steps in creating a plan for a department are the same as for an overall strategic plan, but the mission statement, vision, SWOT analysis, goals, objectives, and so on are specific to only the people in your department. Look at each person separately and consider their core competencies, strengths, capabilities, and weaknesses. Assign people who will be responsible for certain tasks and tactics necessary to achieve your goals.

If you have access to a plan from a previous year, see how your department did in meeting its goals. Adjust the new plan accordingly.

When you finish your departmental plan, make sure to submit it to whomever is responsible for your company’s overall plan. Expect to make changes.

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a Project

A strategic plan is for the big picture, not for a particular project for an organization. Instead of a strategic plan, this area would fall under project management.

If you have a failing project and need to turn it around, this article might help.

How to Write a Personal Strategic Plan

Creating a strategic plan isn’t only for businesses. You can also create a strategic plan to help guide both your professional and personal life. The key is to include what is important to you. This process takes time and reflection.

Be prepared for what you discover about yourself. Because you will be looking at your strengths and weaknesses, you might see things you do not like. It is important to be honest with yourself. A SWOT analysis on yourself will give you some honest feedback if you let it.

Begin with looking at your life as it is now. Are you satisfied? What do you want to do more or less? What do you value most in your life? Go deeper than saying family, happiness, and health. This exercise will help you clarify your values.

Once you know what is important to you, come up with a personal mission statement that reflects the values you cherish. As it does within a business, this statement will help guide you in making future decisions. If something does not fit within your personal mission, you shouldn’t do it.

Using the information you discovered during your SWOT and mission statement process, come up with goals that align with your values. The goals can be broad, but don’t forget to include action items and timeframes to help you reach your goals.

As for the evaluation portion, identify how you will keep yourself accountable and on track. You might involve a person to remind you about your plan, calendar reminders, small rewards when you achieve a goal, or another method that works for you.

Below is additional advice for personal strategic plans:

There are things you can control and things you cannot. Keep your focus on what you can act on.

Look at the positive instead of what you will give up. For example, instead of focusing on losing weight, concentrate on being healthier.

Do not overcommit, and do not ignore the little details that help you reach your goals.

No matter what, do not dwell on setbacks and remember to celebrate successes.

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Preparing a Three-Year Business Plan

• Small Business
• Business Planning & Strategy
• Preparing Business Plans
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6 Types of Business Plans

Importance of following a business plan, business plan analysis.

• Financial Business Objectives
• Principles of Marketing Management

When starting a new business, or trying to grow an existing one, thinking in terms of three years into the future is easy. The future is all your best hopes and dreams. Adding reality is your biggest challenge. The way to write an accurate three-year business plan is to meld your vision for future achievement with your position in the business cycle. Start your pre-plan evaluation by listing your business growth goals for the next three years. This is your wish list.

Define Your Goals

Business growth is a logical progression from creation of the product or service to marketing, distribution and sales. Operations must support every aspect of this progression. As you define where you want your company to be in three years, consider the steps to that goal and how your company operations must morph to give each step the best chance of success. For example, if you are planning a startup or new division to your existing company, and your goal is full deployment of a line of revolutionary-technology toasters to meet high-, medium- and low-end consumer markets, your first phase will be the development of your technology. Once the product line is ready, build a brand image through marketing. Plan your method of distribution and commercial launch including continued development of long-term consumer market interest in your products and company.

Define the Economy

Compare your business goals with the opportunities or challenges that will be available in the economy over the next three years by using resources available at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Economic Cycle Research Institute. A rapid expansion of your company will be risky if the economic cycle is in a downswing. Likewise, you do not want to waste the growth opportunities available as the economy expands out of a recession. The art of creating a dependable business plan lies in matching your growth strategies and goals to expectations for the economy.

Estimate Costs and Revenues

Once you have defined your goals and checked them against the reality presented by economic conditions, you should have a logical idea of a third-year goal and how to get there. A good way to begin writing your plan is to estimate the costs of each phase of your plan over the three years. This will give you benchmarks for financing needs or revenue production to support your company expansion. A successful business plan displays detailed attention to financial risk management because the major reason for new business failure is running out of funds. Knowing how much your vision will cost to achieve allows you to realistically write your business plan.

Write Your Business Plan

Planning your business plan this way lets you passionately tell your story while backing it up with facts. Begin by describing your company, its products and goals. Add the marketing, distribution and sales model with a short description of how funding and revenues will support your journey to your third-year goal. Add a detailed section discussing your operations, including personnel needs, suppliers, materials sourcing and management. Finish with your discussion of financial needs to complete your goal, with spreadsheets including sales projections, personnel plan, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet.

• Entrepreneur: An Introduction to Business Plans
• Entrepreneur: Planning for Next Year? Get a Fix on These Numbers First
• Inc.com: How Many Years Should My Financial Projections Cover for a New Business?
• aBusinessPlan.com: How to Write a Killer Business Plan
• SCORE Business Planning Templates
• National Bureau of Economic Research: US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions
• Economic Cycle Research Institute

Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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• 1 The Definition of Specific & Realistic Business Objectives
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3 Year Strategic Plan Template

What is a 3 Year Strategic Plan? 

A 3 Year Strategic Plan Template helps organizations to establish their long-term goals and objectives, and outlines the steps needed to achieve them over a three-year period. It is a roadmap that guides the organization in decision-making and helps to ensure that all efforts are aligned towards achieving the desired outcomes. Although it is useful for the long-term, 3 Year Strategic Plans need to be flexible and adaptable to unexpected context and market changes. This is the key to successful strategy execution.

What's included in this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template?

• 4x Focus Areas
• 12x Objectives
• 23x Projects

Who is this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template for?

This 3 Year Strategic Plan Template is suitable for leaders and teams from organizations of all sizes and industries. It is an essential tool for businesses looking to grow and succeed in today's competitive market.

How is this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template relevant to your organization?

Having a 3 Year Strategic Plan is useful to make sure the organization has a long-term direction to achieve success. It helps to clarify the organization's vision and mission, and ensures that all efforts are aligned towards achieving its goals. What's most valuable about this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template is that it allows organizations to adapt their long-term strategy quickly to changing market conditions and stay ahead of the competition. It provides a clear and structured approach to building and executing a successful strategy, ensuring that your organization can achieve its full potential.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

A focus area is a particular viewpoint that groups certain requirements set out by an organization. A recommendation from the Cascade team would be to create 4-5 key focus area which you feel are most important to address when creating your 3 Year Strategic Plan Template. The next step would be to ask yourself: Why is this focus area important to me? What is the benefit of focusing on this viewpoint from a customer's perspective? And, of course, What is the monetary benefit of investing in such a focus area? This process is useful in identifying the key area which needs prioritization which in turn can become focus areas of the strategy.

For example, the focus areas in this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template are: Performance; Leadership; Employee Experience; and Finance.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

A strategic objective usually has to be specific and measurable to cause enough impact and effectively explain what you want to achieve.

An example objective that could fall under the focus area of Performance could be: Achieve record revenues while increasing profitability.

3. Set yourself measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

A KPI is a key performance indicator that is measurable and evaluates the success rate of an organization in relation to the task at hand. KPIs can be very industry-specific or broad and applicable across multiple industries.

An example of a KPI in this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template associated to the objective Achieve record revenues while increasing profitability could be: Increase gross profit margin from 46% to 68%.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the set KPIs

Projects are ways in which the objective can be achieved, but more so, closely tie in with ways in which organizations can make sure they are working towards their KPIs.

A project example for the objective Achieve record revenues while increasing profitability could be: Work on establishing a new marketing campaign.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

Make sure your strategy is front and center with Cascade. You can plan, execute, measure and adapt your strategy in one easy-to-use platform and make sure your strategic plan is connected to on-the-ground execution.

Use this 3 Year Strategic Plan Template and launch your strategy in Cascade; it's $0 forever.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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3 Year Plan

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Plan your business objectives and strategies for the next three years

What is 3 year plan template.

A 3-year plan template is a strategic tool that outlines your company's vision, objectives, and strategies for the next three years. It includes key elements such as the year, quarter, objective, strategy, action items, responsible person or team, status, deadline, and comments. This template allows you to plan and track your business goals, strategies, and action items, ensuring that all team members are aligned and working towards the same objectives.

Try this template now

Who is this 3 Year Plan Template for?

This 3-year plan template is designed for business leaders, strategists, and managers who are responsible for setting the strategic direction of the company. It is also useful for teams and individuals who need to understand the company's strategic goals and their role in achieving them. This includes:

- CEOs and business owners who need to set the strategic direction of the company.

- Strategic planners and business analysts who are responsible for developing and implementing strategic plans.

- Department heads and team leaders who need to align their team's activities with the company's strategic goals.

- Project managers who need to plan and track the progress of strategic initiatives.

- Employees who want to understand the company's strategic goals and how their work contributes to these goals.

Why use this 3 Year Plan Template?

A 3-year plan template is a powerful tool for strategic planning and execution. Here are some reasons why you should use this template:

- Clarity: It provides a clear roadmap of your company's strategic goals and how to achieve them. This helps to align all team members and ensures that everyone is working towards the same objectives.

- Accountability: It assigns responsibility for each action item to a specific person or team, ensuring accountability and ownership.

- Tracking: It allows you to track the progress of each action item, helping you to stay on track and meet your deadlines.

- Flexibility: It is flexible and can be customized to suit your company's specific needs and strategic goals.

- Efficiency: It saves time and effort by providing a structured format for planning and tracking your strategic initiatives.

- Collaboration: It facilitates collaboration by providing a shared view of the company's strategic plan, enabling all team members to work together effectively.

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2. After signing up for Lark, you will be directed to the 3 Year Plan Template on Lark Base. Click 'Use This Template' on the top right corner of Lark Base to copy a version of the 3 Year Plan Template to your workspace.

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4. Take advantage of the full potential of this 3 Year Plan Template.

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Track your expenses and manage your budget with ease.

Vehicle Bill Of Sale

Create a professional vehicle bill of sale with ease.

Plot Diagram

Visualize the plot of your story with a plot diagram.

Lined Paper

Create lined paper templates for various purposes.

Book Report

Create professional book reports with ease, create an eye-catching pamphlet for your business or event, all about me, create a personalized 'all about me' template.

Create professional name tags for your events

Chore Chart

Keep track of household chores with this chore chart template.

Table Of Contents

Create a professional table of contents for your document.

Rent Receipt

Create professional rent receipts with ease.

Budget Sheet

Daily Planner

Stay organized and maximize productivity with our daily planner template, budget planner, track your income and expenses with ease.

Capture and showcase your favorite memories with a Polaroid-style photo template

Streamline communication and reporting with the sbar template, sign up sheet, efficiently manage event sign-ups and preferences.

Concept Map

Visualize and organize complex concepts with a concept map.

Christmas List

Keep track of your christmas gift list with ease.

Create a comprehensive shot list for your film or video project

Essay Outline

Create a comprehensive essay outline for environmental conservation.

Grocery List

Keep track of your grocery list and expenses with ease.

Create and customize your own Bingo cards

Learn about different butterfly species and their characteristics

Efficiently manage work orders and track progress

Raffle Ticket

Create professional raffle tickets for your event.

Track and manage your investment portfolio with ease

Visualize and analyze circle data with ease

Personal financial statement, track your assets, liabilities, and net worth with ease.

Missing Poster

Create missing person posters with ease, evaluate and grade student work with ease using this rubric template, create mla format citations with ease, study guide, stay organized and track your study progress with this comprehensive study guide template, manage your book collection with ease.

Create professional quotes for your business

Create a comprehensive fish database with Lark

Employment verification letter, generate employment verification letters with ease.

2 Week Notice Letter

Create professional 2-week notice letters with ease.

Spelling Test

Track and analyze spelling test results, visualize your family tree with a genogram.

Book Review

Capture and organize book reviews with ease, eisenhower matrix, organize your tasks based on urgency and importance with the eisenhower matrix, employee evaluation, streamline employee evaluations and performance tracking, review of systems, review your symptoms and medical history with this comprehensive template.

Certificate Of Completion

Create professional certificates of completion for courses and workshops.

Organize and share your favorite recipes with ease

Construction contract, create and manage construction contracts with ease.

Employee Of The Month

Recognize and reward outstanding employees with the employee of the month template.

Weekly Budget

Character Reference Letter

Create a character reference letter with ease.

Create an organized outline for your projects

Decision Tree

Make informed decisions with a decision tree template.

Create a fact sheet to showcase your company's key information

Cleaning Schedule

Keep your workspace clean and organized with this cleaning schedule template, doctors note for work, generate doctors' notes for work with ease, streamline your essay writing process with this comprehensive essay template.

Organize travel itinerary with ease

Create a comprehensive syllabus for your course.

User Persona

Create user personas to understand your target audience, trading card, organize and track your trading card collection, credit dispute letter, resolve credit report inaccuracies with a professional dispute letter.

Discover different types of flowers and their characteristics

Create professional lab reports with ease, keep track of your professional references, logic model, create a logic model to plan and evaluate your projects.

Create your own cookbook with ease

Stay organized and on top of your tasks with this checklist template.

Simple Budget

Recipe card, create beautiful recipe cards with ease.

Create professional cover pages for your documents

Professional references, organize and manage your professional references with ease, create mla citations with ease.

Create engaging blog posts with ease

Recipe book, create your own recipe book with ease.

Binder Cover

Create personalized binder covers for your projects, letter of authorization, authorize parties and grant specific authorities with this letter of authorization template.

Acting Resume

Create a professional acting resume with ease, graph paper, create custom graphs and charts with ease, cease and desist letter, send professional cease and desist letters to protect your intellectual property rights, terms and conditions, create a comprehensive terms and conditions template for your website, free monthly budget, organize and track your board game collection, permission slip, create permission slips for student activities, attendance sheet, track employee attendance and manage work hours.

Business Contract

Create professional business contracts with ease, reading log, keep track of your reading progress and insights, create and manage scripts for your film or theater production.

Thesis Statement

Create effective thesis statements for various topics, create professional case study reports with ease.

Manage your bill of lading (BOL) with ease

Generate professional check stubs for your employees, employment letter, create personalized employment letters for your employees, debt verification letter, verify and dispute alleged debts with ease, shopping list, stay organized and never forget your shopping list again.

Door Hanger

Efficiently distribute messages and promotions with door hangers.

Baseball Lineup

Create and manage your baseball lineup with ease, plan and track your work projects with ease, demand letter, demand payment for outstanding invoices and unpaid fees, puzzle piece, organize and track your puzzle pieces with ease.

Notebook Paper

Organize your biology class with this notebook paper template.

Keep track of tree information and conservation status

Create a professional price list for your products or services.

Check Register

Track your financial transactions with ease.

Place Setting

Create personalized place settings for your event.

Gantt Chart Templ

Track project progress and manage tasks with this gantt chart template.

Needs Assessment

Assess your organization's needs and prioritize projects.

Mental Status Exam

Conduct comprehensive mental status exams with ease, checkbook register, keep track of your expenses and manage your finances with ease, customer journey map, visualize and understand your customer journey with ease, free org chart, visualize your organization's structure with ease.

Simple Monthly Budget

Letter of employment, generate professional letter of employment templates, problem statement, streamline problem identification and resolution.

Collect signatures for your petition with ease

Create personalized personas for your target audience.

Bill Of Sale

Create professional bill of sale documents with ease, research proposal, streamline your research proposal process with this template, create and analyze surveys with ease, buyer persona, create personalized buyer personas for your marketing strategy, certificate of appreciation, recognize and appreciate outstanding achievements with personalized certificates, social security card, create professional and secure social security card templates, one on one meeting, streamline your one-on-one meetings with this template, story board, visualize your story with a storyboard template.

Literature Review

Organize and analyze research literature for your literature review.

Bill Tracker

Track and manage your bills with ease, consulting contract, create a comprehensive consulting contract with ease, create your own screenplay with ease.

Exit Ticket

Gather feedback and assess student understanding with this exit ticket template, interview thank you email, express gratitude and follow up after an interview.

Bill Of Sale Word

Create a captivating story with our story map template.

Cleaning List

Keep your space clean and organized with this cleaning list template, police report, efficiently manage and track police reports with this template, succession planning, plan for the future of your organization with a comprehensive succession planning template, blank check, create professional and customizable blank checks.

Streamline user registration and account management

Reference List

Create a professional reference list for your research papers and publications, simple will, create a simple will to distribute your assets.

Grant Proposal

Streamline your grant proposal process and increase your chances of securing funding, essay format, format your essays with ease using this template.

Budget Tracker

Track your expenses and income with ease, letter of support, show your support with a letter of endorsement, college essay, streamline your college essay writing process with this comprehensive template, thank you letter, express gratitude and follow-up with personalized thank you letters, create your own game board with ease.

Collection Letter

Streamline your collection letter process with this customizable template, bullet journal, stay organized and productive with a bullet journal template, news article, create professional news articles with ease, birthday calendar, never miss a birthday with this customizable birthday calendar template.

Monthly Bills

Stay on top of your monthly bills with ease.

Visualize your data on a bubble map

Create an elegant gala event booklet

Stock Certificate

Create professional stock certificates for your shareholders.

Exit Interview

Streamline your exit interview process and gather valuable feedback from departing employees, financial plan, manage your personal finances with ease.

Value Proposition

Create compelling value propositions for your target customers, event proposal, create professional event proposals with ease, verification of employment letter, verify employment details with ease.

Doctor Excuse

Generate doctor excuse notes for patients, policies and procedures, manage and track your organization's policies and procedures, job posting, create professional job postings with ease, movie script, create a movie script with ease, food journal, track your daily meals and nutritional intake with ease.

Memo Format

Create professional and organized memos with ease, corrective action plan, track and manage corrective actions for identified issues, mission statement, craft a compelling mission statement for your organization.

To Whom It May Concern Letter

Create professional recommendation letters with ease.

Keep track of your calls and follow-ups with ease

Waiver of liability, create a waiver of liability for your activities, track your business financial performance and growth.

Monthly Work Schedule

Manage your team's work schedule with ease.

Block Schedule

Organize your school's block schedule with ease, birthday list, keep track of birthdays and gift ideas for your friends and family.

Journey Map

Visualize and analyze customer journey with ease, create a comprehensive site map for your website, notary acknowledgement, create professional notary acknowledgement templates with ease, job proposal, create professional job proposals with ease.

Rent Ledger

Track rent payments and balances with ease, cleaning checklist, efficiently manage cleaning tasks with this comprehensive checklist template.

Potluck Sign Up Sheet

Organize your potluck event with ease.

Birth Certificate

Create personalized birth certificates for newborns, questionnaire, create engaging and interactive quizzes with our questionnaire template, certificate of origin, create professional certificate of origin documents with ease, envelope address, create professional envelope addresses with ease, notarized letter, create professional notarized letters with ease.

Stakeholder Analysis

Analyze and manage project stakeholders effectively.

Instagram Carousel

Create engaging instagram carousels with ease.

Decision Matrix

Make informed decisions with the decision matrix template.

Create stunning mood boards with a variety of visual elements

List of references, create a comprehensive list of references for your research projects, bill of lading, create professional bill of lading documents with ease, monthly expenses, track and manage your monthly expenses with ease, reference sheet, organize and manage your references with ease, efficiently manage household chores with this chore list template, happy birthday, plan and organize birthday celebrations with ease.

Blank Bingo

Create your own customized bingo game, bank statement, track your financial transactions and balance with ease.

Create a personalized birth plan for a smooth delivery

Free itinerary, create a personalized travel itinerary with ease.

Custody Agreement

Create a comprehensive custody agreement for co-parenting, visualize your data with a colorful bar graph.

Policy And Procedure

Standardize your company policies and procedures with this template.

Track and manage handovers between team members

Create professional and customizable quotes for your clients

Contractor estimate, estimate the cost and materials needed for your construction project, itinerary temp, plan your travel itinerary with ease, create a personalized will with ease, free work schedule, efficiently manage employee schedules with this free work schedule template, manage your cloud resources with ease.

Rent To Own Contract

Create a rent-to-own contract for tenants and landlords, sales funnel, track your sales pipeline and manage deals effectively, budget proposal, create a budget proposal for your projects.

Create professional doctor's note templates for patients

Script Format

Create professional scripts with ease, gift letter, create personalized gift letters for donors and recipients.

Letterhead Word

Create professional letterheads with ease, missing person, track missing persons and their case details.

Contractor Agreement

Create a comprehensive contractor agreement with ease, recommendation letter, create personalized recommendation letters with ease, wanted poster, create a professional wanted poster for fugitives, monthly budget, track your monthly budget and manage your expenses with ease, letter of recommendation, create professional and compelling letters of recommendation, doctors note, keep track of patient visits and medical recommendations with this doctor's note template, create a professional newspaper with ease, vision board, visualize your goals and dreams with a vision board, create professional and personalized envelopes for your business, business plan, create a comprehensive business plan with ease, project plan, plan your projects with ease.

Create professional newsletters with ease

Account Based Marketing

Manage your account-based marketing strategies effectively.

Price Matrix

Track and compare product prices, bulk prices, and vendor details.

Content Calendar

Organize and plan your content strategy with ease.

Product Roadmap

Track and manage your product features with ease.

Gantt Chart

Track your project progress with a comprehensive gantt chart.

Availability

Manage your resources and schedule with ease, inventory sheet, manage your inventory with ease and precision, income statements, streamline your request for quotation process with this rfq template, manage your projects efficiently with a clear overview of all activities, project status report, track your project's progress, budget, and health with ease.

Requirements Gathering

Streamline your project requirements with a comprehensive overview.

Staff Availability

Manage your staff's availability with ease and efficiency.

Weekly Stand Up Meeting

Streamline your weekly stand-up meetings and keep track of team progress.

Release Management

Manage your software releases efficiently and effectively, networking spreadsheet, manage your professional contacts and networking activities effectively, process documentation, streamline your business processes with a comprehensive documentation, account planning, streamline your account management and planning process.

Action Item

Track and manage your team's tasks efficiently.

Business Requirements Document

Streamline your project requirements with a comprehensive and organized approach, communications plan, streamline your communication strategy with a comprehensive plan.

Post Mortem

Analyze your projects, identify successes and failures, and improve future endeavors.

Party Planning

Organize your party planning with ease and efficiency.

Vacation Itinerary

Plan your dream vacation with ease, business model canvas, visualize, design, and reshape your business model with ease, track your company's financial health with a comprehensive p&l statement, manage your marketing campaigns effectively and efficiently.

Production Schedule

Streamline your production process with a comprehensive schedule, sprint planning, streamline your sprint planning with a comprehensive overview of tasks, assignments, and deadlines, construction daily report, track your construction project progress daily.

Product Backlog

Manage your product backlog with ease and efficiency, release plan.

10 Year Plan

Plan your personal and professional life for the next 10 years.

Event Run Of Show

Efficiently plan and manage your event schedule, order tracker, track your orders and deliveries in real-time, grant management, manage your grants effectively and efficiently, trade show planning, streamline your trade show planning process.

Manage your customer relationships with ease

Training plan, streamline your training sessions with a comprehensive plan.

Project Outline

Streamline your project management with a comprehensive outline, organize your meetings effectively with a comprehensive overview, interview guide, streamline your interview process with a comprehensive guide, manage and organize your team's profiles in one place, vendor management, manage your vendors, contracts, and services in one place, real estate schedule, manage your real estate showings, agent details, and property status in one place.

Jira Checklist

Streamline your project management with a comprehensive checklist, class schedule, organize your class schedule with ease, marketing campaign, plan, track, and analyze your marketing campaigns in one place, design brief, streamline your design projects with a comprehensive brief, manage and analyze your product reviews in one place.

Compare and contrast different products with ease

Project milestone, track your project milestones with ease and precision, track your events, responsibilities, and status with ease, manage your projects efficiently with a clear overview of tasks, deadlines, and priorities.

Holiday Schedule

Manage your team's holiday schedule with ease.

Interior Design Schedule

Manage your interior design project with ease, legal case management, manage your legal cases efficiently and effectively, grant calendar, track and manage your grant applications with ease, sales training plan, streamline your sales training with a comprehensive plan.

Key Policy For Employees

Manage and track your employees' key issuance and return with ease, track your project milestones, dependencies, and status with ease, book of business, manage your client's financial portfolio with ease, long term planning, strategize your long-term goals and track progress with ease, action plan for students, track your goals, actions, and progress with ease.

Story Mapping

Map your user stories and prioritize tasks with ease, social media content calendar, plan, schedule, and manage your social media posts effectively, hourly calendar, organize your day with precision using the hourly calendar template, marketing strategy, strategize your marketing efforts with clear objectives, target audience, key messages, and more, personal budget, performance evaluation, streamline your employee performance evaluations with ease, contact list, organize your contacts in one place, invoice tracker, track your invoices and payments with ease, schedule of real estate, manage your real estate activities with ease, media brief, organize your media briefs with ease and efficiency, manage your it assets efficiently and effectively, vacation coverage plan, ensure smooth operations during employee vacations with a comprehensive coverage plan.

Msp Client Onboarding Checklist

Streamline your client onboarding process with a comprehensive checklist.

Product Testing

Track and manage your product testing with ease, talent planning, track and plan your employees' career development, volunteer spreadsheet, manage your volunteers and their contributions effectively, intern onboarding, streamline your intern onboarding process with ease, product training, streamline your product training process with a comprehensive schedule, retrospective, track and improve your team's performance with a retrospective template.

Risk Matrix

Manage and mitigate risks effectively with our risk matrix template, project overview, manage your projects effectively with a comprehensive overview, google calendar, manage your events, meetings, and appointments with ease, organize your tasks, groceries, work, and home maintenance with ease.

Sprint Retrospective

Track and improve your team's sprint performance, event program, streamline your event planning with a comprehensive schedule, staff schedule, efficiently manage your staff's schedule and roles, track and improve your employees' performance with ease, product comparison.

Track your project tasks and employee hours with precision

Activity calendar, organize your team's activities with a comprehensive calendar.

Product Design

Streamline your product design process with a comprehensive overview, project portfolio management, manage your projects, track progress, and align with strategy.

Free Pay Stub

Manage your employee payroll with ease and accuracy, manage your project tasks, deadlines, and deliverables effectively, operations plan, streamline your operations with a comprehensive plan.

Goal Tracking

Track your personal and professional goals with ease, training schedule, organize and manage your training sessions effectively.

Lifecycle Powerpoint

Manage your project lifecycle with ease and precision.

Grant Tracking

Track your grants, deadlines, status, and more with ease.

Conference Itinerary

Organize your conference itinerary with ease.

Subscription

Manage your subscriptions with ease and never miss a renewal date, sprint demo, track and manage your sprint demos with ease.

Consultant Timesheet

Track your consultants' work hours and billable status with ease, project scope, define your project's boundaries with clarity and precision, track and achieve your personal and professional goals with ease, project management plan, manage your project tasks, resources, and timelines effectively, manage your project estimates with ease and precision, manage your sales and purchases with a comprehensive proforma invoice, hourly weekly schedule, organize your week with precision and ease.

Request For Quote

Streamline your procurement process with a comprehensive rfq template, strategic roadmap, strategically plan your company's future with a comprehensive roadmap.

5 Whys Root Cause Analysis

Identify, analyze, and solve problems effectively, manage your volunteers and their tasks efficiently, purchase order, streamline your purchase order process with ease.

Donation Tracker

Track your donations and donors with ease, requirements document, manage your project requirements with ease and efficiency, marketing brief, plan and execute your marketing strategies effectively, monthly goals, track and manage your monthly goals effectively, track, manage, and resolve issues efficiently, travel planner.

Board Meeting Agenda

Streamline your board meetings with a comprehensive agenda.

Fundraising

Track your donors, donations, and follow-ups with ease, project retrospective, analyze your project's success and areas for improvement, conference planning, effortlessly plan and manage your conferences.

Product Launch Plan

Efficiently plan and track your product launches, manage your project backlog with ease and efficiency, sprint planning meeting, streamline your sprint planning meetings and keep track of your team's progress.

Reporting Specifications

Streamline your reporting process with a comprehensive overview, 24 hour planner, plan your day hour by hour with this 24 hour planner template, workback plan, streamline your project management with a comprehensive workback plan, template management, manage your templates effectively and efficiently, event schedule, organize and manage your events with ease, resource planning, efficiently manage your resources and tasks with a comprehensive view, construction proposal, manage your construction proposals efficiently, project kickoff, kickstart your projects with a comprehensive plan.

Organize and analyze your data with ease

Best Practices Documentation

Document and implement best practices across various business functions.

Supply Request Form

Streamline your supply requests with a simple and efficient form, legal case management spreadsheet.

Legal Case Tracking

Track and manage your legal cases efficiently, track and manage your project tasks efficiently, account plan, manage your client relationships effectively with a comprehensive account plan, employee task list, manage your team's tasks efficiently and effectively, weekly goals, track and manage your team's weekly goals with ease, daily task employee task list, streamline your daily tasks and improve productivity, deliverables, track and manage your project deliverables with ease, project pipeline, manage your projects efficiently with a clear overview, streamline your order management process with ease, track and evaluate participant performance with ease, manage your request for information (rfi) process with ease, professional development plan, track your professional growth and plan for future skills with ease, competitive analysis, analyze your competition with a comprehensive overview, google sheets calendar temp, manage your personal and professional life with a comprehensive calendar.

24 Hourly Schedule

Organize your day with a 24-hour schedule, create a new database from the time card, track your employees' work hours and tasks efficiently, case management, manage your cases efficiently and effectively, risk benefit analysis, analyze the potential benefits and risks of your business decisions, business case, streamline your business case creation process, manage your projects efficiently with a comprehensive overview, gap analysis, identify and address gaps in your business operations, workforce planning, streamline your workforce planning with a comprehensive overview of your employees, streamline your project management with clear roles and responsibilities, streamline your testing process with a comprehensive test case template.

30 60 90 Day Plan

Streamline your first 90 days in a new role with a clear plan, performance review, streamline your performance review process with a comprehensive template, strategic planning, strategically plan and track your company's goals with ease.

Software Comparison

Compare and choose the best software for your needs, interview notes, streamline your interview process with a comprehensive overview of each candidate, success plan, track your goals and measure your success with ease, risk register, manage and mitigate potential risks with a comprehensive overview, creative brief, streamline your project management with a comprehensive creative brief.

Student Progress Tracker

Track and analyze student progress with ease, construction budget template goog, track your construction budget with ease and accuracy, employee availability, manage your team's availability and shift preferences with ease, sprint backlog, manage your project tasks efficiently with a sprint backlog.

Google Docs Timeline

Track your project's progress with a comprehensive timeline, elevator pitch, craft compelling elevator pitches with ease, strategize your business goals and objectives with ease, event budget, track and manage your event expenses effectively, team charter, streamline your team's mission, roles, and norms with a comprehensive team charter, social media calendar template goog, streamline your social media posts and track engagement metrics.

Travel Itinerary Template Go

Plan your travel itinerary with ease and precision, project deliverables, work breakdown structure, streamline your project management with a detailed work breakdown structure, implementation plan, streamline your project implementation with a clear and concise plan, organize your meetings effectively with a detailed agenda.

Manage your projects, tasks, and deadlines with ease

Expense Report

Track and manage your team's expenses with ease, weekly schedule, organize your week efficiently with a clear schedule, time blocking, organize your day efficiently with time blocking.

Standard Operating Procedure

Streamline your operations with our standard operating procedure template, google docs itinerary, plan your business trips with ease and precision, root cause analysis, analyze, track, and prevent incidents with a comprehensive root cause analysis, performance improvement plan, track and manage employee performance improvement plans, market analysis, analyze your market with precision and ease, 12 week year, plan and track your goals and actions for each week of the year.

Profit And Loss

Track your company's financial performance with ease, action plan, streamline your project management with a comprehensive action plan, cost benefit analysis, analyze the cost and benefits of your projects with ease, products list, manage your product inventory with ease, organize your events, meetings, and activities with ease, cost analysis, analyze and manage your company's expenses effectively, project charter, streamline your project management with a comprehensive project charter, income statement, travel itinerary.

Streamline your project management with a comprehensive workflow

Manage your project risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies with ease, vendor list, manage your vendors efficiently and effectively, mutual action plan, streamline your business objectives and action plans with mutual action plan templates, daily schedule, organize your daily activities with a clear and concise schedule, track your expenses and savings with ease, go to market strategy, strategize your market entry with comprehensive planning, risk assessment, manage and mitigate risks effectively with a comprehensive overview, raci matrix, workback schedule, streamline your project management with a detailed workback schedule, action items, track and manage your team's action items effectively.

Business Plan Temp

Craft a comprehensive business plan with ease.

Proof Of Concept

Track and manage your innovative projects with ease, free business plan, streamline your business planning process with a comprehensive template, timeline template go, track your project's progress from start to finish, smart goals, track and achieve your goals with precision and clarity, process mapping, streamline your project process with a clear roadmap, gantt chart template goog, manage your project timelines and tasks efficiently, vacation planning, staff roster, manage your team's information and hours with ease.

Sales Tracker

Track your sales, analyze trends, and maximize profits.

Uat Sign Off

Track and manage your user acceptance testing (uat) with ease.

Technical Debt Register

Track, manage, and resolve technical debts efficiently, marketing calendar, plan and track your marketing campaigns with ease, sample rollout plan, streamline your product rollout with a comprehensive plan, photo directory, create a comprehensive photo directory for your organization, process flow chart, visualize and streamline your sales process, investment agreement, track and manage your investment agreements with ease.

College Schedule

Organize your college life with a comprehensive schedule, meeting tracker, track your meetings, attendees, and action items with ease, business travel itinerary, organize your business travel details in one place, plumbers invoice, manage your plumbing services invoices with ease.

Employee Daily Activity Report

Track and manage your team's daily activities efficiently, work breakdown, streamline your project management with a comprehensive work breakdown.

Html Report

Create comprehensive html reports with ease, plan and manage your events with ease, end of day report, track your team's daily progress with ease, cna report sheet, track and manage patient care with ease, rank tracker report, track your keywords and their performance across different search engines.

Classroom Seating Chart Whiteboard

Organize your classroom seating with ease and efficiency, delegation of authority matrix, streamline your task delegation and authority levels with ease, executive project status report, track your projects' progress, budget, risks, and more in one place, decision log, track and manage your team's decisions with ease, simple payment agreement, manage your payment agreements with ease and precision, medical chart, manage your patient's medical records efficiently, level 10 meeting, streamline your team meetings with the level 10 meeting template, capability matrix, track and manage your team's skills and certifications, benchmark analysis, analyze your competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, content plan, streamline your content planning and execution with ease, seo competitor analysis, analyze your competitors' seo strategies and improve your own.

Campaign Brief

Streamline your marketing campaigns with a comprehensive brief.

Streamline your deal management process with a comprehensive overview

24 hours schedule, organize your day efficiently with a 24-hour schedule, weekly planner, organize your tasks and deadlines with a weekly planner, software change log, track and manage software changes efficiently, construction gantt chart, track your construction project progress with a gantt chart, termination of contract letter, manage your contract terminations effectively and efficiently, manage your projects, tasks, and deadlines efficiently, daily to do list, organize your day efficiently with a comprehensive to-do list, seo project management, manage your seo tasks efficiently and effectively, project management decision log, track and manage your project decisions with ease, content management, manage your content effectively across different platforms, organize your legal memos with ease.

Marriage Contract

Simplify your marriage contract creation process.

Approval Matrix Whiteboard

Streamline your approval process with the approval matrix whiteboard template, company contact list, organize and manage your company's contacts with ease, data analysis report, analyze and present your data effectively.

Shift Schedule

Manage your team's shifts efficiently and effectively, project roadmap, track your project's progress with a comprehensive roadmap, commission sheet, track and manage your sales team's performance with ease, report requirements, streamline your report creation process with this comprehensive template, weekly report, track your team's weekly progress with ease.

Camp Schedule

Organize your camp activities with ease and precision, policy memo, streamline your policy memo creation and management, leader standard work, streamline your leadership tasks and priorities, employee schedule, streamline your employee scheduling process, it incident report, track, manage, and resolve it incidents effectively.

User Acceptance Testing Checklist

Streamline your user acceptance testing (uat) process with this comprehensive checklist, 5050 partnership agreement, create fair and balanced partnership agreements, contractor invoice, manage your contractor invoices with ease and efficiency, plan of record, track your project tasks, deadlines, and progress with ease, governance plan, streamline your governance plan with a comprehensive overview of tasks, roles, and deadlines, meeting minutes, track your meetings, attendees, agendas, and action items with ease, urgent important matrix, prioritize your tasks effectively with the urgent important matrix template, customer success plan, track and manage your customer success journey, business development plan, strategize your business growth with a comprehensive plan, out of office coverage plan, manage your team's leaves and ensure smooth task delegation with our out of office coverage plan template, staffing matrix, manage your staffing needs efficiently and effectively, college pros and cons list, compare and contrast different colleges with ease.

75 Hard Wellness Challenge

Track your daily wellness activities and progress with ease, social media posting schedule, schedule and manage your social media posts effectively, test report, track and manage your software testing process, scheduling matrix, streamline your tasks and manage your team efficiently, user story mapping, map your user stories, track progress, and manage tasks with ease.

Monthly Planner

Organize your work and personal life with a monthly planner, investigation report, track and manage your investigations with ease, budget report, track your budget, income, expenses, and net profit/loss with ease, change of shift report, streamline your shift changes with a comprehensive report, request form, streamline your request management process with a comprehensive request form, workshop agenda, streamline your workshop planning with a comprehensive agenda.

For Dummies Book

Streamline your book writing process with a structured approach, organizational chart, visualize your company's hierarchy with our organizational chart template, llc annual meeting minutes, streamline your annual meetings with our llc annual meeting minutes template, pto calendar, manage your team's time off with a comprehensive pto calendar, addendum to a contract, track and manage your contract amendments with ease, minutes of meeting mom, streamline your meetings and keep track of decisions with the minutes of meeting (mom) template.

Identify the root cause of problems and devise effective solutions

Profit and loss statement, streamline your standard operating procedures with this comprehensive sop template, website migration project plan, streamline your website migration process with a comprehensive project plan, inventory report, action register, trip report, track your business trips, objectives, expenses, and insights, event brief, kinship diagram whiteboard, visualize and understand your family tree with ease, alignment chart, align your team's goals and strategies with clear execution steps, end of day cash register report, track your daily sales and cash register status with ease.

Communication Matrix Report

Streamline your project communication with a comprehensive matrix, streamline your standard operating procedures with this sop template, meeting agenda, streamline your meetings with a comprehensive agenda.

Organize your tasks efficiently with a clear view of priorities and deadlines

Project timeline, manage your project timeline efficiently and effectively.

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Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

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Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

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The 3 year plan: Build a roadmap to success

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What’s a 3 year plan?

15 questions to ask yourself before creating a 3 year plan

How to make a plan, 3 year plan examples, plan for success.

Where do you want to be three years from now? 

Perhaps you want to transition to independent contracting or ascend to a C-suite position. Or maybe you want to leave your company and go at it alone. No matter how you imagine your future, a surefire way to inch closer to your career objectives is by mapping it out step-by-step, year by year. 

Creating a detailed 3 year plan is a useful strategy for visualizing short-term professional aspirations and charting a course to achieve them. Tracking your progress helps you work with purpose, find a sense of accomplishment, and prioritize tasks that contribute to your end goal.

What’s a 3 year plan? 

A 3 year plan is a series of strategic and specific actions aimed toward a particular goal or objective. It’s a course designed to help you manage your decision-making and resource allocation to ensure you’re working toward the desired outcome. 

With a clear action plan that centers specific goals in your planning, you’re empowered to make decisions that support your end target and deprioritize work that doesn’t contribute. Developing a plan with structured goals is a great way to work with more intention — plus, it encourages organization and time management in your day-to-day work. 

A 1 year or 2 year plan can help you map out short-term career goals. Maybe you want to learn a programming language or earn a certification to help you stand out from your peers. And for big career transitions or life-altering aspirations, such as becoming a certified actuary or launching a startup, a 5 year plan or 10 year plan may be a more realistic timeline. 

A 3 year plan is useful for starting on long-term goals related to personal or professional development, like implementing a personal brand strategy or enhancing an industry-specific skill. They must be attainable within the three-year timeframe without dragging on for too long. 

Effective goal planning requi res you to reflect on your starting point and future objectives. You don’t want to decide on a 3 year plan impulsively — this time frame is a serious commitment. 

Thinking deeply about your goals encourages you to stay realistic and build a plan that fits into a long-term mission. Here are some questions you should ask yourself to reveal your most pressing aspirations:

What are the ethical values and principles that guide my career path ? 

What’s my long-term personal vision and life plan ? How does a 3 year plan fit into these? 

How can I explain my goal in a concise mission statement? 

What specific goals, expertise, or know-how do I want to develop or improve in the next three years? 

Are there any specific certifications or degrees I want to pursue? 

Does my plan fit into other career milestones, such as an internal promotion , a leadership role, or industry recognition? 

How could I build a networking plan to help me achieve my goal? 

Do I have a community of friends and colleagues who can provide me with emotional support? 

How can I break my final goal down into smaller milestones?

What financial resources do I need to dedicate to my goal? 

How much time do I need to dedicate per day, week, or month to reach my goal? 

Do I need to turn to a mentor or career coach for guidance? 

Which key performance indicators and metrics can I use to measure my progress? 

What obstacles stand in my way? Do I have money or time constraints, a skill gap, or a lack of self-confidence ? 

How regularly will I monitor my progress? Will I set weekly goals, monthly goals, and quarterly goals? 

Three years might sound like a small amount of time in the grand scheme of your career. But, when used effectively, it can be a significant period for setting and achieving professional goals. 

Here’s how to develop a strategic 3 year plan to propel you forward in your profession:

1. Understand the ‘why’

Think deeply about what you really want and why you want it. 

Knowing you hope to improve your communication skills, for example, empowers you to define specific skills to practice, like negotiation or active listening. But understanding the “Why” can help you deepen your development plan. Improving your communication skills to get larger pledges from fundraisers is a more specific goal. With this knowledge, you might join a workshop to improve your storytelling or have a weekly goal to cold call one new high-value donor. 

Likewise, according to self-efficacy theory , setting goals that make you feel in control makes you more likely to achieve them . Let’s return to that fundraising example. If you want to improve your communication skills because you feel pressured to bring in bigger donors, you’ll likely struggle to stay motivated . But when you set your own goals, you’re more likely to take negative feedback in stride and build stronger strategies for success. 

2. Find the one

Goal-setting theory suggests that specific and challenging goals consistently lead to higher performance . But too much of anything — including ambition — can be counterproductive. 

Goal shielding theory suggests the mind naturally sheds goals when you have too many at once . As you successfully advance towards one goal, you tend to ignore or abandon the others . To do your best work, narrow down your objective to one core focal point. It’ll encourage you to maintain clarity and avoid feeling overwhelmed and burnt out . Later in the planning process, you can break down your larger focal goal into several smaller complementary goals, if necessary. 

3. Research, research, research

How realistic is your goal? Do some due diligence before you get started to ensure your objective is within reach. 

Beyond researching any financial, resource, or time commitments, look into the strategies you need to adopt to achieve your objective. A web developer who wants to become proficient in a new programming language may need to connect with a coach and improve their time management to balance work with their learning objectives. 

Likewise, research courses, workshops, and groups to support your efforts. Following people in your industry on LinkedIn or meeting new colleagues at networking events allows you to glean advice from other people’s successes. 

4. Prepare a contingency plan

Lots of things can change over the course of three years. Your 3 year strategic plan should anticipate interruptions, roadblocks, and changes. Here are a few obstacles that might pop up unexpectedly:

Time constraints: Carefully analyze your daily, weekly, and monthly schedules. How much time can you realistically dedicate to your 3 year plan? Are there times in the year when you have more or less time? Maybe your job gets busy at the end of the year, and you’ll need to take a break or work less on your final objective. Or perhaps certain months are always slow — and that’s when you can bulk up your dedication. 

Steep learning curve: A 3 year plan is a big goal. Maybe you’re laying the groundwork for a small business or teaching yourself a new coding language. Reaching your objective may be more complex than you initially anticipated, so look into resources that can support you if things go south. This way you can maintain the energy you need to keep yourself in a growth mindset no matter what challenges arise. 

Blows to motivation: Staying motivated and consistent throughout a three year career journey isn’t easy for anyone. Consider what keeps you motivated and work that into your 3 year plan. Join a professional community that will celebrate your milestones with you. And break your goal into small, achievable initiatives to keep your enthusiasm high and visualize your progress. 

Burnout: Hitting your goal shouldn’t sacrifice your well-being. Take breaks when you need them, practice self-care, and maintain a work-life balance. Prioritizing yourself helps you respond better to stress that could otherwise derail your progress.

5. Break your plan down

Using the SMART goal-setting framework , break your 3 year objective into smaller steps. Each step should be:

A helpful way to envision each step is to move backward. Break your final objective down into progressively smaller achievements and milestones. Setting yearly, monthly, and weekly goals encourage you to consistently check in on your progress. 

T o stay motivated, consider sitting down each Monday and reviewing your goals for the week. Establishing a routine can transform a hard-to-imagine 3 year pl an into a more attainable daily habit. 

Let’s look at two examples of 3 year plans and explore them in more depth. You can use these plans as inspiration or as templates and edit them based on your goal. 

Transition to freelance work: year-by-year

Imagine a data analyst who works full-time for a marketing agency and wants to fully transition to independent contracting. Here’s a possible 3 year plan template with yearly goals: 

Year 1: Create a financial plan to comfortably leave a full-time salary, identify weaknesses and improve your skill set, and define a target market to improve your professional network. 

Year 2: Create a professional website and revamp your personal brand, establish an LLC, and use a professional network and portfolio to line up new clients.

Year 3: Schedule out projects for the remainder of the year, transition out of your full-time job, and continue professional learning and self-promotion.

Transition to freelance work: month-by-month

Let’s break this plan down further. Here’s what monthly goals might look like for year one:

January: Research and evaluate finances, including your desired income, and budget a savings buffer.

February: Audit your current skill set and define areas for improvement. Research relevant courses and workshops to upskill and re-skill. 

March: Attend industry events and actively engage with professionals to identify the best target market. 

April: Sign-up for a two-month intensive course in artificial intelligence for qualitative and quantitative research. 

May: Practice verbal presentation skills for the Q2 quarterly meeting and ask colleagues for feedback while completing your course. 

June: Speak with your manager about opportunities to take on more client-facing roles and gain hands-on experience as you finish the course.

July: Evaluate progress in the first six months of year one. Review financial plans and evaluate changes for the rest of the year. 

August: Continue attending industry events and expanding your professional network. 

September: Begin a three-month Google Analytics certification course. Set aside 10 hours per week to dedicate to coursework. 

October: Continue the Google Analytics certification course. 

November: Complete the Google Analytics course. Evaluate your progress in year one, review your financial plan, and make necessary adjustments to the year two plan. 

December: Take a break to focus on end-of-year work responsibilities and the holiday season. 

Break down each year like this as you progress to continue moving toward your overarching objective. 

Some of your career dreams might feel lofty. After all, you’re pushing yourself past your comfort zone and imagining a new and different professional future. But you can get there — all you need is a good map. 

Depending on your goal, a 3 year plan may be the right time frame to make significant changes to your career path. Think carefully about the ‘what,’ the ‘why,’ and the challenges you may face. Take stock of your current resources and note what you’ll need to get from A to B. And don’t forget to set a concrete plan for maintaining your wellness along the way.

All if this careful attention to detail will help you build a strong and impactful plan to turn your dream into a reality. The next step? Getting started.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

How to write a 10 year plan (with examples) and reach your goals

Are you reaching your full potential a guide to personal development, what’s relationship coaching how to find a coach, 9 meaningful life goals to pursue for long-term fulfillment, going somewhere write the 5-year plan you need to achieve it, dare to daydream: how to overcome lack of ambition, 12 ambition examples that’ll inspire your goal-setting, personal goals that work: 20 examples to get started, habit stacking: what it is and 5 examples, similar articles, do goal statements actually work find out here, 10 smart goal examples for your whole life, 22 workplace goals examples to strive for, 15 leadership challenges you need to take this year, what is a career statement, and should you write one, 15 career goals examples to inspire you to set your own, goals versus objectives: learn to lead your teams to success, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Annual Business Planning Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

What is an Annual Business Plan?

An annual business plan is a document that sets out the goals and objectives for a company over the course of a year. It provides a roadmap for how the business will operate and achieve its desired results. A simple business plan template will help guide you in creating a comprehensive annual plan.

Steps to Create an Annual Plan

There are seven steps to creating an annual business plan:

• Define the company’s overall vision and strategy.
• Set specific, measurable goals and objectives for the year.
• Identify the resources needed to achieve these goals.
• Create a timeline for each goal and objective.
• Assign responsibility for each goal and objective to specific individuals or teams.
• Review and revise the plan on a regular basis.
• Each of these steps is important in creating a well-formulated annual plan. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Defining the Company’s Overall Vision and Strategy

The first step in creating an annual plan is defining the company’s overall vision and strategy. This involves deciding where the company wants to be in the future and outlining the steps needed to get there. It’s important to be realistic in setting these goals and to make sure they are aligned with the company’s overall strategic vision.

Setting Specific, Measurable Goals and Objectives

Once the company’s overarching vision has been defined, it’s time to set specific, measurable goals and objectives for the year. These should be attainable but challenging and should align with the company’s overall strategy. Each goal should have a target date for completion, as well as a specific metric that will be used to measure progress.

Identifying Resources Needed To Achieve Goals

Next, it’s important to identify the resources needed to achieve these goals. This includes everything from manpower and funding, to office space and equipment. It’s also important to assign responsibility for each goal/objective to specific individuals or teams. This helps ensure that everyone is aware of their role in achieving the desired results.

Creating a Timeline

Once goals have been defined and resources have been identified, it’s time to create a timeline for each one. This will help keep everyone on track throughout the year and ensure that tasks are completed in a timely manner. A Gantt chart can be helpful in organizing this information visually.

Assigning Responsibility

Finally, it’s important to assign responsibility for each goal/objective to specific individuals or teams. This helps ensure that everyone is aware of their role in achieving the desired results. By assigning clear responsibilities, tasks can be delegated efficiently and everyone will know who is responsible for what outcomes.

Reviewing and Revising Plan Regularly

It’s important to review and revise your annual plan on a regular basis. This ensures that the goals are still relevant and achievable and that the resources required are still available. It also allows for any necessary adjustments to be made if something isn’t working as planned. A good rule of thumb is to review the plan quarterly or more often if needed.

Parts of the Annual Strategic Plan Template

There are four key parts to the annual plan template:

1. Vision and Strategy

The first step is to define the company’s overall vision and strategy. This will provide a framework for all of the other steps in the process.

2. Goals and Objectives

The next step is to set specific, measurable goals and objectives for the year. These should be aligned with the company’s vision and strategy.

3. Resources

The third step is to identify the resources needed to achieve the goals and objectives. This includes things like budget, staff, and materials.

4. Timeline

The fourth step is to create a timeline for each goal and objective. This will help ensure that everything is completed on time and within budget.

The Importance of a Well-Formulated Annual Strategic Plan

The importance of a well-formulated annual plan cannot be overstated. It provides a clear roadmap for the company’s operations and sets forth a clear vision for its desired results. Additionally, it helps to ensure that all employees are aware of the company’s goals and objectives and are working towards the same end.

The Difference between an Annual Plan and A Company’s Broader Strategic Vision

The difference between an annual business plan and a company’s strategic vision is that the former is more focused on the specific goals and objectives to be achieved over the course of a year, while the latter is more concerned with the company’s long-term direction. An annual business plan lays out a roadmap for the company’s operations over the course of a year and sets specific targets to be met. A company’s strategic plan, on the other hand, is more concerned with the overall direction of the business and its long-term goals.

Ultimately the difference between an annual plan and a company’s broader strategic vision is that the former is more focused on the specific goals and objectives to be achieved over the course of a year, while the latter is more concerned with the company’s long-term direction.

Best Practices for Annual Planning

There are a few key best practices that businesses should keep in mind when planning their annual operations.  

First and foremost, it is important to be realistic about what can be accomplished in a year. Businesses should establish achievable goals and objectives, and then create a plan of action to achieve them. This includes setting timelines and specific tasks that need to be completed in order to reach the goal. 

Another key element of effective annual planning is creating a budget and sticking to it. Budgets help businesses stay accountable and track progress toward their goals. 

In addition, effective annual planning should always include regular review and course correction as needed. Businesses should routinely assess their progress, make necessary adjustments, and ensure they are still on track to meet their goals.

When it comes to business annual planning, there are a few best practices that can help your organization make the most of the process. Here are a few tips to get you started:

•  Set realistic goals. It’s important to set realistic goals for your annual planning process – this way, you’re more likely to achieve them. Be honest with yourself about what’s achievable and what’s not, and make sure your team is on the same page.
• Make a roadmap. Once you’ve set your goals, create a roadmap for how you’ll achieve them. This will help keep everyone on track and ensure that you’re making progress toward your targets.
• Use data to inform your decisions. When making decisions about your annual planning, use data to inform your decisions. This will help you make informed choices based on evidence rather than intuition alone.
• Communicate regularly. Make sure to communicate regularly with your team throughout the annual planning process – this will help keep everyone updated on what’s happening and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.
• Celebrate successes along the way. Celebrate successes along the way – this will keep everyone motivated and help ensure that the process is fun as well as productive.

Annual Contingency Plan Example

Sometimes it’s helpful to have a contingency plan or clause in case things don’t go as expected. Below is a sample contingency plan.

“In the event that we are unable to achieve our sales goals for the year, we will implement a number of contingency measures. These measures may include reducing our advertising budget, downsizing our workforce, and suspending operations at certain locations. We will only implement these measures if absolutely necessary and we are confident that they will help us to get back on track.”

Strategic Business Plan Example

Below is an example of a strategic business plan.

“Our long-term goal is to become the leading provider of XYZ products and services in our industry. To achieve this, we will need to increase our market share, expand our operations into new markets, and continue to innovate our product offerings. We are confident that we can achieve these goals and become the industry leader.”

Annual Business Plan Template

Executive summary.

The executive summary is a brief overview of the company’s annual plans while taking into account the company’s broader vision. It should include a description of the company, its products, and services, its marketing and sales strategy, its operations plan, and its financial plan.

Company Overview

The company overview section of the annual planning document should provide a brief history of the company, its mission and vision, and its current status.

Products and Services

This section of the annual plans should describe the company’s products and services in detail. It should also include information on the company’s competitive advantages and any new products or services that will be launched in the coming year.

Marketing Plan

The marketing plan section of the company’s strategy should outline the marketing and sales strategy for the entire organization for the coming year. It should include information on the company’s target market, its branding and positioning strategy, its advertising and promotion budget, and its sales goals.

Operations Plan

The operations plan section of the annual business plan should describe the company’s methods for manufacturing, distribution, and other aspects of its operations. It should also include information on the company’s capacity, its supply chain, and its quality control procedures.

Financial Plan

The financial plan section of the annual business plan should include a summary of the company’s financials, the budgetary approval process, contingency plans, as well as the broader visions and plans for funding and investment.

With regards to financials, you want to include past and projected Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Statements. Also, if you are seeking external financing, document the amount of funding you need and the key expected uses of these funds.

Annual Goals

When creating your business plan, it’s important to set annual goals and objectives. This will help you track your progress and ensure that you’re on track to reaching your long-term goals. Some things you may want to consider when setting your annual goals include:

• Increasing revenue
• Expanding your customer base
• Improving product or service quality
• Reducing costs
• Developing new products or services
• Enhancing marketing efforts
• Expanding into new markets

One of the most important aspects of any business plan is setting annual goals. These goals should be attainable, yet ambitious, and should help to guide your business in the right direction. Some things you may want to consider when setting your annual goals include increasing sales, expanding your customer base, improving productivity or efficiency, reducing costs, or developing new products or services. Whatever your goals may be, make sure to document them and track your progress throughout the year. This will help you ensure that you are on track to meeting your targets and achieving success for your business.

The appendix of the annual business plan template should include any supporting documentation that is relevant to the plan, such as market research reports, financial projections, and product specifications.

Every company should have an annual business plan. This document helps you track your progress, set goals, plan forward, and make necessary adjustments throughout the year related to key results. Without a business plan, it is difficult to make informed decisions about where to allocate your resources or measure your success. If you need help getting started, we have a great business planning template that can get you on the right track. By following our simple tips and using our template, you can create a comprehensive business plan that will help ensure your success in the coming year. 

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Strategic Planning Timelines: 3 Year vs 5 year strategic plans

By Anthony Taylor - October 28, 2022

In today's rapidly changing business landscape, strategic planning has become more crucial than ever before. One of the most important decisions you'll make during the strategic planning process is determining the timeline for your plan. In this article, we'll explore the differences between a three year strategic planning timeline and a 5 year strategic planning timeline, and help you decide which one is right for your organization.

What is a Strategic Planning Timeline?

Can strategic Plan Timelines be less than 3 Years?

What is the most common Strategic Planning timeline? Why Should You Create a Three Year Strategic Plan ?

But before we get into if your organization should go with a 5 year strategic plan over a three year strategic plan, If you've never created a strategic plan or are creating a new one, it's critical to assess your vision, mission, and values before going into your strategy, goals, and tactics. Related Content:

What is the Strategic Planning Process?

Sample strategic planning agenda 2023

A strategic planning timeline is the time span over which your organization plans its actions to increase alignment by building a shared understanding of what has been done in the past and what is planned for the future to support your organization's mission.

Timelines for strategic planning should be focused on the medium to long-term future. Consider your strategic plan to be a living, breathing entity with a finite lifespan. Most strategic plans are designed to last three to five years, though there are exceptions; some can endure much longer, as we'll see later in the article.

Some  organizations  create  plans  that  are  one  year,  five  years,  or  even  up  to  twenty  years  in  the  future.

However, strategic plan timelines are different from operational timelines , strategic plans usually start at the organizational level, While operational plans focus on specific departments and teams and might concentrate on the day-to-day requirements of running your organization. Operational plans are the set of tactics made to work alongside your strategic plan. They focus on short-term actions that drive your strategic plan forward and typically contain more items than strategic plans, ranging from a single to-do to ongoing short, mid, and long-term projects, while strategic priorities are concentrated on a small number of objectives that need to be reviewed on a regular basis. However, for you to successfully move your organization and strategic plan forward, you need to ensure that there is a balance between your strategic and operational plans. 

    Download our free Strategic Planning Template and start your strategic planning process today

What is the most common Strategic Planning timeline? 

At SME Strategy prioritize creating 3-year strategic plans over 5 year strategic plans for most of the organizations we work with. We believe three year strategic plans balance long-range thinking as well as short-term execution better than a 5 year plan. 

If your organization is in the process of selecting what strategic planning timeline to prepare for, there are a few things to think about. In a previous post, we talked about what is the strategic planning process , why it's important and the steps your organization needs to follow before you start your strategic planning process. 

Why Should You Create a Three Year Strategic Plan ?

• Technological Change

Because of the rapid pace at which technology, society, and trends evolve, these numerous external factors make it counterintuitive to create a five-year plan over a three-year plan. Going for a three year strategic plan is a great way to keep your organization’s vision close enough to where it is more attainable, but still giving enough allowance for greater flexibility when it comes to technological change. 

• Lack of Strategic Foresight

When choosing a strategic planning timeline for your organization, keep both the future and the present in mind. That is why we advocate three-year strategic plans for your organization because they balance the long and near term better than a 5-year strategic plan. It's long enough to cover the majority of the tasks required to move your mission forward, but it's also close enough that you can simply implement it over one, two, or three years.

Three to five year strategic plans work well for organizations in most industries. Why? Most organizations go through significant internal change because of the nature of work in 2022. This study reveals that resignation rates among managers have now almost doubled since last year, with the great resignation showing no signs of slowing. If you work in an industry that does not see a lot of change and has a lot of capital investment or traditionally low personnel turnover, such as education , city planning, or Large manufacturing companies, a 5 year strategic plan or longer is ideal.

In conclusion, it is unlikely that your organization requires a 5-year strategic plan. Focusing on three-year plans, making them more feasible, and ensuring that they are adaptable to the market will help you achieve greater success. However, with three-year strategic plans, we still recommend conducting annual comprehensive strategy reviews. This means that while you may have a three year vision and mission that your organization is working towards, you re-asses your priorities, goals and actions on an annual basis, which effectively results in a strategic plan update every year, and a full strategy overhaul every 3 years.

SME Strategy is a strategy consulting company that specializes in aligning teams around their vision, mission, values, goals and action plans. Learn more about how we can help you and your team create a strategic plan with our strategic planning facilitation services.

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Mastering the 3 Year Business Plan

• Goals & Strategies

The first thing to consider in the 3 Year Business Plan is the same as in a one year or five year plan – consider what direction your company should be going in. Answer why that direction is important, and it’ll be easier to identify what objectives need to be achieved, understand where there might be some gaps and challenge points ahead, and how your team will work on those issues and opportunities to realize your potential.

Knowing Where You Want To Go in the 3 Year Business Plan

In considering your direction, ask yourself: do you have the capabilities to realize your goal? This could be a function of product offerings, your ability to drive innovations or with your organizational effectiveness, or the ability to drive profitability – among many other considerations.

From a leadership perspective, it’s crucial to truly understand your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, the objectives before you, and what will be required to build a high level roadmap.

Creating the Framework for a Successful 3 Year Business Plan

Some key drivers in almost any organization that you’ll want to measure in achieving your goals include sales, the cost of sales, and overhead investments. These are levers with significant impact, and they influence (and are influenced by) other aspects of your business. These metrics are your first important elements of a framework you can customize to understand progress towards your goals, and might also include products and innovation, organizational excellence, people and leadership. Get input and buy-in from other department leaders or managers as you determine your goals and measurable targets, and make sure there’s alignment on where organizational focus will be.

It’s good to have ambitious goals, but connect them to three or four value drivers you realistically influence. Other “wishlist” items can become part of the framework when and if new resources, like people or money, make them easier to focus on. Focus on winning big with a few select items rather than mediocrity across several.

Staying Disciplined To Your 3 Year Business Plan

Business and marketplace dynamics are always changing, which is why a framework created by key drivers in your business is important. Is your drivers include new products and innovation to help reach your 3 Year Goal, then even as things around your business change that focal point does not. You might find things are taking longer, or less time, or are shifting in ways you didn’t expect – but the key driver remains.

A 3 Year Plan isn’t something you build one year and revisit three years later. It’s a living, breathing thing. The framework and value drivers of your business will adapt and evolve, but if you’re focused on a few big wins you can better stay disciplined to those outcomes and avoid chasing shiny objects or having to essentially build a new plan every year. This is where annual, quarterly, and monthly goals and reports are all key considerations to the whole – those should be driving you towards your long-term vision and achievement, and and course corrections required should be relatively minimal from month to month.

Guiding the 3 Year Business Plan

Guidance, discipline, and vision for the 3 Year Plan needs to come from the functional leaders of your team. It’s their responsibility to cascade functional goals, objectives, mandated performance objectives throughout the organization. A key component of this is the CFO , who has the unique position and understanding of all the departments or people that are managing your key drivers. In addition to real-time guidance on how drivers are performing relative to goals, your CFO should be an active part in helping you create your sustainable long term vision and achieve your 3 Year Plan.

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How to create a 3-year business plan

• March 15, 2024

12 Min Read

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a skilled business owner, anticipating where your business will be in the next few years can be a challenging task.

That’s why it’s very important to have a strategic plan for the next three or even five years from now, which guides you to set big goals and ensures your business thrives in the competitive landscape.

If you feel like you need help or are unsure of how to create a 3-year business plan from scratch, we’re here to help you get started!

Explore our three-year business plan template that covers everything, from deciding on your long-term goals to figuring out how to reach them.

So, ready to begin? Let’s dive in and start by understanding what a 3-year plan is.

What is a 3 Year Business Plan?

A 3-year business plan is a professional document that serves as a strategic roadmap for your company’s future. It outlines business goals, strategies, financial statements, and growth plans for the next three years.

It helps you set clear objectives, define target customers, allocate resources effectively, mitigate potential risks, adapt to changing market conditions, and make informed decisions.

Ultimately, a well-crafted 3-year plan keeps you on track and drives sustainable growth and profitability over the specified timeline.

Why do you need a 3 year business plan?

Writing a solid business plan is one of the most crucial aspects of your entrepreneurial journey.

A 3-year business plan gives you a structural framework to think strategically about your company’s plans over the next few years. It helps you organize your business idea and guide your strategic decision-making.

The following are a few key reasons why it’s necessary to have an actionable business plan:

Highlights your long-term vision

A 3-year plan helps you articulate your long-term vision and define a set of strategic goals for your business over the next three years. This will allow you to stay focused on your objectives and manage your decision-making to navigate the complexities of your business landscape.

Increases investor’s confidence

If you’re looking for investors or stakeholders to fund your business expansion, a well-written 3-year plan is essential. It demonstrates your commitment to long-term growth and assures investors that your business will make profits. So, this will increase their confidence and trust in your long-term strategy.

Mitigates potential risks

Analyzing and identifying potential risks is the key aspect of any business. So, an actionable plan helps you develop strategies to mitigate those risks and ensure your business continuity. If there is economic volatility, regulatory transitions, or technical disruptions, a 3-year business plan helps you anticipate and prepare for business challenges.

Promotes strategic planning

A 3-year strategic business plan encourages you to think about the business and how to attain sustainable growth or success over the next few years. It also helps you make hiring decisions and predict future staffing needs. By identifying market trends, competitors, and internal capabilities, you can enhance strategies to capitalize on opportunities and reduce potential risks.

Now that you know why a business plan is beneficial, it’s time to understand what to include in a detailed 3-year plan.

What to include in a detailed three-year business plan

1. executive summary.

An executive summary is a brief introduction to your 3-year business plan and summarizes each component you will mention in the document.

Though it is the first section, it is written in the last as it provides a high-level overview of the complete business plan.

Since the executive summary is the introductory section of the plan, its primary goal is to quickly attract readers and convince them to delve further into the rest of your plan.

Here are a few details you may consider including in your executive summary:

• A quick overview of your business idea and objectives
• Your company’s vision statement
• Industry analysis and market research
• Sales and marketing strategy
• Key performance indicators
• Introduction of your management team
• Financial forecasts for the next three years

Remember, you should keep your summary simple, concise, and compelling enough to build investors’ or readers’ trust.

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2. Business Overview

As its name indicates, the business overview section provides a detailed description of your company. It includes all the essential information, starting from a business idea to its long-term goals.

Since you’ll give a brief company description in the executive summary, this chapter would be an expansion on it, providing an in-depth understanding of your business.

So, this section makes it easier for readers or potential business partners to quickly comprehend the nature of your business, such as what your company does, who are the targeṭ customers, and how you plan to meet future objectives.

You may include all the following crucial elements in this section:

• The type of small business you operate
• A brief history or background details of your business
• Achievements or milestones you’ve achieved
• Business legal structure(s-corp, LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.)
• Core values and mission statement
• Short-term goals and long-term objectives

3. Market Analysis

Industry and market analysis is a detailed breakdown of the external business environment. It provides a thorough understanding of the specific industry or sector in which your business will operate. 

This section helps your readers or potential investors to easily understand the broader industry, target customers, direct & indirect competitors, emerging trends, and market demands.

Apart from that, it helps you and your team to analyze and identify the untapped key areas in the market and develop strategies to stand out from the competitors.

Here are some specific details you may include:

• Market share and growth potential
• Target market
• Ideal customers along with their preferences
• Key competitors
• Current trends
• Regulatory environment

4. Product and Services

In the product and services section, you may provide details of your product or service range, main features, pricing, and more. It helps you demonstrate the current capabilities of your business and highlight the USPs.

So, you may consider adding the below points in this section:

• Product/service description 
• Pricing details
• Quality standards
• Product line development plan

While you’re planning how to start your own business, you have to explore the market and determine how your offerings will encounter customer problems and satisfy their needs better than competitors.

5. Sales and Marketing Strategies

Your sales and marketing plan outlines the strategies you’ll use to reach the target audience and how you’ll bring more customers by promoting your products/services to them.

A well-written marketing plan will encourage you to create effective campaigns and simplify your marketing efforts while maintaining the marketing budget and maximizing return on investment.

Thus, you may describe a list of sales strategies and promotional tactics to attract new customers and retain existing ones. 

Here’s a list of key components you may include in this section:

• Target audience
• Marketing strategy
• Sales approach
• Sales and marketing goals
• Customer retention program

6. Operations Plan

As you’ve mentioned your business goals in the previous sections, now it’s time to define how you’ll meet those goals.

In your operations plan, you’ll need to outline all the details of everyday business operations and activities. This will help you and your team to define responsibilities, daily tasks, and short-term goals you plan to achieve, keeping track of your future goals.

Well, here is some distinct information you should include in the operations plan:

• Staffing and training
• Operational process
• Supply chain & Inventory management
• Facilities and equipment

Note that your operations plan is a living document, you may adjust and update it as needed.

7. Management Team

A well-trained and experienced management team is crucial for driving your business ahead. 

So, highlight your business owners and key executives in this section, along with their roles & responsibilities, educational qualifications, industry experience, and how you plan to compensate them. 

It allows readers to easily understand your management team’s background, skills, and expertise that help you grow your company and make informed business decisions. 

The following information you may consider including in the management team section:

• Company owner profile
• Resume-styled summary of key members
• Organizational structure
• Compensation plan
• Advisory board members

8. 3-year Financial Projections

A financial plan is the most crucial aspect of your three-year business plan, as potential investors or lenders want to know more about your business’s net profit margins.

It provides a detailed blueprint of your business’s 3-year financial reports broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year of operation and then annually. 

While creating an in-depth, strategic plan for the next 3-years, you’ll need to highlight all the below factors:

• Revenue forecast
• Operating costs
• Profitability analysis
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis
• Business ratios

In addition, if you’re seeking a business loan or angel investor, you will need to summarize exactly how much money you need, how you plan to use those funds, and how you pay it back.

Well, having realistic financial forecasts at your hand can help you evaluate your business’s financial health and growth potential in the long run.

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Tips for creating a three-year business plan

Now that you understand what to include in a business plan, it’s time to consider how you’ll actually create the document. Here are some tips for drafting a comprehensive three-year business plan.

This will help you prepare a business plan that serves its purpose and can be an easy reference for the years ahead.

1. Conduct potential market research

Conduct a thorough analysis of the market, competition, internal capabilities, and the current financial situation of your business before you finalize your three-year plan. Also, identify your strengths and address weaknesses. This helps you pinpoint potential risks and opportunities that impact your business and strategic decisions for the next few years.

2. Set realistic financial goals

While setting your business objectives, it’s important to define specific, measurable, and achievable goals that you can accomplish in the years ahead. Try to consider a few factors, such as marker conditions, emerging trends, and your business capabilities when setting revenue targets, profit margins, and other financial milestones. This will help you stay focused and motivated.

3. Demonstrate the potential for ROI

A 3-year plan should effectively show the investors and stakeholders that your business has the potential for return on investment(ROI). It will help you outline how your strategic initiatives will generate revenue and profitability over the next three years. So you can provide a clear opportunity for investment and support.

4. Develop contingency plans

Developing a contingency plan is crucial for the potential challenges that may arise over the next few years. You can consider several factors like economic downturns, supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, or other unforeseen events. This will mitigate the impact of these risks and ensure that your business runs smoothly even in challenging circumstances.

5. Ensure clear communication

A detailed three-year plan allows entrepreneurs and business owners to clearly communicate their business goals, milestones, and strategies. So this will be easy to understand for all the stakeholders, including potential partners, investors, and employees. You can also use charts, graphs, and visuals to share intricate details and make your plan more compelling.

6. Review and update regularly

Once you have created the entire business plan, you should regularly schedule reviews to assess progress, update assumptions, and adjust strategies as needed. Since the business plan is a living document, it evolves over time based on new facts or varying business environments. By revising and updating your plan, you make sure that it will remain relevant and effective.

So, try to keep in mind these few factors while making a three-year business plan. Now, let’s move forward and explore several types of business plan templates.

Examples of 3-year business plan templates

As there are several types of 3-year business plan templates available, no two business owners prepare the same kind of 3-year plan.

This is so because the business plan template that works best for your company depends on the age of your business, objectives, and the purpose behind using the plan.

Here are a few examples that are tailored to different aspects of business planning:

Traditional three year business plan template

This kind of business plan template follows the standard format as you establish a new business or startup, define the target audience, and market your products/services. It includes lengthy sections about company overview, market analysis, sales and marketing strategy, or financial forecasting. So, this will provide a detailed plan for your business over the next 3 years.

Strategic plan for growth and expansion

When you’ve been running the business for a few years and thinking about expansion or growth, a strategic growth plan might be your choice. It will help you approach your growth strategically and provide the best opportunities to identify risks and techniques to mitigate them. So, this type of template helps align your business activities with long-term objectives.

Simple one-page plan

As the name suggests, it is a single-page business plan that helps you provide a high-level overview of your business to the partners, investors, or other stakeholders. Since it is shorter in length, it highlights the most crucial points, and even writing a one-page business plan can be much simpler and quicker compared to the traditional business plan.

Start preparing your business plan

Finally, with the help of details and resources provided in this guide, you’re well-equipped to start an exciting journey of preparing a successful 3-year business plan.

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or a new business owner, you can consider using a business plan app like Upmetrics to streamline your business planning approach.

Upmetrics is a user-friendly platform that provides easy-to-follow guides, 400+ business plan examples, and AI support to create an actionable plan in manageable steps. It also helps you develop realistic financial projections if needed or when you feel stuck with a financial plan.

So, start writing your plan today and bring your vision to life!

Make your plan in half the time & twice the impact with Upmetrics

Fill-in-the-blanks, AI-assistance, and automatic financials make it easy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it good to make a 3-year strategic plan.

Creating a 3-year or long-term plan is highly beneficial for your business. It helps you set clear goals, anticipate potential risks & challenges, develop a realistic financial outlook, demonstrate growth potential to investors, and build their confidence. So, it guides you in the right direction to attain sustainable growth and success over the long term.

How much detail should I include in the financial projections?

The following are a few key elements that you need to include in your financial projections:

• Sales forecast
• Expenses budget
• Cash flow statement
• Profit and loss statement (Income statement)
• Balance sheet
• External funding needs

How long should my 3-year business plan be?

The length of a 3-year business plan typically ranges from 15-35 pages and beyond as it depends on your purpose, business concept, objectives, resources you plan to use, and the strategies you will need to achieve your business goals.

Can I write a business plan myself?

Of course, you can write your business plan by yourself. If you are new to the planning process, you may get help from various resources available, such as business plan software, online guides, templates, strategic planning sessions, and professional writers.

What's the best way to format my 3-year plan?

The best way to format your 3-year plan depends on your specific needs, target market, and business strategy. You may follow the below guidelines to create a professional-looking business plan:

• Write a compelling executive summary
• Provide a detailed company overview
• Conduct thorough market and industry analysis
• Describe the products and services
• Outline sales and marketing strategy
• Summarize operations plan
• Introduce your management team
• Present 3-year financial forecast

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Tax changes small business owners should be aware of as the tax deadline looms

FILE - A cash register is seen on the front counter at the Alpha Shoe Repair Corp., Feb. 3, 2023, in New York. As Tax Day, April 15, approaches, there are plenty of things small business owners should keep in mind when filing taxes this year. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

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As Tax Day approaches, there are plenty of things small business owners should keep in mind when filing taxes this year.

April 15 is still the annual tax deadline for many small businesses although, unlike individuals, small businesses can have varying deadlines depending on the type of company, the state the taxes are filed in, and other factors. Quarterly estimated tax payments are generally required throughout the year. And certain types of small businesses had to file by March 15.

Since business tax filing is complex, most experts recommend small business owners work with a professional tax adviser rather than trying to file on their own or even with tax-filing software.

“Taxes should not be scary, especially when you have a certified tax professional or someone who is your trusted adviser,” said Amber Kellogg, vice president of affiliate origination and management at business consultancy Occams Advisory. “I always say you don’t go to the dentist to get your oil changed, and you certainly shouldn’t do (taxes) yourself unless you’re an expert.”

But even if small business owners aren’t filing taxes themselves, it’s still important to stay informed about any tax changes during the year. Here are things small business owners should consider as the April 15 deadline looms.

Consider an extension

Because of some pending tax legislation in Congress this year, Mitch Gerstein, senior tax adviser at accounting firm Isdaner & Co., said it might be a good idea to file for an extension. When you file an extension you still pay estimated taxes, but final paperwork isn’t due until September.

This gives your tax provider adequate time to file a return. And it’s cheaper to file an extension than an amended return, which costs more in administrative fees.

One reason Gerstein recommends an extension this year: a bonus depreciation write-off used by many small businesses is set to decrease for 2023. The bonus depreciation allowance was designed to spur capital purchases and it let businesses write off 100% of certain new and used assets in 2022. But beginning in 2023, that will decrease to 80% for used assets, dropping another 20% each year thereafter. However, a tax bill pending in Congress could restore the write-off to 100%. It’s rare that there is such a significant tax bill pending in Congress when taxes are due, Gerstein said.

Optimize your retirement plan

The Secure Act 2.0 passed by Congress in late 2022 gives small businesses some tax advantages if they offer a retirement plan. There’s a tax credit for small businesses starting new employee plans. The credit is up to 100% of the startup costs for adopting and maintaining a new 401(k) plan, capped at $5,000. There’s also a tax credit based on employer contribution, up to $1,000 annually per employee, over the plan’s first five years.

Changes in research and development write-offs

Scott Orn, chief operating officer of Kruze Consulting, works with startups backed by venture capital. Orn said the number one concern his clients are calling about is “Section 174,” a part of the tax code that involves writing off research and development costs.

In the past, companies were able to deduct 100% of research and development expenses from their taxable income. That was helpful because often that deduction meant the company was operating at a loss and wouldn’t have to pay taxes.

But starting in 2022 due to new legislation, companies have had to “capitalize” the expense – or spread it out over several years. That means they must now write off the expenses over five years for U.S.-based R&D, or 15 years for foreign R&D expenses.

Large and small companies alike are affected by the change, but small businesses are hurt the most, Orn said.

“(Small businesses) are the ones who are swinging into profit where they thought they were like safely losing money and not ever going to pay taxes for a while,” Orn said. “And that’s why it’s such a big surprise for them. It’s hurting people, it’s like it’s a lot of money these companies don’t have.”

Avoid underpayment penalties

Yet another reason for small business owners to use a tax professional is the fact that underpaying will cost more this year. In the past, underpayment penalties hovered at around 3%, but this year they’re more than double at 8% . That’s because the penalties are based on the federal short term interest rate plus three points, said Danny Castro, Florida Market Tax Leader at BDO USA, part of BDO Global, a global accounting network.

“The cost of underpayment is as high as it’s been in a long time,” he said.

One credit to skip: the ERC

At one time, the pandemic-era Employee Retention Credit seemed like a boon for small businesses. Designed to help small businesses keep employees during pandemic-era shutdowns, the generous credit let businesses file amended tax returns to claim the credit.

But that led to a cottage industry of scammers trying to entice small businesses to help them file for the credit – for a fee – even if they didn’t qualify. The IRS has launched several initiatives to claw back some money improperly given to businesses. To date, the IRS said 500 taxpayers have given back $225 million via a voluntary disclosure program, which ended on March 22, that let small businesses who thought they received the credit in error give back the money and keep 20%. And 1,800 businesses have withdrawn unprocessed claims totaling $251 million.

Get organized, stay organized

The best thing small businesses can do to help their tax advisers file their taxes is stay organized. A shoe box full of receipts isn’t helpful when trying to file timely taxes. Owners should log receipts in an orderly database they can turn over to their adviser. And stay on top of quarterly estimated payments.

“(Small business owners) need to be able to keep accurate records throughout the year and not have to go back in April and go, gosh, what what was this receipt for,” said Occams Advisory’s Amber Kellogg, “Keeping those, accurate records is very, very important.”

This story has been corrected to show that BDO USA is part of BDO Global, not BBO Global.

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Launch Week Event Details

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Nasa wallops to launch three sounding rockets during solar eclipse , goddard digital team.

Three Black Brant IX sounding rockets for the Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission are scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility launch range in Virginia. The launch window opens April 8, 2024, at 2:40 p.m. EDT.  

Launching approximately 45 minutes before, during, and after the peak local eclipse, the APEP sounding rockets will study how Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet. Targeted launch times for the three rockets are 2:40 p.m., 3:20 p.m., and 4:05 p.m. but may be subject to change. 

The launches will be livestreamed on Wallops’ YouTube beginning at 2:30 p.m.  

Weather permitting, the launches may be visible in the mid-Atlantic region. Remember to always wear solar safety or “eclipse” glasses when looking at the Sun to protect your eyes. For the Wallops area, the eclipse will begin around 2:06 p.m. The Moon will block 81.4% of the Sun’s light at peak local eclipse at 3:23 p.m. and conclude at 4:34 p.m. 

Members of the public are invited to the NASA Wallops Visitor Center on Monday, April 8, to view the sounding rocket launches and the partial eclipse. Gates to the visitor center will open from 1-5 p.m. and will close once parking lot capacity is reached. For those traveling to our visitor center, all vehicles MUST fit within a standard parking spot for this event; no large, oversized vehicles or buses will be allowed for entry. 

The visitor center will offer solar-related activities, have NASA sounding rocket experts onsite to answer questions, and host Globe Program expert Brian Campbell, who will be showing people how to collect data during the eclipse using the Observer app . Eclipse glasses and pinhole viewers will be available during this event while supplies last. Food trucks will be onsite serving food and drinks, including empanadas, crab cakes, hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue, water ice, and more. 

While this combined viewing event is exciting for some, it may not be ideal for all. A designated sensory-friendly quiet area will be available at the Wallops Visitor Center for guests. This supervised quiet area will include dimmed lighting, seating, a reflection area, and touch items for guests to explore. 

Prepare for safe solar viewing during this year’s eclipse by checking out NASA’s Eclipse Safety page . 

Media Contact Amy Barra   NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia

Related Terms

• Wallops Flight Facility
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• Sounding Rockets
• Sounding Rockets Program

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Solar eclipse 2024: Follow the path of totality

Solar eclipse, what you need to know to watch monday's total solar eclipse.

The NPR Network

A stunning celestial event is visible across the country Monday, when the moon crosses directly in front of the sun: a total solar eclipse. For those in the path of totality, there will be a few brief moments when the moon completely covers the sun and the world becomes dark.

Traveling for totality? Skip ahead.

This will be the last chance to catch a total solar eclipse in the continental U.S. for about 20 years, so here's what you need to know to safely enjoy!

When is the eclipse?

April 8, 2024 there will be a total solar eclipse that crosses from the Pacific coast of Mexico through the United States.

What is totality and why it matters

According to NASA , totality will start around 11:07 a.m. PDT/1:07 EDT in Mexico and leave Maine at around 1:30 pm PDT/3:30 pm EDT.

Here's what time the eclipse will be visible in your region

Check out this table for when the partial eclipse and totality are visible in each region or check by zip code here.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible across the contiguous United States, so even if you're not directly in the path, you should be able to see something special, weather permitting.

Unable to get to totality? We'll be sharing highlights here from across the NPR Network throughout the day Monday if you can't see it in real time.

Where to see totality?

More than 30 million people live in the path of totality for Monday's eclipse, and many more in nearby areas.

Here's what we know about Monday's weather forecast.

Why totality matters

As NPR's Neil Greenfieldboyce explains , "During a total eclipse, the sky darkens suddenly and dramatically . The temperature drops. Stars come out. Beautiful colors appear around the horizon. And the once-familiar sun becomes a black void in the sky surrounded by the glowing corona — that's the ghostly white ring that is the sun's atmosphere."

Eclipse Science

For april's eclipse, going from 'meh' to 'omg' might mean just driving across town.

A partial eclipse, while still a fun experience, is hardly as dramatic. Those with a view of the partial eclipse will see crescent-shaped shadows like those seen here in 2017.

How to watch safely

If you plan to look directly at the eclipse (partial or totality), you're going to need eclipse glasses handy because looking directly at the sun without proper protection ( traditional sunglasses don't count! ) can be harmful to your eyes.

The perfect celestial soundtrack to the total solar eclipse

As NPR's Joe Hernandez explains, "Proper eye protection must be worn throughout a total solar eclipse — except for the roughly 3 1/2 to 4 minutes when the moon fully obscures the sun, a brief period known as 'totality.' (You will need to take your glasses off during totality to actually see it.)"

If you don't have access to eclipse glasses, you can get crafty with things you have around the house ( like some of us did back in 2017!) More on that here.

Traveling for totality?

The celestial event is driving a ton of domestic travel to the path of totality. If you're headed out of town to view the eclipse, here are some NPR Network resources for areas in the path of totality:

Texas The path of totality crosses through the Lone Star State, with some areas expecting a possible influx of visitors in the hundreds of thousands to catch prime viewing. Our member stations across the state have gathered local resources to help you navigate the region and the eclipse!

• San Antonio: Check out the latest from Texas Public Radio
• Dallas: Explore KERA's coverage for the latest
• Austin: Head to KUT for the best local resources

Arkansas The eclipse will be cutting through the state, putting Little Rock in the path of totality. Check out Little Rock Public Radio for local resources.

The southwestern edge of the state will be well-positioned to witness the total solar eclipse this year. Kentucky Public Radio is covering the eclipse throughout the region, from Kentuckiana eclipse mania to the University of Louisville's free class about the celestial event. Keep an eye on WKMS for the latest local updates.

Missouri The southeastern corner of the state will be in the path of totality, crossing across towns like Whitewater and Ste. Genevieve. Head to St. Louis Public Radio for local coverage and resources. Illinois Carbondale seems to have won the eclipse lottery, being in the path of totality both in 2017 and for this year's eclipse . For resources from across the state, check out Illinois Public Media .

Indiana A huge portion of the state will be within the path of totality, giving cities across Indiana, including Bloomington and Indianapolis, prime viewing of the eclipse.

• Bloomington: Check out Indiana Public Media
• Indianapolis: Head to WFYI for the latest
• Fort Wayne: Just north of the path of totality, WBOI has resources for the Allen County area

Ohio The Buckeye State is getting bisected by this year's path of totality, plunging a number of the state's most populous areas into darkness for a few minutes on Monday.

• Cleveland: Head to Ideastream Public Media for the latest.
• Columbus: With the capital city just south of totality, head to WOSU for regional resources.
• Cincinnati: Totality will just miss the border town. Here are some tips from WVXU on how to navigate the eclipse in the region.

Pennsylvania Only the northwestern-most corner of the state will catch totality, with views from the lakeside in Erie being particularly well-positioned for a stunning viewing experience. WESA has more from across the region.

Plan to watch the eclipse from a wild mountain summit? Be ready for harsh conditions

New York Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Plattsburgh will fall under the path of totality on Monday. If you're planning to travel to the region for the best views, here are some local resources to stay safe and informed:

• Buffalo: Head to WBFO for the latest
• Syracuse: WAER has more on plans in the Salt City
• North Country: NCPR has the latest from across the region, as well as information on local viewing events to check out

Vermont The Green Mountain State will see totality across its most populous region, including Burlington and Montpelier, as well as the Northeast Kingdom on the Canadian border. Vermont Public has everything you need to know to navigate your time in the region to enjoy the eclipse safely. New Hampshire The northernmost region of the Granite State will be in the path of totality, providing prime viewing to those in Coos County. NHPR has info on local events, travel updates as well as special coverage with New Hampshire Public Television. Maine The last state in the path of totality in the U.S., much of Northern Maine will be positioned for prime viewing. The rural region is preparing for an influx of visitors, and safety officials are encouraging visitors and locals alike to be prepared. Maine Public will be covering the eclipse and has everything you need to know to navigate the region safely.

How to document the eclipse safely

With the ease of cell photography , it can be tempting to reach for your phone to document the eclipse and the moments of totality, but make sure to do so safely.

As NPR's Scott Neuman explains , "For starters, you'll need to wear eclipse glasses or similar protective eye gear while aiming your camera or even just observing the eclipse."

Feeling ambitious? Here are a few more tips.

Or if you're not inclined to capture the moment visually, you lean into some other forms of creative expression. Indiana, for example, has named Linda Neal Reising the official poet in the state for this year's eclipse.

As former NPR reporter and eclipse superfan David Baron shared with Life Kit , viewing totality "[is] like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world."

So consider focusing on being present in the moment to enjoy the celestial spectacle.

More resources to enjoy the eclipse

• Sharing the eclipse with tiny humans? Check out these kid-friendly total solar eclipse learning guides from Vermont Public's But Why, and this great explainer from KERA Kids on the difference between a solar and a lunar eclipse.
• Want to see how a solar eclipse alters colors? Wear red and green on Monday
• Plan to wander into the wild for the best view? Here are some tips from outdoor experts.
• Tips from Bill Nye on the best ways to enjoy the eclipse.

NPR will be sharing highlights here from across the NPR Network throughout the day Monday if you're unable to get out and see it in real time. NPR's Emily Alfin Johnson compiled these resources.

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How Tesla Planted the Seeds for Its Own Potential Downfall

Elon musk’s factory in china saved his company and made him ultrarich. now, it may backfire..

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Featuring Mara Hvistendahl

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When Elon Musk set up Tesla’s factory in China, he made a bet that brought him cheap parts and capable workers — a bet that made him ultrarich and saved his company.

Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why, now, that lifeline may have given China the tools to beat Tesla at its own game.

On today’s episode

Mara Hvistendahl , an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading

A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also bound him to Beijing .

Mr. Musk helped create the Chinese electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on China.

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The 2024 solar eclipse is next week! Here's everything you need to know.

The april 8, 2024 total solar eclipse will cross the united states, with millions of americans witnessing the spectacle. here's info on the eclipse's time, path, how to find glasses and more..

[ Editor's note: Follow this link for an updated guide to the eclipse , including your weather forecast and where to buy last-minute glasses.]

We are exactly one week from the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse that'll cross a wide swath of the United States, with an expected 34 million Americans witnessing the celestial show.

The 2024 solar eclipse will last longer than the one viewed  by more than 20 million people in August 2017 , and according to NASA won’t happen again  for another 20 years . Fifteen total solar eclipses have been recorded in the U.S. in the last 150 years, with the next one expected in August 2044 .

Even if you're not in the path of totality, like most of Michigan, you can still watch the spectacle. You will need special eclipse glasses to be able to take in the experience so you don't risk eye damage . Thankfully, there is still time to get your hands on a pair — or create your own eclipse viewer at home .

Here's everything to know about the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse.

What is a solar eclipse?

Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth’s orbits , creating an eclipse of Earth’s view of the sun. The term "eclipse" traces its roots to the Latin  “eclipsis,” drawn from the Greek  “ekleipsis.”

The  path of totality  is the predicted path of the eclipse; in this case, from Mexico, through the U.S. across Texas and North America to the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. States  in the path of totality  for the 2024 solar eclipse include Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

What is the 2024 solar eclipse path?

Use the map below to see NASA's prediction of the April 8 solar eclipse's path of totality. Keep in mind that this is a prediction, and predictions can vary, but they may only affect you if you're on the very edge of the path .

More: What is the meaning of the word 'eclipse'? Here is its origin ahead of April 8 event

When is the solar eclipse 2024? When does the solar eclipse start near me?

The 2024 solar eclipse is Monday, April 8, 2024. Its path of totality will cross the United States from approximately 2:27 p.m. to 3:35 p.m. Eastern time. That's when, if you're in the path, the sky will darken for several minutes and the air will get colder.

Use the ZIP code locator below to find out when the eclipse begins and ends in your area — and what it will look like. (Can't see it? Hit refresh.)

What time is the solar eclipse in Michigan?

Only one small sliver of Michigan is in the 2024 eclipse's path of totality, in southeastern Monroe County. That includes Luna Pier, which sits along Lake Erie, just north of Toledo. Its residents are getting excited , albeit a little concerned about potential traffic snarls.

Most of the rest of Michigan will see somewhere between 90-99% coverage of the sun , though it won't be visible to the naked eye; you'll need special glasses or a viewer (more on that later).

When is the solar eclipse in Detroit?

In Detroit, where there will be 99.4% coverage of the sun, the 2024 solar eclipse will begin at 1:58 p.m. and reach maximum totality, or coverage, around 3:14 p.m. It will conclude with a final partial eclipse at 4:27 p.m.

What is the April 8, 2024 weather forecast in Michigan?

Clear skies will be essential to viewing the eclipse, especially since most of Michigan doesn't fall in the path of totality.

As of Friday, the latest weather forecast for southeast Michigan shows potential cloud cover, but encouraging signs that it'll be clear enough to view the eclipse .  AccuWeather  predicts a high of 63 degrees in Detroit on April 8, with "variable cloudiness" and a chance of a shower in the morning.  Weather.com  also predicts partly cloudy skies and a high of 66 degrees.

If these predictions hold up, that would give eclipse viewers in southeast Michigan  a chance to see the eclipse at least somewhere within the 2.5-hour window, as long as the clouds break at any point. (But remember, it's Michigan; the weather forecast changes fast. Stay tuned to Freep.com for the latest.)

How to find 2024 solar eclipse glasses

First of all, make sure the eclipse glasses you're searching for are safe. According to  NASA's eclipse safety website , the agency does not recommend specific eyewear for eclipse viewing but  does  recommend glasses that come with an IOS compliance label, or standard, of 12312-2, on the packaging. The eyewear may also be labeled IOS 12312-2:2015. According to NASA, torn, scratched, or otherwise damaged eyewear should be discarded.

While local hardware and big box retailers may have eclipse eyewear on their shelves, buyer beware, especially if they claim to be endorsed by NASA. NASA does not make specific recommendations.

Here's where to find eclipse glasses :

• The American Astronomical Society  has a list of approved solar-eclipse glasses suppliers  here .  You'll be able to find eclipse glasses on  Amazon  in bulk; just ensure they are approved before you buy them. Here are more ideas on where to find free eclipse glasses .
• Warby Parker , the eyewear company,  is giving away eclipse eyewear at its stores beginning Monday , but does not have details about the availability of the free glasses at its locations. According to its website, the chain has six stores in Michigan: Grand Rapids, Novi, Troy, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Birmingham.
• Check your local library: You also may be able to find free eclipse glasses at your local public library in Michigan, along with special programs. Check your library nearest you for details.
• Check these retailers: The American Astronomical Society says some locations of these retailers may sell eclipse glasses: Walmart, Lowe's, Menards, Kroger, Meijer and Staples.

Here's more information on how to safely view the eclipse . Also try the the American Astronomical Society's website  or to  NASA .

More: Michigan Science Center offers eclipse glasses for $2, plans viewing event at Ford House

Watch for eclipse glasses scams!

Please don't forget the scams. Consumers should exercise caution when buying eclipse-related experiences or goods, according to Melanie Duquesnel, president and CEO of BBB Serving Eastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

So far, she said, the Michigan BBB has not received eclipse-related complaints or scam reports. Even so, you want to take extra care to avoid fake products, like counterfeit eclipse glasses, and rip-offs, like too good to be true deals for  special tickets  or deals on hotel rooms. Here's finance columnist Susan Tompor with more tips on avoiding eclipse glasses and hotel scams.

How to make your own eclipse viewer

Want to watch the eclipse without glasses? You don't necessarily need special glasses or filters, but it takes a little creativity and a handful to household supplies to make your own pinhole box or pinhole projector, also known as a pinhole camera.

Here's what to know, including step-by-step instructions , about building your own eclipse viewer.

Will the eclipse affect my pets? Will it affect other animals?

There are four things likely to happen to animal behavior during the April 8, 2024 eclipse, according to Erica Cartmill, professor of anthropology, animal behavior and cognitive science at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana:

• Animals won't do anything unusual.
• Animals will do evening behaviors. For example, if a dog is used to a bedtime treat, he may go to the kitchen to wait for it.
• Animals will display signs of increased anxiety such as scratching, yawning, circling and pacing or if they are animals that typically flock together, they will start grouping.
• Animals display unexpected behavior.

Here's more on what to know from reporter Jamie LaReau .

When is the next solar eclipse after 2024?

Not for another 20 years. According to NASA, after the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, the next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous U.S. will be on Aug. 23, 2044 . Here's how we're able to predict eclipses so far ahead of time.

It'll be much longer before another solar eclipse's path of totality crosses Michigan. The next solar eclipse to cross the state will be Sept. 14, 2099, when  the path of totality crosses the southwest Lower Peninsula .

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