Jane Friedman

The 7-Step Business Plan for Writers

business plan for writers

Today’s guest post is by author Angela Ackerman ( @AngelaAckerman ) of Writers Helping Writers .

As you’ve probably heard, there’s no such thing as “only being a writer” any more, and while many might not want to handle the business side of things, to give ourselves and our books the best chance of success, we must.

In May 2012, when Becca Puglisi and I self-published The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression , we had quite a few challenges. Living in different countries, we needed to create a formal partnership, set up businesses, and figure out how revenue would work. We had to learn publishing and take on marketing and promotion. Neither of us had a business or marketing background, so we relied heavily on research and intuition, and did our best to make the book discoverable. (You can read about our initial marketing plan here .)

Our unusual book on showing character emotion created buzz among writers, igniting word of mouth. Suddenly our lives went from busy to crazy as we tried to keep up with the burst of attention, writing guest posts, teaching workshops, and providing interviews. Books sales continued to strengthen, and we sold foreign rights. A few universities listed the book as required reading, and publishers began approaching us. At this point, Becca and I realized how far the book could go, but because we were being pulled in so many different directions, we didn’t know how to best take advantage of these opportunities.

The need for a business plan became our No. 1 focus. Fortunately, my husband is a management consultant who creates plans for many of his clients. With his help, we identified three areas that would help us grow in the year ahead:

  • improving our professional image and brand credibility : creating a website, presenting at conferences and hosting workshops
  • providing new product for our audience : writing two new descriptive thesaurus books
  • expanding into the education sector : contacting colleges and universities to spread awareness of our writing resources

The roadmap we created allowed us to avoid distractions and focus on what would help us grow.

As we near the end of the year, Becca and I now have a professional website, three writing resource books that have collectively sold nearly 50,000 copies, and we increased our credibility through speaking engagements, teaching at conferences, and hosting workshops. In the near future we are looking to create awareness of our books at the collegiate level, rounding out our business plan objectives.

Since much of our productivity and growth are a direct result of forming a business plan (and sticking to it), I want to share steps you can take to create your own.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Imagine your year ahead and what you would like to accomplish as a writer. What will help you reach your goals, whether it’s publication, releasing more books, beefing up your online visibility, or honing your craft? Write down everything that you want to accomplish, and don’t forget smaller goals, as these are necessary steppingstones to achieving larger ones.

Also, choose goals that are within your power to make happen. For example, while you might really want representation, “getting an agent” is not necessarily something you can attain yourself; the agent decides whom they represent. However, “researching and querying all suitable agents” is a goal you can set and meet.

Step 2: Find Your Themes

Read through your list and look for bigger themes. Are there several goals that fit into a similar area of focus, like platform building or writing improvement? Grab some highlighters and group these together. Then, choose a name or tag line that summarizes each theme or area of focus.

Common themes might include

  • Social networking improvement (platform building and connection)
  • Education (attending workshops, finding a critique partner, improving one’s craft, studying the industry, etc.)
  • Publishing (trying for an agent, working towards a traditional contract or self-publishing)
  • Marketing visibility (researching and implementing ads, hiring a publicist, finding one’s audience online, soliciting reviews, etc.)

Step 3: Assign Importance

Now that your goals are organized into different focus areas (themes), step back and look at the big picture. Based on where you are now, which areas are the highest priority? For example, querying agents (publication related) and honing your writing skills (education related) might both be areas you’d like to focus on, but if your writing still needs work, it will be a waste of time to query agents immediately. Likewise, if you are winning notable contests and trusted critique partners are hard-pressed to see how you can improve, likely you should make getting your work in front of agents and editors a priority.

This step involves soul-searching and honesty. Sometimes desire (wanting to be published right now,  for example) can get in the way of what we actually need (to hone our craft further). To be objective, set emotion aside. Ask yourself hard questions about what your career really needs. If it helps, pretend you are advising a writer friend. If they were in your shoes, what important things would you suggest they work on to get ahead?

Step 4: Pick Two or Three Main Goals

Now comes the hard part: choosing which goals to pursue. Which two areas of focus did you mark as being the most critical? These two themes (say “Education” and “Networking”) should be the primary focus of your business plan. Pick specific goals that will help you most in these areas.

Once you choose a goal, think about the steps you must take to achieve it. For example, if your goal is to “Build a Platform” you might have action items like open a twitter account and build a following ,  take a class on social networking, and join a group blog . For inspiration, look at the highlighted lists you made. Chances are you’ll find smaller goals listed there that will help you achieve your larger one.

Two primary areas of focus or main goals are good for a business plan, but if you have a third area you’d like to tackle, list it as a secondary goal. Do the same exercise as above and list out tasks (action items) that must be carried out to achieve this goal.

When making these decisions, think carefully about your time. We all have roles and commitments outside of writing, and these things require a lot of energy. Business goals should be achievable, so don’t take on more than you can handle.

Step 5: Set a Timeline for Each Goal

Stick to your plan by setting timelines that fit your schedule. Becca and I chose a seasonal timeline, so we knew which goal to pursue at which time of the year. This helped us meet completion dates. If you are unsure how much time a certain task will require, set a deadline with a fallback date. This way you won’t be discouraged if you miss the initial deadline, and you’ll have a buffer if needed.

Step 6: Bring It Together in a One-Page Plan

A visual helps when it comes to following a business plan. By condensing your plan on one page, it will force you to be succinct in what must be accomplished to meet each goal. You can use a spreadsheet or table to do this (Excel, Google spreadsheet, a piece of paper, etc) or download this template . Here’s the business plan Becca and I created for ourselves:

Business Plan for Writers by Angela Ackerman

When your spreadsheet is filled out, print and display it where you write. This will remind you of what you should be doing and help you make good use of your time.

Step 7: Commit and Challenge Yourself Daily

Once your plan is complete, stick to it. When new opportunities come up, see if they fit your plan. It’s important to take advantage of potential windfalls, but only if they further your goals and you have the time.

Before you print your business plan, type this statement in bold at the bottom: Is what I’m doing or about to do helping me achieve my goals? Before you commit time and energy to new projects, challenge yourself with this question to evaluate if it’s worthwhile.

In today’s publishing landscape, writers must become master jugglers, wearing many hats. Whether you’re published or pre-published, having a business plan is one of the smartest things you can do to keep yourself on track, maximize your time, and ensure that you reach your milestones.

Angela Ackerman

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression and its many sequels. Available in ten languages, her guides are sourced by universities, recommended by agents and editors, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the world. Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers , as well as One Stop for Writers , a portal to game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction.

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Adrienne

This is FANTASTIC and just what I needed to see this morning! Great post and I love your books Angela. They continue to help me hone my craft.

Angela Ackerman

Thanks so much, Adrienne. I really hope this plan helps you map out your best path forward. Happy writing (and business planning!)

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Saoirse O'Mara

Good step-by-step guide to create an overview of goals and an action plan for writers. It’s certainly a useful tool, although I wouldn’t call it a business plan since that usually also includes the financial aspects of a business. It’s a good starting point, and for writers who have other financial means to pay the bills, this is probably all they need. Writers who want to turn their writing into a full-time career can easily expand this action plan to include the financial aspects (cash budget including business and personal income and expenses, investment plan, three-year-estimate for business turnover and expenses to get a mid-term overview).

Thanks for posting this!

Hi Saoirse,

Yes, this isn’t meant to take the place of a full scale plan–I wanted to share something that both pre-published and published authors could use as a starting point, especially those who might find the idea of a creating a business plan daunting. Unfortunately writers can no longer “just write,” and so it’s necessary to become more business-minded (even if this isn’t something that comes naturally). Thanks so much for the comment!

You’re welcome 🙂 If you ever plan on publishing a blog post about expanding this with the financial aspects, let me know and I’d be happy to write a guest post about it (I’ve written more than one complete business plan in my life, both for myself and others).

Sounds good–thanks for offering, Saoirse. I will keep this in mind! 🙂

You can contact me at saoirse.omara (at) gmail dot com (just realised that my name isn’t clickable lol).

Linda Andersen

Thanks for sharing ideas for a business plan. I need to save this one!

Happy this will help you Linda. 🙂 Have a great week!

Eleanor Sullivan

Although I don’t need a business plan right now, I want to thank you for The Emotion Thesaurus! I bought if first on Kindle, then realized I’d like to have a paper copy, too. It’s been an immense help when my editor says, “More emotion, Eleanor, dig deeper,” a refrain I hear often. So, thanks for helping me mine my own and my characters’ emotions! Eleanor Sullivan, Graven Images, A Singular Village Mystery

HI Eleanor,

I am thrilled that The Emotion Thesaurus is helping you! Writing character emotion is such a struggle, because we want it to feel authentic, but tend to get trapped in reusing the same descriptors to show it. Hopefully the entries in the book offer you a path to spark your brain quickly so you can stay in the flow and write the scene. Thanks for the comment!

Sue Frye

Awesome suggestions, Angela! Love the chart! And this is a good time of the year to focus on goals and new beginnings!

Sue, it is the perfect time, isn’t it? Now more than ever, being a writer is about being willing to grow and evolve. The good thing is that there is so much content out there to help us find our way. I hope the chart helps you. 🙂

Thank you so much Jane for having me here today. I just finished watching your Google hangout with CEA, and can’t wait for the next installment! Thanks so much for the great summary of the shifting writing landscape.

florabrown

Angela, This is an well-thought-out and doable plan. I love that you included plans to get training where needed as well as being open to traditional and self-publishing. Your post made me remember that I have taken many webinars and workshops over the years. Before I take another one I need to go back and review all the content on marketing, building a platform, etc. that I’ve already gathered. Thank you.

Very happy to help. As writers, we are in constant development, but if we try to focus on everything, or too much on one thing, then we aren’t making the best use of our time. Sometimes sitting down and looking hard at what we want for ourselves, both long term and short term, is a healthy step to moving forward more productively. 🙂

Lexa Cain

I’m so happy to hear about all your success, Angela. If anyone’s worked hard and deserves it, you do. (And how nice to be married to a business consultant, right?) Thanks for all the tips. 🙂

Haha, Lexa, yes his brain has come in handy, although I appreciate the fact that he hasn’t tried to “take over” and only offers help if I ask. His business world and my publishing world have some overlap, but there are also things that work very differently between the two, so I need to understand my world enough to know what advice might work, and what will not. (And thank you–I feel so grateful to have such great supporters like you!)

Celia Lewis

So practical and thoughtful! Makes great sense, and I can implement it immediately. Also use for my ‘other’ passion, genealogy, and my goals there as well! I appreciate the clear language and straightforward style in this post as well. Cheers.

Yes Celia, this business plan can really be used in any area. even one’s personal development. 🙂 I am happy it will be of use to you. Thanks for the visit.

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sample business plan for writers

How to create a business plan for writers

Business plans for writers are valuable documents for setting, tracking and learning from goals and strategies for selling books. Read 9 steps for developing a thorough plan.

  • Post author By Jordan
  • 9 Comments on How to create a business plan for writers

How to create a business plan for writers

The business of writing has as many moving parts as writing craft. This brief guide on how to create a business plan for writers will help you take steps to plan and adhere to SMART writing goals while keeping the business of writing (selling books and marketing your novels or non-fiction) firmly in mind.

What is a business plan for writers?

If you’ve ever watched a reality show about business investment such as the UK show Dragon’s Den (aired as Shark Tank in the US), you’ll know that start-ups that win big backing have one thing in common: a clear plan .

A classic business plan is:

  • A comprehensive document stating future business objectives plus strategies for achieving them
  • A guide to each stage of starting and/or managing a business over a future term used to record goals (and stay on track or rein in scope)
  • A reference document to use towards measuring outcomes (for example, whether or not the goals in the plan were met, the strategies used, and how effective they were)

A good business plan goes hand in hand with other essentials: Knowing your niche, your value, and your target market . Make forming one an integral part of your story planning process .

Standard business plans vs business plans for writers

A business plan for writers differs from the type of plan a start-up would use to pitch investors:

  • If you are an indie author (or hoping to become one), there will be less emphasis on proving your business case (its commercial viability). Your plan won’t need to convince investors to part with their cash in exchange for specific forecast returns (ROI)
  • Your plan will feature aspects that are highly specific to the business of writing (such as book cover design and costs, editing, and other professional writing overheads)

Let’s explore 9 steps for building a business plan for a book or series:

9 steps to create a kickass writing plan for your business:

  • Begin building your platform and audience.
  • Brainstorm business-phase-specific writing goals.
  • Prioritize goals by need, not wish.
  • Create a living writing business plan.
  • Itemize your planned expenses.
  • Calculate what you need to sell to break even.
  • Explore and choose strategies for selling.
  • Create a compelling showcase for your brand.
  • Measure results and adjust as you go.

Begin building your platform and audience

Why does building a platform/audience come first? Because it’s never too early to start connecting with others who may value, enjoy, and be willing to pay to further enjoy your voice.

Ways to build your writing platform:

  • Create an author site that will be home to your future publications. To keep costs down you can use an all-in-one website design and hosting service such as Wix . Keep in mind that using designers and developers provides even more customization potential and design/functionality freedom, but may cost more.
  • Blog about topics relevant to potential readers in your target audience.
  • Create author pages on social media for sharing writing snippets, promo and news.
  • Build a newsletter for your author site and offer giveaways (such as short stories or guides).
  • Host or co-host webinars or lives on social media with other writers.

These are just some ideas.

Indie publishing expert Joanna Penn raises an important platform – building caveat . If you are in the early stages of writing a book, the types of platform available to you (and what is most popular with netizens) may have changed a lot by the time your book is out . (TikTok, for example, now hugely popular, was only started in 2016.)

Penn’s advice is to at least have a simple website with some form of email-gathering function. Email remains an effective way to spread the word about your newest and existing releases.

John Green quote on publishing

Brainstorm business-phase-specific writing goals

The first, proper step of creating a business plan for writers is to brainstorm goals specific to the phase of writing you’re in .

For example, if you’re working on your debut novel and are not yet published (traditionally or independently), your goals will likely look substantially different to a so-called ‘Midlist Author’ (an author who publishes consistently profitable books, but is not yet a publishing sensation landing seven-figure deals).

For midlist to top-tier authors, goals often focus on expansion oriented tasks such as speaking engagements or tapping new audiences by branching out into other genres or subgenres (for example, the way She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named moved into writing thrillers as Robert Galbraith after her fantasy success). Now Novel writing coach Romy Sommer discusses tailoring strategy to your professional phase in our writing webinar on building a writing career.

Examples of goals specific to the current phase of your professional writing life might be:

  • Finding and hiring a fiction editor for a recently completed draft
  • Shortlisting agents open for queries who are interested in your genre and/or subject matter niche
  • Creating a website that will provide a showcase and selling tool for your future publications

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Stay accountable, in a structured program with writing sprints, coach Q&As, webinars and feedback in an intimate writing group.

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Prioritize goals by need, not wish

Once you’ve brainstormed a list of specific goals that may be relevant to your writing business plan, it’s time to finesse these down to the most important, SMART goals.

SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based.

Prioritize goals by their relevance to tangible objectives. For example, formatting your book for X platform by Y date.

These are more practical than ‘nice to haves’ that have hard-to-predict impact on finances. For example, ‘becoming a bestseller’ – a ‘bestseller’ after all may mean radically different sales numbers in different countries or genres.

Examples of SMART business plan goals for writers

‘Research and write a list of ten agents currently open to queries in my genre/subject matter and start querying next Monday’ is a SMART goal.

It’s relevant to a specific business phase (having a manuscript to publish, in this example, traditionally). It’s attainable, actionable, and time-based .

‘Become a bestselling author’ is not (there are too many variables and moving parts; it lacks specificity). This is not to say that big dreams are invalid or not worth holding! But … they’re the driving, desiring force behind a good business plan, not the main content.

What do you need to do most urgently to get to a point where you have books to sell to an audience that’s dying to read them?

Angela Ackerman, in a helpful article for Jane Friedman’s publishing blog on the first steps in creating a writing business plans, says:

Sometimes desire (wanting to be published right now, for example) can get in the way of what we actually need (to hone our craft further). To be objective, set emotion aside. Ask yourself hard questions about what your career really needs. Angela Ackerman, in ‘The 7-Step Business Plan for Writers’, via Jane Friedman’s blog.

Starting a writing business - Elon Musk on balance and having the right ingredients

Create a living writing business plan

So you’ve prioritized goals for the next six months to a year ahead. You’ve made sure they’re SMART and tailored to where you’re at now. The next step is to create a living business plan for your writing.

Why a ‘living’ plan? There are times in any strategic process such as selling your work where you may want to reflect on how things are going, what’s working, and what isn’t, and regroup.

Begin your plan with a mission statement. Try to keep this to a sentence or two at most. For example:

‘Hire a cover designer, editors and formatting professional for my urban fantasy debut, create author profiles on Goodreads, Amazon and Wattpad, and self-publish my book by next June.’

Create a checklist of action items or ‘jobs to be done’ for your plan, prioritized by urgency. The satisfaction of ticking off checklist items is great motivation.

Itemize your planned expenses

Whether you want to sell enough books in a year’s trade to quit your day job or just see how many copies you can sell if you are systematic, it’s important to tracks costs vs returns.

For example, for a typical 80,000 word genre fiction debut, you might create a table in your business plan that looks something like this:

Cover design and editing are essential if you want your book to stand out, and to do the utmost to win over first-time readers.

As in the table above, you may have expenses such as website hosting and design requiring further research, because there are just so many options. The same goes for turning your manuscript into an audiobook .

The promo spend of $150 above is based on the minimum daily spend for Instagram ads being $5 (assuming, for this example, that you wanted to pay to promote your indie book to a niche reader audience matching your genre on Instagram for 30 days).

The above example of costs is a rough example, of course. You may well find cover designers whose services cost less than a lower- mid-priced professional who has more experience. Ditto for editing (remember the caveat though: ‘You get what you pay for’). Having a good estimate of costs for your business plan (and replacing these with hard figures as quotes come in and you choose which to accept) will help you budget and work out what you need to sell to break even:

Calculate what you need to sell to break even

Going off the above table (which does only include copy-editing, and not a manuscript evaluation , developmental editing or proofreading, and leaves out other costs such as print copies), you would need to sell 2182 digital copies of your book at a promo price of $0.99 to earn back your (known) expenses, or 1086 copies at a launch/promo price of $1.99 per copy ($2160 of known expenses divided by your selling price and rounded up).

Having this figure is vital as it gives you an exact target for sales, as well as an idea of the sweet spot for promo pricing to at least recoup your expenses in the first push.

Will you sell your book cheaply to start for the sake of a lower barrier to entry for potential readers with whom you have not yet proven your entertainment value?

This is a particularly helpful strategy for selling a new series, as you can up your pricing for sequels.

As part of working out selling price and launch strategies, read publishing experts’ blogs and thoughts on the matter. Joanna Penn has a helpful article on the benefits of selling with platform exclusivity versus ‘going wide’ (selling on multiple platforms), for example.

9 steps to a business plan for writers - infographic

Explore and choose strategies for selling

There are many platforms, models and strategies for selling your stories.

Long gone are the days of book chains, indie stores and physical libraries being the main way to find your favorite stories.

The mix of in-store and digital gives you many ways to promote your writing and find an audience that may be hungry for the exact themes, topics, and experiences your work explores.

Some selling strategies to explore and choose from to add to your growing business plan include:

  • Platform-specific promo services (such as KDP Select , Amazon’s promotional program for authors willing to sign over exclusive publishing rights to their platform for 90 days)
  • Book blog tours and giveaways (partnering with writing sites that have blogs to talk about your book – for example, we interview members who have new releases to share here on Now Novel)

If your marketing knowledge and experience is scant, it may be worth taking a book marketing course (remember to add this to the expenses portion of your writing business plan). Coursera is a fantastic resource for university-run short learning courses, and may help you grasp marketing fundamentals or how to use tools for understanding how to convert website visitors into customers/readers.

Create a compelling showcase for your brand

Many artists and writers are allergic to marketing terms such as ‘brand’. They tend to sound clinical, the kind of buzzwords that people throw out a mile a minute at conferences.

Yet branding is a helpful concept to think about as you create your writing business plan.

What is an author’s brand?

If you look at a major brand such as Nike’s advertising, a specific ‘brand persona’ becomes clear. Nike is all about the ‘mentor/coach’ archetype (from their slogan ‘Just Do It’ to their visual choices such as the tick-like swoosh logo), their brand is all about helping the customer reach their own potential.

An author brand differs in several ways (authors don’t have catchphrases or slogans, of course). Yet having a clear author brand can (like Nike) differentiate what is unique and wonderful about your work in a crowded bookshelf or marketplace. From cover design choices to titling, how you represent your work infers a certain tone and persona. In the podcast with Joanna Penn mentioned above, Penn shares that she’s interested in the spooky and how she shares pictures of eerie environs because she knows these appeal to a certain type of reader who would fall within her target audience – that’s a branding decision.

Ways to build showcasing your brand into your writing business plan

  • Plan the language and tone of your newsletter and social media posts. If you write cozy mysteries, for example, what cozy language or mystery can you carry over into what you share?
  • Plan how you’ll incorporate the emotion your writing intends to stir in readers into your visual design language , on your author site and social media. If you write bloodcurdling, violent fantasy, what color, typographical and other design choices will communicate what your writing is all about?
  • Think about what types of promotions you could run that are on-brand . An author who writes ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ books like Goosebumps titles in this format could run a book giveaway contest where readers combine given elements to create their own flash fiction, for example, for a book giveaway.
  • Create a calendar of images, quotes and videos to share that m atch the tone, mood, spirit and/or subjects of your stories.

Measure results and adjust as you go

In any business, it helps to be agile, able to pivot fast to let go of strategies not working or embrace newer methods or platforms that are well-aligned to your goals.

Make your business plan a living document that you review regularly and adjust as needed so that you factor in assessing, learning what worked and what didn’t, and coming back stronger.

Looking for professional fiction editing services or a writing coach to guide you through each stage of writing and querying? Now Novel offers companionship and a supportive network, every step of the way.

Further resources

Rick Lite has a helpful guide for IngramSpark for creating a book promo timeline.

Zara Altair at ProWritingAid provides helpful questions to ask in deciding your book’s value and price .

Are you making regular earnings on your books? What’s the one tip you’d give another writer on going pro? Let us know down below.

Related Posts:

  • 10 useful apps for writers to help you create
  • How to plan a story in scenes: 5 steps
  • What is a plot point? Find and plan clear story events
  • Tags book marketing , writing business , writing process

sample business plan for writers

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

9 replies on “How to create a business plan for writers”

Extremely helpful! Thank you, Jordan.

Hi Allorianna, thank you! I’m glad you found this helpful. See you in the next webinar 🙂

Jordan! Thanks a million! What a detailed and helpful post! I’ve bookmarked this!

Hi Michi, it’s a pleasure. Thanks for reading this and for sharing your feedback 🙂

Excellent follow-up to the webinar! Great tips. I will be printing out the 9 Steps graphic. Thanks for all your expertise.

Hi Billy, thank you for sharing your feedback – I’m glad you found this a helpful supplement to the webinar. It’s a pleasure, happy writing!

Thanks a lot for your work. Great article. Everything is very clear and understandable.

excellent writing and every thing is understandable

Dear Asif, I’m so pleased you found this useful! Thanks for writing in. All the best with your writing.

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Your Author Business Plan: A Framework for the Creative Entrepreneur

by Kimberley Grabas

Author Business Plan: A Framework for the Creative Entrepreneur | YourWriterPlatform.com

Does the thought of writing a business plan make you wince?

You’ve been struggling valiantly through most of the non-writing, left-brained activities that have been thrust upon you as a modern writer – do you really need to go through the formality of crafting your “executive summary”, “sales forecasts” and “market analysis”?

Well…yes. (sorry)

But if you’d prefer to skip the spreadsheets in favour of a more “writer-friendly” planning process – because deep down you know you could use a bit more direction to move your writing career to the next level – you’re in luck!

I’ve designed this business plan framework with the creative entrepreneur in mind.

Yep, it’s still a business plan.

But I’ve tried to soften the corporate jargon, as well as give you ideas as to how you can use each section to grow your writing career.

I’ve also created a free downloadable workbook to guide you through the process and that you can complete at your own pace:

Click the image to download your free 30-page Author Business Plan workbook:

Author Business Plan (graphic)

Prioritizing Your Business Plan To Get The Most Out Of Your Writing Career

It’s time to overcome your resistance to the idea that, as an author, your job is no longer just to write (if it ever was).

If you want to turn your passion for writing into a business, you’ll need to have a solid and strategic plan in place.

And a b usiness plan is simply a guide to what you hope to accomplish, how you plan to meet those objectives, and your financial projections based on these efforts.

It’s a field guide to your writing business – that you navigate with your readers in mind.

Here’s what you can expect a thorough business plan to help you accomplish:

It will help you to

  • clarify and articulate a clear vision for your writing career, which will help guide your business actions and decisions
  • nail down the specifics of what you need to get done to move your business forward
  • share your strategies, priorities, and specific action points with others (agents, assistants, collaborators, or even your spouse)
  • recognize and filter out the distractions, so you can concentrate only on those activities that will help you grow
  • determine future needs ahead of time (software, skills, tech, or other resources) so that you can plan for the cost or time expenditure
  • beat inertia and take confident action on those things you’ve determined will move your business forward
  • notice opportunities to reward yourself for both small accomplishments and big wins

One of the most important (and often ignored) steps to effective goal setting and increased productivity, is to write your goals down and review them daily . This can be a game changer.

By dedicating the time to write your business plan – and review it frequently – you can change the trajectory of your writing career.

Developing Your Author Business Plan: The Key Components

Whether you are working toward a traditional publishing contract or self-publishing, a carefully crafted business plan will help you establish a plan of action, and guide how you will allocate your (often limited) resources.

A. BUSINESS VISION + AUTHOR BRAND

1. Mission Statement (Message)

Clarify your business values and vision. Define why you write and get very clear on the essence of your work–what problems are you solving or what desires are you satisfying? What is your promise to your reader and how will you deliver on that promise? (You can also include a “vision statement” that inspires you, and is a reminder of your purpose and your commitment to your writing career.)

2. Your Ideal Reader

Identify and define the group of people whom you wish to reach. How do they see themselves, and how does your work fit with that perception?  Who already ‘speaks your language’ or conversely, whom does your work speak to? We’ll be digging deeper into this in a later section of the business plan, so the information you gather will help to create a succinct description of your ideal reader here.

Related Content:  Identifying Your Target Audience: The Top 8 Mistakes Writers Make

3. Brand Personality and Culture

What is your brand story and personality? What do you want people to feel or experience when they read your book, a post on your blog, or see you speak at an event? What tone, colors, and visuals characterize your writing, and how does your branding reflect the purpose or message behind your work? What values, standards or best practices will you adhere to? What can your community of readers consistently expect from you in terms of your style, authenticity, voice, and professionalism? Make sure that your branding is relevant to the audience you seek, distinct and meaningful.

Related Content:  Discover and Build Your Author Brand

4. Career Goals, Objectives, and Expansion Plans

Many people do not even think of goals, and of those that do, very few write them down. Forbes reports a remarkable 10-year study about goal-setting carried out in the Harvard MBA Program.  Those students who wrote down their goals accomplished significantly more (i.e., earned on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined). So write down your goals and objectives. Make sure they’re both S.M.A.R.T and what you really want. Are you willing–and able–to sacrifice the time and effort required to achieve what you’ve outlined? How will you determine your success?

B. BUSINESS DESCRIPTION + PUBLISHING PLAN

1. Your Difference

This is your secret sauce or unfair advantage. Describe who you are as a writer, and how you will portray that uniqueness to your audience. How do you solve their problem or desire and why is it valuable to your readers? The goal here is to answer the question in your reader’s mind, “Why you?”. What sets your work apart from others in your genre or niche? Develop your “brand story”.

Related Content: How to Build Your Brand From Scratch (And Why You Need To)

2. Who Do You Serve

Describe your target audience (demographics, psychographics), and how you can help meet the needs, wants, and desires of that specific group. Often writers make the mistake of working on their projects in a vacuum – with no feedback, input, or even acknowledgment of the reader. Another conundrum authors face, is writing in multiple genres, which makes building a community even more challenging. Note if either (or both) of these are concerns you face, and how you will address them going forward.

Related Content:  Thinking About Writing in Multiple Genres? Here’s What You Need to Know

3. Production

In this part of your business plan, include your writing, editing, and publishing schedule. How many words per day will you write, and at what times? If editing, how many hours per week will you devote? How many books do you plan to publish (and launch) this year? How often will you post new content to your blog or social media? Also note your genre focus, project lengths, and additional projects (workshops, courses, presentations, etc.) you plan to produce per year.

4. Business Structure

What is your writing business structure (sole proprietor, publishing company, or LLC, for example)?  Are you traditionally published, self-published, a hybrid author, or not yet published? Describe the components of your business, like books (digital, print, audio), courses, seminars, workshops (in-person/virtual), speaking, and so on. Is your business primarily online or offline?

5.   Business Tasks + Schedule

It’s important that you treat your writing business as a business . So make a list of regular tasks (everything from sales tracking and accounting, to editorial calendars and words written per day), and add them to your calendar, Asana , your day planner, or whatever system works for you.

6. Distribution Channels

You’ve defined your audience, so now you need to determine how they want to be reached. Where are they already and what are other ways that they will find you? Think social media, email, traditional media, video, podcasts, conferences and events, website, clubs, Amazon and other retailers, and so on.

Click to download your free 30-page Author Business Plan workbook :

Author Business Plan Graphic

C. MARKET ANALYSIS

1. Bestselling Authors/Comparable Titles in your Genre or Niche

Identify bestselling authors, top bloggers, and other influencers in your niche or genre. Look for those that already have the audience you want to reach (search through social media, relevant keywords, Facebook, and other groups). Who are the movers and shakers? The up-and-comers? Start making a list, including their contact info, website, and email. (These people may also become your partners and allies in the future.)

2. Pricing Models

What pricing model(s) are currently being used in your genre or niche? What are readers used to paying for books, products, or services similar to yours?

3. “Competitor” Strengths and Weaknesses

Choose 3-5 authors from the list you made in section C. 1., and break down their strengths and weaknesses. How do they reach and promote to their audience? Are there any strategies that many of your competitors seem to use (for example, are most of them using email marketing strategies)? What are they doing well and what can they improve? What can you add to the mix that draws upon your unique skill set and brand? Use this knowledge to craft your own, well-rounded strategy.

4. Trends and Opportunities

Note current events and what’s new and noteworthy in the publishing world. Note predictions and future trends that may impact your writing or bottom line. Are there any collaboration or partnership opportunities that you wish to pursue, both within your topic area and with industries or businesses that reach the same audience as you?

D. AUDIENCE RESEARCH

1. Identify Your Ideal Reader

Knowing your target audience has come up several times in this business plan–and for good reason. It is absolutely vital to the growth of your writing career to have a firm understanding of the audience you wish to reach. This section of your business plan informs the other sections, and it’s where you will get crystal clear on who your ideal readers are through research and data (not through guessing or assumptions). (Follow the link below for instructions on how to create an ideal reader persona.)

2. Understand Their Needs and Desires

Your goal is to understand and articulate your readers’ problems or desires better than they can themselves. But remember, this is their most pressing problem or desire, not yours.  Don’t try to create desire or interest where there is none. Outline how you will share your work in a way that encourages people who are already interested, to take action. (To gain a deeper understanding of your audience, spend time and ask questions of your “real” readers, engage in “social listening”, conduct surveys and examine your Google Analytics.)

3. Differentiate Yourself and Your Work

Given what you now know about your target audience, what is the intersection between your unique talents and your readers’ needs or desires? What can they get from you and your work that they can’t get anywhere else?

4. Determine How to Engage With Your Readers

It is much, much easier to create interesting, relevant, and valuable content for your audience now that you know exactly what they are searching for . You can’t possibly develop a marketing and book promotion plan when you have no idea who might be most receptive to your message. How will you learn (and continue to learn) about your readers, but still stay connected to the reasons for creating the work that you do?

E. COMMUNITY AND PLATFORM BUILDING

1. Social Media Plan

What are your (and your readers’) preferred platforms? Where will you place your emphasis and what strategies will you use to develop visibility and interest for your writing? What will you share, how will you create it, when will you share it, and where will you share it, to get the most engagement? (Create a specific plan for each social media platform you’ll engage on).

Related Content:  Social Media Strategy for Authors Plus 4 Tweets to Never Send

2. Email List Building Plan

Developing a responsive email list is one of the most important things you can do to grow your business and stay connected with your readers. What strategies will you implement to grow your list? How often will you communicate with your subscribers, what will you share and what opt-in incentive will you develop to encourage sign-ups? 

Related Content: The Writer’s Guide to Building an Email List

3. Content Strategy

A content strategy is your publishing plan of action for what to create , how to create it, when to create it, and for whom to create it. Develop an editorial or content calendar to map out and keep track of your content plan o’ action. Ensure your “brand story” is woven into the content you share.

4. Speaking, Appearances, and PR Plan

Keynote speeches, personal appearances, and other speaking opportunities all allow you to connect with your readers and fans in real life . Add presentations, interviews, and other appearances you have booked (or plan to book) into your business plan. What strategies will you implement to increase bookings?

5. Reviews, Testimonials, and Endorsements

What steps will you take to encourage reviews (ARCs, email requests, build relationships with influencers, and book bloggers)? How will you gather testimonials and endorsements for your work? Keep in mind that relationships take time to develop, so ensure you include steps to build these connections and goodwill before you ask for something in return.

Related Content: How to Get Reviews For Your Book (Without Begging, Bribing, or Resorting to Subterfuge)

6. Engagement + Exclusivity

How will you ensure your readers feel special? Will you offer special perks, bonuses, and a sneak peek behind the scenes? Or, create a street team or other type of “membership” for your most avid supporters? How is what you have to offer different from other authors in your niche, and how can you add more value? 

7. Networking and Relationship Building

Who are people talking about, sharing content from, and influenced by? What strategies will you use to develop relationships with industry influencers, advocates, and supporters of your work? How do you plan to build connections with organizations, institutions, schools, bloggers, reviewers, businesses, and media outlets? 

F. OFFERINGS + MONETIZATION

1. Your Products and Services

What will you offer to your audience? Books (digital, audio, print, series, bundles), services (speaking engagements, teaching at conferences, and hosting workshops) courses, freelance work, or other products and programs that relate to your work? How will your readers benefit? How will it impact their lives? Given what you’ve discovered about your target audience, will they want, need or desire what you have to offer?

2. Pricing Strategy

What pricing strategy will you employ? Premium, freemium (free + premium), permafree, or discount pricing? Given your goals for your business, will your pricing strategy help you meet your objectives? Does your pricing meet or challenge genre standards? How will your target audience view your pricing? Map out your pricing structure for your books, services, courses or workshops, series, and bundles.

Related Content: Pricing 

3. Collaboration and Partnerships

Affiliate marketing, book bundles, co-writing, and cross-promotion (via email lists) are all great ways to boost your business, visibility, and sales. What methods will you use to develop partnerships and encourage collaborations with other authors?

G. MARKETING STRATEGY

1. Marketing and Promotion

In this section, outline the methods you’ll employ to market and promote your books, products, content, and brand. You’ll want to develop a separate book marketing strategy for each book, as well as an overall strategy that ties current projects together with future plans for your writing career.  

Related Content: 71 Ways to Promote and Market Your Book

2. Resource Commitment

Finding time to write is difficult enough, but your business won’t run itself. You need to schedule time and resources for both the writing side of your business and the marketing side (and then squeeze in family and personal commitments, too 😉 ). How much time, money and other resources are you prepared to realistically commit? 

Related Content:  The Big Question: How Can I Build My Platform and Still Have Time to Write?

3. Launch Strategies

Designing, organizing, and implementing a book launch action plan is not easy. There are a lot of moving parts, so it requires the careful preparation (and execution) of just the right mix of launch activities to propel your new book out into the world. Layered launch strategies (where you use the momentum from one launch to boost the next) can create urgency and excitement, and further establish your brand, message, and authority. What actions will you take to leverage the assets and relationships you’ve established through your marketing activities to promote an upcoming book?

Related Content: Launch Strategy for Authors

H. FINANCIALS

1. Monthly Expenses

Make an itemized list of all the things you will need for your business to run monthly (website, hosting and domain name, email marketing service, business cards and other promotional items, office supplies, membership dues, etc.). If you are saving for some larger future expense (computer, software, cover design ), then note this in your budget, as well.

2. Monthly Revenue

Record your monthly income from all sources related to your writing business (royalties, freelance work, affiliate income, speaking, etc.). At first, this may seem like an exercise in futility, but with a solid business plan in place, you’ll soon start to see your revenue streams grow. 🙂

3. Production Budget (Per Book or Project)

Copyediting , line editing, proofreading, formatting for publishing, formatting for print, cover art, copyright registration, ISBNs, review copies, shipping, and research costs can all be budgeted on a per-book basis. These input costs will help you determine the potential viability (and profitability) of each project. If you also have a website and blog, there may also be production costs for blog posts, email newsletters, and other items (image or graphic fees, costs for giveaways, apps or software, etc.).

4. Sales + Income Projections

If you’re just starting out, creating sales projections may be difficult to do, but it’s certainly a good habit to develop if you’d like to ensure you’re making good business decisions. Forecasting is vital to planning sales, marketing, and spending. (For a free Amazon sales rank tracker, try NovelR ank.com  or SalesRankExpress.com .)

I. ADDITIONAL GROWTH + EXPANSION STRATEGIES

1. Professional Development

Your talent is your best asset. Continuing to improve upon both your writing AND your business skills, is a wise investment. Use this section of your business plan to note any classes, workshops, or conferences you plan to attend, if you plan to find a critique partner or writer’s group to join, or even add specific books you plan to read (for genre or topic research, or to gain additional skills).

Related Content: 39 Things to Remember When Struggling to Build Your Writing Career

2. Paid Advertising and Other Paid Options

Paid advertising, hiring a publicist, or anything else that requires cold hard cash upfront–without a guarantee of return–may not be on the top of your priority list. However, if you are considering some paid options, ensure you note your strategies here. Tracking your return on investment may be easier for some options than others, but it’s always wise to note your efforts and results.

3.   Repurposing

Continuously developing new content can take a lot of effort. Get more mileage out of the excellent content you produce (articles, newsletters, blog content, short stories, guides, updates, videos, etc.) by repurposing it into something fresh. You can change the format, share it on different mediums, turn a book or post into a course or workshop, and reach all new audiences. How will you stretch and repurpose each piece of content you create?

Related Content:  Create Great Content? How to Get More From It Through Repurposing

4. Outsourcing

Wise outsourcing can not only increase your efficiency and help level the playing field, but it allows you to focus on the core of your business–your writing. If you decide to outsource, determine what tasks you’ll pay someone else (editors, virtual assistants, designers, accountants, etc.) to handle.

Writing Your Author Business Plan Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Kudos to you for making it this far! It may seem like a daunting task to compile your business plan, but I assure you it is well worth the effort.

Plus, your plan can be developed over a period of time and doesn’t have to be nailed down all in one sitting.

A business plan is fluid and ever-evolving. As new info comes in, circumstances change, or as results and analysis dictate, adjust your business plan accordingly. Remove sections from this plan that you feel don’t apply, and add sections that you feel are more relevant to your specific business needs.

Review and re-examine your plan on a regular basis to help keep yourself–and your writing career–on track.

And be sure to reward yourself when you’ve reached certain milestones and objectives. You’ll have most certainly earned it!

Questions? Comments? Please share your thoughts below.

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Reading through your posts can be long and tedious, especially for people like me who always take notes. But in the end, it’s worth it. Thanks for another awesome post.

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Yes, I’m nothing if not thorough… 😉

That’s why I’ve included the workbook – all the info, without the need to write it all down yourself.

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This is just awesome .. Love it!!

Happy to hear it, Ashima. Hope you can put the plan to good use! 😉

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Thanks so much, Kimberley! This is super helpful and so timely — my community of Queens, NY, is conducting a business plan competition with nice prize money. Glad to have your insights and guidance in the final days of preparation.

http://www.queensbooks.nyc

My pleasure John! 🙂

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I was hoping to grab this fabulous download, but when I entered my email address and went through to the next page, the error message said the pdf could not be found. I thought this was because I was on mobile, but I tried several times on my PC and it still was appearing as not found.

My apologies Kieran – there is a bit of a glitch with the media file. Shoot me a quick email (Kim-at-YourWriterPlatform.com) and I’ll send it to you directly.

Authors with Platforms Sell Books.

It’s that simple.

Get on the Insiders List to receive the free Quick Start Guide to Building Your Writer Platform , exclusive content via email, and instant access to a growing library of downloadable resources.

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sample business plan for writers

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:

  • Product goals and deadlines for each month
  • Monthly financials for the first two years
  • Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
  • Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.

While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.

For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .

Business Plan Steps

The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:

  • Executive summary
  • Description of business
  • Market analysis
  • Competitive analysis
  • Description of organizational management
  • Description of product or services
  • Marketing plan
  • Sales strategy
  • Funding details (or request for funding)
  • Financial projections

If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.

Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.

Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.

In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

  • What is the vision and mission of the company?
  • What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:

  • What business are we in?
  • What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:

  • Who is our customer? 
  • What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:

  • Who is the competition? 
  • What do they do best? 
  • What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.

Questions to answer in this section are as follows:

  • What is the product or service?
  • How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:

  • Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
  • What channels will you use to reach your target market?
  • What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
  • If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
  • How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts. 

Start by answering the following questions:

  • What is the sales strategy?
  • What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
  • What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
  • What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
  • What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:

  • How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
  • How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
  • What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years. 

While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:

  • How and when will the company first generate a profit?
  • How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

Business Plan Template

Download Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.

For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy. 

If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.

Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .

  • Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. 
  • Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision. 
  • Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
  • Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
  • Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
  • Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
  • Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
  • Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
  • Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
  • Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel |  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.

Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.

While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:

  • Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
  • List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
  • Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
  • Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
  • Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
  • Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
  • Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
  • Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Lean Business Plan Templates for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.

See our wide variety of  startup business plan templates for more options.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.

In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.

Download free financial templates to support your business plan.

Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.

  • Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
  • Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
  • Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
  • Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
  • Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.

Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.

“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”

Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.

Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships. 

Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Tips For Your Author Business Plan With Joanna Penn

posted on December 14, 2020

Podcast: Download (Duration: 48:14 — 39.4MB)

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You are an author. You turn ideas into reality in the shape of a book.

You turn the thoughts in your head into valuable intellectual property assets. You understand how powerful the written word can be. Now it's time to use your words to create a business plan to take your writing career to the next level — whatever that means for your situation.

In this episode, I share some chapters from my new book, Your Author Business Plan , available now.

sample business plan for writers

In the intro, Bob Dylan sold his song catalogue for $300 million [ The Guardian ] and thoughts on how streaming is impacting revenues [ Financial Times ]; Spotify and blockchain [ Musically ]; Daniel Ek interview [ Tim Ferriss Podcast ]; China's AI audiobook narration in the author's voice [BBC]; Tiktok's owner Bytedance launches an app with AI-narrated audiobooks [RadiiChina].

Google’s next Android update will expand audiobook availability on Google Play Books by auto-generating AI narrations for books that don’t offer an audio version [ Techcrunch ]. It's already available for public domain books. [ Google Play Books ]. Plus, Orna Ross and I talk about our Mistakes, Failures and Setbacks on the author journey [ Ask ALLi podcast ].

sample business plan for writers

Your Author Business Plan: Take Your Author Career to the Next Level is out now in ebook, paperback, large print, and companion workbook editions. Plus, you can get the audiobook directly from me, and available in the other stores in January. You can get 50% off any of my audiobooks and ebooks if you buy direct from me – Payhip.com/thecreativepenn – coupon: DEC20

Here's how to apply the coupon correctly if you're unsure . Plus, I have made Successful Self-Publishing free as an ebook and an audiobook so you can give the Bookfunnel audiobook app a try for free. It could be a gamechanger for selling audio direct.

On this episode, I share two chapters from my [human-narrated!] audiobook, which starts at 26 mins if you want to jump straight to it.

  • What is a business plan?
  • Business summary and big picture goals
  • Marketing Strategy. Author eco-system

Here are the chapters of the audiobook featured in the episode. You can find links to Your Author Business Plan in all formats here and at the bottom of the page.

What is a business plan? [6:22 mins]

A ‘business plan’ might seem like a dry, soulless document — the complete opposite to the creative words that you pour onto the page for your books. But think again.

Business is creative

Look around you. People working in some kind of business created much of what you see. Business creates jobs and meaningful work. It fuels income and enables money to flow between people. It turns ideas into reality.

If you can reframe business as creative, then you can also reframe your business plan that way. You are actively shaping your future writing career, and what could be more creative than that!

If you can articulate what you want, you can turn it into reality

You might think you know what you want to achieve and how to do that, but when you try to write it down, you may well discover that your thought process is fuzzy and you haven’t quite worked out what you want to say. That happens with our books, and will likely happen with your business plan, but the very act of writing it down will help make it clearer.

You’ll discover where you’re being over-ambitious, or over-complicating things, or trying to do too much based on the time you have. You’ll also find aspects that will challenge you and help you face the fears that are part of every creative life.

You’ll also consider the reasons behind what you want. So often we plow ahead into busy tasks and getting things done without ensuring that our actions will lead us to an endpoint we want to pursue.

Writing your plan down will also help you to turn it into reality, because you will have to articulate what you want to achieve. As you go through this book, don’t just answer the questions in your head. Write them down and turn your plan into words. You might be surprised by what you find.

A business plan has a high-level strategic focus

Your business plan will have a section on the books you’re going to write, but it won’t detail how you will actually write them. It will have a section on publishing, but it won’t include the steps for how to publish a book.

Your plan should be high-level. Think of yourself physically rising high above and looking down on your author business as it is now and where you want it to be in the future. You can’t see all the detail from high up, but you can see more strategically than if you’re down in the weeds.

A business plan is more than a goal … or a dream

I have a dream to see at least one of my novels turned into TV or film. This is a pretty common dream for fiction authors! A dream is something that you would love to achieve, but there are so many things out of your control that even if you do everything ‘right,’ it still may not happen. You can dream of being a brand name author like JK Rowling or Stephen King or Yuval Noah Harari, but there is no guarantee that you can achieve it.

A goal is something that could be achieved if you take consistent action toward it for the long term

I have a goal to become an award-winning author, recognized by my peers for the quality of my craft. At the time of writing this book, I am award-nominated. I made the final five for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Ebook Original in 2017. I sat in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City, on the edge of my seat as my name was read out as a finalist. I didn’t win, but I keep taking steps toward this goal.

I focus on improving my craft, and I write the best thrillers I can. I work with professional editors and continue to submit my books to awards. I cannot include “Win an ITW award” on my business plan, because it is ultimately out of my control, but I can include, “Write the next thriller” or “Invest in a craft course to learn more about endings,” or, “Allocate $X for editorial feedback.” Of course, if I achieve the goal of award-winning author, I may well take a step closer to my dream of seeing my novel turned into a film or TV series. These steps compound over time as we improve the craft and the business.

Make sure your business plan includes practical steps toward your goals rather than dreams that are out of your control.

A business plan can be in any format

You’re not going to present this to a bank manager. You're not pitching for funding and you don’t need to justify anything to anybody. You don’t have to share this with your significant other, your writing group or the internet. This is for you, so your business plan can be whatever you want it to be.

You can draw it with colored pens or make a collage, or you can use a spreadsheet. You can hand-write it in a journal, or you can type it into a document. You can use the downloadable template included with the book or you can use the Companion Workbook available in print . Whatever works for you.

A business plan is a living document

You're not going to make one business plan for the rest of your life. Whatever you think you want, it will inevitably change as your writing career progresses, the market shifts, and your life develops. Start where you are and expect it to change.

Make sure you date your plan and keep the historical versions. It's always interesting to look back and wonder, “why did I want to do that?” Inevitably, something will make sense to you at the time, but later on, you might change your mind so it’s good to keep track of your reasons why.

  • Why do you want to create one for your author business? Why will you spend time on this?

Chapter 1.2 Business Summary and Big Picture Goals [8 mins]

In this section, you will summarize your author business in a succinct way. This helps to frame the entire business plan. Some people might call this a mission statement, but you might prefer to consider it as a direction or a guiding principle.

Even though this is a short section in the plan, it’s similar to a book description in that it can be the hardest part. You might need to write a lot of words before you truly articulate what you want, so give it a go and then circle back once you’ve completed the other sections, as your answers later may inform this part.

Before you write your business summary, you need to consider some big questions.

What is your ‘why’?

Why do you want an author business, anyway?

Why is writing more than just a hobby for you? (Since no one ever does a business plan for their hobby!)

If you want to “make some money,” consider the reason behind that.

Personally, my author business is about giving me the freedom to choose what I create, how I spend my time, where I live, and where I travel now and into the future. It means I am truly independent. I want income to fund my creative lifestyle now and also fund my investments for the future so I can keep on creating for the long term.

I also have a deep need to be useful, as many people do, and the non-fiction side of my business fulfills that need and helps my community.

What is your core life value?

This is a huge question but if you can articulate this, it will guide so much of what you do, in both your creative business and your life. It might also help you to understand why you might be unhappy and unsatisfied in other areas.

Examples of values include family, loyalty, faith, honesty, sustainability, and optimism. You can find lists of values online if you’re struggling.

Of course, we all have multiple values, never just one. List as many as you think apply to you and then spend some time moving them up and down. Be honest about what is the most important in your hierarchy. It will help you to decide the direction of your business.

Freedom is my highest value, with the associated aspect of independence, and this shapes many of the decisions I make in business and also in my personal life. Before doing something, I ask, “Will this give me more freedom or less? Will this help fuel my independence or will it leave me trapped in the future?”

You might have used this values list in creating characters if you write fiction. It’s an incredibly powerful tool because values shape behavior and actions, which all have consequences. A positive value can also become a fatal flaw, and believe me, I know this well! For example, if you take freedom and independence too far, you might never collaborate or work with other people, you might never enter a long-term relationship, or ask for help if you need it.

It’s obvious how this value has shaped my business plan over the last decade, but yours will probably be different. For example, a business plan based on the core value of Family might favor income streams that don’t require being away from home; or a core value of Status might focus on pitching a prestigious agent or aiming for a literary prize. Only you can decide what’s most important.

Who do you serve?

A business makes money by selling customers what they want to buy. This might seem obvious, but many authors don’t think about readers until they have finished a book and want to market it. If you think about this upfront, it will help you with your business plan, but of course, I know from experience that my creative muse does not want to be put into a box!

If you know your target market already, brilliant! Include that in this section. If you’re not quite sure, then we’ll go into more detail in chapter 1.4 Comparison authors and reader avatar , which is mainly focused on books, but the principles also apply if you’re offering services, courses, or other products.

  • What will you say “no” to?

At the beginning of your author career, you will probably say “yes” to everything and try all kinds of creative projects and marketing techniques. That’s a great way to start, especially if you’re a multi-passionate creator, as I am.

But as you go through your author journey, tasks will proliferate and expand and you may find yourself overwhelmed by all the things you decided to start: Multiple series of books in different genres, different marketing channels with various audiences, and so on.

At some point, you have to start saying no. If you create boundaries with your high-level business plan, it will help you to say no to the things that aren’t important for your overall life value and goals.

For example, I went down the rabbit hole of screenwriting for a few years. I've written a couple of screenplays. I've been to conferences and paid for courses. I've interviewed screenwriters on my podcast. Screenwriting is an incredible skill, and it’s helped my writing craft in terms of story structure, but being a screenwriter is a completely different career and it’s not something I want to focus on. When I’m tempted to work on a screenplay, I look at my “no” list and get back to writing another book.

Create your business summary

Now it’s time to write a succinct summary that encapsulates your business. You might have several, for example, by author brand, as the purpose might be different. Here are mine as examples.

The Creative Penn empowers authors with the knowledge they need to choose their creative future. Books and courses by Joanna Penn, as well as The Creative Penn Podcast , provide information and inspiration on how to write, publish, and market books, and make a living as a writer.

J.F. Penn provides escape and entertainment for lovers of thriller and dark fantasy through books, associated media, and the Books and Travel Podcast .

Both summaries reflect my core value of freedom, and they include my target market as well as my main products. They also underpin my financial and creative goals.

In order to facilitate freedom and independence, my primary business goal is to create multiple-six-figure revenue streams from different aspects of the business so it’s resilient against market changes. I also have a goal to win an award where peers judge my creative work, and that can only be achieved by writing more books, the heart of both brands.

I know it’s a difficult task, but as with a book description, start by writing a rough draft and hone it down until you’re happy — with the knowledge that you can change it later!

  • What is your why? Why do you want an author business, anyway?
  • What is your core life value? Or your top three, if you’re struggling with one.
  • How are you currently living this value? How could you move closer to it?
  • Who do you serve? Who is your target market?
  • What is your business summary, by author brand if applicable?

Chapter 3.1 Marketing Strategy. Author eco-system [6:20 mins]

You cannot publish a book and just expect it to sell. That’s not the reality of life in the 2020s. There are so many millions of books and a multitude of other options through podcasts, TV, film, gaming, and music that you need to draw attention to your work somehow.

Marketing is the act of promoting your books, products, or services and although many authors resist it, marketing is an integral part of the writing life and therefore critical for your business plan.

There are lots of different ways to market your books and build your author platform, which I cover extensively in How to Market a Book , but in this section, try to rise above the detail of tactics and consider a high-level view of your author ecosystem.

What is an ecosystem and why do you need one?

An ecosystem is basically a network, and in this context, it’s all the things that work together for your brand. This is sometimes called your author platform and includes all the ways that you can reach your readers.

If you build an ecosystem for your books, it will become much easier to manage marketing and sales over time because it will all work together in the background as you continue to write and increase your body of work. You can add in short-term advertising to the mix, but a robust ecosystem can underpin your career over the long-term.

My non-fiction ecosystem for Joanna Penn

The central hub is my website, TheCreativePenn.com. For more than a decade, I’ve created articles, videos and my podcast as marketing content that bring people to the site. 99% of the content is free and the business model is based on a percentage of those people buying something or clicking on an affiliate link at some point.

My email sign-up offer, the free Author Blueprint , provides me with a steady stream of new contacts, essential for an online business, and I have an autoresponder series leading people into more useful content. I’ve used this same call to action for over a decade, but I update the material every six months to ensure it remains relevant.

I have books, courses, tutorials, and tools that provide value to my community, all linked from the website and within the emails and content that I produce.

I own and control my intellectual property assets, and I pay for premium hosting, so I own and control my website. But of course, your ecosystem has to be more than just your own website. You need to take advantage of the opportunities to reach customers with your books and marketing content on other sites.

The most common examples are:

  • Publishing sites like Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Google, Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark, Findaway Voices, and more. These sites ensure that my books are available in every format, in every country.
  • Podcasting platforms like Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, and more to reach listeners
  • Video platforms like YouTube and Facebook Live
  • Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and others
  • Advertising platforms like Facebook Ads, BookBub, and Amazon Marketing

Think of these as ‘outposts,’ places where you can reach customers but that you do not own or control. Over the years, these platforms have changed their terms and conditions and authors have had to adapt. For example, both Amazon and Facebook have shifted from organic reach to ‘pay for play’ in the last few years in terms of advertising.

These sites are part of the author ecosystem, but the goal should always be to drive people back to your main site and sign up to your email list so you can control the relationship over time.

My fiction ecosystem for J.F. Penn

The central hub is my website, www.JFPenn.com , which has pages for each of my books with links to the various stores and how to buy direct, as well as an email sign-up for my free ebook offer at www.JFPenn.com/free

I have an email autoresponder series that introduces readers to my books and after a period of time, includes an offer to be part of my Pennfriends team for Advanced Review Copies of my new books.

I include some content on the site, like videos from my research, but my main content marketing activity is my Books and Travel Podcast , which has a call to action for my free thriller. I use the same outposts as non-fiction, with the publishing sites being the primary focus for book sales.

Design an ecosystem for the long term

If you’re just starting out, it's hard to imagine creating such an ecosystem, but if you think about it strategically early on, you can build something that will last.

If you’re further into the author journey, then consider what your ecosystem looks like right now. Start with where you are and consider what you want your ecosystem to look like in five or ten years’ time, and take action toward that.

  • What does your author ecosystem look like now?
  • What do you currently own and control?
  • If you carry on as you are for the next five years, or ten years, what will your ecosystem look like?
  • What do you need to change to ensure it works for you over the long term?

Available now in ebook, paperback, large print, and workbook editions. You can also buy the audiobook directly from me now, and it will be on the various audio platforms in early 2021.

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Buy ebook direct from me!

sample business plan for writers

Reader Interactions

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December 17, 2020 at 1:01 pm

I’m diving back into writing for the first time after a 3-year hiatus, and this is great! I do have a hard time balancing my non-fiction (via an active blog and coaching group online) with my passion writing (lots of sci-fi and fantasy), and I’ve never tried to schedule a plan that would incorporate both. I might give that a go!

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Freelance Writing Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Freelance Writing Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their freelance writing companies.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a freelance writing business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a freelance writing business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your freelance writing business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a freelance writing business or grow your existing freelance writing company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your freelance writing business to improve your chances of success. Your freelance writing business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Freelance Writing Businesses

With regard to funding, the main sources of funding for a freelance writing business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for freelance writing companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a freelance writing business.

If you want to start a freelance writing business or expand your current freelance writing business, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your freelance writing business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of freelance writing business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a freelance writing business that you would like to grow, or are you operating freelance writing and formatting businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

  • Give a brief overview of the freelance writing industry.
  • Discuss the type of freelance writing business you are operating.
  • Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
  • Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
  • Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of freelance writing business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of freelance writing businesses:

  • Copywriting: Copywriting is focused on marketing materials to encourage a target audience to make a purchase; it is compelling and focused writing that leads consumers to a decision.
  • Grant writing: Grant writing is focused on the art of persuasion, typically noting the needs of a non-profit company and then offering the solution via the services or products of the non-profit company. Grant writing requires research and a storyline that compels readers to provide funding for worthy public or private projects.
  • Technical freelance writing: A technical freelance writer is focused on user manuals, product documentation, and instructional guides. This type of writing demands expertise in vocabulary and precision in writing.
  • Resume/Cover Letter freelance writing: One of the major reasons freelance writers are hired is the on-going need for creative, yet comprehensive resumes and/or cover letters. Almost every person seeking employment today will look for a writer to take on the task of creating compelling content in the form of a winning resume.

In addition to explaining the type of freelance writing business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, the amount of revenue during the past six months, opening a design and formatting business to support the freelance writing business, etc.
  • Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the freelance writing industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the freelance writing industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your freelance writing business plan:

  • How big is the freelance writing industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your freelance writing business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your freelance writing business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, businesses, charitable foundations and  government agencies.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of freelance writing business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than government agencies, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regard to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other freelance writing businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes companies that provide templates, forms, or computer-generated materials. You need to mention such competition, as well.

For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

  • What types of customers do they serve?
  • What type of freelance writing business are they?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What sets their business apart from others?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And, don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide options for 24/7 service or 2-hour turnaround times?
  • Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
  • Will you provide better customer service?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a freelance writing business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of freelance writing company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide full-package curriculum vitae completion for C-suite executives?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your freelance writing company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your freelance writing business located in a corporate complex where customers can meet in-person with you to discuss projects? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your freelance writing marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertise in local papers and/or magazines
  • Reach out to websites
  • Distribute direct mail pieces to your target audience
  • Engage in email marketing
  • Advertise on social media platforms
  • Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) with target keywords on your website

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your freelance writing business, including answering calls, planning and researching subject matter, paying invoices, contacting customers, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your freelance writing business to a second resume-writing service.

Management Team

To demonstrate your freelance writing business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing freelance writing businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But, also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a freelance writing business or successfully running a copywriting department in a large corporation.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve more than ten customers per month, and/or offer special pricing for projects over 20,000 pages in length? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your freelance writing business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit, but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a freelance writing business:

  • Cost of computer and printer equipment
  • Cost of furnishings
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, office supplies and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan, along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or a list of high-profile resources you can access and include in your writing categories.

Writing a business plan for your freelance writing business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the freelance writing industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful freelance writing business.

Freelance Writing Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my freelance writing business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your freelance writing business plan.

How Do You Start a Freelance Writing Business?

Starting a Freelance Writing business is easy with these 14 steps:

  • Choose the Name for Your Freelance Writing Business
  • Create Your Freelance Writing Business Plan
  • Choose the Legal Structure for Your Freelance Writing Business
  • Secure Startup Funding for Your Freelance Writing Business (If Needed)
  • Secure a Location for Your Business
  • Register Your Freelance Writing Business with the IRS
  • Open a Business Bank Account
  • Get a Business Credit Card
  • Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
  • Get Business Insurance for Your Freelance Writing Business
  • Buy or Lease the Right Freelance Writing Business Equipment
  • Develop Your Freelance Writing Business Marketing Materials
  • Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Freelance Writing Business
  • Open for Business

Where Can I Download a Free Business Plan Template PDF?

Click here to download the pdf version of our basic business plan template.

Our free business plan template pdf allows you to see the key sections to complete in your plan and the key questions that each must answer. The business plan pdf will definitely get you started in the right direction.

We do offer a premium version of our business plan template. Click here to learn more about it. The premium version includes numerous features allowing you to quickly and easily create a professional business plan. Its most touted feature is its financial projections template which allows you to simply enter your estimated sales and growth rates, and it automatically calculates your complete five-year financial projections including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. Here’s the link to our Ultimate Business Plan Template.

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Freelance Writing business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s business planning advisors can create your business plan for you.

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How to Write a Business Plan Complete Guide

Business Plan Template

Free Business Plan Template

Paresh Balar

  • January 3, 2024

24 Min Read

how to write a business plan

Welcome to the journey of entrepreneurship . You are here because you have a great business idea and want to know how to write a business plan to convert that idea into reality.

Before you start writing your business plan, let’s understand What is a business plan? Why do you need one in the first place? And What should you include in your business plan?

Table of Contents

  • What is a business plan?
  • Why do you need a business plan?
  • What to include in your business plan?

Business Plan Outline

  • Key things to remember
  • How to write a business plan?

Let’s get started with an important question.

What is a Business Plan?

In simple words, a business plan is a document that outlines your business goals and details how you plan to achieve those goals. It is a living document that will prove to you and the rest of the world that your idea is not just a dream but can be a viable reality.

Also, it will help investors learn about your business, and vision, and convince them that your business idea is worth investing in. Your business plan will provide concrete evidence that your business idea is sound and has every chance of success.

Your business plan is the backbone of your business.

What Should You Include in Your Business Plan?

Every business idea and plan is unique in its terms. You should include all the details that explain your business idea in the best possible way. However, there are a few elements that every entrepreneur should include in their business plan.

The following is a full guide for creating a comprehensive business plan. We’ll first list out the sections that must be included in the business plan and in the later part, we’ll explain what should be added to each section:

Business Plan Cover Page

  • Executive Summary
  • Company Overview
  • Problem Analysis
  • Products & Services
  • Product Features
  • Market Overview
  • Market Size
  • Target Customers
  • Customer Needs
  • Direct Competitors
  • Indirect Competitors

Competitive Advantages

Swot analysis.

  • Promotions Plan
  • Distribution Plan
  • Key Operational Processes

Management Team

  • Management Team Gaps
  • Board Members
  • Revenue Model
  • Financial Highlights
  • Funding Requirements
  • Use of Funds
  • Exit Strategy
  • Appendix – Supporting Documentation

Now you are ready to write your business plan, let’s understand in detail how you can write your business plan and what you should include in each element of the business plan.

business plan cover page

The business plan cover page is the first and most important part of the business plan because it will create the first impact and will set the platform for how investors or readers will engage with your business plan.

Just by looking at the business plan cover page, an investor or reader can get a quick idea about the purpose of your business idea and business plan.

However, many entrepreneurs do not pay enough attention to the cover page, which is their biggest mistake.

business plan table of contents

In any document, the business plan table of contents provides a quick overview and works as navigation to navigate across the document. The same does for a business plan as well.

A table of contents is important to provide a quick overview of the sections that you have included in your business plan and help readers to navigate to the section that interests them the most. If investors are excited about a particular part of the business plan first, they will find the table of contents extremely useful in finding the relevant sections within the business plan.

Usually, the table of contents needs to be added at the start of the document and just after the business plan cover page.

Here’s a Quick Overview of Each Key Chapter:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is the first section of your business plan. However, the executive summary is always written at last as it is a brief introduction to your business plan and a summary of your entire business plan document.

A good executive summary should answer the following basic questions:

  • What are you trying to achieve with your business idea?
  • Why is your business idea important? and
  • How are you going to achieve your business goals?

Generally, a good executive summary should include the following details:

  • A brief description of the problems you will be solving
  • Summary of your business goals & vision
  • Products or services you are going to offer
  • A solid description of the market you are targeting
  • A quick look at your competition and your competitive advantages
  • A basic financial projection of your revenue, expenses, and profits
  • Your funding requirements (if any) and how you will be using that funds.

It does seem like lots of details are required to write a good executive summary but at the same time, it is important to get it right because if your summary does not clearly explain how you will solve a customer problem and make a profit, then investors or readers might not find it worth reading.

Most of the investors just read the executive summary and decide if they should read the rest of the business plan or not. So make your efforts count in this part of the business plan.

In short, write your executive summary in such a way that readers would want to turn the page and keep on reading.

Always remember, that a good executive summary should not be more than one or two pages long. However, in some cases, it can be longer if there is an absolute requirement.

2. Company Overview

The company overview section provides a brief history of your company if it already exists. However, if you are starting a new business, here you will need to write about yourself, your achievements, and how you will set up and form your business as a company.

Here you need to answer questions such as how and when your company was formed, what type of legal entity you are, and what are your achievements to date. Your past journey and achievements are the best sign of your possible future success, so make sure to include all the important milestones you or your company have achieved to date.

As a startup, your company overview can be very much short, so focus on your personal history, achievements, and the journey that led you to start your business in the first place. Sharing your original idea is important because it shows how you think and how you were able to craft your idea into a business.

Even if you are just starting, your educational background, professional experience, achievements, and the details of your best business idea can give potential investors a vision of what you are trying to achieve.

Have a look at this company overview example

  • Starbucks company profile
  • Puma company page

3. Problem Analysis

You have started the business because you have identified the unique problem that customers are facing and in this section, you just need to explain that problem.

The problem statement section can be explained with three simple questions.

  • Whom does the problem affect?
  • What are the causes of the problem?
  • Why is it important to fix it?

When you write your problem statement, just describe how bigger the problem is and why it is most important to fix it. Also, there might be multiple problems you will be solving, but always try to focus on the main problem because you don’t win on the number of problems you solve; you win on how well you solve a specific problem .

While writing the business plan, most entrepreneurs focus on the solution they are going to offer, and in that process, they forget to explain the actual importance of the problem. Remember the more accurately you will explain the problem, the more valuable the solution will be.

Remember to keep the problem statement as simple as possible and should be self-explanatory. Also, it is good to include the key statistics that explain the severity of the problem.

After you explain the problem, it is also important to describe the world once a particular problem will be solved and that will set the stage to introduce the solution you are proposing.

4. The Solution

Business Plan Solution Section

The solution section is also called the product & services section . In this section, you will need to define your best-proposed solution to the problem you explained in the previous problem analysis section.

Your solution details should be as simple as possible. It is not recommended to use too many technical or industry details while writing about your product details. Keep in mind your readers will not have the same education or technical background as you.

The length of this section will depend on the nature of your business. for example, if your business is product-focused and the product is relatively new in the market, then you should write more about the product, its design, its features, etc. However, if your business is relatively common like selling bicycles or restaurant business and you are planning to compete with better pricing or customer service then you probably don’t need to write more about products.

If your product is hard to explain it’s a good idea to include a picture. Also, if you are planning to expand your business and will come with new products or services in the future, then you can mention those details here as well.

Your product or service pricing should be mentioned here in this section. Apply the right pricing strategy to set the best pricing for your product or services. Also, if you have any product patents, copyrights, licenses, etc then add those details here in this section.

In short, your solution section should answer the following common questions:

  • Your products or services are currently under development or already available?
  • If not available, what will be the timeline for delivering products and services to the market?
  • How are your products or services different from the competition?
  • How will you get your products? Are you the manufacturer or do you purchase products from suppliers or wholesalers?

When you write this product and services section, think of your reader as a person who knows little to nothing about your business. so make it as simple as possible.

5. Market Analysis

Before you start your business, it is essential to check if there is a viable market available for the products or services you are planning to offer, and that makes market research the most critical and key to success for any business.

In simple words, market analysis is studying the industry your business will operate in, the size of the industry, and its trend & direction (growing, stable, or in decline).

The market analysis consists of main three parts:

  • Market Overview: This is a general overview of the industry. In this part, you will need to describe the current position of the industry, market trends, and where it is heading. Also, you can write about your knowledge and experience in the industry.
  • Target Market: In this part, you will need to be more specific about the segment of the market that will use your products or services. Not everyone from the industry will use your product or services, so it is important to find the right audience for your product. (For example, if you are starting a veg restaurant in the town, then all the people from town will not visit your restaurant. The only people who prefer and eat veg food will be your target customers).
  • Market Size: Market size is all about finding how many potential customers are there for your product or service. Here you will need to show some statistics about the size of the industry (e.g., total U.S. sales in the last year) and its growth rate over the last few years.

The main objective of the market analysis is to identify the opportunities and risks associated with the business. It will also help you to understand how you should prepare your marketing strategy , where you should invest in terms of marketing efforts, and avoid making the wrong decisions.

With market analysis, you can identify the market entry barrier, and market needs, and estimate the market attractiveness from a financial standpoint.

6. Customer Analysis

Once you complete your market analysis, it’s time to identify the customers and needs of customers who are going to use your product or services, and this process is called customer analysis . Customer analysis is a key element of any successful marketing plan, as well as your overall business plan.

Customer analysis is critical for any business to succeed because if you do not know who is going to your offerings, and what your customers want, no business can succeed.

Now that you know customer analysis is that important, it is time to learn how you can perform strong customer analysis.

Customer analysis consists of main three parts:

  • Demographics: Age, Sex, Ethnicity, Income, Family, Occupation, etc.
  • Geographic: Location (Neighbourhood, Region, Urban/Rural, Online)
  • Psychographic: Lifestyle, Personality, etc
  • Interests: Hobbies, Activities, etc
  • Growth: Size of the target customers and whether they are growing, shrinking, or stable.

It’s up to you what is the best way to get this information for your business. However, some practical methods include customer surveys, existing customer data analysis, social media listening, or talking with your customer support team.

  • Identify your customer’s needs: Once you identify who your customers are, it’s important to understand their needs as well, and the answer to this question should be your offering.
  • Explain how your product or services will meet those needs: Now that you know your target customers and what they need, it’s time to explain your products or services’ benefits. In this part, list out the key features of your products or services that will fulfill customers’ needs, explain the benefits of your offerings, and the outcome customers can expect by using your products or services.

Keep in mind, that a strong customer analysis must answer these three key questions:

  • Who are your customers?
  • What do they need?
  • How do your products or services meet those needs?

sample business plan for writers

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7. Competitive Analysis

Business Plan Competitive Analysis Section

Competitive analysis is all about finding your competitors, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, products and services, pricing, social media presence, marketing & sales strategy, etc.

Your competitors can be categorized into two classes:

  • Direct Competitors: Direct competitors are the ones who provide the same solution as you do. For example, if you operate an Italian restaurant, other restaurants that serve Italian food will be your direct competitors. In this section of your business plan, outline who your direct competitors are, and add their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Indirect Competitors: Indirect competitors are the ones who do not provide the same solution as you do. However, solve the same customer problem as you do. For example, if you operate an Italian restaurant, a Mexican or Spanish restaurant would be an indirect competitor. In this section of your business plan, outline who your indirect competitors are, and add their strengths and weaknesses.

Once you identify who your competitors are, it’s time to explain how different and superior you are compared to them and that will be the competitive advantage section of your business plan .

competitive advantages

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Her strengths and weaknesses are subjective to your business which you can control and change like business location, pricing, uniqueness, etc. While opportunities and threats are external that are running outside your business, in the larger market. However, you can take advantage of opportunities and defend your business against potential threats, but you can’t change them.

It is always best if the business owners perform a SWOT analysis themselves. This task is not something that you should assign to someone else. A precise SWOT analysis will allow you to measure your strengths and weaknesses against the opportunities and threats in your business environment.

Once your SWOT analysis is ready, it will help you to form a strategy to achieve your business goals.

sample business plan for writers

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8. Marketing Plan

Now that you have explained your products or services and identified who is going to use those products or services, it is time to let your customers know about your products or services. And for this, you will have to plan strategy, and that planning you will need to explain in this section.

Your marketing plan can be divided into the following sections:

  • Pricing: Explain your product or service pricing here in this section. Mainly, discuss how you finalized your pricing and how your pricing is better than the competition. Also, discuss if it’s low-cost or premium offerings and how your pricing supports it. This will ensure investors also that you have finalized your pricing with proper research.
  • Promotional Plan: In this section, talk about your marketing activities and strategies that you will execute to attract your customers. It is always great to have some unique selling propositions (USP). However, Unique selling propositions should be short and self-explanatory. For example, Domino’s Pizza’s USP is “We deliver hot, fresh pizza in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free.” Also, discuss your other marketing or promotional activities that may include discount offers for early customers, media or online advertisements, product launches or social events, radio newspaper or magazine ads, affiliate or referral programs, etc. In this section, you can also write about your customer relation and support team and how they will work to retain your existing customers.
  • Distribution Plan: The main purpose of your marketing plan is that customers to buy your products or services. So it is important to explain how they can buy your products or services. Your distribution plan will include all details about your distribution channel, sales channel & strategy, and payment policies.

Once you complete writing your marketing plan , make sure your marketing plan answers these key questions.

  • What will be the pricing of your offerings?
  • How will you reach out to your target customers?
  • How will you retain your customers to buy from you repeatedly?
  • How and from where customers can buy your products and services?

Your marketing plan can be 7-8 pages long. However, while writing your business plan, make sure you do not go into details and try to keep it as simple as possible. You can separately write your marketing plan for internal purposes.?

9. Operations Plan

Your operation plan will explain how you will manufacture your product and run your business. It can include a lot of details depending on your business. For example, if you are in the production business, you will want to include all the information about how you will get raw materials, and equipment, build your products and ship them.

However, it is not recommended to include all these details while writing the operations section of your business plan . You should include only major details that you think will give you a competitive advantage or are important for your readers.

An operations plan is useful for internal purposes as it will help your team to understand their roles to achieve your business goals. However, it will help investors also to learn how you will run your business to make your business succeed.

Business Plan Management Team Section

The management team should be the easiest section of your business plan because, in this section, you will need to write about yourself and your core team members who will run the business.

Always remember, that businesses’ success will depend on the team who is running them. So you must write this section carefully and convince your readers or investors that you are the best person to execute and run this business.

Many investors believe it is not the business that succeeds, it is the team that makes the business successful. In fact, in some cases, investors have funded start-ups mainly based on the team who will run the business.

The ultimate guide to starting a business

In this section, list out important details of core team members like name, position in the company, contact information, qualifications, past experiences, achievements, etc.

You can also mention any management gaps present in your organization and when you are planning to fill those gaps. You can also mention if there is an advisory team or board of members who might not work in your organization but will advise you from outside.

10. Financial Plan

Business Plan Finance Section

The financial section of the business plan is the most important component of the business plan. Whatever you will write in the business plan will be conceptual until you do not add some numbers to support it.

Have a financial plan if you want to secure outside funding from investors or bank loans from financial institutes. Even if you do not need funds, it is always helpful to have a financial forecast to achieve your business goals and make your business successful. Financial forecasting will give you a clear idea of whether your business is viable or not.

Your financial plan will include the following sections.

  • Revenue Model: The main purpose of this section is to explain the different revenue streams of your business. Do you sell products?  Do you provide services? Do you provide third-party advertisements? Or do you sell all of the above? It is equally important to update this revenue model section, once you start generating revenue. Use the revenue model as a living document to improve your plans. Focus on revenue streams that work best, while changing your approach to those that aren’t doing well.
  • Financial Highlights: Include financial reports like cash flow, balance sheet, profit & loss, projected revenue, expenses, etc.
  • Funds Needed: This section is required if you are looking for funds to run your business operations. Before you directly request funds, it is good to explain your current financial situation, how much you have already invested, and how much funds you already have secured. Once you explain your current financial position, it is time to explain what type of funding you are looking for. What are your preferred options to secure funds? It is important to update this section once you secure funding.
  • Use of Funds: Once you explain how many funds you are looking for, it’s time to explain how you will use those funds. You will use it to hire new talents, expand your operations, pay your existing debts, or buy new equipment. If you are going to use funds for multiple things, mention each and also mention how much funds you are going to spend for each thing. Investors or financial institutes usually approve funds if they have a clear idea about how you are going to use your money.
  • Exit Strategy: If you are looking for equity funding, it is important to have an exit strategy. A common exit strategy includes selling your company to a larger firm (acquisitions), selling or diluting your ownership, initial public offering (IPO), etc. If you have such plans, provide a detailed explanation of them in this section.

With upmetrics, business financial forecasting is easy and fun. Once you add your data, the system will generate all required reports automatically. Later you can embed those reports into your business plan. learn more about the upmetrics financial planning feature .

11. Supporting Documentation (Appendix)

Adding supporting documents is not a mandatory section in your business plan. However, it is important to add the documents which you think can convince investors that your business will succeed.

These documents can include achievements, product patents, awards, financial statements, resumes of key team members, legal agreements, product or organization pictures, etc. These documents can help readers understand your story clearly and concisely.

Once you write your business plan, it is equally important to update your business plan as your business grows. Keep in mind, that a business plan is not just a document but it is a roadmap of your business.

Things to Consider Before Writing a Business Plan

Now before you start the actual writing of your business plan and learn what to include in each section of the business plan, there are some key concepts that you must keep in mind and rules that you should follow during the entire business planning process .

Key things to remember while creating business plan

1. Keep it short

Don’t you want your business plan to be read by your investors? Remember, many investors do not like to read a long business plan.

In this competitive time, no one has time to go through a 100-page long document. A typical 20-25 pages should be fine for any standard business plan. A well-written business plan ensures to communicate your message to your potential investors effectively.

However, if your business idea is a completely new kind of business or even a new industry, it may need quite a bit of writing to get the message across.

Your business plan writing purpose will decide how long your business plan should be . If you are writing your business plan to seek millions of funding, then you might need a lengthy and detailed business plan. A short business plan would work if you are looking to expand your business.

2. Be realistic and creative

Do not consider your business idea as your baby. Be realistic and honest with yourself while writing your business plan, and always try to add facts and realistic details of your business idea.

Also, your business plan should grab your reader’s attention quickly. Be creative while designing your business plan cover page and writing any important details in your business plan.

When it comes to the formatting of the business plan, make sure to use bullet points, images, and charts. Also, highlight the key points or metrics that you want readers to focus on. It helps bring your idea to life. Plus, it will keep your readers focused on reading.

3. You should be able to change it as the business grows

Most businesses start with a business plan, and once written, it’s never revisited. Never make that mistake. Your business plan should be treated as a working document that should be developed as your business grows.

For example, you might want to update your business plan as per the changing trends for a new round of funding or you might want to update it to counter unexpected problems like the COVID crisis. In a nutshell, keep your plan alive!

Why Do You Need a Business Plan?

Some entrepreneurs have achieved tremendous success without writing a business plan with their past experiences, less competition, or maybe by luck.

But the fact is, that many entrepreneurs have failed as well. It is just that we learn more about success stories only.

So, does writing a business plan guarantee success? Of course Not.

But, the business plan is your companion on your entrepreneurship journey. It will help you and your team understand the problems and the competition you will encounter in your journey. It will keep you and your entire team in sync and on the right path to achieving your business goals and success.

Click here to download how to write a business plan pdf

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About the Author

sample business plan for writers

Paresh Balar is the co-founder of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He loves sharing his thoughts on business and financial planning and its challenges through his blog posts. Read more

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

Bizee

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

sample business plan for writers

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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Freelance Writing Company Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » B2B Sector

Are you about starting a freelance writing company? If YES, here is a complete sample freelance writing business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a freelance writing company . We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample freelance writing company marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for freelance writing companies. So let’s proceed to the business planning section .

Earning good income from running a freelance writing company or content mill is within the grasp of any intelligent and serious-minded person.

It is very possible to become either a full-time freelance writer, or to be a part-time freelancer supplementing a regular paid income. Another way is to simply do it for fun or to build up a broader portfolio of skills. You can indeed turn your writing hobby into a career that doesn’t affect your day job.

Be launching this type of business, you have to make certain that you are comfortable with writing, be certain that you can express yourself with ease and clarity, and that it is something you don’t mind doing almost every single day of your life without respite.

If you don’t already have writing qualifications, consider doing a college degree in journalism or English, or taking a workshop so that you are at least aware of the major requirements in writing. If you are planning on making a career from running a freelance writing company, then you will need to have a good sense of responsibility toward your clients or employers and yourself.

There are writing groups and freelance writer associations in many countries and it is a good idea to belong to them so that you can meet other aspiring and established writers, get information and seek career advice from them. A quick search using search engines and social media should find organizations in your local area or country.

Aside from your innate writing skills, you would also need a workable business plan document to be able to run a standard freelance writing company with a good number of freelance writers and full-time employees under your payroll. The sample freelance writing company business plan template below will guide you towards writing yours.

A Sample Freelance Writing Company Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

According to the 2012 Freelance Industry Report compiled primarily about North America freelancing, nearly half of freelancers do writing work, with 18 percent of freelancers listing writing as a primary skill, 10 percent editing/copy-editing, and 10 percent as copy-writing. 20 percent of freelancers listed their primary skills as design.

Next on the list was translating (8 percent), web development (5.5 percent), and marketing (4 percent). Elance, a web platform that connects freelancers with contractors, surveyed its members and 39 percent listed writing and editing as their main skill set.

Depending on the industry, freelance work practices vary and have changed over time. In some industries such as consulting, freelancers may require clients to sign written contracts.

While in journalism or writing, freelancers may work voluntarily without payment or do work “on spec” to build their reputations or a relationship with a publication. Some freelancers may provide written estimates of work and request deposits from clients.

Payment for freelance work also depends on industry, skills, and experience. Freelancers may charge by the day, hour, a piece rate, or on a per-project basis. Instead of a flat rate or fee, some freelancers have adopted a value-based pricing method based on the perceived value of the results to the client.

By custom, payment arrangements may be upfront, percentage upfront, or upon completion. For more complex projects, a contract may set a payment schedule based on milestones or outcomes. One of the drawbacks of freelancing is that there is no guaranteed payment, and the work can be highly precarious.

In writing and other artistic fields, “freelance” and its derivative terms are often reserved for workers who create works on their own initiative and then seek a publisher. They typically retain the copyright to their works and sell the rights to publishers in time-limited contracts.

Traditionally, works would be submitted to publishers, where they would become part of the slush pile, and would either elicit an offer to buy (an “acceptance letter”) or a rejection slip.

The total number of freelance writers in the united states is inexact and based on estimation, as the most recent governmental report on independent contractors was published in 2005 by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2013, the Freelancers Union estimated that 1 in 3 workers in the United States were self-employed (approx. 42 million), with more than four million (43%) of those self-employed workers members of the creative class, some strata of work specifically associated with freelance industries, such as knowledge workers, technologists, professional writers, artists, entertainers, and media workers.

From all available statistics, it is safer to say the freelance writing business is growing steadily despite the competitive nature of the industry. One thing is certain, if you are well positioned, and have the required business skills, network and good testimonial from your clients, you may likely not have to struggle to compete favorably in the freelance writing services industry.

Lastly, one good thing about freelance writing services is that there are readily available markets for their services. This is because websites and organizations always need contents on a regular basis.

2. Executive Summary

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is a registered freelance writing services company with strong online presence but with a physical office located in the heart of Albany – New York. We have been able to lease a small but standard office facility in a strategic business location in the heart of town.

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC will offer a wide range of freelance writing and related services. We will be involved in generating contents, medical transcription, dictation services, audio or documental transcription services, editing and proofreading services, letter and Rresume writing services, word processing services and other writing related services. We are set to service a wide range of clientele not just in the Albany – New York, but also in all parts of the United States and the globe at large since we will have a very strong online presence.

We are aware that there are several large and individual freelancers in the online community, which is why we spent time and resources to conduct a thorough feasibility studies and market survey so as to be well positioned to favorably compete with all our competitors.

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is a client-focused and result driven freelance writing company that provides well – crafted and well-edited original write ups at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients. We will offer a complete range of writing services to our clients and we will ensure that we work hard to provide the required contents needed by our clients to accomplish their goals and objectives.

At Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC, our client’s best interest comes first, and everything we do is guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire gifted writers and editors who are well experienced in a wide variety of fields. We will at all times demonstrate our commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our client’s needs precisely and completely.

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is established by the Massachusetts awarding winning journalist – Cloe Washington. Cloe Washington has a B.A. in English Language, Advance Diploma in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.

She has robust experience in both print and online journalism having worked as chief editor for over 5 years with some of the leading magazine publishing companies in the United States of America prior to starting her own business.

3. Our Products and Services

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is going to offer varieties of freelance writing related services within the scope of the freelance writing industry in the United States of America. Our intention of starting our freelance writing services business is to make profits from the industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in the US to achieve our aim and objectives.

Our business offerings are listed below;

  • Letter and Resume writing
  • Medical transcription
  • Audio or documental transcription
  • Editing and proofreading
  • Ghost Writing
  • Speech writing
  • Copywriting
  • Report writing
  • Technical writing
  • Translation
  • Screen writing
  • Biography writing

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to be amongst the top 5 freelance writing company in the world. Our vision reflects our values: integrity, service, excellence and teamwork.
  • Our mission is to provide professional and trusted freelance writing consulting services that assist individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations in meeting up with their content need. We will deliver writing solutions in combination with our own business backgrounds, and deliver valuable services in a timely and cost-effective way.

Our Business Structure

Ordinarily we would have settled for two or three staff members, but as part of our plans to build a standard freelance writing services business in Albany – New York, we have perfected plans to get it right from the beginning which is why we are going the extra mile to ensure that we have competent, creative, qualified, honest and hardworking employees to occupy all the available positions in our firm.

The picture of the kind of freelance writing services business we intend building and the business goals we want to achieve is what informed the amount we are ready to pay for the best hands available in and around Albany – New York as long as they are willing to work with us to achieve our business goals and objectives.

Below is the business structure that we will build Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC;

  • Chief Executive Officer/Lead Consultant
  • Writers/Editors

Admin and HR Manager

Business Developer (Marketing and Sales Executive)

  • Customer Service Executive

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Office/Lead Consultant:

  • Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.
  • Creates, communicates, and implements the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
  • Accountable for fixing prices and signing business deals
  • Responsible for providing direction for the business
  • In charge for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
  • Weighs the success of the organization

Freelance Writers/Editors

  • Handles Letter and Resume writing services
  • Responsible for handling medical transcription services
  • In charge of handling dictation services
  • Responsible for handling audio or documental transcription services
  • Responsible for handling editing and proofreading services
  • In control of handling word processing services
  • Responsible for handling report writing, technical writing, translation, screen writing and biography writing
  • Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
  • Responsible for drawing up contracts and other legal documents for the company
  • Designs job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for clients
  • Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders to review the effectiveness of HR Policies, Procedures and Processes
  • Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
  • Certifies operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
  • Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
  • Carries out staff induction for new team members
  • Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
  • Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
  • Oversees the smooth running of the daily office activities
  • Manages external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
  • Models demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
  • Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches new partners, and business opportunities et al
  • Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of development projects.
  • Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
  • Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for expanding sales
  • Document all customer contact and information
  • Represent the company in strategic meetings
  • Help increase sales and growth for the company
  • Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
  • Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
  • Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
  • Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
  • Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
  • Responsible for administering payrolls
  • Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
  • Handles all financial transactions for the company
  • Serves as internal auditor for the company

Client Service Executive

  • Ensures that all contacts with clients (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
  • Through interaction with clients on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
  • Manages administrative duties assigned by the manager in an effective and timely manner
  • Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the company’s products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to clients when they make enquiries
  • Distribute mails in the organization
  • Handles any other duties as assigned by the line manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC engaged the services of a core professional in the area of business consulting and structuring to assist the firm in building a solid freelance writing firm that can favorably compete in the highly competitive freelance services industry.

Part of what the team of business consultant did was to work with the management of our firm in conducting a SWOT analysis for Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC;

Our core strength lies in the power of our workforce. We have a team that are considered experts in the industry, a team with excellent qualifications and experience in freelance writing. Aside from the synergy that exists in our carefully selected workforce and our strong online presence, Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is well positioned in a business district with the right demography and we know we will attract loads of corporate clients from the first day we open our doors for business.

As a new freelance writing firm, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market; that is perhaps our major weakness.

  • Opportunities:

No doubt, the opportunities in the freelance writing industry are indeed massive and we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

Every business faces a threat or challenge at any part of its life cycle. These threats can be external or internal. This shows the importance of a business plan, because most threats or challenges are to be anticipated and plans put in place to cushion their effects.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

Hundreds of thousands of writing opportunities exist today. Making the most of them is where the art of the freelancer really comes into play. A freelance writer is someone who writes without belonging to any single company or entity but acts like a small business or an independent contractor. Freelancing does not relate only to writing but also to issues such as web development, graphic designing, data analysis and many other fields.

Another common trend in the freelance writing services line of business is that most players in this industry do not just settle for clients within their immediate environment; they now have strong online presence hence they are able to work for clients in other parts of the world.

Lastly, it is now becoming trendy in the freelance writing services industry for operators to have their own platform where freelance writers and clients can interact and get or give out writing gigs.

8. Our Target Market

Our target market cuts across different classes and people from all walks of life. We are coming into the industry with a business concept that will enable us work with highly placed people and companies as well as lowly placed people and smaller businesses. In other words, our target market is the whole of the United States of America and subsequently other parts of the world.

Below is a list of the people and organizations that we have specifically design our services for;

  • Television stations
  • Radio stations
  • Freelance Market space
  • Consulting firms
  • Private individuals

Our Competitive Advantage

The Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC might be a new entrant into the freelance writing industry in the United States of America, but we have a strong online presence that will help us work for clients all across the world.

Our competitive advantage also lies in the power of our team workforce. Aside from the synergy that exists in our carefully selected workforce and our strong online presence, Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is well positioned in a business district with the right demography and we know we will attract loads of corporate clients from the first day we open our doors for business. These are part of what will count as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the freelance writing services industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to attract clients on a regular basis.

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC will generate income by offering the following writing services for individuals and for organizations;

  • Dictation services
  • Editing and proofreading services
  • Word processing services
  • Resume writing

10. Sales Forecast

The opportunities in the freelance writing industry is indeed massive and we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

We have been able to critically examine the freelance writing services market, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projections are based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to startups in Albany – New York.

Below are the sales projection for Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC, it is based on the location of our business and the wide range of freelance writing services that we will be offering;

  • First Fiscal Year: $120,000
  • Second Fiscal Year: $300,000
  • Third Fiscal Year: $450,000

N.B : This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same services as we do within the same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are mindful of the fact that there are stiff competitions amongst freelance writing companies in the United States of America; hence we have been able to hire some of the best business developers to handle our sales and marketing.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited base on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of the organization. We will also ensure that our excellent job deliveries speak for us in the market place; we want to build a standard freelance writing services business that will leverage on word of mouth advertisement from satisfied clients.

Our goal is to grow our business to become one of the top 5 freelance writing services agencies in the United States of America which is why we have mapped out strategy that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in the U.S but in the world as well.

The Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

  • Introduce our business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to organizations and key stakeholders in Albany – New York and other parts of the U.S.
  • Promptness in bidding for freelance writing or editing contracts
  • Advertise our business in relevant business magazines, newspapers, TV and radio stations
  • List our business on yellow pages ads (local directories)
  • Attend relevant international and local expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
  • Create different packages for different category of clients in order to work with their budgets and still deliver quality contents
  • Leverage on the internet to promote our business
  • Engage in direct marketing approach
  • Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We have been able to work with our in – house consultants and other brand and publicity specialists to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us penetrate our target market. We are set to take the freelance writing services industry by storm which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our organization.

Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC;

  • Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
  • Sponsor relevant community programs
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, twitter, et al to promote our brand

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Usually, freelance writers charge their clients per word written or the volume of the editing jobs to be done. At Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC we will keep our fees below the average market rate by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance. In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to startups, nonprofits, cooperatives, and small social enterprises.

We are aware that there are some clients that would need regular supply of contents and editing services, we will offer them flat rate for such services.

  • Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options, but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC will make available to her clients;

  • Payment via bank transfer
  • Payment with cash
  • Payment via Point of Sale Machine (POS)
  • Payment via online bank transfer
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for services rendered without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting/leasing a big facility, then you would need a good amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your facility is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.

This means that the startup can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business.

On the average, starting a standard freelance writing services company can be cost effective because you are not expected to acquire expensive machines and equipment. Basically, what you should be concerned with is the amount needed to secure a standard office facility in a good and busy business district, the amount needed to equip the office, pay bills, promote the business and obtain the appropriate business license and certifications.

These are the areas we are looking towards spending our startup capital on;

  • The total fee for incorporating the Business in the United States of America – $750
  • Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $3,300
  • The total cost for payment of insurance policy covers (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $9,400
  • The amount needed to acquire a suitable Office facility in a business district (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) – $40,000
  • Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of $3,580
  • The total cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500
  • The cost for equipping the office (computers, printers, fax machines, furniture, telephones, filing cabins, safety gadgets and electronics et al) – $2,000
  • The cost of launching our official Website – $600
  • Budget for paying at least two full-time employees for 3 months and utility bills – $30,000
  • Additional expenditure (Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions et al) – $2,500
  • Miscellaneous – $1,000

Going by the report from the research and feasibility studies, we will need about $150,000 to set up a medium scale but standard freelance writing services company in the United States of America.

Generating Startup Capital for Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is going to start as a private business that will be solely owned by Cloe Washington and her immediate family members. The family will be the sole financier of the firm, but may likely welcome partners later which is why they have decided to restrict the sourcing of startup capital to 3 major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our startup capital;

  • Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings
  • Source for soft loans from family members and friends
  • Apply for loan from the Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $50,000 (Personal savings $40,000 and soft loan from family members $10,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $100,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers they have, the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business closes shop.

One of our major goals of starting Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running. We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to offer nothing short of excellent contents at highly affordable prices.

Tapping Brain® Content Mills, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re training of our workforce is at the top burner.

We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check: Completed
  • Business Incorporation: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in the United States: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Leasing a standard office facility (renovation of the office facility inclusive): Completed
  • Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
  • Generating part of the startup capital from the founder: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from our Bankers: In Progress
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Promotional Materials: Completed
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Purchase of the needed furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business (Business PR): In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
  • Establishing business relationship with key players in the industry: In Progress

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  • Corporate Image Consulting Business Plan [Sample Template]
  • Market Research Company Business Plan [Sample Template]
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19 Best Sample Business Plans & Examples to Help You Write Your Own

Clifford Chi

Published: August 21, 2023

Free Business Plan Template

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The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

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Reading sample business plans is essential when you’re writing your own. As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, you’ll learn how to write one that gets your business off on the right foot, convinces investors to provide funding, and confirms your venture is sustainable for the long term.

sample business plans and examples

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But what does a business plan look like? And how do you write one that is viable and convincing? Let's review the ideal business plan formally, then take a look at business plan templates and samples you can use to inspire your own.

Business Plan Format

Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games, and they’ll tell you they have a unique plan for every single game. The same logic applies to business. If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare for battle before breaking into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. Referencing one will keep you on the path toward success. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.

With so much at stake, you might be wondering, "Where do I start? How should I format this?"

Typically, a business plan is a document that will detail how a company will achieve its goals.

sample business plan for writers

  • Outline your idea.
  • Pitch to investors.
  • Secure funding.
  • Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out the form to get your free template.

Most business plans include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is arguably the most important section of the entire business plan. Essentially, it's the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers' attention and guide them through the rest of the business plan. This is important, because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

Most executive summaries include:

  • Mission statement
  • Company history and leadership
  • Competitive advantage overview
  • Financial projections
  • Company goals

Keep in mind you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. So, keep the executive summary clear and brief, including only the most important takeaways.

Executive Summary Business Plan Examples

This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template:

business plan sample: Executive Summary Example

And the executive summary below tells potential investors a short story that covers all the most important details this business plan will cover in a succinct and interesting way.

Business plans examples: Executive Summary

Image Source

Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary

  • Clearly define a problem, and explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
  • Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
  • Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
  • Customize your summary to your audience. For example, emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists.

Check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary for more guidance.

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will your product fill that gap?

In this section, you might include:

  • The size of the market
  • Current or potential market share
  • Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
  • Where the gap is
  • What caused the gap
  • How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry. You may also benefit from creating a SWOT analysis to get some of the insights for this section.

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example

This example uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.

Business plans examples: Market Opportunity

Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section

  • Focus on demand and potential for growth.
  • Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
  • Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
  • Refer to reliable sources.
  • Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.

3. Competitive Landscape

Speaking of market share, you'll need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you'll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another. Performing a competitive analysis can help you uncover:

  • Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing
  • Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle
  • Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points
  • The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example

The competitive landscape section of the business plan below shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location, which shows useful experience in this specific industry. This can help build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.

Business plans examples: Competitive Landscape

Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape

  • Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
  • Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
  • Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
  • Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
  • Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
  • Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience

This section will describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is "everyone," you'll need to dig deeper. Ask yourself:

  • What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
  • What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
  • Why are your offerings valuable to them?

It can be helpful to build a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear on why you're targeting them.

Target Audience Business Plan Example

The example below uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.

Business plans examples: Target Audience

Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section

  • Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
  • Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
  • Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
  • Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
  • Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
  • Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you'll discuss how you'll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. You might consider including information on:

  • The brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it
  • The goal targets you aim to achieve
  • The metrics you'll use to measure success
  • The channels and distribution tactics you'll use

It can help to already have a marketing plan built out to help you with this part of your business plan.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. It offers a comprehensive picture of how it plans to use digital marketing to promote the community.

Business plans examples: Marketing Strategy

Tips for Writing Your Marketing Strategy

  • Include a section about how you believe your brand vision will appeal to customers.
  • Add the budget and resources you'll need to put your plan in place.
  • Outline strategies for specific marketing segments.
  • Connect strategies to earlier sections like target audience and competitive analysis.
  • Review how your marketing strategy will scale with the growth of your business.
  • Cover a range of channels and tactics to highlight your ability to adapt your plan in the face of change.

6. Key Features and Benefits

At some point in your business plan, you'll review the key features and benefits of your products and/or services. Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you're positioning yourself in the market and the messaging you're likely to use . It can even help them gain better insight into your business model.

Key Features and Benefits Business Plan Example

The example below outlines products and services for this business, along with why these qualities will attract the audience.

Business plans examples: Key Features and Benefits

Tips for Writing Your Key Features and Benefits

  • Emphasize why and how your product or service offers value to customers.
  • Use metrics and testimonials to support the ideas in this section.
  • Talk about how your products and services have the potential to scale.
  • Think about including a product roadmap.
  • Focus on customer needs, and how the features and benefits you are sharing meet those needs.
  • Offer proof of concept for your ideas, like case studies or pilot program feedback.
  • Proofread this section carefully, and remove any jargon or complex language.

7. Pricing and Revenue

This is where you'll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. For this reason, you might outline:

  • The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service
  • Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition's
  • (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more
  • (If lower) How you're able to offer your products or services at a lower cost
  • When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

Pricing and Revenue Business Plan Example

This business plan example begins with an overview of the business revenue model, then shows proposed pricing for key products.

Business plans examples: Pricing and Revenue

Tips for Writing Your Pricing and Revenue Section

  • Get specific about your pricing strategy. Specifically, how you connect that strategy to customer needs and product value.
  • If you are asking a premium price, share unique features or innovations that justify that price point.
  • Show how you plan to communicate pricing to customers.
  • Create an overview of every revenue stream for your business and how each stream adds to your business model as a whole.
  • Share plans to develop new revenue streams in the future.
  • Show how and whether pricing will vary by customer segment and how pricing aligns with marketing strategies.
  • Restate your value proposition and explain how it aligns with your revenue model.

8. Financials

This section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to figure out funding strategies, investment opportunities, and more. According to Forbes , you'll want to include three main things:

  • Profit/Loss Statement - This answers the question of whether your business is currently profitable.
  • Cash Flow Statement - This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to give insight into how much cash a business has on hand.
  • Balance Sheet - This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how much a business is worth.

While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details you'll want to include.

Financials Business Plan Example

This balance sheet example shows the level of detail you will need to include in the financials section of your business plan:

Business plans examples: Financials

Tips for Writing Your Financials Section

  • Growth potential is important in this section too. Using your data, create a forecast of financial performance in the next three to five years.
  • Include any data that supports your projections to assure investors of the credibility of your proposal.
  • Add a break-even analysis to show that your business plan is financially practical. This information can also help you pivot quickly as your business grows.
  • Consider adding a section that reviews potential risks and how sensitive your plan is to changes in the market.
  • Triple-check all financial information in your plan for accuracy.
  • Show how any proposed funding needs align with your plans for growth.

As you create your business plan, keep in mind that each of these sections will be formatted differently. Some may be in paragraph format, while others could be charts or graphs.

Business Plan Types

The formats above apply to most types of business plans. That said, the format and structure of your plan will vary by your goals for that plan. So, we’ve added a quick review of different business plan types. For a more detailed overview, check out this post .

1. Startups

Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas.

If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business. You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .

2. Feasibility Studies

Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.

3. Internal Use

You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. Internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.

4. Strategic Initiatives

Another business plan that's often for sharing internally is a strategic business plan. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.

5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning

When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.

Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.

Sample Business Plan Templates

Now that you know what's included and how to format a business plan, let's review some templates.

1. HubSpot's One-Page Business Plan

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template..

The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for businesses of any size — no matter how many strategies we still have to develop.

Fields such as Company Description, Required Funding, and Implementation Timeline give this one-page business plan a framework for how to build your brand and what tasks to keep track of as you grow. Then, as the business matures, you can expand on your original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.

Why We Like It

This one-page business plan is a fantastic choice for the new business owner who doesn’t have the time or resources to draft a full-blown business plan. It includes all the essential sections in an accessible, bullet-point-friendly format. That way, you can get the broad strokes down before honing in on the details.

2. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

Sample business plan: hubspot free editable pdf

We also created a business plan template for entrepreneurs.

The template is designed as a guide and checklist for starting your own business. You’ll learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it. There’s also a list for you to check off when you finish each section of your business plan.

Strong game plans help coaches win games and help businesses rocket to the top of their industries. So if you dedicate the time and effort required to write a workable and convincing business plan, you’ll boost your chances of success and even dominance in your market.

This business plan kit is essential for the budding entrepreneur who needs a more extensive document to share with investors and other stakeholders. It not only includes sections for your executive summary, product line, market analysis, marketing plan, and sales plan, but it also offers hands-on guidance for filling out those sections.

3. LiveFlow’s Financial Planning Template with built-in automation

Sample Business Plan: LiveFLow

This free template from LiveFlow aims to make it easy for businesses to create a financial plan and track their progress on a monthly basis. The P&L Budget versus Actual format allows users to track their revenue, cost of sales, operating expenses, operating profit margin, net profit, and more.

The summary dashboard aggregates all of the data put into the financial plan sheet and will automatically update when changes are made. Instead of wasting hours manually importing your data to your spreadsheet, LiveFlow can also help you to automatically connect your accounting and banking data directly to your spreadsheet, so your numbers are always up-to-date.

With the dashboard, you can view your runway, cash balance, burn rate, gross margins, and other metrics. Having a simple way to track everything in one place will make it easier to complete the financials section of your business plan.

This is a fantastic template to track performance and alignment internally and to create a dependable process for documenting financial information across the business. It’s highly versatile and beginner-friendly. It’s especially useful if you don’t have an accountant on the team. (We always recommend you do, but for new businesses, having one might not be possible.)

4. ThoughtCo’s Sample Business Plan

sample business plan: ThoughtCo.

One of the more financially oriented sample business plans in this list, BPlan’s free business plan template dedicates many of its pages to your business’s financial plan and financial statements.

After filling this business plan out, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.

We absolutely love this business plan template because of its ease-of-use and hands-on instructions (in addition to its finance-centric components). If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of writing an entire business plan, consider using this template to help you with the process.

6. Upmetrics’ Sample Business Plans

If you are looking for an industry-specific business plan template for your business, Upmetrics has a library of 400+ sample business plans has templates for almost every business type.

This template helps you create a detailed plan without missing out on any critical information. Simply download the sample plan, import it into your editor/doc, and follow the step-by-step instructions to write your plan.

This library of sample business plans is an excellent choice for small business owners with limited resources and no prior business or financial planning experience. The well-structured template has all the essential sections as well as step-by-step instructions to prepare a comprehensive business plan.

7. Harvard Business Review’s "How to Write a Winning Business Plan"

Most sample business plans teach you what to include in your business plan, but this Harvard Business Review article will take your business plan to the next level — it teaches you the why and how behind writing a business plan.

With the guidance of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of " Business Plans That Win: Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum ", you'll learn how to write a convincing business plan that emphasizes the market demand for your product or service. You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of our favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.

8. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know writing a business plan is one of the most challenging first steps to starting a business. Fortunately, with HubSpot's comprehensive guide to starting a business, you'll learn how to map out all the details by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it’s important to include them. The guide also fleshes out an entire sample business plan for you.

If you need further guidance on starting a business, HubSpot's guide can teach you how to make your business legal, choose and register your business name, and fund your business. It will also give small business tax information and includes marketing, sales, and service tips.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of starting a business, in addition to writing your business plan, with a high level of exactitude and detail. So if you’re in the midst of starting your business, this is an excellent guide for you. It also offers other resources you might need, such as market analysis templates.

9. Panda Doc’s Free Business Plan Template

sample business plan: Panda Doc

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and fleshed-out sample business plans on this list. It describes what you should include in each section, so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch.

Once you fill it out, you’ll fully understand your business’ nitty-gritty details and how all of its moving parts should work together to contribute to its success.

This template has two things we love: comprehensiveness and in-depth instructions. Plus, it’s synced with PandaDoc’s e-signature software so that you and other stakeholders can sign it with ease. For that reason, we especially love it for those starting a business with a partner or with a board of directors.

10. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

sample business plan: Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several free business plan templates that can be used to inspire your own plan. Before you get started, you can decide what type of business plan you need — a traditional or lean start-up plan.

Then, you can review the format for both of those plans and view examples of what they might look like.

We love both of the SBA’s templates because of their versatility. You can choose between two options and use the existing content in the templates to flesh out your own plan. Plus, if needed, you can get a free business counselor to help you along the way.

Top Business Plan Examples

Here are some completed business plan samples to get an idea of how to customize a plan for your business. We’ve chosen different types of business plan ideas to expand your imagination. Some are extensive, while others are fairly simple.

Take a look.

1. LiveFlow

business plan example: liveflow

One of the major business expenses is marketing. How you handle your marketing reflects your company’s revenue. We included this business plan to show you how you can ensure your marketing team is aligned with your overall business plan to get results. The plan also shows you how to track even the smallest metrics of your campaigns, like ROI and payback periods instead of just focusing on big metrics like gross and revenue.

Fintech startup, LiveFlow, allows users to sync real-time data from its accounting services, payment platforms, and banks into custom reports. This eliminates the task of pulling reports together manually, saving teams time and helping automate workflows.

When it came to including marketing strategy in its business plan, LiveFlow created a separate marketing profit and loss statement (P&L) to track how well the company was doing with its marketing initiatives. This is a great approach, allowing businesses to focus on where their marketing dollars are making the most impact.

"Using this framework over a traditional marketing plan will help you set a profitable marketing strategy taking things like CAC, LTV, Payback period, and P&L into consideration," explains LiveFlow co-founder, Lasse Kalkar .

Having this information handy will enable you to build out your business plan’s marketing section with confidence. LiveFlow has shared the template here . You can test it for yourself.

2. Lula Body

Business plan example: Lula body

Sometimes all you need is a solid mission statement and core values to guide you on how to go about everything. You do this by creating a business plan revolving around how to fulfill your statement best. For example, Patagonia is an eco-friendly company, so their plan discusses how to make the best environmentally friendly products without causing harm.

A good mission statement should not only resonate with consumers but should also serve as a core value compass for employees as well.

Outdoor clothing retailer, Patagonia, has one of the most compelling mission statements we’ve seen:

"Together, let’s prioritise purpose over profit and protect this wondrous planet, our only home."

It reels you in from the start, and the environmentally friendly theme continues throughout the rest of the statement.

This mission goes on to explain that they are out to "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature."

Their mission statement is compelling and detailed, with each section outlining how they will accomplish their goal.

4. Vesta Home Automation

business plan example: Vesta executive summary

This is the kind of business plan you need when applying for business funds. It clearly illustrates the expected future of the company and how the business has been coming along over the years.

This executive summary for a smart home device startup is part of a business plan created by students at Mount Royal University . While it lacks some of the sleek visuals of the templates above, its executive summary does a great job of demonstrating how invested they are in the business.

Right away, they mention they’ve invested $200,000 into the company already, which shows investors they have skin in the game and aren’t just looking for someone else to foot the bill.

5. NALB Creative Center

business plan examples: nalb creative center

This fictional business plan for an art supply store includes everything one might need in a business plan: an executive summary, a company summary, a list of services, a market analysis summary, and more. Due to its comprehensiveness, it’s an excellent example to follow if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar store and need to get external funding to start your business .

One of its most notable sections is its market analysis summary, which includes an overview of the population growth in the business’ target geographical area, as well as a breakdown of the types of potential customers they expect to welcome at the store. This sort of granular insight is essential for understanding and communicating your business’s growth potential. Plus, it lays a strong foundation for creating relevant and useful buyer personas .

It’s essential to keep this information up-to-date as your market and target buyer changes. For that reason, you should carry out market research as often as possible to ensure that you’re targeting the correct audience and sharing accurate information with your investors.

6. Curriculum Companion Suites (CSS)

business plan examples: curriculum companion suites

If you’re looking for a SaaS business plan example, look no further than this business plan for a fictional educational software company called Curriculum Companion Suites. Like the business plan for the NALB Creative Center, it includes plenty of information for prospective investors and other key stakeholders in the business.

One of the most notable features of this business plan is the executive summary, which includes an overview of the product, market, and mission. The first two are essential for software companies because the product offering is so often at the forefront of the company’s strategy. Without that information being immediately available to investors and executives, then you risk writing an unfocused business plan.

It’s also essential to front-load your company’s mission if it explains your "Why?" In other words, why do you do what you do, and why should stakeholders care? This is an important section to include if you feel that your mission will drive interest in the business and its offerings.

7. Culina Sample Business Plan

sample business plan: Culina

Culina's sample business plan is an excellent example of how to lay out your business plan so that it flows naturally, engages readers, and provides the critical information investors and stakeholders need. You can also use this template as a guide while you're gathering important details. After looking at this sample, you'll have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do for your own business plan.

8. Plum Sample Business Plan

Sample business plan: Plum

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How to Write a Dog Grooming Business Plan + Free Sample Plan PDF

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Elon Glucklich

8 min. read

Updated February 20, 2024

Download a free one-page dog grooming sample business plan

The bond between humans and their canine companions has always been strong. But spurred by increases in dog ownership across the U.S. , household spending on pets has risen in recent years.

The $5.4 billion global pet grooming services market is projected to grow at a 7% annual rate through 2030, creating new opportunities for dog-loving entrepreneurs to turn their passion into a business opportunity.

Whether you’re starting a boutique grooming salon or a mobile grooming service—a business plan can significantly increase your chances of success.

Download a free dog grooming sample business plan and complete it as you work through this guide.

  • What should you include in a dog grooming business plan?

Here are the common sections to consider when writing your dog grooming business plan.

  • Executive summary
  • Market analysis
  • Services and products
  • Marketing and sales strategy
  • Operations plan
  • Company summary
  • Financial plan and forecasts

The details of your plan will differ based on factors like the services you offer, whether you hire full-time employees or contractors, and whether your business is based in a brick-and-mortar building or goes to clients’ homes.

Check out our step-by-step guide to writing a full business plan for more details.

A sample dog grooming business plan outline.

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  • The 8 elements of an effective dog grooming business plan

Don’t make your dog grooming business plan longer than it needs to be . If you’re writing it for yourself, stick with a few pages and cover the aspects that will help you run your business.

But if you’re writing the plan because you’re seeking a bank loan or investment , it will likely need to be more detailed.

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of your dog grooming business plan. The executive summary should briefly touch on your company overview target market but shouldn’t be more than 2 pages long.

Its purpose is to highlight the mission and unique aspects of your business, whether that’s to provide superior pet care or introduce innovative grooming techniques to your market. 

2. Market analysis

What’s the opportunity that exists for your business? 

The market analysis section is a detailed assessment of the market you’re entering. In this case, you should cover current trends in the dog grooming industry, such as increasing pet ownership rates and a growing emphasis on pet care and wellness.

You must also identify your primary customer segments . Include demographics that help define who your customers are and what they want. Maybe you target pet owners in urban areas, busy professionals, or families seeking convenient and comprehensive grooming services.

Be sure to list out key competitors in your region, noting their service offerings, pricing, and market positioning. This analysis will help you identify opportunities to differentiate your business. For instance, your research might lead you to realize there are a lack of options in your area for mobile grooming services, or specialized care for anxious pets.

3. Services and products

The products and services section is where you detail the full range of grooming services and products you plan to offer. 

Consider writing them out as a list, like this example:

Basic services

  • Washing and drying
  • Hair trimming
  • Nail clipping
  • Ear cleaning.

Specialty services

  • Breed-specific grooming
  • Skin care treatments
  • Flea and tick treatments

Also, consider incorporating related products for sale, such as dog shampoos, conditioners, brushes, and other grooming tools. Whatever mix of products and services you choose to offer, connect them to your market opportunity. At its most basic, running a successful business is about identifying customer problems and providing solutions .

Detailing these services and products gives your customers a clear understanding of what your business provides and its value proposition .

4. Marketing and sales strategy

Your marketing and sales strategy turns your market research into a set of marketing strategies you can execute to attract customers. 

Through your research, you should understand how your target customers find dog grooming services — online, in print advertisements or commercials, through social media or word of mouth, etc.

Based on what you think are the most relevant marketing channels , develop strategies to make your business more visible. Strategies to consider include:

  • Advertising online or in local publications
  • Creating a website and establishing a social media presence
  • Interacting with the public at community events
  • Pursuing partnership opportunities with local pet stores

You may also want to consider discounts or special offers for repeat customers to build loyalty. 

Whatever tactics you deploy, it’s crucial to measure the impact of your marketing efforts through key performance indicators, and adjust your strategies based on what delivers value.

5. Operations plan

The operations section outlines how you will run your dog grooming business efficiently day to day. 

Whether you’re operating out of a brick-and-mortar building, a mobile van, or in clients’ homes, include details on the physical setup of your grooming salon, equipment needs, and staff requirements.

You should also discuss the process for booking appointments and managing customer relationships. Detail any software or systems you’ll use for scheduling and record-keeping. Also, outline your plan for meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining a clean, safe environment for pets.

6. Milestones

Outlining the key milestones for your business can help you determine how long it will take to meet your goals. You can keep these brief, even writing them in bullet points. Milestones for a dog grooming business could include:

  • Obtaining initial financing
  • Securing relevant permits
  • Initiating marketing efforts
  • Acquiring a certain number of clients
  • Reaching specific revenue benchmarks

Each milestone should have an estimated completion date and designated team members responsible for achieving them.

7. Company summary

Summarize the history of your business, including its legal structure and location. Also, highlight your background in pet grooming and your reasons for wanting to start a dog grooming business.

If you’re just starting out, discuss the initial startup costs required to get the business off the ground. If you’re writing your business plan to secure a bank loan, state how much funding you need, what you will use it for, and how it will benefit your grooming business.

8. Financial plan

The financial plan is where you provide a look into your dog grooming business’s financial projections, including sales , costs , and profitability .

Remember, financial forecasts are really just educated guesses created to give you a sense of how your business can be profitable over the long term. 

They’re meant to be adjusted over time as your actual financial numbers come in, helping you determine which aspects of your business are performing as expected and where you might need to adjust your strategy.

Your financial plan should include a cash flow statement , income statement , and balance sheet .

  • Tips for writing a dog grooming business plan

Understanding pet owners’ needs and how you can best serve them is vital for writing a dog grooming business plan that you can actually use to help your business grow.

As you write the plan, give some attention to these key points.

1. Consider your business structure

Choosing the right structure is pivotal. When writing the company overview section, consider factors like taxation, liability, and business growth potential to determine whether an LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation best suits your needs. This decision will influence your operational flexibility, financial management, and legal obligations.

2. Develop a pricing strategy

Establishing a pricing strategy that balances market competitiveness with profitability is essential. As part of your market analysis, take the time to explore pricing tiers and client expectations. Offering a variety of service packages can cater to different customer needs and enhance revenue streams. Connect those packages and pricing tiers to your projected revenues and expenses as you create your financial forecasts.

3. Create an online presence

A strong online presence is non-negotiable. So, even if you plan to leverage traditional marketing channels, you will still want to have digital marketing efforts be part of your plan. 

At a minimum, invest in a professional website, optimize for local search , and engage actively on social media platforms. This visibility attracts new clients and serves as a platform for showcasing your work and customer testimonials.

4. Highlight your credentials and training

Highlighting your credentials and commitment to ongoing professional development can set your business apart. 

Regular training in new grooming techniques, customer service excellence, and pet safety reassure clients of the quality and reliability of your services. Start by mentioning the qualifications of you and your team and include any supporting documentation, like resumes or awards, in your appendix.

5. Build on success with client referrals and reviews

Encourage satisfied customers to refer others and leave positive online reviews . Word-of-mouth and digital endorsements can significantly impact your business’s reputation and trustworthiness. Consider implementing a referral program to incentivize clients to share their positive experiences.

  • Download your free dog grooming one page sample business plan

Download your dog grooming business plan sample now for free. You can also explore Bplans’ collection of over 550 sample business plans to find other examples.

Writing a business plan for your dog grooming business helps you stand out in a crowded market. It’s one of numerous reasons that a business plan increases your chance of success. 

The plan is essential for getting your business funded. But even if you don’t need a bank loan, thinking through each aspect of your business will help you make the best strategic decisions and use your limited resources effectively.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Content Author: Elon Glucklich

Elon is a marketing specialist at Palo Alto Software, working with consultants, accountants, business instructors and others who use LivePlan at scale. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA from the University of Oregon.

Check out LivePlan

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