Simple Business Plan Template (2022)

Whether you need a brief business overview or a detailed plan for investors, every business plan should include the six key elements listed in our free template and described below. The main difference between an investor-backed business and a small business startup is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.

1. Your mission or vision

Start by declaring a "vision statement" for your business. If you are a leader, you can call it your vision or mission statement. However, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Be brief like an elevator pitch. You'll expand on this answer in Simple Business Plan Templates.

• What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information, or a combination of these?
• Where did it happen? Do you run your business online, in-store, mobile, or in a specific area or location?
• Who does your business use? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your idea?
• Why should potential customers care? What makes your ideal customer pay attention to your business?
• How do your products and/or services differ from the competition? What makes your ideal customer choose you over the competition?

These answers will come easily when you have a solid concept for your business, but don't worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of the planning template to gather ideas and strategies. You will soon find these answers and new possible directions as you explore your ideas and options.

2. Ideas for offers and prices

This is where you explain whether you're selling a product, offering a service, or both, and why someone would be interested. This is a value proposition. Specifically, expand on your answers to the first and fourth points of your mission/vision.

If you complete this section, you may find that exploring your value proposition opens up market opportunities you hadn't considered. So take some time to think about the possibilities in this section.

For example, a bakery startup that focuses on gluten-free or keto-friendly products may have value that appeals to a specific audience. Additionally, you can extend this value proposition by offering wedding cakes and other special occasion cakes that include gluten-free, keto-friendly, and traditional cake ingredients that all guests can enjoy.

3. Ideal audience and customers

Here, consider who will benefit from your work, point three. Defining your ideal customer and learning the broad audience for your products and services is important to defining your sales and marketing strategy and will help you refine your offering.

There are many ways to research your potential audience, but the shortcut is to identify a problem that people think your product or service can solve. When you start from a problem-solving position, it's easier to define your audience and identify customer needs and wants for your marketing efforts.

For the first example of a home baker, people may struggle to find freshly baked gluten-free or keto-friendly brownies. Researching the wants and needs of these people reveals an audience that is health-conscious, or perhaps health-conscious, and willing to spend more on hard-to-find items.

However, it is important to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be very special. For example, our bakery startup could appeal to a wider audience and increase revenue by offering more traditional baked goods with gluten-free and keto-specific options.

4. Revenue streams, sales and marketing channels

Thanks to our Internet economy, startups have multiple opportunities to generate revenue and can reach their target audience through multiple channels. Revenue streams and sales channels serve as marketing tools, so in this section you'll look at all three.

Income stream

Income streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In the plan template, describe how you will make money after launch and include ideas for future expansion. The earning potential may surprise you.

For example, our cheese startup could consider the following sources of income:

• Merchandise : Online, pop-up, wholesale and in-store (future)
• Affiliate Income : Earn money through affiliate links from blogs and social media posts
• Advertising Revenue : Reserving websites for advertising
• eBook Sale : (Coming Soon) Publish an eBook of Gluten-Free and Keto-Friendly Dessert Recipes
• Video Monetization : (quickly) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos on gluten-free and keto cakes.
• Webinars & Online Classes : (Fast) Make money with tutorial-style webinars and online classes that cover specific baking tips and tricks.
• Members Only Content : Access the members only section of the website to receive exclusive content on the completion of (upcoming) webinars and online classes.
• Franchising : (future) Monetizing a specialty bakery concept and selling to a franchisor

Sales channel

Sales funnels provide your revenue stream. This section also answers the "where is this going" question in the second point of your review.

For our cottage cheese example, product sales channels may include:

• Mobile Point of Sale (POS): A mobile platform like Shopify or Square POS to manage direct sales at farmers markets, fairs, and local festivals.
• E-commerce platforms: Online stores such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail and wholesale.
• Social Media Channels : Purchasable posts and pins are sold online on social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
• Physical Location : For in-store sales, once the business reaches the point where it can maintain a physical location.

Other revenue support channels may include:

• Affiliate Income : Blog section on e-commerce websites and affiliate accounts
• Advertising revenue : reserved advertising space on e-commerce sites
• E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales through Amazon Kindle direct publishing
• Video Monetization : A YouTube channel that earns money from ads
• Webinars and Online Classes: Online classes and webinar platforms that support participant accounts, recording and playback.
• Members Only Content: Website content that is password protected through membership programs such as Member of the Press

marketing

Today, the line between marketing and sales is blurring. Social media tools, e-books, websites, blogs, and videos serve as marketing tools and revenue opportunities. Since most of them are free and cost-effective with advertising capabilities, they are an ideal marketing tool for beginners.

However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help you create your marketing plan and budget.

5. Structure, suppliers and activities

This section of a simple business plan template explores how to set up and manage your business. Details include the type of business your startup will be running, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also include in this section any certifications or licenses required to operate your business.

Our nested baking example might use the following structure and initialization scheme:

• Business structure : Sole Proprietorship with "Business" (DBA).
• Licensing and Certification : County food handler's permit and state certification of cottage restaurants for homemade products. Check out our certified commercial kitchen rental options.
• Roles and Responsibilities : Sole Proprietor, all roles and responsibilities are shared with the owner.
• Supply Chain : Bulk merchandise and food packaging at Sam's Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with an annual membership fee. Uline for transportation of materials; Membership is not required.
• Daily Operations : Get ingredients to fulfill local and online orders and prepare meals three days a week. Set aside time for special sales, partner bulk orders, and marketing events as needed. Ship online orders on another day. Update your website and blog marketing posts around the holidays.

6. Financial forecasting

Your final task is to outline your initial business plan and current cost and profit projections in your simple business plan template. With free business tools like Square and free social media marketing, startups can get started with minimal costs. In many cases, out-of-pocket costs are only for merchandise, shipping and packaging, business licenses, and business card printing.

Cost estimation

A simple estimate of start-up costs for our bakery might include:

Approximate gross profit

This will help you determine the retail price and sales volume you need to sustain your business and hopefully make a profit for yourself. Use the product search to determine the target retail price of your item, then subtract items such as hourly cost, raw material and supplier costs. The total is your total revenue from each product or service.

Here are some examples of gross profit from our home bakery:

Finally

It's always important to think carefully and include details in your business plan, but don't be too naive in your planning and never hit the start button to start your business. Also remember that business plans are not set in stone. Markets, audiences and technology change, and so do your goals and the means to achieve them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revise, expand and adapt it according to market opportunities and business growth requirements.

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How to write a business plan. Ultimate Entrepreneurship 101 | Troy Monaghan