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Template Highlights

• Eight (short) sections: Business Opportunity, Industry Analysis, Target Market, Company Description, Timeline, Marketing Plan, Financial Plan, and Funding Requirements.
• Easy instructions for each part.
• Zhuzh it up a bit with your company logo and branding.
• Download it as a PDF or Word file.
• Print it, email it, send it via Morse code.

Why all businesses should create a business plan

For startups and enterprises alike, there are many reasons to create a one-page business plan. For example, it can help you:

• Show your progress and how you intend to grow : Your business plan lists vital information on your company, such as your goals, market research results, and success milestones.
• Determine a realistic budget to ensure success : If you don’t create a proper plan, you might underestimate fixed and variable costs and, therefore, lack the financial capacity to succeed.
• Provide concrete information to potential investors : By having a detailed business plan in place, you’ll be able to effectively convey your business goals to internal stakeholders, and you’ll stand a better chance of winning over investors.
• Fulfill the requirements for securing a business loan : Many financial institutions won’t even consider giving you a loan without seeing your plan.

Should you create a business plan from scratch?

You can do this, but it’s often more hassle than it’s worth. If you’ve never made a business plan before, you’ll need to do a lot of research on what to include and ensure you create a professional and eye-catching document.  If you download our free one-page business plan template, you’ll save time and ensure you cover every relevant detail.

How to use the one-page business plan template

Here are the steps for filling out our template:

• Enter your contact details to download the template in Microsoft Word or as a PDF.
• Gather your relevant business documents, such as market research results and financial statements, in case you need to include details from them.  
• Add information to all the fields, including Company Description, Target Market, Industry Analysis, Implementation Timeline, Funding Required, and Financial Summary.
• Get feedback from business partners, employees, or other parties to ensure that all information is correct and up to date.
• Proofread to ensure there are no errors. These look unprofessional, leaving a bad impression of your business.  
• Save your business plan in various locations and formats. This helps you share your plan with stakeholders via email or present it at company meetings.

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One page business plan.

One-Page Business Plan Template

This brief business plan template encourages you to stick to your core message and provide investors with just the information they need to know about your new venture.

The Business Opportunity

What is the problem your business will solve? Focus on the customer’s needs.

Give your elevator pitch. Be succinct, clear, and persuasive.

Be sure to include your value proposition -- What do you offer that no one else does?

Industry Analysis

List key factors for success in your industry.

Who is your main competition?

Company Description

Identify important facts about your business:

• Founding date

• Mission statement

• Type of organization

• Core strengths

• Main leadership

Target Market

Describe your customer segments.

Will you serve a particular geographical area?

Implementation Timeline

Provide a brief summary of how you will roll out the business. Consider depicting the different phases in a diagram. You can use the timeline below as a template.

Marketing Plan

Describe what methods you will use to acquire new customers.

Why would your target market prefer your product or service to another option?

Financial Summary

Cost Structure: What are your fixed and variable costs?

Revenue Streams: How will your business make money?

Funding Required

Present the amount of funding that you are seeking from investors and how it will be used.

HubSpot Tip: Be sure to edit and review your plan for typos before distributing it. Errors in a short document can be distracting to the reader and make you look unprofessional.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should i create a business plan, what types of companies need a business plan, how do i write a one page business plan, what should my business plan focus on, is this template free, can i edit this template, related tags:.

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One-Page Business Plan Templates

One-Page Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

Having a business plan is a must , whether your goal is to start a one-person freelancing business or a multi-million dollar enterprise. However, if you are looking to start a simple product or service business as a sole proprietor or one-person corporation you don't need a 50-page business plan . A shorter plan will suffice. A quick and easy one-page business plan templates can get you started. 

If your business is a partnership  or requires multiple employees, you may need a more robust business plan. Similarly, a one-page plan will not be sufficient if you are in need of  debt  or  equity financing  and wish to impress financial institutions or potential investors. Lenders and investors will require you to provide more in-depth information in the plan such as:

• Your relevant industry background, business, and management experience 
• A more thorough description of your target market , proof of sufficient demand for your products or services, and how you will meet that demand and turn a profit
• Thorough analysis of the competition and how you will compete in the marketplace
• Detailed, realistic financial projections , including projected income statements, cash flow projections, and  breakeven analysis
• An in-depth operating section with details on facilities, leases, equipment, and staffing.

Step-by-step guidance on how to write a business plan  can lead you through each section of a full-sized plan.

Keep in mind that a business plan is a living document and you can always start with a one-page plan and enlarge it with additional detail as required. You may be able to articulate the business overview, vision , objectives, and concise action items in a single page, but you might want more detail in the financial and marketing sections. For example, you might want to add an extra page to your pricing strategy section for income and  cash flow statements and another for breakeven analysis in advertising and promotion.

Structure of a Business Plan

A one-page business plan needs to provide concise answers to several basic questions that must be addressed such as:

• What is the need for your product or service?
• What is your competition and how will you differentiate yourself in the marketplace ?
• How will you make money, for example, in terms of sales versus expenses?
• How will you market your business?
• How will you get started? What are your  capital  requirements?

How to Use the Templates

The sample templates can be copied into a Word, Excel or similar office document by selecting the text and using copy/paste—using Windows, outline the text to be selected with the mouse, and hit CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste. 

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Service Business

This template is suitable for freelance businesses that provide services, such as consultants, graphic designers, landscapers, and delivery services. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Product Business

This template is suitable for businesses that sell products, such as food services, beauty products, and bike shops. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

Starting a Business | How To

One-Page Business Plan: The Step-By-Step Guide

Published July 2, 2020

Published Jul 2, 2020

WRITTEN BY: Blake Stockton

This article is part of a larger series on Starting a Business .

Right now you likely have a business idea. Awesome! Now you need to think through that idea by getting your thoughts on paper. The One-Page Business Plan will walk you through each step of planning your business idea. Once you know your financial projections, you can finish the basics of this plan in less than 15 minutes. Planning is a great way to thoroughly understand the costs and income potential of your business idea.

Before continuing, download our one-page business plan template:

Download the template and save it to your desktop for easy access. The fields in the PDF are editable. You can also print out the document and write by hand. Answer each question with one or two sentences—feel free to write in incomplete sentences.

If you need additional space to write then place your basic ideas on the template, and continue writing on a personal document.

Question: What problem will your business solve?

Every business solves a problem. What specific problem will your business solve for a customer? Try to get down to the core issue your customer is having.

For example, for a landscape company, “time wasted” maintaining a lawn may be a problem for your customer; however, if possible, make it more specific. For example, the specific problem may be an unkempt lawn. You can visually see an unkempt lawn—it’s much harder to see “time wasted.”

2. Solution

Question: What will your business provide to solve that problem?

You’ve identified the problem, now you need the solution. What specific action will you take to resolve the customer’s issue? This solution is your product or service. Don’t be afraid to get specific with your solution.

Going back to the landscaping example, your solution is to improve an unkempt lawn and maintain it. However, I challenge you to go one step further with your solution. Perhaps you’re creating a lawn that makes neighbors jealous, which is a solution tied to an emotion—very powerful.

Tip: If you’re starting a new type of business , try to test your solution on a small scale without spending a lot of money. This test makes sure customers will pay you for the solution. In entrepreneurship, a common saying for a struggling new business is that it created “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” Don’t be that business.

3. Business Model

Question: How will your business make money?

For many businesses, its business model is straightforward. A product is sold or service is provided, and the company is paid.

You also want to outline how and where the products and services will be sold. Will they be sold in your own business or office. Someone else’s store or office? Will you be engaging in ecommerce—on your own website or an online marketplace such as Amazon?

During this step, you should also set your pricing—which basically means, how much will you charge? This can be difficult to figure out. Consider browsing competitor websites for pricing. You may want to call a competitor and ask for a quote.

4. Target Customers

Question: Who will purchase your products or services?

Your target customers are your ideal customers. The worst answer to who is your target customer is “everyone.” Not even some of the most popular companies started out for everyone—Facebook was for college students, Amazon sold books. Also, a common marketing saying is that if you’re “marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.”

When thinking about who your target customers are, think demographics. Think about features such as age, income, gender, hobbies, and location.

When you’re clear on your target customers, your marketing strategy will become apparent as well—you’ll understand where and how to spend your marketing dollars.

5. Promotion

Question: How will target customers learn about your business?

List any strategies you will use to get potential customers to learn about your business. As a new business, it may be challenging to reach and persuade your first customers. How will you do it?

In-person networking and marketing for your business are often more effective than online marketing. However, some online marketing is free and can have the ability to reach a lot of people.

If looking for local customers, consider claiming and optimizing your free Google My Business (GMB) listing . Additionally, once you create your GMB listing, set up your free one-page website. Affordable!

6. Competitive Advantage

Question: What will your business do better than the competitors?

Before you can state your competitive advantage, study your competitors—learn their strengths and weaknesses. Once you know you can do better than competitors, choose one or two areas where you know you can outperform them.

For example, if you notice they have poor online reviews, you can have exceptional customer service. In fact, your marketing can even call that out, such as a satisfaction guarantee.

Or maybe you can be faster than your competitors—“done in two days or less!” Don’t be afraid to call out your competitors and state why your business has the best “X.”

7. Financial Projections

Question : How much money do you need to start?

One part of financial projections is called startup costs —how much money you need to open your doors. For this cost, simply list all the items and services you need to get your business started.

When estimating the startup cost, you’ll want to overestimate on the amount, rather than underestimate. Often, a new business owner may be unaware of certain startup costs. If you underestimate costs, you could run out of cash before you get your first customer.

Question : How much will you spend every month?

Calculate how much money your business is likely to spend every month. Make the calculations for the first 12 months.

This may take research. You may have to pick up the phone and request a quote for items such as raw materials, equipment, and insurance.

Question : How much will you earn every month?

Now for the fun part—the amount of money you expect to make. How many customers do you plan on having every month for the first 12 months? You should have your pricing from the business model step. Take the number of customers times the price to come up with an estimated income every month.

Depending on your type of business, you may expect to grow your customer base every month. You may expect to only have a few customers in your first month—by 12 months, dozens of new customers. However, you don’t have to grow. Some companies may be content with a few consistent customers every month.

8. Funding Required

Question: How much money do you need to both start and operate your business?

Funding required is the total amount of money you need to start and operate your business for at least six months. You typically should have more funding than just the amount to start.

What if the company doesn’t get the sales you initially predicted? Or a natural disaster hits such as a hurricane or pandemic? Does your business have enough funds saved up to get through a difficult time?

Now that you have the amount of funding required to start and operate for at least six months, you can go out and raise that money through various sources, such as:

• Personal funds
• Family and friends
• Crowdfunding
• Business credit cards
• Personal loan

The One-Page Business Plan Alternative

If you’d like to create a more in-depth business plan after reading through this guide, remember, there are different types of business plans . For example, if you’re seeking funding from a bank or investor, you will need to create a traditional business plan . This type of plan requires more thorough market research and financial forecasting.

Bottom Line

Now that you have your one-page business plan created don’t put it in a drawer never to be looked at again! As you move forward with your business, revisit your plan often.

It’s a best practice to keep track of your income and expenses to see if your predictions played out correctly. Did you outperform your goals? What’s working well or not so well? Use your one-page business plan to reflect on your business’s current state and update it if necessary.

About the Author

Find Blake On LinkedIn Twitter

Blake Stockton

Blake Stockton is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on how to start brick-and-mortar and online businesses. He is a frequent guest lecturer at several undergraduate business and MBA classes at University of North Florida . Prior to joining Fit Small Business, Blake consulted with over 700 small biz owners and assisted with starting and growing their businesses.

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One-Page Business Plan Template (with Examples)

The first step of scaling a business is planning, and one of the easiest ways to create a scaling plan is to use the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP). Originally introduced by Verne Harnish in his books Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up , the One-Page Strategic Plan makes it simple to keep everyone on the same page to achieve business goals.

We’ll share with you how to create your own One-Page Strategic Plan, how companies have used these plans to scale a business , and templates to guide the strategy of managing people and processes.

These templates can be used throughout the rest of the Hub articles on scaling a business to help you implement your calling with more success. Let’s start by examining what is included in the One-Page Strategic Plan.

One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP)

The One-Page Strategic Plan is normally two pages, but I guess the decision was made to call it a One-Page Strategic Plan because it sounds better. The first page focuses on people and long-term vision, while the second focuses on processes and quarterly results. We’ll look at each page separately.

Download the OPSP . If you print it, please use landscape mode and fit-to-page for the best results. Then use the template to follow along.

Long Term Plan

The first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan is focused on people and is broken into six sections:

• Strengths and Weaknesses
• People that Drive Your Reputation
• Core Values
• 3 to 5-Year Targets
• 1-Year Goals

We’ll look at each of these to help you understand how they help business leaders scale a business for success.

Strengths and Weaknesses (Bottom)

I’ve included the strengths and weaknesses first because the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) was created with the intent for people to work their way from the bottom to the top. The first step of solving any problem is recognizing there is one.

Given that we’re using it to scale a business, you’ll probably want to focus on areas where you are:

• Struggling to meet core customer demands
• Spending too much time
• Reaching a point that you need to hire more people

If your strength is serving customers but you’re spending 20 hours a week performing accounting tasks, your weakness is likely your accounting process. By reducing the time spent on accounting, you can focus more on serving your core customer base.

Take this portion seriously, as it will drive the rest of the plan. While you’re working on it, check out our interview with Mike about writing business plans.

People Drive Reputation (Top)

People are the key to running a successful business. Whether the people are employees, customers, or owners, they can impact the business’s success. Let’s look at each concept and how they affect planning to scale a company.

The creator of the One-Page Strategic Plan intends for you to use metrics that show the company is succeeding, but you need to understand the stakeholder expectations to create meaningful metrics. So we’ll discuss expectations.

Employees (1st Question)

If the scaling opportunity you are working on only involves certain employees or divisions, you might want to include who they are in this section. You will probably want to consult with employees as you develop the scaling strategy because they will be the key to success during the implementation stages. 

The Harvard Business Review outlines why change management fails —ultimately, all of the reasons focus on the inability of management to get employees to buy into the strategic plan. Include employees early and often to get the most out of your scaling plan.

If it is the whole company, you may want to include information on how you measure success. If you have never created metrics before, the Academy to Innovate HR lists 21 employee performance metrics that help measure employee success. I suggest reading it.

Customers (2nd Question)

Without customers, there is no company. It’s just a glorified hobby. You’ll want to include customers in various ways when scaling a business. Consider drawing upon customer knowledge and opinion in the following ways:

• Customer service surveys
• Beta testing
• Market research
• Requests for new product features. Craft.io has a blog on collecting feedback , and it sounds like many product managers love their feedback portals.

If you’re going to include customer metrics in this section, you may want to have ones like Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, and Churn Rate. Check out Hubspot’s 15 customer success metrics to learn more about customer metrics .

Owners and debt holders (3rd-6th Question)

This section was called shareholders in the original One-Page Strategic Plan, but in today’s business world, there are many more potential stakeholders than just shareholders.

Scaling opportunities might need approval for business decisions from:

• Shareholders
• Debt holders

You may also need to disclose your new strategies and risks in quarterly or annual reports.

Make sure to include anyone who can help or hinder your scaling strategies. The executive team will be the driver that ties the company’s core values with the brand promises and a Big Hairy Audacious Goal® (BHAG). Without them on board, this powerful tool may not achieve the key results.

Boston Research Group surveyed 60 CEOs to understand what the most important metrics are for new members of their executive teams and found that the three most important measures of executive success are:

• Exceeding performance goals
• Establishing a reputation as an expert, both within the company and externally
• Fitting the company’s culture

The same can be used to establish whether owners provide measurable results to help the company achieve scaling goals that improve revenue and profitability. Keep reading for information on how core values guide a growing firm.

Core Values (Column 1)

Core values are the first column in an OPSP tool because the scaling strategy owners implement should stay in line with the core values and vision. Reminding the team of how the company sees the world is key to keeping the implementation in line with the company’s focus.

If you have a mission statement and values, include them in this column. Also, include behaviors and values the team should and should not emulate as they implement the strategy. Here is an example of an email Elon Musk sent emphasizing how important it is for every team member to keep the brand promise:

Be clear, compassionate, and honest when communicating core values with your company and customers. This column and the next are driven entirely by the small business owners, CEOs, or the executive team.

Keep reading to learn about how the purpose column fits into the one-page personal plan and how it guides the company scaling strategy.

Purpose (Column 2)

The purpose column in the one-page plan focuses on why you are doing what you are doing. It is meant to be inspirational. When originally written, the column was meant to be worked on from bottom to top. It takes an approach where you must build the foundation first and then build upon it. 

The foundation is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®, a term registered by Jim Collins and introduced in his book Built to Last . The next step is how the company wants to measure profits, followed by actions, and finally, the purpose, which is the summary.

An example of what the purpose might look like would look something like the statement below:

“XYZ LLC aims to triple the number of millionaires in the US by providing content that makes starting and running a business more profitable. To drive revenue, we partner with companies with a Trust Pilot score of 4.5 or higher and provide referrals that help clients and partners create better results.

We are looking to scale the company revenue by using AI to identify, apply, and insert referral links into our blogs in meaningful places.”

The above statement summarizes how a company might try to scale revenue from blogging.

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ® is simply a statement of how you will change the world. An example is Meta’s (formerly Facebook) intended goal “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” It’s big and nearly impossible to achieve fully without merging us all as one.

Most people will create a BHAG using four strategies:

• Numerical: Hit a specific revenue, profit, or customer number.
• Aspirational: Attempt to be like another company, for instance, become the “Nike” of backpacks.
• Market Leader: General Electric once aimed to be one of the top two companies in the industry or exit the business.
• Transformational: Change how the industry operates. For instance, Airbnb and Uber changed their industries by making it so that homeowners and restaurants can earn additional income. Both companies’ main asset is tech playing the middleman between consumers and owners.

When you started your company, you probably had a meaningful reason. What was that reason? Write it down on your OPSP template.

We’ve given you a few ideas of what you should include as the foundation, so let’s go to the next section of the One-Page Strategic Plan, measuring profits.

Measuring Profits

Measuring profits can be done in a variety of ways, but the goal is to give a meaningful way of defining how much profit you want to make from a venture. For scaling a business, the primary goal, as discussed in The Ultimate Guide to Scaling a Business , is to reduce the marginal cost of sales. That means you might want to consider profit metrics like:

• Profit per Customer
• Profit per Transaction
• Profit per Employee
• Profit per Piece of Content

Once you’ve defined how to measure profits as the company grows, it’s time to look at the actions to achieve success.

The actions are the changes you make to reduce the marginal cost of increasing revenue. Include the high-level goals of your scaling projects in this section, such as comparing automated accounting, training people on process changes,  and implementing dashboards to monitor progress.

Paul Akers encourages focusing on making improvements that save 2 seconds per task completed. He finds this a great strategy to improve his company and life using LEAN mindsets. Listen to our interview with Paul to hear how easy it is for small improvements to build up.

Once you have some high-level priorities outlined, it’s time to look at what you want the company to look like in a few years.

3 to 5-Year Targets (Column 3)

In this column, you want to get more specific about where you want to be in the next three to five years.  At the top is a box for the date you want to accomplish everything by, the revenue you want to generate, profit margins, market cap, or cash on hand.

This column will consist of brand promises, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure them, primary capabilities, and the sandbox. Start from the bottom and work your way up. You’ll also want to update this section when the execution of the action items is complete.

Let’s look at each.

Brand Promises (Column 3, Bottom)

Brand promises are what you agree to deliver. The specifics will vary by industry, but there are six main ways of differentiating your company from competitors:

• Product: Explain your product features, performance, efficiency, warranty, etc.
• Service: Explain how your services compare to the industry.
• Channel: Explain how you deliver your product or service to the customer.
• Relationship: Explain how your customer service differs from the competition. Are you faster or friendlier? For instance, the HVAC company One Hour Air promises “ALWAYS ON TIME…OR YOU DON’T PAY A DIME!®”
• Reputation: This can be accomplished through marketing or by combining the differentiation strategies so when people ask about your service, your clients immediately think of you.
• Price: Are you a premium brand, a low-cost provider, or priced based on client needs?

Check out 6 Ways to Differentiate Your Business by MarketResearch.com to learn more about these strategies.

Once you have established your brand promises, it’s time to create KPIs to measure their success.

Measuring Brand Promises with Key Performance Indicators

Promises are only as good as the emphasis put behind them. To fulfill a brand promise, you’ll need to measure the results across the entire organization using key metrics. Jack Welch once said:

There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.

No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

Your business may need more KPIs than employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow to identify whether you are meeting the brand promise. Datapine has a list of over 300 KPIs to consider based on the job, industry, and technology you are using. Find the ones that drive your business to match the company identity you are trying to create.

Keep reading for information on how to define the primary capabilities of your organization.

Primary Capabilities

Primary capabilities are focused on what you want the organization to be able to achieve. As it relates to scaling, these might be steps like:

• Automate fulfillment
• Start using a phone app for employees to input receipts into the accounting system
• Create a database for customer feature requests

These are also referred to as key thrusts. As long as they align with the core purpose and can be verified with a measurable target, they should help the team complete its business goals.

The owner of Urbanity wrote nearly 100 page business plan and got a business loan without any experience in the boutique business. Find out how below.

Keep reading to learn how the sandbox impacts the ability to scale a business.

Sandbox (aka Target Market)

The sandbox is a term used in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits to describe what we more commonly call the target market. You likely already know the target market because most people looking to scale a business have already reached their ideal customers. The focus here is to remind the team of who the organization serves and who it doesn’t.

Keep reading to define the annual goals of an organization.

1 Year Goals (Column 4)

Fast-growing firms can see over 100% growth per year. An organization growing at this rate will need to define its goals and fast-track them to maintain the customer service and quality control level executives expect. 

The top of the column has space to input the targets for financial targets and should be updated before the beginning of each year. To give even more clarity to employees, I suggest including the percentage change over the last year, which we’ve included in the templates. The picture below shows what direction I would expect each to move.

This column includes sections on initiatives, critical personnel goals, and critical profit and loss numbers that the company needs to meet. We’ll look at each to help you create a strategic plan to scale a business.

Key Initiatives

Key initiatives break down the primary capabilities into smaller, more manageable tasks. For instance, you may want to break down fulfillment automation into:

• Research alternatives
• Plan layout for implementation
• Implement a fulfillment automation plan
• Train employees on the process

Critical Personal Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

In this section, you’ll want to include critical numbers for hiring to meet your annual revenue targets. Make sure to break it down to the skills, too. For instance, a construction company might want to add:

• 50 general construction workers
• Four project managers
• Two accountants
• Four delivery drivers

Verne Harnish’s OPSP separates critical numbers into four categories:

• Dark green: Meets 100% of the goal
• Light green: Can successfully meet the goal, over 75%
• Yellow: 25% to 75% of the goal
• Red: Under 25% of the way to the goal

You can use the color coding in an online dashboard to help the executive team quickly review the execution of the plan on a routine basis. Don’t check them daily, but weekly or monthly would make sense. You can emphasize action items with your team to meet the critical numbers based on the information in the dashboard.

Critical Profit  and Loss Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

Like the critical number for hiring, profit and loss numbers help identify what has been completed and what should be emphasized to meet future growth. In this section, you are looking for leading indicators that show whether the work is being performed to meet the objectives.

Some examples of leading indicators are:

• Emails collected
• Requests for bids
• Phone calls received
• The number of people who click on your ads
• Anything that can be used with other data to approximate the number of sales you can expect

Most industries average a 5% to 10% closing rate. Hubspot industry data shows that a 2% growth in traffic creates a 1% increase in transactions, but analytics will show better estimates.

That concludes the first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan. The second page focuses more on the actual actions to meet future growth expectations. Let’s look at the processes plan.

Process Plan

The process plan is where you get into the real details of how to scale your business. It covers industry trends, productivity drivers, quarterly actions, the theme of the quarter or year, and how to measure each person’s success. Create this page before the beginning of each quarter or after you successfully build the processes.

Let’s look at each to see how the One-Page Strategic Plan can help you scale a small business.

Trends (Bottom)

The process plan starts with a solid foundation at the bottom of the page. In every industry, some trends occur. How well you can recognize and respond to trends impacts how profitable the company can be.

List the ones you see going on in this section. If you aren’t already keeping up with the pulse of your industry, I suggest becoming more active on:

• Trade Organizations
• Location of searches
• Historical trends
• Related topics
• Related search terms
• Check out the picture below for what comes up with eCommerce:

Keep reading for more information about using a strategic plan to scale an organization.

Productivity Drivers (Top)

The top of the page is broken into three categories that drive productivity:

Make or Buy

Record and report.

Each of these should be focused on meaningful results that will help drive revenue and profitability during the quarter.

This section is focused on inventory and manufacturing. You may want to measure metrics like inventory per SKU, turnover per SKU, gross margin percentage, and loss. Remember, the goal is to increase revenue and profit by becoming more efficient.

In this section, you’ll focus on growth statistics in sales and marketing. You may want to include the sales leads, consultations, and closing percentages. You might also want to have or review metrics like average transaction value, average discount, and revenue per employee.

This section focuses on accounting and should include items like how long it takes for accounts receivable to be paid, EBITDA , and other metrics that show the company’s financial health.

Quarterly Actions (Column 5)

Column 5 is focused on the quarterly results. It includes a table with the financial goals for the quarter, followed by your “Rocks” and critical numbers. We discussed the critical numbers earlier, but be aware that each column will have different critical numbers.

Keep reading to learn about what Verne Harnish calls rocks.

Rocks are the goals you must accomplish to stay on track. They are things like hiring a new developer, increasing your seller ranking on Amazon, or completing 20 consultations with prospective clients. You will have some goals with which you must succeed. If you fail to meet those goals, you may have to cancel the initiative.

Make sure to specify who is responsible for each Rock.

Quarterly and Annual Theme (Column 6)

The theme needs to focus on helping motivate employees. It consists of a theme name, scoreboard design, celebration, and reward for meeting the goals. Depending on your company size, you might need to have a single theme or a theme for each division.

Your theme name should be catchy to get people’s attention. For instance, if you run a business in which most of the revenue is generated during the summer, you might want to run a quarterly theme in the spring called “Heating Up,” then “It’s a Scorcher” for the summer months. If the reward is specific, you can base the name on that, too.

Scoreboard Design

A scoreboard is a fun way to measure progress and what it should look like as you go. Common methods of showing the progress are with a thermometer scoreboard like the one pictured below. Alternatively, you can use a baseball diamond or a football field if you plan to take the team to a game.

You can also have a graphic designer and developer create something to view it in the company’s tech stack. Get creative and fun with it for the best results, but don’t spend a lot of time overcomplicating it.

Celebration and Reward

A celebration and a reward are similar but different. A celebration might be a pizza party, while a reward would be a bonus or taking the team to a sporting event. Doing both is a way of thanking the team and each individual. If you do a reward for individuals, try to make it something meaningful to them.

Keep reading for info on the accountability column.

Accountability (Column 7)

Accountability is about the individual and their performance. It should include the KPIs for the team and break them up based on each person. In addition, this section should spell out what each worker’s priorities are. At the bottom, it will include the critical numbers to meet.

Let’s look at individual KPIs and priorities to see how they impact when you scale a business.

Personal KPIs

You’ll want Personal KPIs that are meaningful to each position. As a writer, I might be judged on words per article, affiliate links clicked per blog, or an average Google ranking.

KPIs and priorities should be the basis for your promotions, reviews, and bonuses. Otherwise, they aren’t significant or specific and might easily be overlooked.

Personal Priorities

Personal priorities are the specific tasks to be accomplished for an employee to be successful. When focusing on how to scale a business, an accountant might need to have a personal priority of categorizing all vendor spending within the first eight weeks of the quarter. A salesperson might need to increase sales by 10%.

Scaling a business means you’ll consistently improve the processes, but that doesn’t mean you need an overly complex business plan to get great results. Once you’ve created the first page, you can use it until you surpass your three-to-five-year goals. Then, you just need to use the second page to plan new and improved processes. If you’re applying for financing you might want to go with a more traditional business plan .

What KPIs do you find most useful for scaling and managing your business?

Brandon Boushy

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

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Home Business Business Plan One-Page

One-Page Business Plan Template

Focus on the core aspects of your business using a one-page business plan.

Updated September 22, 2023 Reviewed by Brooke Davis

A One-Page Business Plan is a concise and summarized version of a comprehensive business plan. It captures the essential elements of a business idea or proposal on a single page, serving as a high-level overview of its vision, objectives, strategies, and action points.

The brevity of a one-page plan makes it especially useful for quickly conveying a business idea without overwhelming the reader.

What is a One-Page Business Plan?

When to use a one-page business plan, who should use a one-page business plan, how to write a one-page business plan, one-page business plan sample, advantages and disadvantages of a one-page business plan, frequently asked questions.

A one-page business plan is a simplified version of a complete business plan. Although the plan is shorter, it still outlines the basics of your future company. It follows the same structure as the standard version but with less detail.

The one-page plan allows you to condense and present the information in an easy-to-read format.

Similar plans like a lean business plan or executive summary also allow you to present your business in a condensed format.

However, an accurate one-page business plan must fit on one page. It must also use a legible font size of 11 or 12 points.

A one-page business plan would be best when ready to present your ideas to others, such as potential investors. Instead of filling out an extensive business plan, you can start small to get started.

This lets you present your ideas cogently.

You should use a one-page business plan template to:

• Present a simple version of your business plan to interested investors
• Get started on writing a more comprehensive business plan
• Create a plan for a small business or one with a simple purpose
• Focus on your key ideas to generate interest
• Brainstorm and plan for your future company

One-page business plans aren’t limited to just one type of business; they can be used in a multitude of scenarios, including:

Businesses in the ideation stage

A one-page business plan is ideal for building a quick overview for people and businesses still brainstorming ideas. A simple plan allows it to be amended and updated as the concept is developed and keeps all the ideas on a single page.

When you start, you will want to constantly refer back to your business plan to ensure you stick to your goals and core objectives. A traditional business plan doesn’t quite fit into an agile startup because it can be time-consuming to update and tweak as you grow and learn.

Using a one-page plan means you can edit it easily and either create a traditional plan down the line or, if you’ve already made one, fully update it once you feel more concrete with your goals.

Established companies

A one-page business plan isn’t limited to new and developing businesses. Established companies can take advantage of adding a one-page plan to their business strategy.

You can share your existing strategy internally and externally in a snapshot that will be easily understood by all, helping everyone to get on board with your goals.

Writing a one-page business plan is simple, mainly when you use a template to help you get started. A one-page business plan should cover the following sections:

Step 1 – Business Overview

It would be best if you discussed essential facts about your business and its identifying information, such as:

• Founding date
• Mission statement
• Type of business (LLC, Corporation, Partnership, etc.)
• Owner and leadership contact information
• Service of process information

Makes It Easy to Read: Use a legible and professional font that is easy to read and the right size. Be sure to format your document so it flows well. A template one-page business plan can help with this.

Step 2 – Market Analysis

You need to identify who your customers are and where they are located. This section should also address how many potential customers are available in your business’s geographical area.

This should also include whether you will engage in primarily business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) transactions.

Step 3 – Your Business Model

A description of your business model should consist of information like:

• How you will make money
• Costs of production and sales
• Prices customers will pay for products or services
• Will your company sell products online?
• Will you have a storefront presence?

This section could quickly become lengthy. Focus on the critical components of your business for the single-page business plan.

Focus on Your Strengths: This short plan is likely a pitching tool to investors. Lead with the winning aspects of your business that set you apart from the rest—your value proposition.

Step 4 – Financial Forecast

This section should outline critical financial metrics like cash flow, profit and loss, and a sales forecast. This part is often difficult to condense, but you should focus on standard business ratios that help you get the point across.

You can always provide further details if you receive a request for financial projections.

Step 5 – The Team

This final section should detail each team member’s names, roles, and responsibilities.

Keep It Short: Keep each section short and to the point. Sections should be limited to 1 or 2 sentences or between 3 and 4 bullet points.

You can download a free one-page business plan template below, in Word or PDF format:

All types of business plans have their benefits and their drawbacks, including a one-page business plan:

Advantages of Using a One-Page Business Plan:

• See the big picture – There will be plenty of situations through the growth of the business that will require a snapshot of your business venture. A one-page plan shows multiple elements of your strategy but focuses on the big picture and what’s important.
• Consense your thoughts and ideas – Condensing your thoughts and ideas allows you to be more critical of your business and provide a brief overview of your plan. It will enable you to show investors, your management team, and potential partners a quick run-through of your business.
• Faster to create than a traditional business plan – Designed to be completed quickly and easily, a one-page plan is much quicker to produce than a full-length business plan and will see you running through each section of your plan. You’ll likely have to revisit it to make amendments, but luckily, with everything on one page, it won’t be time-consuming.
• Keep your core objectives at the forefront – As your business grows, processes and operations will become more challenging to manage and maintain. But when it comes down to making the big decisions, you can always refer back to your one-page business plan to keep your core business objectives in mind.

Disadvantages of Using a One-Page Business Plan:

• Not suitable for complex business ideas that require lots of supporting data – If your business idea is difficult or your financial projections are detailed, you might struggle to get all the vital information into a one-page plan.
• Not as detailed as a traditional business plan – Squeezing all your business plans onto one page often means you will miss out on essential details that could be crucial to getting investment or bringing additional partners on board.
• Hard to identify weaknesses and potential opportunities – Only seeing a snapshot of your business can make it challenging to identify any potential faults that could harm your business venture. The lack of in-depth customer and competitor information could also result in missing profitable opportunities.

Tips for Creating a One-Page Business Plan

Now that you’re ready to create your one-page business plan, here are a few tips to get you started:

• Use a one-page business plan template to simplify the process; you can download the template above in PDF and Word.
• Make sure your plan focuses on the core information key to running and operating a successful business.
• Revisit, tweak and change. This isn’t a static document; update it as your business grows and develops.
• Before writing your single-page business plan, understand your target market and where your product or service fits. Don’t forget your value proposition.
• Don’t skip the financial projections, especially if you require funding.
• Keep your core goals and objectives realistic and achievable.

What should a one-page business plan include?

A one-page business plan should include the important details about your business. It should contain brief information about the following:

• Business goals and mission statement
• Product or service offerings
• Target market and advertising strategies
• Identifying information
• Financial status and funding needs

Can I create my one-page business plan?

Yes, you can create your one-page plan. Just download the template and start building your business strategy’s big picture.

Alternatively, you could use our document builder, the fastest and easiest way to create your single-page business plan.

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The document above is a sample. Please note that the language you see here may change depending on your answers to the document questionnaire.

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How to write a One Page Business Plan: templates, ideas, and a step-by-step guide

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Download our FREE one page business plan template + guide

The problem with business plans, using a one page business plan, vs. using no business plan at all, vs. a lengthy, drawn out business plan, the one page business plan bias, so what should you include in a one page business plan, examples of successful one page business plans, chris guillebeau’s one page business plan from the $100 startup, fizzle’s one page business sketch template, bplan’s one page business plan template, how to write a one page business plan from patrick bet-david of valuetainment, millo’s own one page business plan template & step-by-step guide, some final encouragement about your one page business plan, show me your one page business plans.

Writing a one page business plan (instead of a hundred-page, in-depth business plan no one will ever read) has become a popular and efficient way to get your small business moving in the right direction.

This article is meant to be an all-inclusive resource for anyone wanting to write their own one page business plan and use it to actually start a business .

I’ll include links to quality one page business plan templates, ideas for what to include in a business plan, and more resources to walk you through the process of building a one page business plan yourself.

If you’re ready to skip all of this and just want to download our one page business plan completely free, you can enter your email below and we’ll send it to you asap. Otherwise, keep reading.

Here’s the fundamental problem with business plans—I’m not talking about a one page business plan here, I’m talking about the typical business plan you might see in silicon valley or presented to a bank loan officer.

Therein lies the issue: if you’re looking for a one page business plan template, you’re most likely not headed to the bank to try and get some huge loan to start your business.

Like millions of people around the world, you’re probably a freelancer, a side-hustler, a solopreneur or aspiring to be one of these.

You’re not trying to start the next huge corporation. You just want to make some extra money on the side—and maybe eventually quit your job and work for yourself.

For this much more common purpose, a one page business plan is the exact perfect remedy.

Why? Because by putting all your business plans onto just one single page, you’re forced to do a few things:

• Prioritize: Limiting your business plan to one page means you can only include the most important elements of your new small business.
• Simplify: When you’re dreaming up what your business might look like in the future it can be really easy to get carried away. By limiting your business plan to one page, you force yourself to keep it simple.
• Organize: Instead of letting all your dreams and plans swirl around in your brain, putting them down into a simple one page business plan allows you to quickly organize and move forward.

By forcing yourself to prioritize, simplify, and organize, you’ll find you can get down to what’s more important in your business: actually getting work done and getting paid for the work you do.

Let’s compare what your first 6-12 months of business might look like with a one page business plan vs. no business plan at all vs. a lengthy, drawn out traditional business plan.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to develop a one page business plan:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you want to explore. You jot down a few ideas including how you’ll make money, what you’ll be selling, and how much you’d like to make doing what you’re doing.

After just a couple of hours total working on your one page business plan, you’re ready to get to work on the tasks that actually move your business forward.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use no business plan at all:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d like to explore. Instead of writing anything down, you decide to sketch out what your logo might look like.

The logo sketching leads to a dead end but reminds you of another business idea you once had in college. So you talk to your friends about that business idea for a while.

A year later, you’ve followed a similar pattern with dozens of potential ideas, but without a business plan, none of them ever came to fruition.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use a long, drawn-out business plan instead of something that fits on one page:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d enjoy exploring further. You start to crunch the numbers on what this might look like if it gets really big and successful.

Knowing you’ll need funding from angels or the bank, you decide to draft up a large document explaining what actions your small company will take over the next 5-10 years to ensure your lenders get their money back.

You go through so many revisions of this hundred-page document, you finally burn out and decide it’s easier just to keep your day job.

Ok, obviously, I’m biased toward the one page business plan scenario. It’s clean, it’s easy, it’s simple. But most of all, it gets you to take action…quickly!

When I was contemplating taking my own business full-time, I called up my dad who, my whole life, has been talking about entrepreneurship and inventing. If I had a dollar for every time my dad said something like “that’s a great business idea” or “I can’t believe no one has made a business out of that yet,”….well, I would never need to work again.

But my dad…he’s not in business for himself.

He never has been, really. He’s always been at a desk job. And I admire him for his persistence in taking care of our family.

One day I called him up and asked him: “why did you never try to build a business of your own?”

His response, among other things, was he couldn’t wrap his brain around how to build a business plan, get funding, and find the right manufacturing (all of which, might I add, were infinitely harder 30 years ago than they are today).

Why do I tell you this story? Because I’ve seen it a thousand times in lots of variations: people get overwhelmed with what they think they need in order to start a business.

One of those overwhelming tasks: building a 40-page business plan complete with competitive SWAT analysis, positioning statement, and blah blah blah.

So it kills your idea.

On the other hand, using a one page business plan lights a fire under you and pushes you forward into the work that matters more than the planning: the actual doing.

Okay, enough talking about a one page business plan. You’re convinced. Putting all your plans down on one simple piece of paper is going to be better than any other option.

But where do you start? What exactly do you put down in your one page business plan to really make it effective without being too complicated?

Remember, a one page business plan is much different from a 70-page plan primarily because this plan isn’t meant to be shown off to other people in an effort to gain support or get funding.

This business plan is primarily for one person: you.

That means there are lots of things you might find are recommended to go in a typical business plan. But that doesn’t mean they should be in your one page plan. Examples include “Executive Summaries,” “Management Organization” or “Funding Requests.”

Don’t waste your time on that kind of thinking for now.

Instead, include the most important elements of your new business only. Here are a just a few ideas to get you started:

• Company Description: What will your company do? What exactly will your company sell? Will you provide a service? Sell a product? To whom? Why?
• Products or Services: What products or services will you offer? How much will they cost in the beginning?
• Marketing and Sales: How will you get your first customers? Who will pay you for your service or product?
• Goals and Milestones: How many customers do you need to make this business “successful”? How long will it take to get the ideal number of customer or monthly revenue?

There are countless examples of business plans on the internet, but below, I’d like to highlight a few of my favorite approaches to one page business planning from some of the smartest people I personally know in the world of solopreneurship and small business.

Note: PLEASE don’t pay for an app or software to help you write a one page business plan. Maybe down the road you’ll need something like that, but keep it simple and download one of the free options below or just get out a blank sheet of paper and create your own.

Chris Guillebeau, author of one of my all-time favorite business books, The $100 Startup , offers a free one page PDF that’s pretty great.

It asks simple questions like: What will you sell? Who will buy it? And How will your business idea help people?  

I also love how Chris’s one page business plan focuses on success metrics—or what the business will look like if it’s “successful.” Will have it have a certain number of customers? A certain amount of monthly revenue?

This allows you to put an actual end point or goal on your one page business plan so that you know exactly what you’re working toward.

You can access Chris’s one page business plan here .

Another great resource to get you moving quickly toward your business goals is the Business Sketch Template provided my my friends at Fizzle.co.

Here’s what they have to say about one page planning:

“It might seem surprising or impossible to imagine that all of the most crucial pieces of your business can fit onto one page. At Fizzle, we call this plan a sketch: it’s meant to be completed quickly, if not a bit roughly, but the objective is still to put pencil to paper.”

What I like about Fizzle’s business sketch template is that it starts with the center focus on Key Metrics and prompts you to ask questions like “What will you measure to determine that this audience has this problem and wants this solution?”

As big proponents of building a small, lifestyle business, It’s no surprise this template also includes some unique sections like “personal fit” which force you to ask questions about how the business will interact with your daily life, personal passions, and life goals.

You can access Fizzle’s one page business sketch template here .

Another potential one page business plan is presented by Bplan.

Here’s what they have to say about “a new kind of business planning.”

“A business plan no longer needs to be a long document that takes weeks to write and research. It’s not something that you print, bind professionally, and then stick on a shelf. You probably only need a formal, traditional business plan if you’re seeking a bank loan or outside investment—you’ll be expected to provide one in those instances.”

With that, they offer some great advice on how to write a business plan in under 1 hour .

You can download their “lean business plan” template here .

If you prefer to learn by watching a video, I found this video is a pretty great resource to help you with your one page business plan. I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but I like his overall approach to tackling business planning.

After studying this topic extensively—reading hundreds of articles and looking at lots of one page business plan templates, we’ve decided to include a free download of one of our own templates as well.

Our one page business plan template is tailored particularly to freelancers and solopreneurs—one-person businesses who want to stay small and build a healthy revenue for themselves and their loved ones.

Our one page business plan template is designed to be completed in less than 45 minutes and give you the ammunition you need to hit the ground running—instead of getting stuck in the details of starting a business.

You can download our free one page business plan template by entering your email below:

Before you go, here are some final words of encouragement and advice when it comes to planning your business.

First of all, you can plan everything you need to on just one page. At least for now.

Sure, one day you might need a more lengthy, in-detail plan to present to someone else, but for now, give yourself a break. You don’t have to write a plan that Mark Cuban would be proud of. You just have to write a plan that helps you get from point A to point B.

Secondly, don’t get stuck at this phase. If you have to, time yourself. Set a time limit of 45 minutes (or whatever amount makes sense for you). And when the timer’s up, it’s time to get back to work actually starting or building your business.

Finally, use this one page business plan as a compass, but be flexible. The point is to give yourself a roadmap, but just like your GPS has to “reroute” when there’s an unexpected obstacle, you might also need to pursue a different path, different method, or different goals as you go along.

In fact, I’d say it’s next to impossible to build a business plan of any kind and then stick to it 100% over any significant amount of time.

There will always be unforeseen obstacles and changes. There will always be hiccups. The idea is to just write your business plan .

Roll with the punches and something as simple as a one page business plan can take you far.

After you draft up your one page business plan, I’d love to see what you landed on. Share a link with me in our mastermind group , by leaving a comment below, or sharing on twitter .

I can’t wait to see what you’ve done. Good luck!

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Written by Preston Lee

Editor at millo.co.

Preston Lee is the founder of Millo where he and his team have been helping freelancers thrive for over a decade. His advice has been featured by Entrepreneur , Inc , Forbes , Adobe, and many more.

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One Page Business Plan

Free One Page Business Plan Template

Download our free business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

• Fill in the blanks – Outline
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With the help of a page-long plan, you’ll neither have to spend days planning your business nor skip the planning process completely.

A business plan can be of great help to your business, and a one-page plan can become your plan’s foundation as you expand your business.

Read on to find out everything about a one-page business plan.

How Can a One-Page Business Plan Help You?

A one-page business plan can help you with the following:

• It can help you understand the market you are getting into.
• It can help you set clear and precise goals for your business.
• It gives form and structure to your business idea.
• It acts as a foundation stone for your business model.

And most importantly, a page-long plan can be written in a short time.

Although you’ll eventually need a detailed and comprehensive plan in the future, a one-page plan is a good place to start.

One Page Business Plan Outline

This is the standard one-page business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

• What will you sell?
• Who will buy it?
• How will your business idea help people?
• What will you charge?
• How will you get paid?
• How else will you make money from this project?
• How will customers learn about your business?
• How can you encourage referrals?
• The project will be successful when it achieves these metrics
• Specific concern or question #1
• The proposed solution to concern #1

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Now, let’s understand in detail what you should write each section of this business plan.

How to Write a One Page Business Plan?

Though, you might wonder, is it even possible to fit all the details about a business on just one page?

It surely is. Also, it is a more compact and faster way of writing a business plan.

The following sections will help you write a compact and well-rounded business plan:

This section would consist of a brief overview of all that your business stands for. It would mainly include your vision and mission statement.

As your business plan is going to be super short, you need to sum up this section in two to three lines. Remember to be as clear and precise as possible.

For example, if you are a fashion designer, your business’s overview might look like this.

“ We design clothes to give something new and something special to everyone.”

Target Market

Including information about the target market is crucial for any business plan.

Knowing your target market not only helps you serve them better, but also helps you in streamlining your marketing efforts.

You can separate your target market based on age, gender, income, geographical location, and occupation.

Market Needs

Before you enter any market, it is a good practice to evaluate how valid your business idea is.

Also, what market needs does your product or service fulfill? In this section, you’ll precisely cover the market gap that exists. And how do you aim to fulfill it with your product or service?

Writing this section helps you understand how much optimization your product needs. And if it is needed in the market at all.

Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is immensely helpful for any business.

It helps you decide how you will reach out to your target audience and how you’ll convince them to buy your product or use your service.

It is also important to evaluate whether your marketing campaign would resonate with your target audience or not.

Obstacles/Challenges

This section would consist of the potential market threats that your business would have to face, and how would you overcome them.

For this section, you can carry out a SWOT analysis and include its results in your plan.

Knowing the threats that exist in the market helps you in being better prepared while facing them.

Having milestones to achieve helps you keep better track of your business journey.

Milestones give you something tangible to work upon. Hence, you become more organized and motivated.

Moreover, it also helps you in knowing whether you are working in the right direction or not. In this way, it helps you steer clear of roadblocks and dead ends in your business journey.

Competition

Before you enter any industry or market, it is important to analyze your competitors .

Include what are their strengths and weaknesses. Also, include what sets you apart from them and would help you create your unique place in the market.

Funding Needs

The financial section consists of the funds you’ll need to keep your business going. Writing this section clearly and backed with strong facts can help you in getting funded.

Especially when you are just starting, getting funded can act as a big plus.

Download a sample one-page business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go;  download our free one-page business plan pdf  to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your one-page business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

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

One Page Business Plan Summary

All in all, summing up your entire business idea on a single page is very much possible and feasible.

A plan can give form and structure to your idea even if it is only a page long.

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample one-page business plan template into your business plan and modify the required information and download your one page business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing a business plan.

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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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2024 Basic Business Plan Template for Small Business Owners

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Simple and Basic Business Plan Template for Small Businesses

Antonio Del Cueto, CPA

April 5, 2024

Did you know that 42% of small businesses fail within the first four years ? The dream of starting your own venture can quickly turn sour without a roadmap for success. That's where a business plan comes in. This article introduces a comprehensive business plan template designed to dramatically increase your odds of becoming a thriving statistic .

Studies show that businesses with a well-defined plan are twice as likely to survive beyond the five-year mark . This template will guide you through crafting a document that outlines your goals, target market, financial projections, and competitive edge. By dedicating time to planning, you'll gain a clearer understanding of your business concept, identify potential roadblocks , and attract investors who believe in your vision. So, ditch the guesswork and unlock the power of planning.

Are you in the process of starting your own business? Download FREE our business plan template here.

What is a Basic Business Plan Template and Why Do You Need One?

A business plan template is a step-by-step guide that helps you create a plan for your business. It's like a map for your 2024 startup journey. This template shows you what to do first, next, and last. You need one because it helps you think about all the important parts of your business upfront.

Importance of Having a Business Plan Template

A business plan template is crucial. It helps you outline your value proposition, which is what makes your business special. It also makes sure you think about your potential investors. They want to see a clear plan before they give you money. Plus, a template helps you organize your thoughts and ideas in one place.

Key Sections of a Simple Business Plan Template

In a basic template , there are some key elements you can't skip. These include a company description that tells people what you do. You also need a marketing strategy to explain how you'll find customers. Don't forget about competitive analysis, which shows how you stack up against others. Finally, financial forecasts predict your money flow, and supporting documents back up everything you say.

How to Tailor a Business Plan Template for Your 2024 Startup

To customize a business plan for your startup, start with the high-level stuff. Add your unique company description and value proposition. Show how you're different to get a competitive advantage. Update the marketing strategy to fit today's world. Make sure your financial forecasts are fresh and include all costs and expected income. Add any new documents that support your plan.

Remember, a good business plan template guides you but doesn't limit you. Always include what makes your business shine and use the template to help you organize your great ideas.

Essential Components of a Startup Business Plan

Starting a new business? You’ll need a plan that shows what your business is about and how you plan to make it successful. Let's look at what makes up a good business plan.

Writing an Effective Executive Summary

The executive summary is like a quick snapshot of your business plan. It shows the big ideas of your plan in a short way. Even though it's the first thing in your plan, you might write it last. It should say what your business does, what you want to achieve, and why it's going to work. This part is super important because it’s what people read first to get an idea about your business.

Developing a Comprehensive Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan is all about how you’re going to tell people about your business and what you sell. It should talk about who might want to buy your stuff and how you plan to reach them. This part includes your plan of action for getting customers to notice you, like using social media or putting ads online. Knowing your customers and how to reach them helps your business grow.

Creating a Financial Projection for Your Small Business

This section is about the money. It guesses how much money you’ll make and spend. Financial projections help you see if your business can earn more money than it spends. It includes how much money you need upfront to start and keep running your business. This helps you and business partners see how your business might do in the future.

For anyone thinking about starting a business, these parts of a business plan are key. They help you write a business plan quickly and efficiently. With a good plan, you can support your business, get help from others, and have a clear roadmap to run your business.

Further Reading: What You Should Know About Small Business Accounting, Tax, And Bookkeeping Services

Tips for crafting a one-page business plan.

Creating a one-page business plan is like drawing a map that shows the way to success for your specific business. This short plan helps you focus on what's really important. It saves time and lets you get moving faster.

Benefits of Using a Lean Business Model

A lean business model is all about making things simple and focusing on what works. It helps you use resources wisely. Free templates for lean business plans help you organize your ideas without wasting time. It’s essential to be clear and straight to the point, so you don’t get lost in details.

Identifying Your Target Market in a One-Page Business Plan

Knowing who you’re selling to is key. Your one-page plan should clearly say who your customers are. You’ll need to research and use that info to make your marketing and sales work better. This part of your plan makes sure your business talks to the right people.

Streamlining Revenue Streams in a Lean Business Plan

A lean plan means having a clear idea of how you’ll make money. This part of the plan looks at different ways to bring in cash, from selling products to offering services. It’s about picking the best ways that fit your business and focusing on them for the next three to five years. Using a standard template, like one from Microsoft Word or free templates available online, can help you get this part right.

Utilizing Free Business Plan Templates: Pros and Cons

Using a free business plan template is like finding a treasure map that guides you to your business goals. Let’s see how these templates can be both helpful and challenging.

How a Free Business Plan Template Can Help Small Business Owners

A free simple business plan or a one-page business plan template can be a huge help. It gives you a clear outline of what to include, like your business needs, marketing and sales strategies, and financial data. Templates from sources like the Small Business Administration (SBA) or Shopify come with sections already set up for you. This makes it easier to organize your ideas and present them clearly. It’s essential for owners of specific businesses to have a roadmap. This way, you can build your business plan quickly and efficiently, focusing on elements of your plan that support your financial success. Free templates help you get started with little effort and no cost.

Exploring Sample Business Plans to Guide Your Business Planning Efforts

Looking at sample business plans can provide valuable insights. These examples show you different ways to format and write your plan. They cover various industries, giving you a peek at successful strategies and outcomes. By exploring these samples, you can learn tips for creating important sections like income statements , cash on hand, and even plans for intellectual property like patent filings. Whether you use a standard template from Microsoft Word or detailed guides for specific types of businesses, such as a limited liability company, these samples can inspire and guide you. They offer a comprehensive view of what a successful plan includes, from the table of contents to the final financial statements, helping you envision the path for your own business over three to five years.

Further Reading: Effective Balance Sheet Creation for Small Businesses: Simplified Templates and Guidelines

Key takeaways:.

• Summary : A quick explanation of your business idea, like telling a friend about a game plan.
• Market Analysis : Understanding who wants to buy what you're selling, similar to figuring out who loves chocolate ice cream.
• Product/Service : What you're selling or offering, like selling cool stickers or helping with homework.
• Marketing Plan : How you'll tell people about your business, like making posters for your lemonade stand.
• Financial Plan : Planning your money, figuring out how much you need to start, and how you'll earn more, like saving up for a new bike.

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Tickmark, Inc. and its affiliates do not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal, tax or accounting advice or recommendations. All information prepared on this site is for informational purposes only, and should not be relied on for legal, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own legal, tax or accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. The content on this website is provided “as is;” no representations are made that the content is error-free.

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