It’s essential to have a business plan for your business. Whether you’re a sole trader or starting a company, it’s important to have a plan for how your business will succeed.
But a business plan can be an overwhelming task to complete when you’re first thinking about starting a business.
An in-depth business plan can be up to 50-pages long and go into extreme detail about every single thing in your business.
When you’re first starting out this might not be feasible. And so you might want to consider creating a one-page business plan instead.
Reasons you might want to create a one-page business plan:
- You might not have all of the information you’d need to create an in-depth business plan.
- You’re just beginning to consider whether your business idea is feasible.
- You’re in the beginning stages of the process and a one-page plan will help you get organized.
- You’re overwhelmed by the idea of creating an in-depth business plan and want a place to start.
Here’s what you need to create your own one-page business plan:
- What is your product or service?
- What is the need for your product or service?
- What’s your competition like?
- How will you differentiate your products or services?
- What are your expenses?
- How do your expenses balance with your intended sales?
- How will you market your business?
- How much money do you need to get started?
Here are the sections of your one-page business plan:
Vision
- What the goals are of your business.
- What you would like to see your business accomplish in X years.
- How you plan to grow your business.
- Whether you plan to sell your business eventually.
Business Overview
- What services or products you’ll provide.
- Who your target market is, or who will buy your stuff.
- How you will provide your services or products.
- How you’ll service or product will help your customers.
- What’s your unique selling proposition.
Pricing Strategy
- How much you need to charge for your products or services in order to be profitable.
- You’ll need to project revenue and expenses.
- Plus, how your pricing compares to the competition.
- Read more about Specific Pricing Strategies.
Marketing
- How you intend to promote and advertise your business.
- How you’ll get the word out and find customers.
Goals and Objectives
- How you’ll measure your success.
- What’s the specific goals for your business and the timeframe in which you intend to accomplish those goals.