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- Schedule staff shifts
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- Track mileage
You've been dreaming of starting your own business. You've started with some concrete steps, and you're ready to put your proposal together. But how do you start, and how do you know when you have the right information?
How to get it done
Create a business plan with templates in Word:
Start with a template
Download these templates from the Office Templates site to create your plan:
Fill in your Business plan .
Analyze your market with the Business market analysis template .
Detail your financials in a Financial plan .
Divide up the work and track deliverables with this Business plan checklist .
Wrap up with this Business startup checklist .
Need a little help?
Learn how to:
Start a document from a template .
Apply themes to change your plan's look.
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Must follow steps for starting a successful business
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Venngage Business Plan Maker
Create a compelling and convincing business plan online with Venngage. Templates available for your every need, whether it's business plans, financial plans, marketing plans, and more.
Not a designer? No problem. With our easy-to-edit templates and online business plan generator, anyone can create a professional business plan for free. Over 40,000 businesses already use and trust Venngage.
Launch a profitable business with a visually engaging business plan
Your business is unique and impactful — so should your business plan. Make sure the plan you share with investors, lenders, and other stakeholders is not only packed with key data and information but visually engaging too.
Looking to make your business plan stand out from the pack? Venngage's unique business plan templates add serious style to your ideas. Venngage's Business Plan Builder is a fraction of the cost of hiring a writer — you can even try creating a business plan for free.
Whether you're looking for a traditional business plan format or something more creative, Venngage's easy-to-edit business plan templates let anyone design business plans. No experience required. Free business plan templates available.
Nothing's better to convince your stakeholders than some sweet data that speaks volume. Engage and persuade your investors by visualizing your business plan data with Venngage's unique charts, graphs and diagrams.
Create a winning business plan with Venngage in 5 steps:
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Business Plan Templates
Save money and hours of design time with Venngage's easy-to-edit templates and free business plan generator. Free online business plan templates available.
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Venngage's online business plan builder is intuitive to use. The drag-and-drop editor means faster and better designs even when you don't have design experience.
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Download your document with one click as an image (PNG), PDF, Interactive PDF or PowerPoint file. Add it to your Google Docs or Slides, Word doc or existing PowerPoint slides (paid plans only).
Visualize Business Plan Data
Persuade your stakeholders and tell a story with your business plan data through charts, graphs, maps and diagrams. Copy and paste your data or upload it in a .csv file in one click.
Brand Your Business Plans
Use Venngage's My Brand Kit to automatically import your brand identity. Then, add your brand colors and fonts to any business plan designs with one click.
Collaborate In Real Time
Collaborate with your whole team with Venngage's real-time collaboration. Leave helpful feedback through comments and create impactful business plans.
Easy-to-edit professional business plan templates
- Our team of professional designers have created a collection of unique, online business plan templates that anyone can customize. Pick a simple template, add your text and data and you're done.
- Or choose a more creative template and play around with the fonts, photos, icons, colors, and more.
- Whatever the case, Venngage's drag-and-drop free business plan generator lets anyone create a beautiful, professional business plan without any design experience.
- Share a public link for free from our online business plan creator. Don't worry. You can go back and edit your design at any time.
One-click branding with My Brand Kit
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Business Plan Maker FAQs
How much does venngage's business plan builder cost.
Anyone can make a business plan for free and share a link to their work. Our Premium ($19/month) and Business ($49/month) plans include premium, professional business plan templates and features, plus access to multiple download formats.
How can I write my own business plan?
Your business plan can include these sections: executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization management, service/product line, marketing & sales, funding requests, financial projections, etc. Add sections to your business plan as you see fit — depending on the kind of plan you're creating. No matter the type of business plans you're making, Venngage has a template for that.
Can I download my business plan?
Yes! You can download your business plan in PNG, PDF, Interactive PDF, or PowerPoint formats (paid plans only). It's free to share a public link. It's also free to create an account and test out our online business plan maker with a free business plan template.
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Powerful business plan templates
Plan for the future, no matter what your business plans are or the size of your business with these designs and templates. whether it's just one big project or an entire organization's worth of dreams, these templates will keep you and your company on track from ideation to completion..
Put your ideas to work with simple templates for every business plan
Every successful business took a lot of planning to get there, and these templates will be cornerstones of your future success. Whether you’re looking to attract new business, pitch your services or reimagine your company, with these simple, customizable templates at your fingertips you can turn complexity into something tangible. These templates can become marketing assets or simply remain internal touchpoints for your team. And as your dreams change, you’ll always have this template to refer to – it’s easy to change what exists on paper. If you’re a small business, focusing on your niche can help you dominate in your field, and you can forge a plan to figure out exactly what that niche might be and how to target your ideal customer . When it’s time to share your vision with stakeholders, craft a presentation that outlines your plan succinctly and with style. Let these templates from Microsoft Designer be your partner in business strategy for years to come.
Original text
Do you want to increase the odds that your business startup will be a success? Then download this step-by-step business plan template and use it to lay the groundwork for your new business.
Writing a business plan gives you an opportunity to carefully think through every step of starting your company so you can better prepare and handle any challenges.
While a thorough business plan is essential in the financing process, it's helpful even if you don’t need outside financing.
Creating a business plan can:
- Help you discover any weaknesses in your business idea so you can address them before you open for business
- Identify business opportunities you may not have considered and plan how to take advantage of them
- Analyze the market and competition to strengthen your idea
- Give you a chance to plan strategies for dealing with potential challenges so they don’t derail your startup
- Convince potential partners, customers, and key employees that you’re serious about your idea and persuade them to work with you
- Force you to calculate when your business will make a profit and how much money you need to reach that point, so you can be prepared with adequate startup capital
- Determine your target market and how to reach them
Laying out a detailed, step-by-step plan gives you a blueprint you can refer to during the startup process and helps you maintain your momentum.
What this business plan template includes
Writing a business plan for a startup can sometimes seem overwhelming. To make the process easier and more manageable, this template will guide you step-by-step through writing it. The template includes easy-to-follow instructions for completing each section of the business plan, questions to help you think through each aspect, and corresponding fillable worksheet/s for key sections.
After you complete the 11 worksheets, you will have a working business plan for your startup to show your SCORE mentor .
The business plan sections covered in this template include:
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Products and Services
- Marketing Plan
- Operational Plan
- Management and Organization
- Startup Expenses and Capitalization
- Financial Plan
The Appendices include documents that supplement information in the body of the plan. These might be contracts, leases, purchase orders, intellectual property, key managers’ resumes, market research data, or anything that supports assumptions or statements made in the plan.
The last section of the template, “Refining Your Plan,” explains ways you may need to modify your plan for specific purposes, such as getting a bank loan, or for specific industries, such as retail or manufacturing.
Complete the Business Plan Template for a Startup Business to create a working business plan for your startup.
Then, contact your local SCORE mentor to review and refine your plan either online or in person.
For more than 100 years, Deluxe Corporation has sought to create the tools that help shape our economy. Since 1915, Deluxe has recognized the vital role that small business plays in our communities, from job creation to business development. For these reasons, the Deluxe Corporation Foundation provides financial support to nonprofits that help entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed. Our grants to SCORE have totaled more than $1.5M in recent years, with the majority of these funds supporting the creation and updates of online training and certification for SCORE mentors.
Business Planning & Financial Statements Template Gallery Download SCORE’s templates to help you plan for a new business startup or grow your existing business.
An Easier Way to Prepare Your Business Plan -The Business Model Canvas The Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a one-page business plan that allows you to test and validate the key parts of your business in a manageable format.
Copyright © 2023 SCORE Association, SCORE.org
Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
Simple Business Plan Templates
By Joe Weller | April 2, 2020
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In this article, we’ve compiled a variety of simple business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats.
On this page, you’ll find a one-page business plan template , a simple business plan for startups , a small-business plan template , a business plan outline , and more. We also include a business plan sample and the main components of a business plan to help get you started.
Simple Business Plan Template
Download Simple Business Plan Template
This simple business plan template lays out each element of a traditional business plan to assist you as you build your own, and it provides space to add financing information for startups seeking funding. You can use and customize this simple business plan template to fit the needs for organizations of any size.
One-Page Business Plan Template
Download One-Page Business Plan Template
Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet
Use this one-page business plan to document your key ideas in an organized manner. The template can help you create a high-level view of your business plan, and it provides easy scannability for stakeholders. You can use this one-page plan as a reference to build a more detailed blueprint for your business.
For additional single page plans, take a look at " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."
Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template
Download Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template
Use this fill-in-the-blank business plan template to guide you as you build your business plan. Each section comes pre-filled with sample content, with space to add customized verbiage relevant to your product or service.
For additional free, downloadable resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."
Simple Business Plan for Startup
Download Startup Business Plan Template — Word
This business plan template is designed with a startup business in mind and contains the essential elements needed to convey key product or service details to investors and stakeholders. Keep all your information organized with this template, which provides space to include an executive summary, a company overview, competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, financial data, and more. For additional resources, visit " Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples ."
Simple Small-Business Plan Template
Download Simple Small-Business Plan Template
This template walks you through each component of a small-business plan, including the company background, the introduction of the management team, market analysis, product or service offerings, a financial plan, and more. This template also comes with a built-in table of contents to keep your plan in order, and it can be customized to fit your requirements.
Lean Business Plan Template
Download Lean Business Plan Template
This lean business plan template is a stripped-down version of a traditional business plan that provides only the most essential aspects. Briefly outline your company and industry overview, along with the problem you are solving, as well as your unique value proposition, target market, and key performance metrics. There is also room to list out a timeline of key activities.
Simple Business Plan Outline Template
Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template
Word | PDF
Use this simple business plan outline as a basis to create your own business plan. This template contains 11 sections, including a title page and a table of contents, which details what each section should cover in a traditional business plan. Simplify or expand this outline to create the foundation for a business plan that fits your business needs.
Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline
Download Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline
Excel | Smartsheet
This template doubles as a project plan and timeline to track progress as you develop your business plan. This business planning template enables you to break down your work into phases and provides room to add key tasks and dates for each activity. Easily fill in the cells according to the start and end dates to create a visual timeline, as well as to ensure your plan stays on track.
Simple Business Plan Rubric Template
Download Simple Business Plan Rubric
Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet
Once you complete your business plan, use this business plan rubric template to assess and score each component of your plan. This rubric helps you identify elements of your plan that meet or exceed requirements and pinpoint areas where you need to improve or further elaborate. This template is an invaluable tool to ensure your business plan clearly defines your goals, objectives, and plan of action in order to gain buy-in from potential investors, stakeholders, and partners.
Basic Business Plan Sample
Download Basic Business Plan Sample
This business plan sample serves as an example of a basic business plan that contains all the traditional components. The sample provides a model of what a business plan might look like for a fictional food truck business. Reference this sample as you develop your own business plan.
For additional resources to help support your business planning efforts, check out “ Free Strategic Planning Templates .”
Main Components of a Business Plan
The elements you include in your business plan will depend on your product or service offerings, as well as the size and needs of your business.
Below are the components of a standard business plan and details you should include in each section:
- Company name and contact information
- Website address
- The name of the company or individual viewing the presentation
- Table of Contents
- Company background and purpose
- Mission and vision statement
- Management team introduction
- Core product and service offerings
- Target customers and segments
- Marketing plan
- Competitive analysis
- Unique value proposition
- Financial plan (and requirements, if applicable)
- Business and industry overview
- Historical timeline of your business
- Offerings and the problem they solve
- Current alternatives
- Competitive advantage
- Market size
- Target market segment(s)
- Projected volume and value of sales compared to competitors
- Differentiation from competitors
- Pricing strategy
- Marketing channels
- Promotional plan
- Distribution methods
- Legal structure of your business
- Names of founders, owners, advisors, etc.
- Management team’s roles, relevant experience, and compensation plan
- Staffing requirements and training plans
- Physical location(s) of your business
- Additional physical requirements (e.g., warehouse, specialized equipment, facilities, etc.)
- Production workflow
- Raw materials and sourcing methods
- Projected income statement
- Projected cash flow statement
- Projected balance sheet
- Break-even analysis
- Charts and graphs
- Market research and competitive analysis
- Information about your industry
- Information about your offerings
- Samples of marketing materials
- Other supporting materials
Tips for Creating a Business Plan
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the thought of putting together a business plan. Below, you’ll find top tips to help simplify the process as you develop your own plan.
- Use a business plan template (you can choose from the variety above), or refer to the previous section to create a standard outline for your plan.
- Modify your outline to reflect the requirements of your specific business. If you use a standard business plan outline, remove sections that aren’t relevant to you or aren’t necessary to run your business.
- Gather all the information you currently have about your business first, and then use that information to fill out each section in your plan outline.
- Use your resources and conduct additional research to fill in the remaining gaps. (Note: It isn’t necessary to fill out your plan in order, but the executive summary needs to be completed last, as it summarizes the key points in your plan.)
- Ensure your plan clearly communicates the relationship between your marketing, sales, and financial objectives.
- Provide details in your plan that illustrate your strategic plan of action, looking forward three to five years.
- Revisit your plan regularly as strategies and objectives evolve.
- What product or service are we offering?
- Who is the product or service for?
- What problem does our product or service offering solve?
- How will we get the product or service to our target customers?
- Why is our product or service better than the alternatives?
- How can we outperform our competitors?
- What is our unique value proposition?
- When will things get done, and who is responsible for doing them?
- If you need to obtain funding, how will you use the funding?
- When are payments due, and when do payments come in?
- What is the ultimate purpose of your business?
- When do you expect to be profitable?
To identify which type of business plan you should write, and for more helpful tips, take a look at our guide to writing a simple business plan .
Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template
Creating a business plan can be very time-consuming, especially if you aren’t sure where to begin. Finding the right template for your business needs can be beneficial for a variety of reasons.
Using a business plan template — instead of creating your plan from scratch — can benefit you in the following ways:
- Enables you to immediately write down your thoughts and ideas in an organized manner
- Provides structure to help outline your plan
- Saves time and valuable resources
- Helps ensure you don’t miss essential details
Limitations of a Business Plan Template
A business plan template can be convenient, but it has its drawbacks — especially if you use a template that doesn’t fit the specific needs of your business.
Below are some limitations of using a business plan template:
- Each business is unique and needs a business plan that reflects that. A template may not fit your needs.
- A template may restrict collaboration with other team members on different aspects of the plan’s development (sales, marketing, and accounting teams).
- Multiple files containing different versions of the plan may be stored in more than one place.
- You still have to manually create charts and graphs to add to the plan to support your strategy.
- Updates to the plan, spreadsheets, and supporting documents have to be made in multiple places (all documents may not update in real time as changes are made).
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Business plan template
If you’re looking for a way to start your business off on the right foot, a business plan template can help you establish the foundation for your strategy. Get started in a few clicks with Asana’s free business plan template.
INTEGRATED FEATURES
Recommended apps.
You’re pumped—you just thought of the greatest business idea ever. You want to get started, but you don’t have a plan laid out. You need a loan to get your idea off the ground, and the bank wants to see an in-depth business plan. We’re here to help.
What is a business plan template?
A business plan template is a framework that helps you solidify your ideas in an organized format. Our free business plan template walks you through how to create a new business from scratch, or re-imagine your existing business in a new market.
What components are included in a business plan template?
Our business plan template covers what an organization wants to achieve within three to five years. By using our template, you’ll have a place to capture all of the major information you need in order to complete your business plan. That includes:
Company description : Information like your executive summary , your company’s mission statement and vision, and your founder’s bio.
Product and services: A high-level overview of what your company provides, including core products or services. This may also include how your product is developed, any potential screenshots or prototypes of your product, and pricing plans.
Marketing plan: How you plan to bring your product into market at a high level. You can add information like a SWOT analysis , target market research, and brand positioning in this section.
Financial plan: Important financial information such as balance sheets, a break-even analysis, and your cash flow projections.
Management and organization information: Information on your company’s founders, executive team, and the board of directors.
How to use our free business plan template
Using Asana’s free business plan template is simple. Start by creating a new project with our free template. From there, add relevant information for your specific business plan in the sections provided in our template. If there’s more information you want to include in your business plan, you’re free to add sections, custom fields, or additional tasks to make this template fit your needs.
Integrated features
Goals . Goals in Asana directly connect to the work you’re doing to hit them, making it easy for team members to see what they’re working towards. More often than not, our goals live separate from the work that goes into achieving them. By connecting your team and company goals to the work that supports them, team members have real-time insight and clarity into how their work directly contributes to your team—and company—success. As a result, team members can make better decisions. If necessary, they can identify the projects that support the company’s strategy and prioritize work that delivers measurable results.
Reporting . Reporting in Asana translates project data into visual charts and digestible graphs. By reporting on work where work lives, you can reduce duplicative work and cut down on unnecessary app switching. And, because all of your team’s work is already in Asana, you can pull data from any project or team to get an accurate picture of what’s happening in one place.
Milestones . Milestones represent important project checkpoints. By setting milestones throughout your project, you can let your team members and project stakeholders know how you’re pacing towards your goal. Use milestones as a chance to celebrate the little wins on the path towards the big project goal.
Project Overview . Project Overview is your one-stop-shop for all important project context. Give your team a bird’s-eye view of the what, why, and how of your project work. Add a project description to set the tone for how you’ll work together in Asana. Then, share any important resources and context—like meeting details, communication channels, and project briefs—in one place.
Microsoft Teams . With the Microsoft Teams + Asana integration, you can search for and share the information you need without leaving Teams. Easily connect your Teams conversations to actionable items in Asana. Plus, create, assign, and view tasks during a Teams Meeting without needing to switch to your browser.
Slack . Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos don’t get lost in Slack.
Google Workplace . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.
Gmail . With the Asana for Gmail integration, you can create Asana tasks directly from your Gmail inbox. Any tasks you create from Gmail will automatically include the context from your email, so you never miss a beat. Need to refer to an Asana task while composing an email? Instead of opening Asana, use the Asana for Gmail add-on to simply search for that task directly from your Gmail inbox.
How do I create a business plan template?
Instead of taking the time to create a business plan from scratch, start the process off with Asana’s free template.To further customize your template, add evergreen information about your specific business, such as your business model, company name, address, mission statement, value proposition, or target audience. Adding these details to your template lets you avoid documenting this information from scratch every time you create a new business plan.
What components should I include in a business plan template?
Business plan templates typically contain five main sections: a company description, products and services, a marketing plan, basic management and organization information, and your current financial plan.
How long should my business plan be?
Short answer—as long as you need it to be. The long answer is that your business plan should have the answers to specific questions on how your business is run, from the perspective of an investor. The goal of a business plan is to highlight your business strategy for the next three to five years. This means any important operational, financial, and strategic information should be included.
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Premier Agent Toolkit
How to create a real estate agent business plan.
In this article:
Why agents need a real estate business plan
How to write a real estate business plan, free real estate business plan template.
Every agent needs a plan to succeed. A real estate business plan keeps you accountable and on track. An optimal business plan for real estate agents includes firm goals, but it’s also fluid — you’ll want to update your real estate business plan as you grow and the market evolves.
A real estate business plan allows you to stay current with market trends and ahead of the competition. It also helps you track results over time, test lead generation strategies and develop new marketing approaches. Zillow’s Bret Calltharp, a former training leader for a large brokerage group, saw his agents’ business increase by an average of 27% when implementing a business plan for the first time.
Here’s what a good real estate agent business plan will show you:
- Where you are today
- Where you want to be
- How you’ll get there
- How to measure your performance
- When and where to make a course correction
The benefits are clear, and you’re convinced — but where do you start? Here are our recommended steps for creating a business plan for real estate agents:
Write an executive summary
Real estate business planning should always start with a summary of who you are, what services you offer, where you operate and who you serve.
Define your mission statement
Your mission statement is the foundation that supports your entire real estate business plan. It should clearly state your guiding principles and goals.
Create a team management summary
If you’re working with a team, include all members who contribute to your success and how they help. Create a table that shows their roles, responsibilities and time frames for specific tasks.
Know your target client
Determine who your target client is and figure out their story. The more personal you can get, the better you’ll serve your clients.
Who, specifically, is your target client? This could be a first-time home buyer, a home seller, a renter — or a more specific subset like retirees or investors.
What is your target client’s story? Ask your clients specific questions and create a strategy based on their answers. Where do they want to live? What is their annual household income? What do they want from their home?
Outline SMART business goals
Your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely — in other words, SMART . Once your real estate business goals are SMART, break down each goal into objectives. These should be the specific tasks and activities required to accomplish the goal.
Map out your keys to success
Every real estate agent business plan template should include a table that lists the top three ways to achieve business success — and more importantly, the actions required to fulfill them.
Breakeven analysis
A critical part of real estate business planning is determining your breakeven point. What average commission rate do you need to achieve per unit to break even each month? How many homes must you sell at your average commission rate to break even by your target goal?
Understand your market
It’s crucial to stay on top of your target client’s market. A successful agent will know how the market has behaved in the past few years, as well as where it’s headed (and why).
Segment your market
Let’s look at a target client in a sample real estate business plan.
Suppose the target client is a first-time home buyer. How can we segment that market further to include even more detailed and relevant information? Here are two potential market segments for our first-time home buyer:
- First-time home buyers, single family
- First-time home buyers, multigenerational
Plan for market growth
Map out how much growth you anticipate in your market, and use it to forecast the number of potential clients over the next few years.
Track market trends in your real estate business plan with a table listing possible outcomes on the right and trends on the left.
Track market trends
What market trends do you foresee impacting your business and market segments? Here’s a real estate business plan sample that projects a possible outcome for a rise in multigenerational living:
Develop a SWOT analysis
Every business plan needs a SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Some sample real estate business plan SWOT questions include:
- What sets me apart from my competition?
- What skills need improving?
- Are there any opportunities I’m overlooking?
Recognize your competition
Who’s your primary competition in your target market, and what makes them your primary competition? How will you outperform them?
Create a marketing strategy
Every real estate business plan template needs a marketing strategy table. Highlight your resources and key features, like this sample:
List ways to generate leads
Always keep a list of effective methods to generate leads , and always update the list when new strategies come up. The lead generation list in your real estate development business plan is as simple as this:
Project yearly sales forecast
Use market growth, trends and other real estate marketing strategies to predict your annual sales for the next three years. Here’s an example table from our real estate business plan PDF:
Outline your personnel expenses
Knowing what you’ll spend in a year will help you determine your breakeven point and set reasonable expectations for growth. A simple expense table, like this one from our free real estate business plan, allows you to project your personnel expenses through the next three years:
Measure client experience
Keep track of all the services you offer — and measure how quickly you deliver them. This is crucial in any real estate business planning document, as it helps you build a strong client relationship and track the results over time. Here’s an example for measuring response time:
Use a client relationship management (CRM) tool
There are many CRM tools out there, so it’s easy to find one that fits your needs. Do you want to track analytics? Use it for email marketing? Keep track of property and listing details? Automate your marketing efforts?
As a Zillow Premier Agent , you can use a CRM to manage all your leads and connections, along with their progress through the real estate journey. You can prioritize leads who are actively looking, submitting offers and under contract. Jot down other tools you’re using, especially transaction management tools and their specific functions.
Calculate your business plan performance
The final step in your real estate business plan template is measuring the plan’s performance. Track performance-related questions and how you’ll measure them. Here’s a sample question and measurement example that many agents use for real estate business planning:
Our customizable template helps you create a real estate business plan that outlines what success looks like — for you and your clients — so you can have your best year yet. This sample real estate business plan gives clear examples and allows for complete customization to your personal goals and your real estate market. Jot down your real estate business goals, clarify the state of your finances, profile your target customers and track other data that’s vital to successful real estate business planning.
Best of all — you can get started today! Just download our free real estate business plan template and add your own goals, projections, expenses and data. Don’t forget to update it regularly to accurately track your progress, evolve with the market and stay current with your target client’s needs.
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Create a Retirement Plan in 15 Minutes (Free Template) According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve, approximately 36% of non-retired adults in the United States felt that their retirement savings were on track, while 45% felt...
By John Rampton • May 16, 2023
This story originally appeared on Due
According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve, approximately 36% of non-retired adults in the United States felt that their retirement savings were on track, while 45% felt they were somewhat or far behind. If you don’t want to enlist in the latter group, plan your retirement strategically.
However, you may find the process procrastinating, and that’s where this 15-minute retirement plan template comes in. This user-friendly template will help you quickly organize your thoughts and set realistic retirement goals. By the end of this post, you’ll have a solid plan in place and be well on your way to achieving your retirement dreams.
Define Your Retirement Goals
Before diving into the nitty-gritty of retirement planning, it’s essential to establish clear goals. First things first, decide when you would like to retire. The average retirement age in the United States is about 65. Remember that life expectancies are increasing. Presently, the average life expectancy in the US is around 79 years. So you may have a longer retirement than previous generations. Consider your health, desired lifestyle, and career satisfaction when choosing your retirement age.
Desired Retirement Income: To maintain your current lifestyle in retirement, financial experts often recommend aiming for an annual retirement income between 70-85% of your pre-retirement salary. However, this is just a guideline, and individual circumstances will vary. The median household income in the United States is approximately $68,700 as of 2019.
To determine your retirement income, consider your current lifestyle costs. This will give you a baseline for estimating your retirement expenses. Next, you need to project future expenses and lifestyle changes. This will help you adjust your projected retirement expenses accordingly.
Retirement Savings Target: Once you’ve determined your desired retirement income , you can set a savings target. You can start estimating your total retirement savings. Leverage a retirement calculator to estimate how much money you’ll need to save to generate your desired retirement income. Consider factors such as inflation, which historically averages around 3% annually , and investment returns, which have averaged around 7% for the S&P 500 index over the long term. In addition, consider potential sources of income in retirement. They may include Social Security, pensions, or a part-time job. Statistics reveal that Social Security provided an average monthly benefit of $1,543 in 2021 .
Assess Your Current Financial Situation
Now that you’ve defined your retirement goals, it’s time to take a snapshot of your current financial situation. Start by compiling a list of your current retirement accounts, savings, and investments. This will give you a clearer picture of your progress toward your retirement goals . Your retirement accounts may include employer-sponsored retirement plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b)) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
Understanding risk tolerance is also crucial for making informed investment decisions. You can fill out a risk tolerance questionnaire to assess your investment risk profile. Once you identify your risk tolerance, align your portfolio with it. Consider rebalancing your assets while adjusting your investment strategy when carrying out this task.
Suppose you have high-risk tolerance and wish to take on more risk to achieve higher returns potentially. In this case, you may allocate a higher percentage of your investment portfolio to stocks with higher returns and volatility historically . A possible allocation could be:
- 70% in stocks with higher return potential, capital appreciation, and greater volatility.
- 20% in bonds, which provide income and stability but generally have lower returns than stocks.
- 10% in other investments, such as mutual funds, real estate, or cash, which can diversify the portfolio.
On the other hand, if you have a lower risk tolerance , you might prefer allocating a higher percentage of your portfolio to bonds and other more conservative investments. A possible allocation for someone with low-risk tolerance could be:
- 40% in stocks, to still benefit from potential capital appreciation, albeit with lower exposure to market fluctuations.
- 50% in bonds, which provide income and stability.
- 10% in other investments, such as mutual funds, real estate, or cash, for diversification and additional balance.
Remember that these percentages are just examples, and you should adjust them according to your preferences, financial goals, and time horizons. It is essential to periodically review and rebalance your portfolio to ensure that your asset allocation aligns with your risk tolerance and financial objectives.
Develop a Retirement Savings Strategy
You should select your investment vehicles smartly. The standard options you will come across may include the following –
- Employer-sponsored retirement plans: Take advantage of your employer’s retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b). These plans often come with valuable benefits, such as employer-matching contributions. In 2022, the maximum employee contribution limit to a 401(k) or 403(b) plan is $22,500, with an additional catch-up contribution of $7,500 allowed for individuals aged 50 or older.
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Traditional and Roth IRAs offer tax advantages to help you save for retirement. A Traditional IRA allows you to contribute pre-tax dollars to your retirement account, potentially lowering your taxable income. On the other hand, A Roth IRA is funded with after-tax dollars, meaning you don’t receive an upfront tax deduction on your contributions. However, the investment earnings within the account grow tax-free, and qualified withdrawals in retirement are also tax-free. Determine which IRA type is most appropriate for your financial situation and contribute as much as possible within the annual limits.
- Taxable investment accounts: While taxable investment accounts don’t offer the same tax benefits as retirement accounts, they can provide additional savings opportunities and greater flexibility in accessing your funds.
Determine Your Savings Rate
Your savings rate is essential to your retirement strategy. It represents the percentage of your income that you save for retirement. To determine your optimal savings rate, consider the following example:
Your annual income is $60,000, and your goal is to retire with an annual income of $45,000 (75% of your pre-retirement income) at age 65. Assuming you’re currently 30, you have 35 years to save for retirement. You’ll need approximately $1.2 million in retirement savings to generate $45,000 annually, accounting for inflation and an average annual return of 7% on your investments.
If you’re starting with no retirement savings and plan to save consistently for the next 35 years, you’ll need to save around $7,200 per year, or $600 per month, which translates to a 12% savings rate ($7,200/$60,000*100).
Health & Life Insurance
Health issues come unannounced. Therefore, always keep your healthcare fund handy. You can invest in a high-deductible health savings account as it offers fantastic tax benefits and covers qualified medical expenses. In addition, you should invest in long-term care insurance, which will pay the cost of in-facility or hospice care .
Besides health insurance, you should consider life insurance. Everyone wants to spend their retirement with their loved ones, but life is unpredictable. In the unfortunate event of your sudden demise, your loved ones shouldn’t suffer adverse financial consequences. Thus, calculate your life insurance needs to determine the coverage you need to replace your income, cover debts, and fulfill your family’s financial requirements.
To make an intelligent decision, always compare term and whole life insurance. While term insurances offer coverage for a stipulated period, the whole life ones ensure lifelong coverage followed by a cash value component.
Optimize Social Security Benefits
The role of Social Security in a retirement plan can vary depending on individual circumstances, such as age, work history, and financial goals. These benefits are designed to replace a portion of your pre-retirement income, providing a financial safety net to help cover expenses during retirement. Besides, Social Security benefits are adjusted for inflation, which can help maintain your living expenses in retirement.
Maximizing your Social Security benefits can significantly impact your retirement income. Understanding your options and making informed decisions can ensure you get the most out of this valuable resource. Furthermore, pay attention to determining your Full Retirement Age (FRA). This refers to when you become eligible for 100% of your Social Security benefits.
Strategies for Claiming Social Security Benefits
There are several strategies to consider when claiming your Social Security benefits .
Claiming early: You can start claiming benefits as early as age 62. However, in that case, your benefits will be reduced for each month you claim before your FRA. To clarify, If your FRA is 66 (for those born between 1943 and 1954), your benefits will be reduced by 25%. If your FRA is 67 (for those born in 1960 or later), your benefits will be reduced by 30%. For those with an FRA between 66 and 67 (born between 1955 and 1959), the reduction will fall within the 25% to 30% range. However, claiming early may be viable if you’re in poor health or have vigorous financial needs.
Claiming at FRA: Claiming at your FRA ensures you’ll receive 100% of your benefits. This is a good option if you’re otherwise healthy and have enough retirement savings to cover your expenses until your FRA.
Delaying your claim: Each year you delay claiming your benefits past your FRA (up to age 70), your benefits increase by 8%. Suppose your FRA is 66, and your monthly benefit at FRA is $2,000. If you delay claiming your benefits until you hit 70, your benefits will increase by 8% annually for four years. Here’s how the calculation works:
- Year 1 (age 66 to 67): $2,000 x 1.08 = $2,160
- Year 2 (age 67 to 68): $2,160 x 1.08 = $2,332.80
- Year 3 (age 68 to 69): $2,332.80 x 1.08 = $2,519.42
- Year 4 (age 69 to 70): $2,519.42 x 1.08 = $2,721.98
By waiting until age 70 to claim your benefits, your monthly benefit will increase by 36% – from $2,000 to $2,721.98. This higher monthly benefit will continue for the rest of your life, and it could result in a higher lifetime benefit if you have a longer life expectancy.
Spousal and Survivor Benefits
Understanding spousal and survivor benefits can help you and your spouse optimize your combined Social Security benefits.
Spousal benefits: If you’re married or were previously married for at least 10 years, you may be eligible for spousal benefits . These benefits are equal to half of your spouse’s or ex-spouse’s benefits, provided they’re higher than yours. For example, you and your spouse are 66, and your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 66. Your spouse’s monthly Social Security benefit at FRA is $2,400, while your own benefit is $800. As a spouse, you may be eligible for a spousal benefit equal to 50% of your spouse’s benefit, which would be $1,200 ($2,400 x 0.5) in this case. Since the spousal benefit of $1,200 is higher than your $800, you would receive the spousal benefit instead of your own.
Survivor benefits: If your spouse passes away, you may be eligible for survivor benefits . These benefits allow you to receive the higher of your or your deceased spouse’s benefits. Suppose you and your spouse are 68, and your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 68. Your spouse’s monthly Social Security benefit at FRA is $2,500, while your own benefit is $1,500. Unfortunately, your spouse passes away. As a surviving spouse, you would be eligible for survivor benefits. In this case, since your deceased spouse’s benefit of $2,500 is higher than your own benefit of $1,500, you would receive the higher amount of $2,500 as your survivor benefit.
It’s important to note that the benefit amount will be reduced if you claim survivor benefits before your FRA. For example, if you claim survivor benefits at age 62 and your FRA is 66, you would receive about 71.5% of your deceased spouse’s benefit, approximately $1,787.50 in this scenario.
Seek Professional Advice When Needed
Retirement planning may seem intimidating; however, investing a little time in wrapping up this daunting job is crucial for securing your financial future. You can create a foolproof retirement plan using the above-mentioned strategies and recommendations. Remember, the key elements of a smart retirement strategy include clear goals, consistent savings, and a committed approach toward your planning.
If you find it extremely challenging to plan your retirement, contact a professional financial planner. You should look for someone with a fiduciary duty. This will help you choose someone legitimate and qualified. You should also consider their fees to ensure their services fit well with your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. how can you catch up on retirement savings if you start late.
Don’t panic if you’re starting your retirement savings journey later in life, don’t panic. You can leverage simple strategies like increasing your savings rate, reducing expenses, and boosting income. Besides, You should harness catch-up contributions for retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs if you’re 50 or older. Finally, you can retire a little late to save more time.
2. What is the best way to withdraw money from my retirement accounts?
You should design a strategic withdrawal plan to minimize taxes and preserve savings. For example, you can start by withdrawing from taxable accounts and then move to tax-deferred accounts (traditional IRA) and tax-free accounts (Roth IRA). Moreover, you should abide by the IRA’s specific minimum distribution guidelines ( Required Minimum Distribution or RMD ). If you find everything pretty daunting, consider contacting a professional advisor.
3. Can you still retire comfortably if you have debt?
While carrying debt into retirement isn’t ideal, it’s still possible to retire comfortably with proper planning and management. You should always prioritize paying off high-interest debts, such as credit cards. Once you manage them efficiently, close your lower-interest credits like student loans, mortgages, etc. In addition, consider creating a detailed debt repayment plan and adjust your retirement savings strategy to accommodate debt payments.
4. How can you minimize taxes in retirement?
To minimize taxes in retirement , you should always choose tax-efficient investment accounts. Besides, consider managing your withdrawal strategically. If you are open to relocation, move to a state with lower income tax.
The post Create a Retirement Plan in 15 Minutes (Free Template) appeared first on Due .
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How to craft an effective social media content strategy
Written by by Sarah Aboulhosn
Published on May 2, 2023
Reading time 10 minutes
The content you post on social media can turn your brand into a household name and your followers into fans. This kind of impact only comes from having a solid social media content strategy .
The best way to stand out on social media is to identify specific goals, create valuable posts that align with them and distribute the right content on the right platforms.
There isn’t one cookie-cutter social media strategy that will guarantee success. Your strategy will differ depending on your industry, audience and performance over time. There are, however, specific ways to build a long-term plan that grows your brand and business.
In this article, you’ll learn how to create a content strategy for social media. Feel free to jump ahead with this list:
- Identify and set goals
- Research your audience
- Analyze your competitors
- Audit your current social content
- Choose your content types
- Build a content calendar
- Promote and distribute your content
- Measure results
Free social media content strategy templates
Putting it all together: craft your social media content plan, 1. identify and set goals.
The first step toward a long-term social media strategy is to set your content goals . Having goals in mind will help you start planning out the type of content to create.
This process involves digging deep into your brand values as well as researching your audience.
Start by getting clear on your overall marketing goals and how you want your social media content strategy to serve them. The more specific your marketing goals are, the better you will be able to tailor your social media content to meet them.
For example, if your main marketing goal is to convert more sales from social media, then your strategy should incorporate publishing and promoting posts that move people to a landing page or another part of your social media marketing funnel —like including a link CTA in your content.
2. Research your audience
You can’t create great social content without knowing who it’s for. Having buyer personas for social—or fictional representations of your ideal customers—will help guide your social media content plan.
Start by using your data to surface basic demographic information like age and location. Then take this further by gathering insights about how your ideal customers talk about your brand, industry and products—this will help you paint a clearer picture of who they are, what they care about and what kind of content they might want to see from you.
Sprout’s social listening solution helps you take this further by surfacing brand keywords and conversations—even when you’re not tagged—that can reveal pain points and opportunities for your content to fill.
Additionally, talk to your customer care team to hone in on your audience’s common FAQs, what they love and what frustrates them.
3. Analyze your social media competitors
To understand how your social media content strategy is performing, you need to look beyond your own data. A competitive analysis will help spark ideas for your content (i.e. what are they doing that you can do better? What formats do they use?) and create better benchmarks and goals for your strategy.
The right tool will make pulling insights from your competitors (for example: average engagements, growth rate and top content) at scale easy by automating the process. All of which helps you shape data-driven goals and strategies to make better content.
4. Audit your current social content
Once clear on your audience and goals, it’s time to conduct a social media content audit on what you’ve created so far.
A content audit is one of the best ways to know how to create a content strategy for social media that fits your brand. This will help you substantiate what you think is working well with quantitative data that shows you how each post performs.
Look at which posts performed well, which ones didn’t and what you posted on each platform. What you look for in the audit should align directly with your content goals. For example, if one of your goals is to improve brand awareness, look at your follower count and impressions or reach on each platform, and identify which posts resulted in new followers.
If you’re using a social media management platform like Sprout Social, you can look at all of your social media data and analytics in one place. Use Sprout’s Report Builder for a holistic view of how all of your posts are performing.
Even without a social media tool, you can analyze your data by exporting each platform’s analytics into a spreadsheet . Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest Business and LinkedIn Business accounts let you easily export your post and page analytics directly from the platform.
You might notice a disconnect between posts you think should do well and the actual top performers. In this case, look closely at the language and tone you’re using on the underperforming content. You may have strayed away from your brand’s authentic voice . Your followers may interpret those posts as inauthentic or irrelevant, causing a decrease in engagement. Or, there may be new or trending content formats that your audience prefers. According to The Sprout Social Index™ , 66% of consumers think short-form video is the most engaging in-feed content. Are you keeping up with what your audience likes?
Some posts serve to help you meet bigger marketing goals. But even promotional content should be on brand and true to your voice. Remember: Your audience began following you for a reason. Stick with your unique voice and style as much as possible and create content that authentically markets your brand. For example, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation has a witty, comedic voice on Twitter—a voice that not all similar organizations share.
While you’re doing research, also take note of which platforms your content succeeds most on. You might want to target every social platform but it’s unrealistic to expect to perform well on all of them. You want to allocate your resources to the platforms that serve your brand and your audience the most.
5. Choose your content types
This is where you can have fun with data-driven creativity. We already mentioned that short-form video is extremely popular—but when crafting your social media content plan, think back to the social buyer personas you set up, and think about what formats they’re likely consuming.
Change up the types of content you’re publishing, as well. According to the Sprout Social Index™ 2022, consumers like to see brands they follow highlighting their product, service or personality, or posting demos and customer testimonials.
Repetitive or overly promotional posts may turn fans away. So change up your content. Here are a few ideas:
- Feature how-tos or edu-tainment videos featuring your products
- Leverage user-generated content
- Partner with creators
- Jump on trends (as long as they fit your brand)
- Feature employees or office tours for authentic, less produced video
- Host contests
- Go behind-the-scenes
- Go live to engage your audience in real time
- Create polls or quizzes in posts or stories
- Ephemeral content
The best way to know what content types and formats will work for you is to dig into your data. Looking at your most successful posts will help you decide what to create. For example, Sprout’s Post Performance Report enables you to analyze your most successful posts across all of your channels, sorted by your top metrics.
6. Build a content calendar
Once you know what performs best and you’ve identified your primary goals, it’s time to build a social media content calendar . A calendar will let you take a big-picture approach to your social media content plan. It will help you visualize your ideas and organize them, making your strategy easier to execute. Your content calendar will be a hub for everything you post.
When planning content, don’t be afraid to repurpose content and schedule it across different platforms to get the most out of it. When deciding where to post what content, also consider what performs well on that platform based on your audit.
Keep in mind that there are best practices when it comes to the best times to post on each platform . If you want to make finding the right posting times easier, Sprout’s ViralPost® feature collects data from your followers and puts together reports that tell you when you post to achieve the most reach.
Your strategy will involve the collective knowledge of a lot of different people within your organization. A content calendar makes it easier to collaborate on social media posts with different people across your company. This also aids in cross-team collaboration to create a more well-rounded plan.
7. Promote and distribute your content
Your social media strategy goes beyond what you post on your social channels. A good strategy involves finding ways to actively distribute your content to maximize brand awareness. Here are a few ways to plan your distribution:
Schedule your content ahead of time
Social media tools, like Sprout’s scheduling and publishing features, make content distribution a no-brainer—especially if you post multiple times a day, like Netflix does on Twitter . Plus, this helps you post at the right time.
Recognizing when your audience is active and sharing posts at the right time will help you reach more people. If you’re only posting on social media the minute content goes live, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity for optimizing your reach.
Encourage others to share your posts
Other people sharing your content is excellent social proof as well. Your social media content strategy should include responding to or reposting people who share your content. Encourage your audience to engage with your content by asking a question and encouraging them to share their answers, on social media or in the comments section of a blog post.
And leverage your company’s employees to spread the word, as well. An employee advocacy strategy can drastically increase the reach of your company’s content. Employees are, in a way, “influencers” for your brand. A tool like Sprout’s Advocacy platform enables you to scale your program, and integrates your advocacy workflow into your social workflow seamlessly.
Use platform-specific features
Individual social media platforms have ways to help you maximize reach, as well. On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, utilizing hashtags is a great way to distribute your content further. Hashtags help you reach people who not only follow you but are following a specific trend or interest. On LinkedIn and Facebook, join groups related to your industry and share content when it relates to the conversation.
Collaborate with creators
Another good distribution strategy involves networking with bloggers and content creators in your niche. Other brands are more likely to share your content with their audience if you have a relationship and will return the favor. Just remember that anything you share with your audience should still be valuable to them and relate to your brand.
@sproutsocial How to become a content creator with tips from @J A Y D E. ✨ creator creatorrevolution creatoreconomy socialmediamarketing socialmediamanager socialmediatips ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim
8. Measure results
The last step to an effective social media content strategy is measuring the results. Proper tracking is vital to creating a strategy with longevity. Keeping detailed metrics will help you tweak and optimize your plan over time.
You can also use your results to A/B test types of content. The Atlanta Hawks , for example, tested whether polished or more casual videos performed better on social. They discovered that casual content was a winner for them.
Analyze your content every month to keep track of what’s working. Take a top-level view of how each piece of content performed and the variables that contributed to it. Assess how well the content supported the goals you set in step one. A few of the most important social media metrics to measure include:
- Awareness: The number of times people saw your content as told by impressions and reach.
- Engagements: The number of reactions, comments, clicks and shares your content gets.
- ROI: Conversions and referrals from external sources.
Sprout’s Competitors by Network or Cross-Network Reports make it easy to set benchmarks for yourself on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with a top-level, quantitative look at how your channels, and your content, stack up.
And the Competitor Analysis within the social listening solution reveals qualitative insights on how your audience feels about your competitors vs. you and your share of voice in the industry.
Like you did with the content audit, relate the analytics to your overall marketing goals. Using your goals as an anchor can help you accurately adjust your strategy. By measuring analytics each month, you’ll just have to make small tweaks to keep optimizing your social media content strategy.
When it comes to enhancing your strategy or building an entirely new one, getting started is the hardest part. So we have a number of social media content strategy templates that will help you dive in right away.
Use these templates to start growing your strategy:
Content strategy templates
- (Template) Creating a 30-day social media plan
- (Template) Conduct a Social Media Audit to strengthen your strategies
- (Worksheet) How to Conduct Social Media Market Research in 90 Minutes or Less
- (Checklist) 6 Steps to Launching an Employee Advocacy Program Your Team Wants to Participate In
Content templates
- (Tool) Find the ideal social media content mix for your brand
- (Worksheet) Creative Testing on Social Media
- (Workbook) Maximize the Value of Your Social Media Video Content
Reporting and analytics tracking templates
- (Template) The Social Media Metrics Map
- (Template) The Social Media Analytics Spreadsheet for Paid and Organic Reporting
- (Toolkit) Creating a Social Media Report to Share With Your Boss
Effectively planning a social media content strategy is an ongoing cycle, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Plan your process with the ideas and resources above and stick to these essential strategic steps to develop great content.
Streamline your entire strategy and set yourself (and your channels) up for long-term success by trying Sprout Social free for 30 days . From measuring content and scheduling posts at optimized times to facilitating employee advocacy, Sprout will help you manage and scale your strategy end-to-end.
[Toolkit] Communications Toolkit to Safeguard Your Brand
Find Your Next Social Media Management Tool With This Scorecard
How to ladder up your brand’s social media maturity
3 Social media executives share what it takes to build a long-term career in social
- Social Media Content
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- All Industries
What you need to know about social media copyright
- Marketing Disciplines
Content creators: Who they are, what they do and how they partner with brands
How to use ephemeral content in your marketing strategy
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Build and grow stronger relationships on social
Sprout Social helps you understand and reach your audience, engage your community and measure performance with the only all-in-one social media management platform built for connection.
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Business plan template FAQ
What is a business plan template?
Why choose this business plan template?
There are a few key features that make this business template more functional and effective than your average template.
- Written by planning experts: This business plan template wasn't just thrown together. It was crafted by seasoned planning experts with a combined 40 years of experience writing and reviewing business plans. Throughout this template, you find their expert tips and tricks, along with detailed instructions.
- Free course access: When you download your business plan template, you'll get access to a week-long email course covering critical business planning mistakes to avoid.
- Works with other Bplans resources: Need additional guidance to write your business plan? Our free business planning guide is built to support this template—giving you even more detailed walkthroughs for each section.
- Designed for funding: Even if you're not going right to the bank, using this template will prepare you to pursue funding and impress potential investors whenever you're ready. This template ensures your plan is in SBA format.
What is included in this business plan template?
This template includes definitions, guidance, and examples for every business plan component needed to start, fund, and grow your business. After downloading the full template, you'll receive instructions for how to fill out each of the following sections.
Executive summary: The brief summary of your business plan that introduces everyone to your business, the problem you solve, and what you're asking from your readers. It's the first chapter of your business plan and the last thing you write once you have the details from your full plan.
Problem & solution: More than a simple description of your products and services—here you define the problem you're solving and the value you provide. It's also your chance to showcase any initial traction that shows you're on the right track.
Market analysis and target market: A detailed assessment of the market you intend to enter, including the size and value of the market, potential customer segments, and their buying patterns.
Competition: Show that you know who your competitors are, what advantages you have, and how you're positioning your business to be competitive.
Marketing & sales: Describe how you'll reach and sell to potential customers with a detailed sales plan and chosen marketing channels.
Operations: What makes your business run? Outline the day-to-day workflows, and what still needs to be set up for your business to deliver a product or service.
Milestones & metrics: Set goals for your business that include the dates and people responsible to accomplish them. This is what you'll use to manage responsibilities, track growth, and execute your larger strategy.
Company overview and team: Provide a brief rundown of the legal and structural components of your company including your history, current team, and gaps you need to fill.
Financial plan: Create well-structured and accurate financial statements to help you pitch to investors, land funding, and achieve long-term success. All without the help of a financial advisor or a degree in accounting.
Appendix: While not required, this last section of your business plan is a great place to drop in additional documents that support and strengthen the rest of your plan.
What file formats are available for this business plan template?
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Why should you start with a business plan template?
Why do you need a business plan?
Is writing a business plan easy?
What are the 5 elements of a business plan?
Can someone write your business plan for you?
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Business Plan Templates
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2 Essential Templates For Starting Your Business. Available as an interactive PDF or a Google Docs template.
With this business plan template, you'll be able to:
- Write a company description that sells your story
- Plan for the future: lay out goals and metrics for success
- Describe your product line in detail and plan for how to stand out from competitors
- Consider any legal formalities that require attention when starting your business
- Put together necessary financial projections to make a strong start
- Create your buyer persona and determine your product/marketing fit
Build A Business Plan That Works
Available as a one-page interactive PDF and a full template on both Google Docs and Microsoft Word!
Whether you’re starting a business or drafting a formalized document with your current business goals, it’s important to clearly defi ne the scope of all aspects of the venture — from mission, to target customers, to fi nances, and beyond.
When just starting out, it can be tempting to think of a business plan as simply your company’s name and a description of your product or service. But in reality, planning a business involves thinking through a lot more details.
In this business plan template we’ll guide you through the steps of writing company and product descriptions, setting sales and marketing goals and plans, and thinking through legal and fi nancial logistics. We've included a plain text, designed , and completed example version of this template.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you write a business plan.
A business plan is a formal written document that you can use to identify the purpose of your company, make important decisions about your future and help grow your company. HubSpot's free business plan templates provides guidance to establishing your company mission, customer research, competition, and a business strategy to profitability.
Why do I need to fill out the information requested?
We will always keep your personal information safe..
We ask for your information in exchange for a valuable resource in order to (a) improve your browsing experience by personalizing the HubSpot site to your needs; (b) send information to you that we think may be of interest to you by email or other means; (c) send you marketing communications that we think may be of value to you. You can read more about our privacy policy here .
Where can I get a free business plan template?
HubSpot's Free Business Plan Templates are the best way to create a professional, thorough business plan. The templates include instructions and everything you need to know about starting your company.
Is this really free?
Absolutely.
Just sharing some free knowledge that we hope you’ll find useful. Keep us in mind next time you have marketing questions!
What are the basic format of a business plan?
A business plan is a written document that outlines the company's goals, strategy and implementation. The format of the plan varies depending on the type of organization (e.g., for-profit or nonprofit) and size, but most plans share some common features such as an overview, executive summary, and financial information.
What is the best business plan template?
A great business plan template clearly defines the scope of the venture -- from mission, to target customers, to finances, and beyond. HubSpot's business plan template will guide you through the steps of writing company and product descriptions, setting sales and marketing goals and plans, and thinking through legal and financial logistics.
What is needed to start a business?
If you're thinking about starting a business, you'll need to do some research first. You can't just start a business without doing any market research. Market research will tell you if there's an opportunity to turn your idea into a successful business. After that, write your business plan so that you know how much money and time it will take for the project to succeed. Use HubSpot's free business plan template today!
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Keep employees informed and engaged by providing a shared place to securely view and collaborate on content, and to connect and communicate with colleagues. Build community and culture within your organization by bringing people together through events, networking opportunities, and strategic communication channels. Personalize, share, and manage organizational news and shared content to drive organizational efficiencies securely on any device.
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Learn how to move through the process of creating an intranet for your organization. Get familiar with common intranet planning and creation roles , design stages, and the intranet lifecycle . Learn how to align goals into priority scenarios that you can get started implementing quickly. Then, learn how to engage with viewers and maintain your intranet over time as the organization changes and scales.
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Use SharePoint and other Microsoft 365 products to create communication channels that serve specific audiences. Learn how to create and share organizational news and use the News web part into key landing pages and portals.
Integrate Yammer and the Yammer web parts to embed conversations and highlights in sites. Use the power of video to share pre-recorded messages and record organizational events for later viewing. Use content services like audience targeting to make sure key audience are targeted specific content.
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Create and increase opportunities to collaborate across your organization. Use Microsoft Lists and document libraries to securely store and dynamically display content that can be accessed on any device. Then, users can view, share, and coauthor content in real time.
Use SharePoint team sites to create secure collaboration spaces for teams to share content, get updates, and news. Consider adding Microsoft Teams to your team site to add real-time chat and virtual meetings.
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Use SharePoint to achieve specific business outcomes like narrowing the distance between leadership teams and individual contributors by creating a leadership site that encourages sharing news and starting conversations. Use SharePoint to unite and inform groups of people with related interests by setting up news for a hub site. View custom solutions in the look book to help inspire your next site design or get help with new employee onboarding , crisis communication , and more.
Overview of how to set up an intelligent intranet
Harness the power of the intelligent intranet to communicate effectively across the organization, engage employees, and connect with relevant information and knowledge. Learn more about intranet planning and implementation phases and how to get started, and considerations like how to design your home site and use multi-lingual features. Then, use the intranet roadmap to prepare business owners, stakeholders, site owners, and content authors.
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Start by getting inspired by what you can accomplish with SharePoint by viewing compelling business scenarios , the SharePoint look book , and guided walkthroughs .
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- Establish a governance plan
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Get familiar with the intranet lifecycle and basic SharePoint intranet and site building blocks .
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Start building the home site , hubs , sites , and pages that will make up the framework of your intranet. Consider using Microsoft Purview Information Barriers to ensure confidential content is seen by the right users or use audience targeting to target specific content to certain groups of users.
- Get feedback from stakeholders and users along the way
- Test site architecture with real users
- Use engaging communication apps like Yammer and Stream
- Plan launch communications
Learn more about intranet way finding and how to implement multi-geo features if needed.
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Measure intranet effectiveness by reviewing Microsoft 365 usage analytics and SharePoint hub and page usage analytics . Make sure site owners and authors have appropriate training to create, build, and maintain sites.
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Learn more about forming a site owner or intranet champions community to ensure that site owners stay up to date of new capabilities and guidance. Learn more about how to improve SharePoint adoption .
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You can search the web to find free templates to build your business plan. We discuss nine components of a model business plan here: Key partnerships ... Example lean business plan. Before you write your business plan, read this example business plan written by a fictional business owner, Andrew, who owns a toy company. ...
Start with a template. Download these templates from the Office Templates site to create your plan: Fill in your Business plan. Analyze your market with the Business market analysis template. Detail your financials in a Financial plan. Divide up the work and track deliverables with this Business plan checklist.
Apply our simple business plan template to give you a head start. Our business plan software lights the way as you sort through the important elements of creating a business plan. Inject your own creativity into your presentation using our vast library of icons, photos and animations, or keep it simple and clean.
1. Create a free Venngage account using your email, Google or Facebook profiles. 2. Select the perfect business plan template from our library of professionally designed templates. 3. Use our online Business Plan Creator to add your information, data and more to your business plan template.
Powerful business plan templates. Plan for the future, no matter what your business plans are or the size of your business with these designs and templates. Whether it's just one big project or an entire organization's worth of dreams, these templates will keep you and your company on track from ideation to completion. Category.
Download free, customizable business plan templates in Excel — for small businesses, startups, and more. Download free, customizable business plan templates in Excel — for small businesses, startups, and more. ... This Excel business plan template has all the traditional components of a standard business plan, with each section divided into ...
Even better, if you're pressed for time, we've compiled the 10 steps and examples into a downloadable (PDF) template. The 10 steps to write a business plan are: Create an executive summary. Compose your company description. Summarize market research and potential. Conduct competitive analysis.
What this business plan template includes. Writing a business plan for a startup can sometimes seem overwhelming. To make the process easier and more manageable, this template will guide you step-by-step through writing it. The template includes easy-to-follow instructions for completing each section of the business plan, questions to help you ...
Embrace online lead generation. Document your entire sales process. Show how you will stay ahead of the market. Understand your customers' needs. Create a financial plan to secure funds. Think long-term. Speak the language of investors. Real estate business plan templates and examples.
Let's now take a look at the steps you need to take to create one. 1. Calculate all forms of income. Whether you're optimizing your personal spending or building a business budget, your first step should be aggregating all of your forms of income. Your net income determines how much you can afford to spend.
The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea. The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template.
April 2, 2020. Try Smartsheet for Free. In this article, we've compiled a variety of simple business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats. On this page, you'll find a one-page business plan template, a simple business plan for startups, a small-business plan template, a business plan outline, and ...
5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations. This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization ...
508 templates. Create a blank Business Plan. Geometric Typedriven Business Plan Cover Page. Document by Lectrathink. Blue Modern Business Plan Cover Page. Document by Artplace. Green Minimalist Business Plan Cover Page. Document by Fingerstyle Studio. blue, black, minimalist business plan cover page.
How to use our free business plan template. Using Asana's free business plan template is simple. Start by creating a new project with our free template. From there, add relevant information for your specific business plan in the sections provided in our template. If there's more information you want to include in your business plan, you ...
Operations plan. Management organization. Financial plan. Conclusion & appendix. Every section involved in a business plan is designed to help startup businesses reach their target market. A business plan asks founders and entrepreneurs to detail their business strategy in a step-by-step process that makes sense from an operational perspective.
Free real estate business plan template. Our customizable template helps you create a real estate business plan that outlines what success looks like — for you and your clients — so you can have your best year yet. This sample real estate business plan gives clear examples and allows for complete customization to your personal goals and ...
26 templates. Create a blank Small Business Plan. Small Business Plan in Purple Lavender Minimal Corporate Style. Document by Canva Creative Studio. Clothing Business Plan in Olive Green Pastel Blue Cream Organic Photocentric Style. Document by Canva Creative Studio. Small Business Plan in Green White Minimal Corporate Style.
Create a Business Plan in minutes using a step-by-step template. A business plan is a formal document detailing the goals that the business will have. ... and unselfish play were its biggest strengths while free-throw and 3-point shooting some of its greatest weaknesses. Surveying the rest of the NCAA landscape, Logan concluded UK's tough out ...
Download free business plan templates and find help and advice on how to write your business plan. Business plan templates. Download a free business plan template on The Prince's Trust website.
Suppose your FRA is 66, and your monthly benefit at FRA is $2,000. If you delay claiming your benefits until you hit 70, your benefits will increase by 8% annually for four years. Here's how the ...
In this article, you'll learn how to create a content strategy for social media. Feel free to jump ahead with this list: 1. Identify and set goals. The first step toward a long-term social media strategy is to set your content goals. Having goals in mind will help you start planning out the type of content to create.
View our gallery of over 500 free sample business plans, and get inspired to write your own! 170,449 Downloads. Planning. Template. Lean Business Plan Template. Download this template to quickly create a lean business plan for your business and document your business model on a single page. 131,984 Downloads.
This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan template is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. Instructions included More than just a template, you'll learn how to write a winning business plan SBA-lender […]
A business plan is a formal written document that you can use to identify the purpose of your company, make important decisions about your future and help grow your company. HubSpot's free business plan templates provides guidance to establishing your company mission, customer research, competition, and a business strategy to profitability.
A business plan template helps you write a business plan quickly and efficiently. Increase your odds of success by using our simple business plan template. ... That's why we put together a free business plan template to help you get started. Get the template now. Get the business plan template delivered right to your inbox. Almost there ...
4 - Engage and manage. Measure intranet effectiveness by reviewing Microsoft 365 usage analytics and SharePoint hub and page usage analytics. Make sure site owners and authors have appropriate training to create, build, and maintain sites. Ensure site owners have access to SharePoint training materials. Plan to review site and hub metrics.