5 page business plan

It's definitely not the most exciting part of starting a business. In fact, if you're like a lot of entrepreneurs, you're probably going to find yourself pulling a few all-nighters to get one done before heading into your first pitch for funding. Because that's the thing--your business plan is a pretty important. Any funder worth his or her salt wants to see it right off the bat. Moreover though, a solid business plan is a living document that will continue to guide your efforts as your business grows. A lot of those mistakes most of them, in fact are the result of poor planning.

Elements of a Business Plan

Having a road map helps you reach your journey's end successfully. Business plans do the same for small businesses. They lay out the milestones you need to reach on your way to building a profitable small business. From finance to marketing, operations to sales, each part of a business plan helps you reach your goals.

What deters most entrepreneurs from creating a business plan, however, is taking the time to write it all out. Many are afraid to do so; they'll find their idea isn't so brilliant after all.

For those who take the time to research and write a plan, though, they often find that it helps them identify risks and possible roadblocks. Business plans are essential to identifying and overcoming obstacles on your path so you can build a successful company.

While writing a business plan can be frustrating especially when you're writing one from scratch, there are plenty of online templates available to take some of the pain out of the process.

Small business owners can benefit from simple, easy-to-follow business plan tools so they spend less time writing and more time launching. Here is our simple business plan template, plus eight resources to help you craft a professional business plan quickly and easily. The executive summary is arguably the most important section of a business plan, because it needs to draw your readers into your plan and entice them to continue reading.

If your executive summary doesn't capture the reader's attention, they won't read further. Even though it is the first section, you should write it last. This section is an overview of your entire business. Make sure you include basic information, such as when your company was founded, what kind of business entity it is, what state it is registered in, etc. Provide a summary of your company's history to give the readers a solid understanding of who you are and what your business is.

Focus on your customers' perspective and needs by demonstrating the problem you are trying to solve. The goal with this section is to prove your business fills a market need and will remain viable for the foreseeable future.

In this section, clearly define who your target audience is, where you will find them, how you will reach them and, most importantly, how you will deliver your product or service to them. Provide a deep analysis of your ideal customer and how your business provides a solution for them. You'll also want to include your competitors in this section and illustrate how your business is different. What are their strengths and weaknesses, and how will you differentiate yourself from the pack?

Before anyone will invest in your business, they want a complete understanding of whom they are investing in. This section should illustrate how your business is organized. As you list each individual, provide a summary of their experience and their role within your company. Treat this section as a series of mini resumes and consider appending full-length resumes to your business plan.

Last, the financial plan should include a detailed overview of your finances. At the very least, you should include cash flow statements as well as your profit and loss projections over the next three to five years.

You can also include historical financial data from the past few years, your sales forecast, balance sheet, etc. Make sure this section is precise and accurate. It's often best practice to create this section with a professional accountant. Finally, if you're seeking outside funding for your business, highlight why you're seeking financing options, where that money will go and when investors can expect a return on their investment.

LivePlan has become a recognized online business tools resource to help budding entrepreneurs every step of the way, from the planning stages to launch. Like other services, LivePlan allows business owners to craft perfectly formatted plans.

They have more than plans encompassing nearly every industry you can think of. After selecting the template you like, you can tweak, customize and create the presentation to pitch your idea to would-be investors. Post-launch, businesses can track revenue and expenses against forecasts. Perhaps you've heard about entrepreneurs who jotted down their business idea on a napkin at a bar. Designed for entrepreneurs who are itching to get started, this simple business plan template asks a handful of questions that you can answer in one or two sentences.

The plan covers everything from what you plan to sell and who will buy it to how you will get paid, "hustle" to find customers, foresee challenges, and overcome obstacles in a single page. Bizplan lets you create a business plan for free using your smartphone or tablet, and it offers more than just business plans.

You also have access to free pitch script templates, marketing tools, coaching and collaboration features. You can upgrade to paid plans that give you access to more tools, tutorials and other features.

Not all small businesses are concerned with credit lines, partnerships and office space — at least not in the beginning. So why should their initial business plans include these things? Copyblogger's Remarkably Simple Business Plan doesn't.

Instead, it offers a business plan template fit for the real would-be entrepreneur. Where most templates assume all businesses are uniform, Copyblogger's model is designed to get to the heart of what entrepreneurs need to know to start a business: the ins and outs of the product or service, how customers will find the business and how the business will make money.

Simply copy and paste the template, created by Sonia Simone, co-founder and chief content officer of Copyblogger Media, and you're good to go. Financials are often the most confusing and difficult aspect of a business plan for new business owners. Founded in , Enloop is regarded as an innovative player in the business-plan-creation industry.

Like other services, Enloop uses an online interface to automate the creation of your business plan. To get started, users enter basic information about their businesses, including product details.

From there, Enloop's software uses metrics to predict the financial performance of the company compared with similar companies in the same sector. Enloop's goal is to help entrepreneurs make better-informed decisions. Here's how! Created by The One Page Business Plan Company , this simple template covers only the key areas entrepreneurs need to address to start a business: their vision for the company, why the business exists, objectives for setting goals, strategies to make the business successful and action plans indicating what work needs to be done.

Unlike complicated business plans, boring blocks of text are not required — bullet points will do. Greg Go, co-founder of online finance community Wise Bread , is a big believer that entrepreneurs who are just starting out don't need lengthy business plans. What they need, says Go, is an "internal working plan" to get started. The U. Small Business Administration SBA has a wealth of free planning, financing, and consulting tools and resources, both online and through available consultants.

The SBA offers some great recommendations on creating a business plan, including what type of plan you should choose depending on your business and your needs. Additional reporting by Katherine Arline and Marci Martin. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. Sean Peek is a writer, small business owner and SEO specialist. He began his career in digital marketing as a freelance writer in and has over five years of experience in the B2B space.

You can learn more at lightningmediapartners. Product and service reviews are conducted independently by our editorial team, but we sometimes make money when you click on links. Learn more. Start Your Business Business Plans. Free Business Plan Templates for Startups. What Is a Vision Statement?

It can provide a guideline so you're not stuck looking at a blank page trying to figure out where to start. Plus, it shows you the general layout of a standard business. There are many reasons why every company should have a business plan, but not It's just a page or two that highlights the points you've made elsewhere in your 5. Company and management summary. The company and management​.

A business plan is also a road map that provides directions so a business can plan its future and helps it avoid bumps in the road. The time you spend making your business plan thorough and accurate, and keeping it up-to-date, is an investment that pays big dividends in the long term. Your business plan should conform to generally accepted guidelines regarding form and content. Each section should include specific elements and address relevant questions that the people who read your plan will most likely ask.

Having a road map helps you reach your journey's end successfully.

The business plan admits the entrepreneur to the investment process. And the plan must be outstanding if it is to win investment funds.

Simple Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs

The age of the page plan has passed and has been replaced with the character attention span. They do. Its that they expect you to communicate it to them quickly and succinctly. Business Summary. What do you intend to do, where do you intend to do it, and to whom are you offering it?

Business Plan

Now that you understand why you need a business plan and you've spent some time doing your homework gathering the information you need to create one, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get everything down on paper. The following pages will describe in detail the seven essential sections of a business plan: what you should include, what you shouldn't include, how to work the numbers and additional resources you can turn to for help. With that in mind, jump right in. Within the overall outline of the business plan, the executive summary will follow the title page. The summary should tell the reader what you want. This is very important. All too often, what the business owner desires is buried on page eight. Clearly state what you're asking for in the summary. The statement should be kept short and businesslike, probably no more than half a page.

Why are entrepreneurs so afraid of writing a business plan?

Everything that you need to know to start your own business. From business ideas to researching the competition. Practical and real-world advice on how to run your business — from managing employees to keeping the books.

Business Plan Template for a Startup Business

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Small Business and Startups: The 3-Page Business Plan (and a short post to match!)

By Rolfe Larson on September 1, On the one hand, in the consulting and academic world, what is meant by a business plan is a fairly comprehensive research project with thorough analysis of issues including customers, markets, competitors, pricing, marketing strategies, risks — always followed with detailed multi-paged financial projections looking three to five years into the future. To create this kind of a plan, management works on it for months, or hires a consultant to do it for them. On the other hand, in most of the business world, what is generally meant by a business plan is a brief written statement indicating goals and overall steps for achieving those goals. The goals might relate to customers, sales, units sold, profits, facilities. It looks out a year, maybe two. This is something the owner or management puts together in a few meetings, when then gets updated every year or two. And the brief plan can be very superficial to the point that it does little more than set ambitious goals with minimal guidance on what to do when the business encounters those pesky potholes in the road. Keep it short and simple, but still useful. Summarize all that in three pages of text, then a page of financial projections and a page about the expertise of the management team and the facilities and key equipment that will be utilized.