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How to Start a Graphic Design Business in 10 Steps

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1. Find your first graphic design clients

2. set your pricing, 3. name your graphic design business, 4. build a basic website, 5. develop a simple business plan, 6. communicate with your clients, 7. deliver high-quality projects on-time, 8. write and send professional invoices, 9. collect payments from your design clients, 10. ask for referrals, repeat steps 5-10 regularly in order to grow.

Starting a graphic design business can be an exhilarating and exciting adventure whether you’re hoping to work for yourself full-time or just make a little extra money from an on-the-side design business.

And it’s pretty straightforward too if you’re willing to put in the work.

I’ve coached thousands of graphic designers over the last 10+ years through this blog , our podcast , and our mastermind group . So in this article, I’ll take everything I’ve learned after a decade of coaching to help you know exactly what to do to start a graphic design business . I’ve broken the process into 10 steps, which you’ll find below.

  • Always start with finding clients—never anything else.
  • Develop a solid business plan that includes your pricing structure, marketing strategy, and financial projections.
  • Build a strong online presence and create a professional portfolio that showcases your skills and expertise.
  • Establish relationships with other designers, freelancers, and industry professionals to build a strong network and generate referrals.
  • Focus on providing exceptional customer service and building positive relationships with clients to ensure repeat business and ongoing success.

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You might find it surprising, but my first step is to secure design clients.

What about crafting your portfolio, deciding on a business name, or obtaining a business license, you might ask?

Indeed, these elements are crucial.

However, I’ve observed many designers get lost in these preliminary tasks and burn out before they even engage with potential clients. Initiating a graphic design venture can become daunting if you start with the minutiae of business operations.

Therefore, we’ll kick off your design business on a positive note by securing your initial design clients. Once you have a few clients ready to compensate you for your work, you’ll be amazed at the surge of excitement, energy, and drive within you.

With this newfound momentum, you’ll find yourself well-equipped to address the remaining tasks.

Therefore, goal #1: find graphic design clients .

Where do you find graphic design clients?

If you’re a beginner at small business, you might be asking yourself: Where can I even begin to find my first design clients?

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Lucky for you, finding graphic design clients has literally never been easier. There are hundreds of freelance job sites around the web to help you find exactly the kinds of clients you’re looking for.

For example, sites like Fiverr offer a huge marketplace of entry-level clients that can get you started when learning how to start a graphic design business. These most likely aren’t the kinds of clients you want to work with forever (although some may be), but they’re a great way to get some experience, a few portfolio pieces, some cash, and some confidence.

You can also find some nice entry-level work on sites like Upwork . Upwork is one of the most popular freelance marketplaces in the world and you’ll find access to thousands of graphic design jobs there.

To take action: here are 2 of our favorite sites to find design clients fast:

SolidGigs’ team of fellow freelancers combs through thousands of freelance job boards every weekday and posts the very best leads to your custom inbox.

You can learn more about SolidGigs here .

Next up is the largest freelance services marketplace in the world (at least I think it is). It’s called Upwork and lots of freelancers have built their own six-figure businesses on the back of this powerful platform, including this guy .

In the beginning, don’t be too picky

When you’re in the early stages, you might encounter seasoned freelancers and “experts” advising you to be choosy about your clientele.

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They can afford such selectiveness, can’t they? After all, they’ve been at the helm of their small businesses for years, with client acquisition now a routine matter for them.

But you? You’re in immediate need of graphic design clients.

In the beginning, it’s wise to accept any reasonable graphic design work at a fair price. The potential of these initial projects is often underestimated.

At the very least, they’ll furnish you with confidence, experience, and valuable additions to your portfolio. In the best-case scenario, they might evolve into enduring, profitable business connections or serve as gateways to additional clientele.

Your client roster can be refined over time. However, for now, avoid being overly selective to the point where your graphic design venture never takes flight. This very trap has led to the downfall of many aspiring designers.

Now, let’s dive into the topic of your pricing structure.

Are you thinking of billing your clients on an hourly basis, per project, or according to the value you provide?

For those just beginning, hourly rates are straightforward and quite prevalent, but you might consider other pricing strategies as you gain more ground.

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Figuring out what to charge graphic design clients

Deciding on your rates can be daunting. To assist, we’ve developed a complimentary calculator to help pinpoint your ideal charge.

But let’s be real—if you’re at a complete loss about your rates, just pick a starting point. Should a prospect hesitate at your quote, you might adjust downward slightly. Conversely, if there’s no negotiation from the client’s side, consider increasing your rate for the next project.

You’ll eventually find a sweet spot for your pricing. Make it a habit to reassess your rates regularly. You might be surprised at how much you can command as you progress.

With a few clients under your belt and the confidence for the long journey ahead, it’s time to establish the foundation of your solid small business, beginning with a thoughtfully chosen business name.

Deciding between using your own name or creating a business name

A common initial query for anyone starting in graphic design might be:

“Should I use my own name, or should I craft a unique business name?”

The straightforward answer is: it’s not overly critical. Choose something that resonates with you. Remember, you can always opt for a change down the line.

Delving deeper, the decision warrants some consideration.

While my suggestion is to select a name and forge ahead (bearing in mind that changes are feasible, albeit not ideal, but certainly manageable), the process of choosing your graphic design business’s name might necessitate more deliberation.

The name you settle on can influence various aspects of your design business, such as:

  • Your potential to command higher rates for your design work.
  • The ease with which people recall your brand.
  • The type of design projects you’ll attract, including the industry, quality, and magnitude.
  • The likelihood of being recommended by others.
  • Your legal ability to operate without violating copyright or trademark laws.
  • And much more…

My top advice for naming your graphic design business

To keep the process straightforward, here’s my prime piece of advice for naming:

Prioritize simplicity: ensure it’s easy to pronounce, remember, and spell

It’s tempting to get overly intricate, witty, or inventive with your design business’s name. Instead, aim for simplicity. Your business name should be easily articulated, spelled, and recalled by potential clients.

Make sure it’s available on the web

Before you fall in love with any name too much, you should check its availability around the web. Are the social media channels you hope to use (if any) available? Is there a domain that works well for your design company name?

In order to keep your ideas safe from domain squatters use something like Bluehost or Dreamhost  to check domain availability without risking it being parked or squatted.

Ensure you personally love it & it speaks to the vision of your company

While I really don’t want you to get paralyzed by the task of choosing a domain name (see the next point) it’s also critical that you feel good about your name and it speaks to the vision of your graphic design business.

You’re going to have to say the name of your business a lot. You’ll have to type it. You’ll have to speak it out loud. And if you feel silly about it or have to explain the context or feel the need to pronounce it for people, that’s going to get old really fast.

Don’t get paralyzed by decision

The biggest error I see people make in this regard is getting stuck on all the possible graphic design business names that are available.

The ultimate enemy here is indecision. Because while this is an important decision for your business, getting back to the revenue-driving decisions is far more critical at this stage.

For more help, you can also download my business-naming workbook which will walk you through an easy-to-follow process for naming your design business successfully.

The next step is to build a basic website. I say basic because, just like naming your design business, it’s easy to get stuck or paralyzed by the seemingly overwhelming task of building your website. That’s why you can use an AI website generator to speed up the process of designing a website but if not you can use other tools.

Lucky for you, there are loads of very easy-to-use and affordable website builders to build your first portfolio website .

My top beginner website builder recommendations

Here are my personal top picks. None of them requires you to learn to code and they’re all affordable.

  • Wix is an easy-to-use website builder with hundreds of beautifully designed templates to choose from—all with drag-and-drop functionality. They’ve even got quite a few portfolio-centric options to get you started.
  • WordPress may require a little bit more technical know-how (still no coding required) but it definitely gives you more flexibility in the long run. And because it continues to be the most-used website builder on the Internet, there are millions of tutorials to help you if you get stuck.
  • Pixpa is designed specifically for creatives and includes cool add-ons like a client-proofing area or a simple gallery feature.

The “minimum viable” portfolio site

For years, I have preached the importance of what I call a minimum viable portfolio .

As a designer you care very much about how things look, making it far too easy to overdo things, keep adding more and more, editing, adjusting tweaking.

Which often leads to never publishing your portfolio. Which means no clients. And no graphic design business.

The better path (the one I hope you’ll take) is to aim for a “minimum-viable” portfolio.

The term “minimum-viable” answers the question “what is the least I can do to prove my portfolio can generate sales?”

Then start with that. It doesn’t mean, as you grow your business you can’t revisit your site and optimize it for getting more clients ? You can. And you should.

For now, your mission is to learn how to start a graphic design business and get it off the ground. All the fancy stuff can come later once you have revenue coming in.

Once you’ve got a few clients in the door, you’ve named your business, and you’ve got a minimum-viable portfolio site, you can finally start thinking more strategically about how to start a graphic design business the right way.

In my experience, the best next step is to develop a business plan .

Why isn’t that the first step on the list? Because I didn’t want you to get stuck forever in the “planning” stage only to never actually make it to the executing stage. Far too many design businesses (and businesses of all kinds) get lost in the planning stage and never see the light of day.

But not your design business. No. You are going to be different.

You only need a very basic business plan. In fact, it doesn’t need to be more than one page long. You can follow our freelance business plan template here and fill it out in less than 30 minutes.

For an even shorter business plan, grab a piece of paper or a computer and answer the following questions:

  • What services will my design business provide?
  • Who is the ideal client for my graphic design business?
  • How much will my design business charge for the work I do?
  • What are your monthly design business revenue goals?
  • How many clients do I need each month to hit my revenue goals?
  • Where/how will I find new design clients? Or how will I retain current design clients?

Answering these and similar questions will help you maintain traction and gain momentum when getting started.

One thing you’d find out extremely quickly is you have to wear a lot of different hats. Not only are you a graphic designer, but you’re also the bookkeeper, the marketing manager, and the account manager.

Communicating regularly and effectively with your clients is an absolute must. Luckily, you can interact with them in various ways; some examples are phone calls, emails, direct messaging on social media, and webinars.

Make your lines of communication open to nurture leads and clients. You can set up a toll-free number or a business email to make your graphic design business look more professional to prospects. Remember that addressing client concerns outright with a positive approach is key to good customer service.

If you want to exercise good communication, keep in mind that the clients are the people who keep your business afloat. The freelance designers who I see succeed the fastest are the ones that realize their clients aren’t some burden they have to deal with, but an essential and wonderful part of their graphic design business.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with all the client communication, try using a CRM tool to keep track of all client interactions.

If being unprofessional in your communication methods doesn’t kill your business, then failing to deliver on your promises will.

This is another huge fail-point for many designers because they mistakenly think the hardest work is finding design clients when in reality, it can often be more difficult to manage multiple projects and always deliver on time.

Project management tools can help you manage your projects and tasks, keeping you on track and ensuring you give your design clients a positive experience every time.

This can be especially important in the early days of your graphic design business since a few bad reviews or bad word-of-mouth reports around your local city could signify a real setback for you.

Once you’ve delivered your work to your clients and you’re ready to get paid , you’ll want to create and send a professional invoice.

The most basic option is to just write an invoice in Google Docs, Word, or InDesign and send it over via email. But I recommend eventually using a professional invoice tool —where you can create and send invoices quickly and efficiently.

Plus, using tools like these mean your clients can pay directly from the invoice when they open it on their computer. And, if after a while, your client forgets to pay the invoice, many of these apps will remind them for you automatically.

When you’re first learning how to start a graphic design business, the idea of doing work you love every day can be exhilarating.

In fact, depending on how much you hate your day job , you might be hoping this business can be an escape from your cubicle into work you actually care about. But if you get so caught up in the day-to-day creative work that you forget to manage your business properly, you won’t be in business for long.

Indeed, a business that doesn’t generate income essentially remains a hobby, underlining the paramount importance of securing payments.

Easing the Awkwardness of Payment Collection

Requesting payment can feel uncomfortable, particularly for those new to the business world. To mitigate this discomfort, consider two straightforward strategies:

1. Normalize the Payment

It’s essential to recognize that exchanging money for services rendered is a standard business practice, occurring daily across various industries. Launching a graphic design venture is no exception.

Your clients routinely pay for services, whether it’s shipping costs with FedEx, electrical repairs, or even the weekly office donuts. It’s all part of conducting business. By treating payment collection as a routine aspect of your operations, you’ll help normalize the process for both parties.

2. Simplify the Payment Process for Clients

Difficulty in receiving payments might indicate a cumbersome payment process for your clients. Given that people often juggle busy schedules or may procrastinate, simplifying the payment process can significantly benefit both you and your clients.

Employing an online payment tool that facilitates direct bank transfers can streamline transactions. As your business evolves, you might consider setting up recurring invoices or securely storing client credit card details for seamless future payments.

With more experience, you could even prioritize payment collection by requiring it before delivering the final product. This approach can prevent protracted disputes or the hassle of pursuing overdue payments, though it’s advisable to adopt this practice once your business is more established.

No matter how many times I ask business owners what the most common way of getting new business is, I always get the same response:

Word of mouth .

Asking your graphic design clients for referrals can be a really great way to establish yourself. If you’re not sure where to get started, you can download our referral-generating email template .

But asking for referrals for your graphic design business shouldn’t be awkward or difficult. In fact, with a lot of practice you might even get good enough to ask for referrals throughout your process without ever blatantly begging for them .

Remember, part of the challenge of learning how to start a design business is ensuring you have continuous design work every month (not just this month) and referrals are a fantastic way to keep the client pool full.

This brings me to my last (unofficial) step in this process:

If you want your graphic design business to grow, you’ll need to constantly be making adjustments to your pricing, your client communications processes, your invoicing habits, and lots more.

That’s the fun of building a small business.

It’s like any great design project: it takes a lot of brainstorming, tweaking, adjusting, and refining. It’s a lot of hard work.

But you can do it. I know you can. And we’re here to help. Subscribe to our newsletter and join our FB mastermind group for added support and we’ll help you wherever we can along the way.

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Freelancing Growth

Profile Image: Preston Lee

Written by Preston Lee

Editor at millo.co.

Preston Lee is the founder of Millo where he and his team have been helping freelancers thrive for over a decade. His advice has been featured by Entrepreneur , Inc , Forbes , Adobe, and many more.

Preston's Articles

Reviewed & edited by Adam Wright , at Millo.

At Millo, we strive to publish only the best, most trustworthy and reliable content for freelancers. You can learn more by reviewing our editorial policy .

Comments from the community

This is a very helpful article. It covers all the questions and doubts every beginner has.

Great Guide Greer!

Starting a new business …it’s not an easy task but you have written what exactly required to start a design business.

All these things are matter but the main thing is to know how the successful business owners like to shape the plans. We should check their footprints and follow –up them.

I think the best business plan is your words….

Keep up the awesome work!!!

Great and helpful blog to everyone. Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing article.

I’ve started freelancing a few months ago and a lot of what you wrote resonates with me. Especially the bit about finding good clients that you work well with.

I was also curious about how you get briefs from your clients. Do you have a template you get them to fill out or do you work with what they give you? I have recently found myself doing a lot of extra work which I feel is not on the initial brief but some how my client feels it is. It’s especially around brand ID stuff. Dose anyone find this difficult as well? Do you have any tips how I can ease my pain? Especially when there are multiple stakeholders in place who all feel like they require sign off, on every aspect of things.

Thanks for this, also i really appreciate those tools you recommended

thank you so much ,it helped me!

Very helpful .Thanks for sharing ☺

Hello April, I found this article very helpful! My question for you is what assets if any should I look forward into investing in, for example should I invest in some sort of printing machine, certain computer programs, scanners, etc.

Fantastic resource!

Structuring your business for taxes

When was this article published?

Great article! I really enjoy read each of sections. I only did a few of these aspects for my business, and i think i would add these steps to my business.

This was extremely helpful. Starting your own business is a daunting task and by breaking it down for viewers in such an organized and insightful manner is inspiring and palatable. I feel so inspired and motivated to begin.

i am totally agree with your all point. For me, one of the hard work is finding a reliable client for design business. I am enthusiast to follow your guidelines. Hope it will working for me to find few more client.

this article is very useful and have inspired me. thanks!

I wish everyone read this post before they startup.

How to make a proper portfolio for design and web firm. It would be great if you can send me some samples/

Very useful article thanks

Thank you for this great article, I like it, it’s very practical.

Great article

To tell about Web Design like producing a two Web pages can be skilled by just about anyone, but to build a self-sustaining work one needs the right tools, planning,training and experience. http://goo.gl/fsRNBT

Some great advice here. I have recently started my own Graphic and Design and Illustration business at http://nylelevi.com.com

Please take a look if you are interested in seeing what I do. You may even pick up some tips on how to present yourself online if you are planning to start your own business soon.

5 star on this one. copy/paste to clip board 😉

good ideas when you have enough capital

Great tips.. They can be applied not only to design business but to other kinds of businesses too.

I want to start my own business doing design

me too. Hope its moving forward for you. Reading this article and comments on my 9 to 5 London commute has made me think hard about next steps. I’d love to set my self up, just need to take the plunge i guess with lots of positive affirmations, 🙂

I started http://2cooldesign.co.za in 2005 and have never looked back, I’m always looking for more work. Want to be inspired, come see my awesome portfolio, Recommend me to your friends, please & thank you for taking a look ! All the best Guy Tasker creator of 2cooldesign.co.za Awesome Graphic design company based in South Africa. Online based Business, I work from home 🙂

Excellent article. Starting any business can be difficult, but if your passionate about what you want to achieve, it’s possible. It’s also advisable to participate in forums , you can learn and network with other professionals within the industry.

I fully agree with Mel on the emphasis upon work and letting it speak for itself. Also, as Kristine puts it, referrals are an essential customer-base but winning them requires a happy client network that will spread your word. Alongside putting up a team of incentive-driven, passionate & like-minded people, is something that greatly helps in the long run. They bring ideas, networks, energy and add a lot of support. Five year vision, six monthly targets, professional advisers, masters of business administration, etc. are sure-shot recipe, I feel, to bog down budding entrepreneurs, but become necessary when external opinions (investors, shareholders etc.) are unavoidable.

Hmmm… Great info!

On a side note, as I have learned from several business owners, clients are important, and so is marketing, but if you are good at what you do you really don’t have to spend as much time and cash on advertising as you think. Referrals help, but can and does give your client the impression you are looking to expand or take the focus away from them. It just needs to be tastefully done.

I’m thinking an infographic on the best ways to ask for a referral??

Otherwise this content is good. It seems a little heavy, as far as getting exposure etc, and simply to make money, but in my experience I’d rather focus on the work then what I’m trying to achieve financially (at least this is how it comes across) because if you’re good at what you do money will come 🙂

From my own experience, for a business the most important thing is Clients and Cash. Enough Cash at hand to keep rolling till Clients start filling in Cash and repeat. While most of your points address the Client angle, none of the points actual talk about Cash, for a new startup business keep the Cash register ringing is equally important 🙂

Great post, John! I would add that, along with the business plan, one should write a marketing plan. This plan should outline how the business owner will make the business plan a reality, from strategizing what to sell and when, to networking and proper utilization of social media. Without this supporting document, even the best business plan is just words.

Ah, #10! Can’t say enough about it….

I’m a believer in preframing for referrals. Each time I land a new account, I say to the Client, “I’m going to make you very happy. Your business will shine, you’ll feel like a rock star, and you will thrilled with the result. And when that happens, would you mind if I asked you to refer your colleagues/associates to me?” Of course, the response is always “I’d be happy to refer you – IF you impress me first!” Once the project is complete, I say to the Client “Remember when I asked you if you wouldn’t mind referring your colleagues/associates to me? What do you think, are you confident enough in my ability to send your friends or family my way?”

It’s a lot easier to ask for a referral when you’ve preframed your Client for it from the start. 95% of my work now is by referral/word of mouth, and I believe this is the reason. I rarely get a new client any other way anymore.

How to start a design business: 9 tips for success

Top advice on how to start a design business direct from those who have done it.

Start a business text on a purple background

It can be difficult to know how to start a design business. No matter how much experience you have, it can be hard to know when the time is right and how to take the plunge. Maybe design began as a side hustle that's slowly taken over and you're wondering whether it could become a sustainable career, or maybe you've been working as a freelancer or in-house at an agency and you want to take the plunge to launch a new venture.

You certainly wouldn't be alone. A lot of designers have ambitions to run their own businesses, whether it’s freelancers setting up with friends, or designers moving out of full-time employment to become their own boss. But how to go about it?

A new year is a good time to take stock and decide where you want to go next, and in this article, we'll be speaking to several designers who did just that and who'll be sharing nine top tips on how to start a design business. The good news is that now is perhaps one of the best times for small design businesses to be able to promote themselves (of course, to do that, you'll want a good portfolio, so make sure you see our selection of design portfolios for inspiration. And you might also want to see our piece on how to create the perfect design resumé ).

“I see a lot more small independent studios that are all successfully creating their own little corner in the industry,” observes Tom Muller, founder of independent design studio helloMuller . “The value of good design has also seen a lot of businesses being driven by design — which is a good thing for us independent designers.”

Yes, there's now more appreciation of design than even, and a lot of tools available for designers to promote their business But still, for all those who strike out on their own there are many tales of failure, and being a successful freelancer doesn't necessarily mean you know how to run a fully fledged business. So how can you prepare yourself with the right tools and mindset for success? Read on for our nine tips on how to start a design business.

01. Ask yourself 'why?'

Before you go any further, one of the first things you should do if you're thinking of starting your own design business is to ask yourself why? What do you want to achieve? Is it to make a larger income from design or to have a greater influence on the industry? Or do you simply want more freedom in how you work and who you work with? helloMuller started life as a portfolio and a creative banner under which Muller would collaborate on design projects with artists, publishers and brands. In 2010, he converted the brand into a fully fledged independent studio and continued working with clients in the publishing, film, tech, fashion and arts industries.

“The reason I set up the studio in the first place is because it gives me a space to work independently on projects I can choose.” says Muller. “The freedom to choose my own projects and client relations and build my own body of work is the main drive.” helloMuller has always run as a solo operation, but the nature of the work and clients means Muller often collaborates with other creatives and artists.

Working predominantly in publishing and entertainment, Muller counts Marvel, DC Comics and Valiant Entertainment, Image Comics, Sony Pictures, and various production companies in the film industry amongst his clients — working on everything from visual identities, publication design to image making.

“I’ve never set out to have a specific philosophy for the studio, but the aim is, and always has been, to create work I’d like to see out in the world.”

02. Make a plan and use your existing experience

Planning is vital, and if you already have several years of working in-house or for an agency, your experience can guide you. While jumping in headfirst may sound exciting, getting a few years of studio experience can make all the difference, not least by equipping you with the people skills you need to succeed in a competitive market.

When Birmingham-based graphic designer and art director Luke Tonge quit his full-time job to pursue his passion for editorial design and brand identity, it was meticulously planned. He made the move after spending 10 years working at large agencies while juggling an impressive side hustle of freelance design work, most notably design and art direction at The Recorder magazine for Monotype. 

“I’ve got a great professional support network, locally and further afield and I had some clients who had promised me work," Tongue said. "Plus the day I actually left my job I was offered a couple of days a week teaching at Birmingham City University, so that was the cherry on the cake in terms of circumstances aligning.”

“I initially worried about going freelance, lacking confidence," he admits, “then I found my freelance career was flourishing but I’d hit a ceiling in my job. It became increasingly clear there was only one sensible way to go — and I figured if it all went pear-shaped I could head back to an agency sharpish.”

Tonge also launched the first Birmingham Design Festival, an experience that helped grow his existing network and establish his reputation within the local creative community. But he stresses that the experience he gained in a decade working for agencies was invaluable for his solo venture.

"Fail on someone else’s dime; learn from the experience that will surround you and start to build a picture of the kind of business you’d want to run,” recommends Tonge. “I’m amazed when kids do it straight from university — if it works for you then more power to you, but for me, 10 years was the amount of experience I needed before I felt ready to stand on my own.”

While there are no hard and fast rules to starting a business, digital and content strategist Sarah Seaton, founder of Riot and Ritual , believes that personal drive and the right mindset goes a long way to setting you on the right path. For better or worse. “Your journey is your journey,” says Seaton. “Freelancing or running your own business really forces you to take a hard look at yourself, your values and how you want to live your life.”

03. Make every job count

Of course, experience is great, but how to start a design business if you don't have it but you're determined to start out on your own from the outset? And if you don't have experience in the industry, chances are you might not know where to start in terms of making a plan for your business. Bristol-based designer Jason Smith saw early on that the direction for him was to start his own business. He had a handful of interviews at uninspiring agencies after finishing university and decided to stop looking for roles and direct his efforts at starting self-initiated projects with like-minded people.

That decision led him to join forces with fellow creative Ben Steers to start their own studio: Fiasco Design in late 2013. With a portfolio demonstrating a flair for digital, their client list since then has included the likes of Channel 4, Penguin Books, Aardman Digital and Orange. How did they get established without experience and without a plan?

“When we started the agency we didn’t start out with any predefined idea of what we wanted to be or how we wanted to grow,” admits creative director Steers. “There was no five-year business plan, no company road map, no grand vision. Any dreams or ideas we did have for the business you could have fit onto a post-it note.”

 “Getting things off the ground and turning the business into something that paid us a full-time wage wasn’t easy and took a good year or so to do. The only way we managed to do this was by saying yes to everything and then worrying about the rest later.”

One of the biggest hurdles for Fiasco as a young agency was getting prospective clients to trust them; they were often seen as a riskier option in comparison to larger agencies. One way to get over that was to commit themselves fully and put all their passion into every job to building a business culture based on trust and honesty.

"The assumption was always that if we did good work, the rest would follow. That’s kind of how it’s worked out," says Steers. “We’ve always had a ‘small agency, big ideas’ mentality and this has really helped us make the transition from working with local companies to national and international brands.”

04. Ask for help when you need it

Smith says it's also a good idea to leave your ego at the door and to surround yourself with good people. “Forget egos; you need to be able to be honest and ask for help when you need it," he says. "Especially from friends and peers that have been in similar situations. It’s just as important to discuss your problems with like-minded friends as it is to share your successes.”

The point of seeking help from others can be vital for anyone setting up their own business – and even more so if you're setting up somewhere new. Swedish designer and photographer Jenny Theolin began her career in London but then relocated back to her native Stockholm. “Find your champions,” she advises. “When I started, I had made many friends who were also business owners. They shared everything from contract templates to new business advice. Moving country, I had to start this all over again. So be prepared for this process being never-ending.”

05. Watch your finances 

Surviving the first few months takes commitment and strict management of your outgoings. Forget expensive equipment and a new office. Until you’ve got your fees figured out and a steady stream of clients, you need to spend as little as possible (although some essentials like one of the most powerful laptops are obviously a must).

As Tonge advises: “Save hard when the money is good – have a rainy day fund bank account that you can tap into when necessary – and keep a good pipeline of work so there’s always an iron or two in the fire.”

Decide how best to bill for your time, too. Whether by the hour, the day, or project-to-project, it has to work for you, says Seaton. “Day rates are a constant point of contention for me,” she admits. “I have set day rates, though they’re flexible depending on the project. If I know it’s a long-term piece of work then I’m happy to lower the day rate, as the stability this gives is added value for me.”

That’s a sentiment shared by Paul Felton, co-founder of Common Curiosity , who prefers to judge the value of a project on more than profit. An independent rebrand may not pay anywhere near what a global brand would pay for a similar job, but the value it offers may outweigh the instant cash reward.

“Perhaps you get a great portfolio piece from it, or you help out someone in need and maybe get a few recommendations,” says Felton. “We try and look at the bigger picture and factor in lots of these aspects. Our approach is to estimate how long we think the project will take in hours and days, then from our day rate assign a cost to that,” he continues. “One of the difficulties we have is we operate in two cities where budgets and expectations of what things cost are quite different.”

Felton and co-founder Alex Woolley , another Birmingham designer met while employed at digital agency Purpose, where they worked together for almost four years, sharing a similar approach and philosophy. Initially striking out on his own as a freelancer, Felton enlisted Woolley to help deliver a couple of larger projects, leading to a conversation about whether it would be sustainable full time.

“We had a lot to iron out – we were in different cities for one,” says Woolley. “But we were keen to align on what we wanted – from clients, size, disciplines… We made sure we took the time to consider it properly, but in the end, it felt like a no-brainer and Common Curiosity officially got going in February 2016. We were fortunate to have Royal Mail as one of our first clients, that we both loved working for at Purpose, so it was a very natural progression for us to start working together again.”

06. Set clear principles and strategies

Theolin advises setting clear principles and models to guide the decision-making in your business. “I use the Friends, Fame, Fortune model (a project has to tick at least two), as well as the Good, Cheap, Fast model (you can only pick two). I also have principles around costing. I have a client screening process and always ask for per cent upfront. I also cost in value, not time, I include challenge framing in the billing, and I never pitch.”

For Theolin, relocating back to Sweden provided her with an opportunity to rediscover her home city, and cement it as part of her overall strategy for fuelling her career.

“When I moved to Sweden, one of my strategies was to become an authority on Sweden. My tactics included immersing myself in the city, culture and industry,” she says. Tweeting on behalf of @Sweden , being elected chairwoman of Design Sweden , launching Glug Sweden, and writing for three Sweden-related creative books helped cement her reputation and credibility.

For ideas on new outlets for your work, you can take a look at our guide to the best places to sell design online . 

07. Nurture your clients

Once you’ve made the decision to start your own business it’s easy to get carried away by all the fun stuff – branding, website, business cards. But one of the most, if not the most, important activities is building and managing a client list. Companies that you work with in the early days often become long-standing clients, and nurturing relationships will stand you in good stead as you grow. We might be living in the digital age, but word of mouth recommendations can still make or break your success.

“The vast majority of our new clients come through recommendations,” says Wooley from Common Curiosity. "So we’ve really piled our efforts into doing great work for our existing clients, which often results in them then recommending us to others. If we get a foot in a new door, there’s no big sales pitch — that’s just not us. We meet for a coffee and find out about them and talk through some relevant case studies.”

Engaging with potential clients on social media can also raise your business profile — and be a surprisingly effective tool for winning work. “We rely pretty heavily on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to help promote the business.” reveals Steers. “In the early days of the studio, we won a number of milestone projects through Twitter. Platforms and algorithms have changed a bit since then but if you’re starting your own creative business, it’s essential you get your work out there and social media is still one of the best, most cost-effective ways to do this.”

Respecting your clients' time is essential. “Treat everyone as if your business depends on them," recommends Tonge. "Don’t get walked over, but don’t forget that clients and potential clients are your new boss and they don’t owe you anything. It’s easy to think you’re doing the world a favour by taking on their projects, but that kind of hubris usually comes before a fall.”

08. Feel free to say no

One of the hardest lessons to learn when self-employed is how to say no. Feeling the need to jump on work when it presents itself, even if its a little inconvenient or demanding, comes with the territory. But mastering the art of turning work down is always preferable to overcommitting yourself, which can result in problems with deadlines and a bad reputation with early clients.

“I’ve been in situations where I’d taken on too much work, which led to me spending a lot of time managing clients and explaining delays in delivery," Muller says. "That is not something you want to make a habit of. Planning projects properly is vital.”

Dutch illustrator and graphic designer Sue Doeksen agrees, warning that saying yes to everything can be detrimental if you don’t manage your time. “It’s impossible to give your full attention to everything, so try to get clear planning in place with some extra hours to play around with. Creatives have a responsibility to manage client expectations, but we also need to set our own deadlines.”

At the same time, we've mentioned above the importance of being able to commit all your passion to a project. If something comes up that you really don't feel excited about, or you feel goes against where you want to go with your business, you need to know when to reject it.

“It’s easy to just take what you can get because you’re suddenly responsible for your own paycheck," Seaton says. "As long as you prepare yourself for some quiet months you can start to carve out your path. Set your objectives and your mission and go from there!”

Doeksen agrees that taking on work for the sake of it can harm your mindset and performance. “Don’t say yes to assignments you really don’t think fit you,” she says, advising that it can be better to be selective and hold out for assignments that suit better, “otherwise you’ll end up producing work you don’t feel happy with.”

Be mindful too not to fall into the trap of taking on too much repeat business as doing so may cost you more creative opportunities. “Learning to say yes when you mean no, and no when you mean yes, can be hard," warns Theolin. "Sometimes it’s easier to accept repeat business without calculating the opportunity costs.”

09. Be nice to people

Arguably, people matter more than jobs, and in an industry so heavily reliant on relationships, how you make people feel is more important than the money you make from them, Tonge concludes.

“The more independent you become, the more you rely on other people outside of your immediate radius to support and sustain you: the client who pays your wage; the contractors you might bring in to work on a project, and so on," he says. "In an agency, you can act like an ass and maybe get away with it, but when you’re indie that isn’t the case! Work hard and be nice to people. It’s a privilege to make a living doing what we love."

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Founder & director of Inkygoodness, Lisa is a published writer and arts journalist, focusing on creative business, graphic art and illustration and design education. Her words have appeared in Computer Arts magazine, Creative Bloq, Digital Arts and IdN.

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A Business Plan for Freelance Graphic Designers

A desk photo with the text "A Business Plan for Freelance Graphic Designers"

There were so many times in my business that I just stopped in my tracks. I was working on something for so long, like a client project, that when I was done I almost didn’t know what was next. I was missing a small business plan that really worked for me.

The ironic thing about freezing up and not knowing what to do is that we most likely have a long list already made. And that list has all of the good intentions to grow your business. However, the priorities are a little blurred when there is so much busyness all around.

I love using project management software for my business (Asana and Notion). I always had a section on there to brainstorm ideas. But oftentimes they would just stay there and never go anywhere. And when I would finally get around to looking at it, I’d close the window!

In those times, I’m running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out my next step. I learned from school and also from a few resources about how to make a formal business plan. It was very daunting, structured, and a little hard to follow.

I think the reason for that is small business plans are different for solo entrepreneurs and designers. We constantly have to be moving and thinking on our feet. The best thing to do is to create a more flexible business plan that actually makes sense for a  graphic designer.

Regularly ask yourself what you want for your graphic design business

My assumption is that most of us are not asking ourselves questions often enough. We evolve as business owners and as people.  We go through phases of life or struggles, and suddenly those things that were once important aren’t anymore. And we may have redefined values.

Because we are always changing, it should be a regular practice to ask yourself what you want. First of all, do you like what you’re doing? Are you in the right headspace? Is it good for your mental health? Is it helping with creativity? Is it healthy for your relationships?

It’s crucial to audit your business in terms of your lifestyle. The goal of having a design business should be to enhance your life based on your definitions of that. Check on yourself every quarter and make sure everything is in alignment.

Add short and long-term goals to the small business plan

I know some people like to ask you what your 5 and 10-year goals are. It really depends on how you like to imagine these things. For me, I have a vision of what I’d like my future self to be, but it’s really hard to see that far out.

If you’re able to do so, envisioning your life that far ahead is a great skill, and you can write all of that down. But if you can’t, don’t fret. Because sometimes the short-term goals are just as good and helpful for your business.

Annual business plan

Start with an annual plan and then work backward.  I tend to be on the more conservative and practical side and often don’t practice dreaming big. But don’t be like me!

You should absolutely be stretching your goals to something you can’t even imagine right now.  list out these items and you can add or remove them to your liking:

  • Annual income
  • Number of clients
  • Type of clients
  • Average price of services
  • Types/streams of income
  • Number of hours worked (broken up by week)
  • Relationships

I kept it pretty broad because I want you to interpret this in a way that makes sense for you. Write down what excites you and figure out how you can make your design business support these things. Besides being a long-term plan, this is really a mindset exercise to get you to start thinking of your business working for you.

Your mission and vision

I love creating an annual plan first because it can manifest what I want in life. I can see from here what my true priorities are, and it is easier to figure out my vision.  You’ve written out what’s most important to you and your ambition to accomplish it.

You know what kind of service is you want to offer and who you want to help. That right there is your mission.

Put it at the top of your business plan so you can be reminded of it. It will help you not stray too far if you’re feeling that shiny object syndrome.

Weekly + monthly plan

You can now break up your annual plan to come up with your weekly and monthly plans. What do you need to do in order to reach your goals this month? How can you divide that by the weeks?

Create an Asana board (or any other project management tool. Google Sheets or Airtable work really well too), and break up your workweek.

business plan of designer

Categorize and prioritize your small business plan by timeline

It’s time to categorize these into more digestible tasks. If you want two large clients a month, you have to figure out who these clients could potentially be and where you can find them.

So maybe in this case your ideal clients are on Instagram. Now you have to come up with an Instagram strategy where you put out content that attracts them.  You can also message certain businesses and connect with them.

Next, add time for social media marketing and content creation in a way that helps you do it every week.

Keep your design business plan flexible

Even though you have everything written down, it doesn’t have to be rigid. Always remind yourself of your vision, and for this year that should pretty much stay the same. Your approaches to your clients and marketing will be the flexible part.

There are so many new things coming out that will help you during this time whether those are resources, software, or other tools.  On the other hand, platforms are constantly changing which may make things more difficult. Adapting to the changes is what will keep your business strong as long as you keep your overall messaging consistent.

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Freelance Capsule

Setting Up a Business Plan as a Freelance Graphic Designer [2021]

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A business plan is a document where you describe the different characteristics of your business and your action plan to achieve goals or face unexpected situations.

If you are a freelance graphic designer, having a business plan will also help you define what products or services you offer and to which audience your offer is directed.

If you want to turn your freelance career into something professional, making a business plan is essential.

Who Needs a Freelance Business Plan?

Contrary to what some freelancers imagine, developing a business plan is less complicated than it seems.

Business plans are ideal for those freelancers who want to make changes in their work to earn more money, want to have a stable financial situation, or who want to grow their freelance career. 

There are many reasons to develop this strategy and if you are not completely convinced, the important thing is that you keep in mind that developing your business plan will bring many benefits to your career as a graphic designer.

One of the main benefits of a business plan is that it allows you to know the viability and profitability of a business before starting it and thus, for example, save time and money in case the business is not viable or profitable. 

Imagine that as a graphic designer you choose to focus on the logo design niche, but in your area or community, there are already many logo designers.

This can affect your chances of finding clients, but if you draw up a business plan you can establish targeting another type of audience where you will find clients or change your niche and specialize in another area.

A business plan also serves as a guide to starting a business and operating it for a couple of months to see if it works.

When you start a business without previously making a business plan, you make decisions along the way, which generally makes starting the business and mastering its operation take longer than it would have taken if you had previously made the plan. 

Instead, by making a business plan you know the steps you must follow to start the business and then how to operate it, which generally allows you to be more efficient, reduce uncertainty and minimize the risk of making mistakes or failure. 

In fact, 17% of small businesses fail because they lack a business model, this means that many freelancers do not take the time to treat their jobs seriously and sadly end up losing all their effort by not following any guidelines

Aim of a Freelance Business Plan

It is often thought that a business plan is something that only belongs to large companies; but the truth is that regardless of whether it is a large company or a novice freelancer, the development of a business plan is a stage that every freelancer must go through. 

Having a business plan has different aims that are extremely helpful, especially nowadays where due to the great existing competition, the chances of starting a new business are challenging.

1. Helps You Stay Focused

Having a plan in place is perfect for those times when you do not know what to do. In this way you can prioritize your short and long-term goals, what are those things that you should take care of before others.

When you are a freelance graphic designer, it is normal to let things go at their own pace, but when something unforeseen happens like a client who decides to end your work relationship, that is when you find yourself in trouble because you do not have any action plan.

If you set a business plan you will be focused on making your freelance career grow and will have a better idea of how to approach and achieve your goals.

Without it, you are more prone to making mistakes, wasting time, investing your effort in activities that you consider valuable but that in the end do not contribute anything significant to your growth as a professional.

Every freelancer has difficult and uncertain days, where you do not know how you will pay your bills or how to get new clients.

A business plan will keep you stable on days when you do not have so much activity, it will tell you what steps to take and where to direct your business so that you can be more successful.

2. Gives Control Over Your Freelance Business

Are you one of those who has a hard time taking the helm of your business?

Do you feel that you are not always in control of what happens day to day, activity by activity, process by process?

Do not be overwhelmed, you can take the helm if you establish an order, a system that allows you to be in control. 

Your business plan can be a representation of the model that you will follow to carry out all your business relationships.

Basically it will be a graphic structuring of what the business is or will have to be and this will give you more control over it.

First, you must establish the goals of what you want to control, that is, establish the different areas of your company where you want to establish control and define the results you want to achieve.

By keeping track of everything you do in your business, you will notice those things that are not working and what you need to change.

3. Helps You Get Financing

Finally, when looking for financing, a business plan allows you to demonstrate to third parties the viability and attractiveness of your freelance business and therefore, helps you to get it. 

Financing is useful in case you do not have enough money but you need to renew your work equipment or acquire a new one.

In case you want to obtain a loan, it allows you to demonstrate to a bank, financial institution, or lender that the business is profitable and that you will be able to pay the debt contracted on time, and thus convince them to grant it to you.

Also, when looking for a partner or investor, the business plan allows you to demonstrate to potential partners or investors the attractiveness of the business (for example, by pointing out the differentiating characteristics, strategies, experience, profitability, etc.) and so on. It convinces them to partner or invest with you.

4. Allows You to Know the Viability and Profitability of a Business

One of the main benefits of a business plan is that it allows you to know the viability and profitability of a project before starting it, and thus, for example, save time and money in case the business is not viable or profitable.

This is a point that many freelancers are afraid to touch, but the stark reality is that 50% of small businesses fail in their first year, so you should consider everything in your power to prevent this from happening.

business plan of designer

Source: Oberlo

Imagine that a client offers you a job proposal with a payment that sounds attractive but does not convince you at all.

If you compare this job offer with your business plan, you can see if the time and effort that you will dedicate to this job is feasible according to the goals you have set for yourself.

With the help of your business plan, you will see if after 6 months if this job is worth it or not.

Remember that your business plan will include the calculation of the income and expenses in which you will incur and also the calculations of any detailed investment that you will need to maintain your business.

These investments can be such as computers or technological equipment, training, payment of software.

Your plan also should include how you will bear the expenses, especially until you achieve enough income to support yourself.

Business Plan Fundamentals

Your business plan is a customizable document, especially because a business plan for a company is not the same as for a freelance graphic designer. 

However, there are several elements that you cannot ignore if you want to create a useful and effective plan.

1. Executive Summary

It is a summary of the most important points of the other parts of the business plan, so ideally it should be written after the other parts have been completed.

The purpose of the executive summary is to give the reader a general and succinct vision of the business plan, so everyone can understand in a single reading what the business consists of and generate interest in them for the plan and for deepening in the reading of the others parts.

The executive summary must be effectively a summary because its function is to clearly explain what your business consists of, no matter how complex it may be, and to be able to generate interest in the plan and invite its reading (for example, using positive language and highlighting the factors that demonstrate the viability of the business).

2. The Identity of Your Business

After the executive summary, the next part or section of the business plan is the definition of the business, telling who you are and what you do.

This part describes the business you do, what you specialize in, as well as basic aspects related to it. The objective of this section is for the reader to know what your work consists of.

It is also good to include a description of the services you perform. At this point, you can explain how your business or service works, what are the products you offer, and what will be its main characteristics or benefits.

The degree of detail in the business description will depend on the type of business and the objectives of the plan.

If you consider it appropriate, you could include here, for example, some images of the services you have offered as a graphic designer, so you can give a better description.

3. Market Study

The market study describes aspects related to the market in which the business will operate, such as the target market to which it will be directed, and the competition it will have.

The objective of the market study is to show the reader relevant information about your target and to indicate how that information will be used for your benefit.

Why is it so important to know your market?

This will help you to know how profitable the service you offer is within the target you want to manage.

42% of small businesses fail because they do not have enough demand in the market, so if you take the time to do your research first, you will be able to know if your target is feasible or if you need to make a change to avoid losses.

business plan of designer

Keep in mind that to carry out this part it may be necessary to previously carry out a market study that allows you to collect and analyze market information.

That does not have to be a difficult task either since it could only consist of building your ideal client and according to that, give an idea of what the market you want to focus on is like.

Your target market is that group of people who you consider to be ideal for hiring your services as a graphic designer.

Every freelancer must always define its target market since this allows them to specialize and focus on a certain type of consumer and thus achieve greater efficiency than it would be if they addressed all the consumers that exist.

Also, being clear about your market will make your business grow exponentially.

Incredibly, 47% of businesses consider it necessary to invest in this specific area since for them this is what has helped them the most to expand their influence.

Without a doubt, it is an aspect that you should not neglect if your goal is to grow and generate profits.

4. Technical Study

This part describes technical aspects related to your business, such as the physical requirements necessary for its operation and its production process. 

As a graphic designer, you will know that this part is very important since you use many types of technological equipment to carry out your work.

Here you must make a list of all the equipment that is necessary for you to work. Computers, iPad or graphic tablet, pencil for your tablet, printer, or also drawing tools such as specialized pencils, blocks, or notebooks.

Do not forget to include the digital tools you use, such as illustration software.

All that you include in this list are your work assets and having this clear will help you to quote projects for your clients and also to put a value on your business.

This will also help you get an idea of the earnings your work has generated and what you have invested or should invest in.

5. Financial Projection

In this section, you evaluate the current income and expenses and an estimate is made of the income and expenses that the business will have for the period in which the business plan is projected. 

The time in which a business plan is projected usually depends on the type of business and the objectives of the plan, but to begin with, you could do it from six months to a year.

The objective of the study of income and expenses is to show you or a funder the income and expenses that the business will have, as well as the relationship between them.

Knowing the future income and expenses of the business will allow you to know to a large extent if the business is viable or not.

It will be viable when future income is greater than future expenses and it will not be viable when future expenses are greater than future income).

Here you can also include a financial evaluation to demonstrate that the business is profitable, in how long the investment will be recovered and how much is expected to be obtained for it.

6. Appendix

The appendix is an optional part that includes documents that provide additional information and that are included at the end of the business plan in order not to overload the main part and end up making it difficult to read. 

If you are putting together your business plan to show it to someone else to get financing or an alliance including this part is a very good idea.

Here you can show work you have done, what is your style and graphic line, what types of services you offer, but also everything that supports the information you included in your business plan.

Here is a list of things you could include:

  • Images of the products you offer.
  • Images of your work assets.
  • Agreements with partners.

Tips and Advice to Keep in Mind

There is no mandatory way to put together your business plan, but you must do it according to your needs and purposes.

For example, if you do not plan to use your business plan to obtain financing, you can exclude some points from the financial projection.

Anyway, here are some recommendations that will help you whatever your intention is.

Plan Something That Will Be Realistic for You to Follow

Creating your business plan can be both exciting and scary. But for both cases, you want to make sure you set realistic goals that you can achieve.

By setting your goals, you will be challenging yourself to get out of your comfort zone and work hard to achieve what you set out to do.

Likewise, you should not push yourself too hard, especially if you are just starting out. 

What makes you a quality freelancer is being consistent with your projects. Realistic goals will keep you motivated as you will see how little by little you get closer to what you have proposed.

Achieving them will show you that you are capable of big projects, so setting goals is essential if you want to grow professionally as a freelancer.

It is Adjustable

Your business plan does not have to look perfect or strictly professional, but it is a guide and you can make the changes you consider necessary.

It is likely that today you will establish some goals in your plan, but that after three months you decide to change your niche or target and also the goals, then it is totally valid to adjust your business plan to your new ideas.

However, the recommendation is that you change it only when necessary.

If you see that due to some mistakes you have made or due to some eventuality one of your goals is impossible to achieve in the time you stipulated, your business plan will be of great help to understand what you are doing wrong and what you must change to make your goal something possible again.

Short Goals Help Achieve the Long Term Goals

Taking small steps to reach a big goal is the best way to really achieve it.

Do not doubt that doing so will help you achieve great results in a short time and take your freelance career to a better level. 

If you set small goals such as generating a certain amount of money at the end of the month or acquiring two new clients at a certain time, you can achieve much larger goals such as consolidating a large group of clients or raising a certain amount of money to invest in new work teams. 

Taking small steps towards a big goal will not only help you have better personal finances, save and invest but it is such an effective method that it will work for any goal you set for yourself.

Stop Being a Newbie and Become a Pro

Having a business plan is something that will boost your freelance career and what distinguishes newbies from professionals.

If you want to turn graphic design into your career and a steady job, you should treat it as a business. 

Remember that making your business plan should not be complicated and that it can vary a lot depending on your objectives or purpose. 

However, what you should take into account is the executive summary, the identity of your business, a market and technical study and of course a financial projection. 

With this being said, you are now on the track to take your freelance career onto the next level.

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Blog Business

How to Create a Business Plan to Win Over Investors (7+ Business Plan Templates)

By Midori Nediger , Jul 11, 2023

Business Plan Blog Header

A compelling business plan is essential to every new and growing business.

It’s the primary document that prospective investors use to evaluate the potential of a business, going hand in hand with a business pitch deck .

For a business plan, you need to organize a lot of information into a single, easy-to-read document. More than that, your business plan’s design should be engaging, inspire confidence in your stakeholders and motivate them to back your company and its vision. 

Gone are the days when designing a business plan from scratch was a time-consuming and challenging task. Today, business plan templates offer a convenient solution by providing pre-designed layouts that simplify the process.

In this blog, I’m going to break it down for you. I’ll share the six things you need to know to put together a compelling, engaging business plan. Ready to get started now? Venngage’s online Business Plan Maker  lets anyone create a winning business plan quickly and easily.

Just so you know, some of our business plan templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee.  Sign-up  is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

Click to jump ahead:

  • How to format your business plan

Startup business plan templates

Simple business plan templates.

  • How to write your business plan
  • How to design an engaging executive summary
  • How to use charts and graphs to present data
  • How to communicate growth strategies in your business plan
  • How to present financial data in your business plan

1. How to format your business plan

To format your business plan:

  • Start with a clear title page.
  • Include an executive summary.
  • Provide a company description.
  • Conduct a market analysis.
  • Describe your product or service offering.
  • Outline your marketing and sales strategy.
  • Include organizational or business structure and management information.

A typical business plan is an in-depth document and covers every facet of your business (present and future). Creating a traditional business plan makes sense when you have a clear growth plan for the next three to five years, are in need of major funding, or want to attract long-term partners.  

A professional business plan typically has the following sections: 

  • Table of Contents
  • Executive summary
  • Company description
  • Market analysis
  • Organization and management
  • Service or product line
  • Marketing and sales
  • Funding request
  • Financial projections
  • An appendix

A business plan can span a dozen or more pages because it presents the big picture, as complete as possible, to reassure others to invest in you. Investment can mean a few different things – usually financial, but also as partners or employees. 

The sections that can take a lot of research and add to the bulk of your business plan are your market analysis, marketing and sales plans, and financial projections. 

These are the sections that demonstrate your business acumen, your long-term vision, and your accountability. Whereas, sections like the executive summary are meant to grab attention, inspire and get people excited about your business. 

Start with a business plan template

To get started on your business plan, save yourself some time and use a template.

Most business plan templates will include things like a cover page, table of contents and the main sections you need. It will also have pre-formatted pages with placeholder text and charts that you can swap out. 

Green Simple Business Plan Template

It takes time to do market research, present growth plans, put together financial projections, analyze your customer base, create competitor breakdowns…the list goes on.

The last thing you want to do is spend precious time formatting the resulting document. 

Save time by building your business plan from an existing business plan template, and customize it with your own content.

With a clean, consistent structure and clear headings, this template is the perfect starting point:

business plan template

Then you’re free to customize the template with helpful visual elements like charts, tables, and diagrams, that will make your pitch deck impossible to resist.

A Venngage business plan template is designed to help you communicate visually  and explain complex ideas easily. The right business plan template for you depends on the length and detail of your business plan, your brand and style, and the different sections you want to cover.

If your small business doesn’t have a dedicated design team, but you still need to learn how to write a business plan to present to investors–build off of a pre-designed business plan template:

Simple Business Plan TemplateSimple Business Plan Template

There are just a handful of our business plan templates that can be customized in the Venngage editor. Browse more business plan templates,  choose one that’s best for you and start editing right away.

Structuring your startup business plan involves organizing it into sections such as executive summary, company description, market analysis, product/service offering, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and operational plan.

Here are some business plan template examples:

startup business plan template

Short Business Plan Template

short business plan template

Number your pages and include a table of contents

A table of contents is crucial to help readers navigate your document and quickly find specific sections that are of interest to them.

It’s a good idea to include page numbers, main section headings, and section subheadings here for easy reference.

business plan template

Keeping these tips in mind will ensure that your business plan design feels clean and professional and doesn’t distract from your content. You want your information, not your formatting, to be the focus!

2. How to write your business plan 

Crafting a solid business plan is vital for the success of your venture. It serves as a roadmap that outlines your objectives, strategies, and financial projections. Here are three tips for writing your business plan to ensure it’s easy to read, appears professional and is memorable.

Use bulleted lists, bold text, and a clear type hierarchy for ‘skimmability’

Business plans need to be understandable at a glance to attract funding . Investors are looking for information that will help them understand your business quickly and without much effort.

Take a look at this snippet of the business plan template from above:

business plan

What stands out to you?

To me, the large green headers pop out first, making it easy to scan through the sections to find what I want to focus on.

This is because there’s a defined type hierarchy, giving more visual weight to the headers over the body text.

business plan

Next, the unique selling points of this business–superior quality products, unique glass carving and brass inlays, and excellent service–jump out. Because they’re presented in an indented list , they’re easier to see at a glance, which will likely make them more memorable.

Finally, I’m drawn to the bolded stats–“top 30% of the industry” and “4 out of 5 households spent money on renovation”.

Key statistics like these can go a long way towards convincing your investors that you’re worth their time and money. If you’re going to include them within larger paragraphs, make sure they stand out by increasing their font weight.

To sum up: make your report skimmable. Draw attention to important takeaways with indented lists, bolded text, and a clear type hierarchy.

Consider using a one-column or two-column grid

business plan

If your business plan contains only text, stick with a single-column layout that reinforces the linear flow of the document. If your business plan includes some supporting data in the form of charts and tables, use a two-column layout to juxtapose text with its corresponding data.

Maintain page margins that set text at a readable line length

When we read long passages of text, the ease at which we read depends on how the text flows on the page. Something called line length (the number of characters in a horizontal line of text) plays a huge role in readability, and is something you should consider when formatting your business plan.

To dictate line length, designers and typesetters play with the width of page margins (the edges of a document that don’t contain any text or images) with the aim of maximizing readability.

It’s generally accepted that the ideal line length sits somewhere between 40 and 90 characters per line. Any longer or shorter and you’ll find that something feels “off” about your document.

business plan

How do you achieve this in your business plan?

If you use a single-column layout, use nice wide margins (1 ½ to 2 inches) to limit your text to less than 90 characters per line.

business plan template

With a two-column layout, you might need to use narrower margins (possibly as little as ½ an inch on either side) to make sure there’s enough space for at least 40 characters per line of text.

business plan template

The last thing to remember about margins and line length–don’t play around with them from page to page. Use consistent margins across your whole document.

3. How to design an executive summary

An executive summary is a snapshot of your business plan. It should be concise and hook your readers. It should reassure stakeholders that your business plan will be a worthwhile read.

How you choose to structure your executive summary is key. You can deliver a lot of excellent information that simply gets lost in a sea of text and paragraphs. Even if someone reads through it entirely, they may have missed something.

To make key information stand out, use vibrant headings, incorporate visuals throughout, and break up the layout of your text.

Executive Summary Business Plan Template

Not every investor looks for the same thing. Some will care more about who you or your executive team are, while another is interested solely in the financials of the business. Identifying each section makes it easy for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

You can also list out the key takeaways, briefly explaining them in the executive summary. If your reader finds everything they needed to know in the executive summary, they’ll happily move onto the rest of the business plan.

Executive Summary Blue Business Plan Template

4. Use one feature color to tie your business plan together

Color should be used with restraint in professional documents like business plans. Instead of adding color solely for aesthetic purposes, think of color selection as another tool to highlight information you want your reader to focus on and to tie the document together.

You shouldn’t need more than a single color (ideally one of your brand colors ) to achieve this in a business plan.

In business plan charts, color should be used only to clarify trends and relationships. Use color to emphasize single important data points, differentiate between real and projected values, or group related data:

business plan template

In the rest of your business plan, keep color to a minimum. At most, use it to make headers stand out or to highlight key points in long-form text, diagrams, or tables.

The nice thing about keeping document colors this simple? It’s hard to mess up, and without any complex design work, it creates a sense of cohesion and unity within a document.

4. How to use charts and graphs to present your data

Since your business plan should be backed by solid data, you might want to include some of that data as evidence, in the form of  charts, tables or diagrams . Even simple visuals can communicate better than long paragraphs of text.

I’ll touch on some specific types of charts commonly used in business plans next, but first let’s review a few general chart design tactics.

Use descriptive titles and annotations to spell out chart takeaways

Avoid generic headers whenever possible. Maximize your chart’s value and impact by providing takeaway messages right in the title.

business plan

In the same vein, add direct annotations to data points or trends that support your case.

business plan

Repeating key messages within a chart, in the title, annotations, and captions, may improve viewers understanding and recall of those messages .

Aid understanding of market size and market share with area charts and pie charts

A market potential analysis is a fundamental pillar of your business plan. Market size and market share are two major components of a market potential analysis.

These numbers are typically in the millions and billions (the bigger the better, really), but most people have trouble grasping the meaning of such big numbers . At a surface level we can understand that one billion is one thousand times larger than one million, but we often struggle to comprehend what that really means.

This is the perfect opportunity to add some visual aids to your business plan.

Use bubble charts to represent market size

Bubble charts are useful for showing general proportions among numbers. Check out this one from our redesigned version of AirBnb’s first pitch deck :

business plan

Without having to think about the absolute values of these very large numbers, we can quickly see how they relate to one another.

While bubble charts are good for making quick, general comparisons, they’re less useful when it comes to precise measurements. To help readers make slightly more accurate judgements of proportion:

Use pie or donut charts to represent market share and market composition

Pie and donut charts are the industry standard for showing market share and market composition, since they’re the most widely understood method for representing part-to-whole relationships.

The way Uber breaks down their market with a simple donut chart makes their biggest segment (a key takeaway) really stand out, while the subtler differences between the smaller segments are still evident.

business plan

When you present a market analysis, use pie charts, donut charts, or bubble charts to aid the reader understanding proportions and part-to-whole relationships.

Use histograms and bar charts to represent demographic distributions in market segmentation summaries

Another part of analyzing market potential is about identifying and understanding target customers. This means segmenting customers by geography, interests, demographics…really anything that might affect purchasing behaviour.

Two standard metrics that most businesses include in a market segmentation summary are customer age and gender. These data are easily summarized in a histogram, with bars that represent age group distribution.

business plan template

Bar charts can then be used to contrast the key behaviors and lifestyle choices of the top consumer segments.

business plan template

Histograms and bar charts are standard features of a market segmentation summary. Use them together to identify and present information about top customer segments.

Outline major milestones with a Gantt chart

Stakeholders will want to see that you have a concrete plan in place to help you reach your revenue goals. When formulating your goals, use the SMART principle to provide your stakeholders with a very clear vision of how you intend to achieve them. 

Use a Gantt chart (a sort of modified bar chart) to outline the major milestones and phases of your business strategy. Try to include a multi-year plan, broken down by quarter and by project or department.

business plan

You can create your own Gantt chart with Venngage.

5. How to communicate growth strategies in your business plan

No matter how impressive your product line or services, your business won’t just magically grow. You concrete marketing and sales plans in place, and effectively communicate strategies to your stakeholders.

Start by acknowledging your target market – who are you going after? This is what your marketing and sales efforts will revolve around after all.

Demonstrate an understanding of the competitor landscape. You will always have direct or indirect competition, and showing how your planning accounts for it is key. Then you can talk about actual plans and strategies you wish to implement.

Present your target audience with persona guides

A product may great on its own. But its value is determined when there is a clear and obvious market for it. You can point out shortcomings of your competition, but you also need to show that your target audience exists and how you’re serving them.

A persona guide provides a great deal of context to readers of your business plan. It’s the best way for them to understand who cares about your product or service, how it aligns with their lifestyle and needs, and why your marketing and sales tactics will work.

Business Plan Persona Guide Template

A persona guide needs to be detailed, and share an intimate understanding of your target audience. The more you can divulge, the more reassuring your research and overall business plan will be.

Business Plan Detailed Persona Guide Template

Even if you don’t have a substantial customer base, you can still create an ideal persona guide to show who you’re pursuing.

Business Plan Ideal Persona Guide Template

Highlight competitors and differentiate yourself with a SWOT analysis

Every business plan should include an analysis of the competitive landscape–an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competitive businesses.

In terms of visuals, this competitive analysis is typically summarized in a SWOT analysis matrix .

Business Plan SWOT Analysis Template

You can also present the SWOT analysis as a table or a list. The layout is up to you, but you want to focus on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to your competition.

Business Plan SWOT analysis Table Template

While the SWOT analysis framework provides valuable insights, it’s not the entire reflection of your competitive landscape. For example, it doesn’t make it easy to see at a glance the qualities that differentiate your business from your competitors.

To highlight those offerings that set you apart from your competitors, a comparison matrix is more effective. Take a look at these two templates:

Business Plan Competitor Comparison Template

With a direct competitor comparison, it’s easy to present the key differentiators between the existing options for a product or service, and your business.

Alternatively, a “ Magic Quadrant ” can be useful when you’re focused on comparing across two main metrics ( key differentiators ):

business plan

Finally, in a competitive market, there are going to be a lot of players who compete directly or indirectly with you.  A breakdown of them all may not be necessary. Instead, you can point visually to the space that you will address, that has been so far ignored up to now.

To do that, a prioritization chart can be used. By plotting competing businesses on a prioritization chart, you highlight experiences existing competitors focus on, and where your business falls. 

business plan

Use roadmaps to present your marketing and sales plans

To explain any long-term marketing or sales plan, you want visuals. It’s easier to break down strategies you’ll be deploying every month or each quarter, when you can actually show what you’re talking about.

Keep in mind, those reading your business plan may not be marketers or sales executives. Being able to lay out your approach in a way that’s organized, shows how much thought you’ve given to your growth strategies.

You can design a simple roadmap that points to what you’ll be doing throughout the year. The more detailed you can get, the better.

Business Plan Marketing roadmap Template

You can also present your product roadmap , with your marketing roadmap how the business will be growing overall.

Business Plan Product Roadmap Template

You don’t need to use a traditional roadmap layout, either. Experiment with different formats as you may find one easier to work with than another. As long as the time period for different strategies is clear, your roadmap will be easy to understand.

Business Plan Marketing Roadmap Template

6. How to present financial data in your business plan

Presenting financial data isn’t easy. You have to crunch a lot of numbers before you can share projections with confidence. You’ll also need to explain how you arrived at the numbers and prepare for your answers.

Understanding how to organize your information is key to walking potential investors and other stakeholders through your projections.

Use organizational flow charts and summary tables for budget breakdowns and financial summaries

The financials section of your business plan will get a lot of attention from stakeholders. Simple bar charts and pie charts won’t suffice, as they can’t present financial data in very much detail.

If your business has already been operating for some time, stakeholders will expect a detailed report of revenues and expenses. Tables are usually the best choice for this kind of financial summary, as they provide an unbiased view of the numbers and allow stakeholders to look up specific values.

business plan templates

If you’re interested in highlighting a particular trend, however, you may want to include a line chart featuring a smaller snapshot of your financial data:

business plan templates

If you’re just starting your business and you don’t have any detailed revenue data, you can still provide useful information about your budget. Outline higher-level budget allocation with an organizational flow chart .

business plan

Use line or bar graphs to visualize financial trends

You can use different types of graphs to also show how your business has performed thus far. 

You can share results over the course of a year with a line graph. This is effective to show an overall set of trends and growth rates. 

Business Plan Sales Chart Template

You can also compare previous years to highlight how your business has grown.

Your audience should be able to draw conclusions from your data within seconds. If there is simply too much information, or it’s hard to find important information, they will lose interest. 

Business Plan Revenue Projection Template

Looking for a business plan software to help save time and reduce errors? Pick from one of these 7 best business plan software to get started.

A quick summary 

A business plan is the one key document that every young business needs to present their vision to potential investors and other stakeholders.

The quality of a business plan can make or break a young business Here’s a quick recap of what we covered for you to keep in mind:

  • Get started with a template
  • Use a table of contents and numbered pages
  • Use lists, bold headings and aim for skimmability
  • Consider using a one-column or two-column
  • Maintain page margins
  • Use headings to identify the most important information
  • Use one thematic color palette for your design
  • Use descriptive titles and annotations
  • Use area and pie charts to explain market size and market share
  • Use pie/donut charts to visualize marketing share and market composition
  • Use bar charts and histograms to capture demographics data
  • Highlight major milestones with a gantt chart
  • Identify your target audience using persona guides
  • Differentiate yourself with a SWOT analysis/competitor chart
  • Use roadmaps to visualize your marketing and sales plans
  • Use flow charts and summary tables for financial breakdowns
  • Use line or bar graphs for financial trends and projection

You can always reference this post as you work on your business plan. I’ve also included additional blog posts you can reference for specific areas of your business plan.

More Resources for business planning and growth:

Growth Strategy Checklist: Plan Your Business Goals With These 5 Templates

Growth Strategy Checklist Template Blog Post Header

What is a Marketing Plan and How to Make One?

marketing plan header

How to Communicate Strategy Effectively Using Visuals [Templates]

communicating strategy header

30+ Business Report Templates That Every Business Needs [+ Design Tips]

30+ Business Report Templates That Every Business Needs

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How to Start an Interior Design Business in 6 Steps

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Starting an interior design business is a popular move for people who study the craft of creating a space that's both functional and aesthetically pleasing. The combination of expressing yourself and executing your vision for clients is tough to pass up, despite the obstacles that small business owners often face.

Being successful in the field of interior design requires more than just an eye for decoration, though.

Starting with the fact that interior designers require a degree from an accredited university (those without a degree are interior decorators ), they also need extensive knowledge of the materials, software applications, and structural and health codes required to build out a home or business. There is also the matter of business acumen, the ability to balance your artistic expression with the needs and wants of the client, and the time and paperwork it takes to actually start a business.

“Great design is the marriage of form and function in a balanced and harmonious whole—and staying on budget while doing it,” says Beverly Solomon of Beverly Solomon Design.

“So yes, the artist in me can often want to do things that are more challenging, out of the box, and often expensive than the client is looking for, but listening in order to understand what the client hopes you can achieve is the major skill you must develop.”

Solomon’s international firm is based just outside of Austin, Texas, on a historic farm where she lives and works with her husband, artist Pablo Solomon. She self-financed the creation of the business after working in sales and marketing for various big-name companies, including Ralph Lauren and Revlon.

Like how each interior design business has a different focus, clientele, and model—every state has different rules and regulations for opening a small business. If you've been wondering how to start an interior design business of your own, read on for the steps you'll need to follow.

business plan of designer

How to start an interior design business: The ultimate guide

As we mentioned, setting up an interior design business is a balancing act. As a creative, your ultimate goal is to create a business where you can use your eye for design on a daily basis. But before you can pursue your passion in the form of a legal business, you'll have to complete some tasks. Let's take a closer look at what you need to do to open an interior design business.

Step 1: Choose your business name and structure

Once you're ready to start an interior design business, you'll first need to choose a business name and decide what kind of business entity you want to use. It may be tempting to put one or both of these things off, but they will be necessary to continue with the following steps of starting an interior design business.

Luckily, most interior designers use their own names as their business name, which may increase the likelihood that your name is available for use. Either way, you will want to check the availability of business names in the state where you'll be operating your interior design business, which can typically be done through the website of your secretary of state.

After confirming that the name you want is available, you'll likely be able to reserve this name for a specified time period while you gather the other items necessary to officially register your business.

At this stage of setting up your interior design business, you'll also need to choose a business entity, such as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation. The business entity you choose will affect your company's business taxes, as well as the level of risk you're exposing yourself to if any legal issues arise.

It will also depend on whether you're starting your interior design business yourself or with a partner. We recommend consulting a business attorney if you're unsure which entity to choose, as they can guide you in the best direction for your specific needs.

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.

Step 2: Prepare and plan for your interior design business

The next step in starting an interior design business is to create your business plan. A business idea is just that, an idea, but your business plan shows exactly how you plan to take that idea and turn it into a profitable business. Not only is a business plan a vital tool for you to use as a roadmap when your interior design business is starting out (and continuing to grow), but it's also necessary if you plan to seek funding, as banks or investors will want formal documentation that you have a plan for how to turn a profit.

As such, your business plan will include everything from an overview of your company's leadership team and legal structure (which is why we chose a business entity in Step 1) to a market analysis and plan for how you'll market your own company, rundown of the exact types of services you'll offer as an interior designer, and (most importantly to potential investors) a financial plan with at least three years of financial projections.

If this is your first entrepreneurial endeavor, a business plan can seem overwhelming. The good news is you can use a business plan template or business plan software to make the process easier and ensure you're not leaving out any important information.

One part of the business plan for your interior design business that you can really build out is your plan for supplies, customers, and how you'll generate hype around your new interior design business so you can turn a profit.

Tips to connect with suppliers, customers, and media outlets

Interior design is an industry-driven by connections. You’ll need them to find your clients, to market yourself, and to establish fruitful relationships with suppliers of materials and furniture. And this is a key part of planning for your interior design business.

“I began my business by basically selling the art of my husband to high-end clients. When they began asking our design advice on various projects, I saw an opportunity,” says Solomon. “I decided that I wanted to use my expertise, experience, and connections from working with the major designers to start my own businesses.”

Solomon says that creating connections with the media has helped her in everything from marketing her interior design business to letting her set the price point.

“In art and design, you're selling your abilities, but what really sets the price you can get is your name recognition,” she says. “I knew from my days in sales and marketing that the place to focus was on name recognition. So we concentrated on building relationships with those in the media who could put our names out there.

“One of the secrets to our success has been working with writers, publishers, photographers, filmmakers, and producers to create symbiotic relationships that have resulted in their getting good information, interesting stories, illustrations, photographs, connections, and advice. In return, we've gotten literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of free publicity and built strong name recognition.”

Another common way to leverage connections is to form relationships with manufacturers in order to get the best deals on products or when buying in bulk. If you find yourself drawn to a company that builds in a similar style to your own, you’re in good shape—but don’t hamstring yourself, Solomon advises.

“Teaming up with various furniture stores and manufacturers can be as tricky as it is rewarding. Make sure that you're finding a good match, and not just a deal out of desperation. Pushing products that are absolutely the best for your client is a good thing, but pushing crap can ruin your reputation,” she says.

Thinking through your own strategy to form connections and market your interior design business should be included in your business plan, both for your own reference, as well as to show potential investors you're serious about your business.

Step 3: Register your interior design business and get an EIN

The next step in starting your interior design business will be to use the name you secured in Step 1 and register your business. The registration process varies in each state, as does where and how you'll register your business .

Some states will allow you to register online while others require you to submit forms via mail. In most states, you'll likely deal with the secretary of state's office, while other states specifically have branches of government for small businesses.

You should also register your interior design business with the IRS and apply for an employer identification number, or an EIN. This can take a matter of minutes online and you could be approved right away.

There are a number of benefits of getting an EIN, even if it's not required for your business. For instance, it makes it easier to file your business taxes, get credit reports, hire employees, open a business bank account, and more.

Step 4: Obtain any licenses or business permits

You're now well on your way to setting up an interior design business. Once you've registered your business, you're ready to obtain the appropriate business licenses or permits. Like the registration process, this will also depend on where your interior design business will be located and which government regulations apply.

Depending on where you're located, you might need to meet specific interior designer license benchmarks as well: 24 states have passed interior design legislation to this effect.

Check with the Small Business Administration or your local chamber of commerce to see which city, county, and state permits you need to start your interior design business. You might also need a sellers permit and sales tax license, and if you have employees, you’ll need a federal employer identification number for tax purposes as well (if you didn't already set this up in the previous step).

Step 5: Open a business bank account and get a business credit card

The next step in starting an interior design business is to set up a business bank account and business credit card . Not only will this help you establish business credit, but it will also be vital to keep your business expenses separate from your personal spending for tax and funding purposes, as well as just more easily be able to manage your business finances.

While you may be tempted to go with the same bank that you have a personal account with, don't assume this is your best option. Business banking needs are different from your personal ones, and you'll want to consider things like minimum balance requirements, monthly fees, how many monthly transactions you'll be allowed, your need for ATM access, and more when choosing a business bank account.

The majority of businesses will benefit most from a business checking account , but if your interior design business starts making a profit and you can keep that money in a bank account instead of investing it back into the business, you may also consider a high yield savings account to help your money grow.

Likewise, you will want a business credit card that's separate from your personal one so you can easily keep track of your business expenses. Again, you'll want to consider what you need from a business credit card before choosing the best one for you.

Credit cards with a 0% introductory APR can be an especially appealing option for businesses that are just starting out and may not yet qualify for funding options. With these types of cards, you can purchase bigger items for your business upfront and pay them back without interest. Just make sure if you do opt for this strategy that you're aware of when the 0% APR offer ends and are confident that you can pay off your balance by that date.

Step 6: Explore funding options

As you consider the finances of your interior design business, you may find you need additional funding to get your business off the ground. The saying, "You need to spend money to make money," rings true for new businesses—especially in an industry like interior design where each project will require you to spend a significant amount of money on materials and supplies, while you may only receive payment once the job is completed.

Exploring your business loan options is a good idea to see what possibilities you have and what solution you can find for your business. You may find a startup loan is right for you, or a line of credit or invoice financing may be a better fit.

You should also think carefully about what parts of your business you will spend the money on, as well as how much you need and a plan for how you'll pay it back.

How to Iinvest in the basics

As Solomon advises, you don’t necessarily need to invest in an office space, especially when first starting out. There are other basics that you’ll need first, including:

Fabric samples and design accessories: Sample books with various styles, colors, and textures will help you and your client better understand each other’s vision for their space.

Room decor: Whether your office is on the main street in town or your home, having pieces from different manufacturers and collections gives your clients an understanding of your range, as well as ideas for their own project.

Professional group memberships: For example, joining the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) gives you access to marketing and development advice and tools, professional education opportunities, and other benefits that depend on the regional ASID office. Mentorships and advice from those already established in the industry are especially valuable when you're first starting your interior design business.

ZenBusiness

Start Your Dream Business

How to start an interior design business: The bottom line

“Never forget that interior design is as much about how the client wants a space to feel as to how the client wants it to look ,” says Solomon.

This speaks to the fact that interior design is a unique business: It asks owners and directors to balance their own need for artistic expression with both practical logistics and the requests of the client. It's a complicated job, to be sure.

There’s plenty of the usual responsibilities that fall to small business owners in interior design—coordinating marketing efforts, hiring and managing employees, controlling inventory, and monitoring the supply chain. But there’s also the added element of creating the spaces in which people work, live, and play—a powerful form of expression that for many will be worth the challenges.

This article originally appeared on JustBusiness, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.

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Website Design Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

website design business plan _ website development business plan template

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their website design businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a website design business plan template 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 website design business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy 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 website design business, or grow your existing website design business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your website design business in order to improve your chances of success. Your website design business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Website Design Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a website design business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards 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 lender will not only want to confirm 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 is the most common form of funding for a website design business. Venture capitalists will usually not fund a website design business. They might consider funding a website design business with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.  With that said, personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for website design businesses.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you want to start a website design business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below are links to each section of your website design business plan template:

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 type of website design business you are operating and its status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a website design business that you would like to grow, or are you operating website design businesses in multiple markets?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the website design industry. Discuss the type of website design business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of website design business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of website design businesses:

  • WordPress website design : this type of business builds websites with WordPress, due to its capabilities, plugin options, and templates.
  • Custom website design: this type of business involves developing both the front end and backend of a website using coding, programming, databases, forms, etc. without a content management platform.
  • Other platform website design: this type of business uses a variety of other platforms to develop specific types of site, such as e-commerce. Platforms like Shopify or Squarespace make specific site development relatively easy.

In addition to explaining the type of website design business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of websites launched, the types of sites developed, etc.
  • Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the website design industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

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

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

The third reason for market research 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 website design business plan:

  • How big is the website design 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 market for your website design 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 website design business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: large corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, government entities, and individuals.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of website design business you operate. Clearly, large corporations would respond to different marketing promotions than nonprofits, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most website design businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand 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 website design businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes individuals who prefer to use template-based platforms to build their website on their own, or from dedicated in-house design teams.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other website design businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be website design businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses 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?
  • Do they specialize in specific site types (i.e. content sites, e-commerce sites, etc.)?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards 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 either a wider range or more specialized range of services?
  • Will you offer features such as social media integration?
  • Will you provide superior 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 website design business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of website design company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to WordPress site development, will your website design business provide custom design options?

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

Place : Place refers to the location of your website design company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, will you operate from a physical office, or will you primarily interact with clients online and/or at their home or place of business? In this section, discuss how your location will affect demand for your services.

Promotions : The final part of your website design marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertising in local papers and magazines
  • Reaching out to local websites
  • Signs and billboards
  • Social media marketing
  • Local radio advertising

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 website design business, including marketing, providing consultations, programming, troubleshooting, keeping abreast of new technology, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to launch your 100th e-commerce site, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to open a website design business in a new location.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your website design business’ ability 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 website design 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 like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in programming, or successfully running small businesses.  

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 revenues 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 complete/launch one website per week, or will you have teams working on multiple projects at once? 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 website design 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 bank 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 make sure 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.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a website design business:

  • Office build-out
  • Cost of buying or leasing a company vehicle
  • Cost of office supplies such as computers and software
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes and permits
  • Legal expenses

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 lease, or an overview of the services you offer.  

Putting together a business plan for your website design 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 really understand the website design industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful website design business.  

Web Design Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my website design business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Website Design Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of website design business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a website design business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of website design businesses?

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

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Business Plan Template & Guide For Small Businesses

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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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Fashion Design Business Plan

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Without a firm understanding of the business, it can be difficult for a prospective fashion entrepreneur to succeed.

Anyone can start a new business, but you need a detailed business plan when it comes to raising funding, applying for loans, and scaling it like a pro!

Need help writing a business plan for your fashion design business? You’re at the right place. Our fashion design business plan template will help you get started.

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Download our free business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

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How to Write A Fashion Design Business Plan?

Writing a fashion design business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business:

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

Market Opportunity:

Products and services:.

Highlight the fashion design services you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies:

Financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description:

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information:

Describe what kind of fashion design business you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following fashion design businesses:

  • Haute couture
  • Luxury fashion
  • Sustainable fashion
  • Bespoke tailoring
  • Wedding fashion
  • Describe the legal structure of your fashion design company, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.
  • Explain where your business is located and why you selected the place.

Mission Statement:

Business history:.

If you’re an established fashion design business, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Future Goals

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its future plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market:

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

Market size and growth potential:

Describe your market size and growth potential and whether you will target a niche or a much broader market.

Competitive Analysis:

Market trends:.

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as technology disruptions, changes in customer behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends.

Regulatory Environment:

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your fashion design business plan:

  • Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
  • Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
  • Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
  • Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products And Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Mention your product range:

Outline customization option:, additional services:.

In short, this section of your fashion design plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies.

Pricing Strategy:

Marketing strategies:, sales strategies:, customer retention:.

Overall, this section of your fashion design business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your fashion design business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training:

Operational process:, equipment & software:.

Include the list of equipment and software required for fashion design, such as sewing machines, cutting tools, measurement tools, CAD software, designing software, communication tool, etc.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively.

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your fashion design business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO:

Key managers:.

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure:

Compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

This section should describe the key personnel for your fashion design services, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:.

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

Financing Needs:

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

  • Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
  • In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.
  • Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
  • Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
  • Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your fashion business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

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This sample fashion design business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful fashion design plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our fashion design business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a fashion design business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful fashion design business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your fashion design company.

How to get funding for your fashion design business?

There are several ways to get funding for your fashion design business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

  • Bank loan – You may apply for a loan in government or private banks.
  • Small Business Administration (SBA) loan – SBA loans and schemes are available at affordable interest rates, so check the eligibility criteria before applying for it.
  • Crowdfunding – The process of supporting a project or business by getting a lot of people to invest in your business, usually online.
  • Angel investors – Getting funds from angel investors is one of the most sought startup options.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location and you can apply for it.

Where to find business plan writers for your fashion design business?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and ideas better than you, so we recommend you write your fashion design business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your fashion design business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any fashion design business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software .

Can a good fashion design business plan help me secure funding?

Indeed. A well-crafted fashion design business plan will help your investors better understand your business domain, market trends, strategies, business financials, and growth potential—helping them make better financial decisions.

So, if you have a profitable and investable business, a comprehensive business plan can certainly help you secure your business funding.

What's the importance of a marketing strategy in a fashion design business plan?

Marketing strategy is a key component of your fashion design business plan. Whether it is about achieving certain business goals or helping your investors understand your plan to maximize their return on investment—an impactful marketing strategy is the way to do it!

Here are a few pointers to help you understand the importance of having an impactful marketing strategy:

  • It provides your business an edge over your competitors.
  • It helps investors better understand your business and growth potential.
  • It helps you develop products with the best profit potential.
  • It helps you set accurate pricing for your products or services.

About the Author

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Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Have you dreamed of turning your skillful design skills into a full-fledged business? But felt uncertain of what it would take to do it? Don’t let startup fears hold you back and dive right into planning with our library of sample business plans. Get inspired by professional design business plans to help you build your own. Download and get started today.

If you’re looking to develop a more modern business plan, we recommend you try LivePlan . It contains the same templates and information you see here, but with additional guidance to help you develop the perfect plan.

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Powerful business plan templates

Plan for the future, no matter what your business plans are or the size of your business with these designs and templates. whether it's just one big project or an entire organization's worth of dreams, these templates will keep you and your company on track from ideation to completion..

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Put your ideas to work with simple templates for every business plan

Every successful business took a lot of planning to get there, and these templates will be cornerstones of your future success. Whether you're looking to attract new business, pitch your services or reimagine your company, with these simple, customizable templates at your fingertips you can turn complexity into something tangible. These templates can become marketing assets or simply remain internal touchpoints for your team. And as your dreams change, you'll always have this template to refer to – it's easy to change what exists on paper. If you're a small business, focusing on your niche can help you dominate in your field, and you can forge a plan to figure out exactly what that niche might be and how to target your ideal customer . When it's time to share your vision with stakeholders, craft a presentation that outlines your plan succinctly and with style. Let these templates from Microsoft Designer be your partner in business strategy for years to come.

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Delivering Copilot for everyone

Feb 7, 2024 | Yusuf Mehdi - Executive Vice President, Consumer Chief Marketing Officer

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As we approach Super Bowl weekend, we’re thrilled to be a part of the festivities for the first time in four years. This year, we’re proud to celebrate the transformative power of AI and Microsoft Copilot, showcasing peoples’ “watch me” moments with Copilot enabling people to do things previously unattainable. With a simple sentence or two, you will see a budding entrepreneur turn a fledgling idea for a new product into an actionable business plan, a filmmaker’s concept into a rich set of storyboards, and a fantasy football player’s team come to life with a mascot image they can edit inline.

Coincident with the launch of our Super Bowl ad , we are also launching a significant new update to our Microsoft Copilot experience on copilot.microsoft.com and our Copilot app on iOS and Android app stores.  Today when you visit Copilot, you will see a more streamlined look and feel designed to help you bring your ideas to life and more easily gain understanding about the world. We have introduced a cleaner, sleeker look and feel for answers and a fun new carousel of suggested prompts to showcase the power of Copilot.

Today marks exactly one year since our entry into AI-powered experiences for people with Bing Chat. In that year we have learned so many new things and seen the use of our Copilot experiences explode with over 5 billion chats and 5 billion images created to date which have led to sustained growth in Edge and Bing share. Now with Copilot as our singular experience for people looking to get more out of AI creation, we are today introducing further image creation capabilities.

With Designer in Copilot, you can go beyond just creating images to now customize your generated images with inline editing right inside Copilot 1 , keeping you in the flow of your chat. Whether you want to highlight an object to make it pop with enhanced color, blur the background of your image to make your subject shine, or even reimagine your image with a different effect like pixel art, 2 Copilot has you covered, all for free.  If you’re a Copilot Pro subscriber, in addition to the above, you can also now easily resize and regenerate images between square and landscape without leaving chat. Lastly, we will soon roll out our new Designer GPT inside Copilot, which offers an immersive, dedicated canvas inside of Copilot where you can visualize your ideas.

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Copilot is free to use and works on Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Or download the Copilot mobile app on iOS or Android .

AI is the defining technology of our time. Microsoft’s advancements in AI align with our company mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. With Copilot, we’re democratizing our breakthroughs in AI to help make the promise of AI real for everyone.

1 Available in English in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India and New Zealand.

2 15 daily boosts included in Copilot, 100 daily boosts with a Copilot Pro subscription to be used for creative needs, faster image generation, and more detailed images.

Tags: AI , Copilot Pro , Microsoft Copilot , Microsoft Designer

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WordPress pricing in 2024: Is it worth the cost?

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WordPress is a well-known web hosting service employed by large enterprises like Time, Disney and CNN. But for individuals and smaller businesses, WordPress can also be an excellent option, offering a free plan and five different paid tiers with varying features and highlights.

The free option provides some monetization options for your site, like gated content and paid subscribers. Higher tiers offer benefits like customization of templates, the ability to add plugins, centralized site management and increased storage.

But which option is best suited for you, and is it worth the cost? Read on as we take a deep dive into WordPress pricing, comparing its tiers and value.

Who is WordPress best for?

WordPress’ best features are available at its higher tiers, most notably its large and varying library of plugins that allow for advanced customization. WordPress is best suited for businesses that want to develop their own custom website, whether or not they plan to provide e-commerce. 

Web developers will find that WordPress provides a staging site, real-time backups and advanced security measures. For those looking to host e-commerce sites, WordPress is also an excellent option, with a large suite of international e-commerce features available in the Entrepreneur plan.

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WordPress pricing overview

WordPress provides five separate payment tiers before the Enterprise level, ranging from free to $45 per month when billed annually. The Free plan includes several tools to support revenue but also takes the largest fee out of each transaction. 

Beyond the Free plan, every paid tier includes a free year of domain hosting and added complexity and depth of features. 

WordPress offers its Free plan with its most basic features available. Choose from any of the available themes to build unlimited pages and manage your site with unlimited users. You can use the free version of the platform for e-commerce, but WordPress will take a hefty 10% and a processing fee from each transaction. 

The Free plan includes some minor features to support monetization, like gated content, paid subscribers, donations and tips. Visitor stats, contact forms and limited shares of social media are also included. If you want a custom domain, though, you’ll have to pay for it.

The Free plan is a good option if you want to start an e-commerce business but don’t have much up-front capital. WordPress’ Free plan also suits users who are exploring different website hosting options or need a straightforward website to host something like a portfolio or blog. 

Starter plan

The Starter plan includes everything offered in the Free plan. The greatest value of the Starter plan is the ad-free user experience and the addition of a custom domain, free for one year. This feature is the same for all tiers above Starter. If you’re looking for a professional touch to your website but aren’t ready for a big investment, the Starter Plan is best for you. 

Additionally, at this level, WordPress’ commission fee goes down to 8% per transaction and it provides email support. The upgrade from the Free plan to the Starter plan boasts the least amount of features for any upgrade, so if you’re looking for a more robust website, you’ll need to turn to the higher tiers. Luckily, the Starter plan is still relatively affordable at $9 per month.

Explorer plan

Including the features of the lower tiers, the Explorer plan is $18 per month. Its most notable feature is the ability to customize themes with color and font choices and a reduced 4% commission fee for transactions. This plan also allows for 4K video hosting, advanced site analytics and a site activity log, improving your website management experience.

At this level, users have access to better support as well, with live chat. For the more casual user, this tier is the best overall value. The Explorer plan includes customization and premium themes, some limited monetization options with a lower commission fee and unlimited shares to social media. 

These features can all support a growing business, expanding your brand awareness and developing a unique website catered to your tastes. If you’re sold on using WordPress to host your site, this is where we recommend you start. 

Creator plan

WordPress markets the Creator plan as the best option for devs. With all the features of the lower tiers, the highlight of the creator plan is its ability to utilize plugins and its heightened security features. For companies looking to develop a fully custom website, this is the best option, starting at $40 per month.

Plugins are WordPress’ best overall feature, allowing you to customize the way your site functions on both the front and backends. It’s what they’re known for, and the more than 58,000 plugins available for WordPress are a testament to the feature. 

The Creator plan also has unlimited bandwidth, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), a free staging site, centralized site management and a 2% commission fee. Developers can rest assured that the Creator plan has real-time backups, one-click restores and integrated SEO tools.

Entrepreneur plan

The Entrepreneur plan is the best option for websites looking to host large-scale, international business. In addition to all the features available at lower tiers, the Entrepreneur plan includes premium store themes, unlimited products, tools to help manage stock and order quantities, loyalty programs, shipping integrations and a 0% commission fee. This is the final tier before the Enterprise level and is priced at $70 per month. 

Additional costs

Additional storage for your website is available at the Creator and Entrepreneur levels for a fee. Upgrading to 100 GB adds an additional $50.00 per month. For 150 GB of storage, expect to pay an extra $83.33 monthly. 150 GB is the cap on WordPress’ storage. However, you can only add extra storage if you are paying for your plan annually, not monthly.

Also, keep in mind the additional cost of buying a domain once your free year is over. 

Bottom line: Is WordPress worth it?

If you’re willing to pay for the mid- or upper-tiers, then WordPress can be a great solution for your website. However, with advertisements and no customization, the lower tier options don’t provide a user experience or product comparable to competitors like Squarespace or Square. 

E-commerce is best supported at the highest payment tier, while lower tiers have limited features and high commission fees. For businesses with a web developer already on staff and looking to develop their own custom site, WordPress is an affordable and popular solution. 

With its expansive library of plug-ins and automatic updates, WordPress is one of the best choices on the market for professionally hosting your website. For those looking for more user-friendly building tools that enable attractive, personal websites, it’s best to look for other options.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

There are five monthly payment tiers that range from $0 to $45 per month when billed annually. Each payment tier comes with different features, so review them carefully before deciding what you need and how much it will cost you.

Yes, you can start a WordPress website for free, and your site will always be available.

It depends. If you choose any of the paid plans with WordPress, you get a free domain for one year. After that, you’ll have to pay for it. The free version of the website does not offer this feature.

It depends on your skill set. WordPress has pre-built templates and advanced customization capabilities with HTML and plug-ins, making it a good option for those new to web building or experienced web developers. For those finding themselves wanting easy customization with a drag-and-drop style builder, WordPress may be more difficult to use.

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Cat McAlpine

Cat McAlpine is a writer and marketer based in Columbus, OH. She uses her expertise to support small businesses and arts organizations in her city.

Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.

How to start a small business: A step-by-step guide

How to start a small business: A step-by-step guide

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2 passenger planes surpassed 800 mph on recent flights with strong winds. That's over 200 mph faster than a typical plane ride.

  • On Saturday, a Virgin Atlantic plane and a United Airlines plane reached speeds of more than 800 mph.
  • These are some of the highest-known recorded speeds for passenger flights. 
  • Near record-breaking winds are to blame.

Insider Today

On Saturday, two flights arrived at their destinations early.

A Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington, DC, to London landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule . Meanwhile, a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, arrived in Lisbon 20 minutes early .

The passengers have strong winds to thank for that.

High-altitude winds over the mid-Atlantic helped the planes surpass speeds of 800 mph, The Washington Post reported.

According to Simple Flying , passenger planes typically have a cruising speed of about 600 mph.

The planes flew faster than the speed of sound

The National Weather Service in the DC area reported that the winds reached speeds of 265 mph.

This evening's weather balloon launch detected the 2nd strongest upper-level wind recorded in local history going back to the mid 20th century! Around 34,000-35,000 ft, winds peaked around 230 kt (265 mph!). For those flying eastbound in this jet, there will be quite a tail wind. pic.twitter.com/0MXK0HvsCV — NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) February 18, 2024

NPR reported that the highest recorded wind speed in the area was 267 mph in 2002. This would make Saturday's winds the second highest in the region.

Contrasting temperatures often cause strong winds, which seems to be what happened on Saturday. The Washington Post reported that cold air from the Northeast and warm air from the Southeast led to the winds.

These winds pushed Virgin's Boeing 787 to a ground speed of 802 mph and United's Boeing 787 to 838 mph .

The speed of sound is 767 mph. While they were flying faster than the speed of sound, the planes didn't break the sound barrier, The Washington Post reported.

That's because the planes were still flying at their typical cruising speeds — they were just flying in unusually fast air.

While there isn't an official record of top ground speeds, The Washington Post reported that the two Saturday flights were among the highest known recorded speeds.

Some of the other top recorded speeds include a China Airlines flight that reached 826 mph over the Pacific Ocean last month and a British Airways flight that reached 825 mph in 2020.

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Watch: How massive airplanes take off and stay in midair

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  1. Create Your Custom Business Plan Online

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    01. Write an executive summary. An executive summary essentially summarises your design business in a quick, succinct pitch. This is the part that investors or banks will read first so it needs to be concise and to the point; certainly no more than a couple of pages. Above all it needs to explain your business idea.

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  29. The planes flew faster than the speed of sound

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