One Page Business Plan Template for Word, PDF

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Template Highlights

  • Eight (short) sections: Business Opportunity, Industry Analysis, Target Market, Company Description, Timeline, Marketing Plan, Financial Plan, and Funding Requirements
  • Easy instructions for each part
  • Zhuzh it up a bit with your company logo and branding
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One page business plan template.

One-Page Business Plan Template

This brief business plan template encourages you to stick to your core message and provide investors with just the information they need to know about your new venture.

The Business Opportunity

What is the problem your business will solve? Focus on the customer’s needs.

Give your elevator pitch. Be succinct, clear, and persuasive.

Be sure to include your value proposition -- What do you offer that no one else does?

Industry Analysis

List key factors for success in your industry.

Who is your main competition?

Company Description

Identify important facts about your business:

• Founding date

• Mission statement

• Type of organization

• Core strengths

• Main leadership

Target Market

Describe your customer segments.

Will you serve a particular geographical area?

Implementation Timeline

Provide a brief summary of how you will roll out the business. Consider depicting the different phases in a diagram. You can use the timeline below as a template.

Marketing Plan

Describe what methods you will use to acquire new customers.

Why would your target market prefer your product or service to another option?

Financial Summary

Cost Structure: What are your fixed and variable costs?

Revenue Streams: How will your business make money?

Funding Required

Present the amount of funding that you are seeking from investors and how it will be used.

HubSpot Tip: Be sure to edit and review your plan for typos before distributing it. Errors in a short document can be distracting to the reader and make you look unprofessional.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i write a one page business plan, is this template free, can i edit this template, related tags:.

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One-Page Business Plan Templates

One-Page Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

one page business plan template

Having a business plan is a must , whether your goal is to start a one-person freelancing business or a multi-million dollar enterprise. However, if you are looking to start a simple product or service business as a sole proprietor or one-person corporation you don't need a 50-page business plan . A shorter plan will suffice. A quick and easy one-page business plan templates can get you started. 

If your business is a partnership  or requires multiple employees, you may need a more robust business plan. Similarly, a one-page plan will not be sufficient if you are in need of  debt  or  equity financing  and wish to impress financial institutions or potential investors. Lenders and investors will require you to provide more in-depth information in the plan such as:

  • Your relevant industry background, business, and management experience 
  • A more thorough description of your target market , proof of sufficient demand for your products or services, and how you will meet that demand and turn a profit
  • Thorough analysis of the competition and how you will compete in the marketplace
  • Detailed, realistic financial projections , including projected income statements, cash flow projections, and  breakeven analysis
  • An in-depth operating section with details on facilities, leases, equipment, and staffing.

Step-by-step guidance on how to write a business plan  can lead you through each section of a full-sized plan.

Keep in mind that a business plan is a living document and you can always start with a one-page plan and enlarge it with additional detail as required. You may be able to articulate the business overview, vision , objectives, and concise action items in a single page, but you might want more detail in the financial and marketing sections. For example, you might want to add an extra page to your pricing strategy section for income and  cash flow statements and another for breakeven analysis in advertising and promotion.

Structure of a Business Plan

A one-page business plan needs to provide concise answers to several basic questions that must be addressed such as:

  • What is the need for your product or service?
  • What is your competition and how will you differentiate yourself in the marketplace ?
  • How will you make money, for example, in terms of sales versus expenses?
  • How will you market your business?
  • How will you get started? What are your  capital  requirements?

How to Use the Templates

The sample templates can be copied into a Word, Excel or similar office document by selecting the text and using copy/paste—using Windows, outline the text to be selected with the mouse, and hit CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste. 

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Service Business

This template is suitable for freelance businesses that provide services, such as consultants, graphic designers, landscapers, and delivery services. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Product Business

This template is suitable for businesses that sell products, such as food services, beauty products, and bike shops. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

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One-Page Business Plan Template

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Need quick feedback from business partners, potential customers, or friends? Provide them with a one-page plan.

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One-page business plan FAQ

What is a one-page business plan?

The one-page business plan is a simplified version of traditional operational plans that focuses on the core aspects of your business. While it may be a shorter business plan, it still follows the structure of a standard business plan and serves as a beefed-up pitch document.

There’s really not a lot of difference between a single-page business plan and a good executive summary. In fact, as you create a more detailed plan you may even be able to use it as your executive summary .

Who should use a one page business plan?

A one-page plan is useful for business owners that are mulling over ideas, just starting, actively managing, or looking to grow a business. It can help validate a business idea, work as an internal strategy document, or as a flexible management tool that can be adapted over time.

How do I write a business plan on one page?

You can use the one-page business plan template, or a tool like LivePlan that saves you time by guiding you through each step of writing your one-page plan and pitch.

Why choose this one-page business plan template?

There are a few key features that make this one-page business template more functional and effective than your average template.

Written by planning experts: This one-page business plan template wasn't just thrown together. It was crafted by seasoned planning experts with a combined 40 years of experience writing and reviewing business plans. Throughout this template, you find their expert tips and tricks, along with detailed instructions.

Works with other Bplans resources: Need additional guidance to write your business plan? Our free one-page business planning guide is built to support this template—giving you even more detailed walkthroughs for each section.

What is included in this one-page business plan template?

This template includes definitions, guidance, and examples to complete your one-page business plan. After downloading the template, you'll receive instructions for how to fill out each of the following sections:

Identity What does your company do or offer and to whom?

Problem worth solving What challenges does your company solve?

Our solution How does your company solve those challenges?

Target market Who makes up your target audience? Who are your ideal segments, personas, or customers?

Competitive landscape Who are your competitors? What makes them successful in your industry?

Sales channels How will you get your product/service to customers?

Marketing activities How will you get your product/service in front of potential customers?

Revenue What goods/services will drive revenue?

Expenses What items will cost you money?

Funding required Have what funding total you need front and center to clearly display what you are asking from investors.

Milestones What projects or tasks must be completed in order to reach your goals?

Team and roles Who is a critical part of your internal team (name/role)?

Partners and resources Who else is supporting your venture/business?

Can you print out this template?

This is a printable business plan template that can be downloaded and printed no matter which format you choose.

Why should you start with a one-page business plan?

There are plenty of good reasons why your first step should be writing a one-page plan.

1. It’s faster Instead of slogging away for hours, days, or even weeks tackling a formal business plan—the one-page format helps you get your ideas down much faster. It removes the complex formatting,

2. A great format for feedback Need quick feedback from business partners, colleagues, potential customers, or your spouse? Provide them with a one-page plan instead of a lengthy in-depth version for better results.

The one-page plan is more likely to be read and reviewed. And since all of your business information is available at a glance, you’ll receive far more valuable and timely feedback.

3. Easy to update Entrepreneurs never get things right the first time. You’ll constantly be learning and receiving feedback—requiring you to iterate and revise your business concept. Instead of updating a large document every time, you can do it in minutes with a one-page plan.

4. Direct and to-the-point Learning to communicate your ideas clearly and directly is critical. You need to be sure that anyone can really understand the essence of your business. Delivering your entire business concept on a single page is a great way to practice this, as it forces you to be succinct.

5. Works as an idea validation tool Initially, your business is just a set of assumptions that you need to validate. Do your potential customers have the problem you assume they have? Do they like your solution and are they willing to pay for it? What marketing and sales tactics will work?

As you validate these assumptions, you leave them in your plan. But, assumptions that end up being wrong will quickly fall off the page.

6. Becomes an outline for your detailed plan By “detailed” we don’t mean “long.” If you do need to create a detailed business plan document for investors or business partners, you can use your one-page plan as your core outline. You will just expand and provide more details for each section.

7. No one really reads long business plans A common problem with traditional business plans is that they are simply too long and overly complex. Even when investors ask for a detailed document, chances are that they won’t actually read every word. They may read certain sections, but often just want to see if you’ve thought through the details of your business, how it will operate, and how it will grow.

8. Useful for any business stage A one-page plan is useful for business owners that are mulling over ideas, just starting, actively managing, or looking to grow a business. It can help validate a business idea, work as an internal strategy document, or as a flexible management tool that can be adapted over time.

Is there a better way to write my one-page business plan than with this template?

While this template will help you get started, using the #1-rated business planning software, LivePlan has step-by-step guidance, support from our business planning experts, and powerful planning tools like AI-powered writing assistance, automatic forecasting, industry benchmark data, and more.

Can someone write your business plan for you?

If you're still struggling to write your business plan even when using a template, you can look into hiring a professional business plan writer. We even have a free resource to help you ask just the right questions to make sure you find the right plan writer.

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Easy-to-use one-page business plan template

one page business plan template

A one-age business plan is a useful tool for providing an overview of your goals and targets and how you and your team will achieve them. Before you get into the details, a one-page business plan can help you feel out your ideas, set priorities, and provide an outline for a more extensive standard business plan.

You can also keep your single-page plan on hand to keep you laser-focused on the scope and objectives of your business at all times.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use a one-page business plan to create a robust foundation for your business and share some ready-to-use business plan templates .

Get the template

What is a one-page business plan template?

A one-page business plan encompasses your entire business strategy condensed onto one-page. A one-page business plan template is a document that outlines a business’s strategies and goals.

A traditional business plan goes into great detail and could be dozens of pages long. With a one-pager, the idea is to condense all the important information into one high-level document.

However, if it’s a one-page business plan to hand out to prospective investors, you’ll likely focus more on something like financial projections .

In general, your one-page business plan can include:

  • Vision statements and strategic objectives of your business
  • Customer segments your business will serve
  • Overview of the product or service you’ll provide
  • Sales goals and marketing strategy
  • High-level business overview of financial projections

Why use a one-page business plan template?

Understanding the benefits of writing a single-page business plan helps keep you focused when condensing lots of important information onto a one-page template.

Provide an overview of your business plan

A one-page plan provides you with an overview of everything you need to consider about your business venture. One-page plans provide a snapshot of multiple moving parts of your strategy and operations to keep you focused on what matters.

One-page business plan templates are a very useful starting point for developing a more detailed standard business plan . By creating a high-level document, you can begin to sketch out your ideas and assumptions and test them before spending lots of time developing a long business plan that you end up rewriting. Once you’re satisfied with your one-page plan, you have a step-by-step outline for a more in-depth version.

Manage operations and finances

As you grow your business, the operations and finances side of things often become more complex and difficult to manage. In times like these, when you need to make important decisions, a one-page business plan helps keep the core objectives of your venture in mind at all times. Nailing down your template means you don’t waste time deciding what the most important details are, so you can focus your time and energy into growing your business instead.

Synthesize business information

Another key benefit of having a one-page business plan on hand is the ability to provide anyone with a snapshot of your business whenever needed. This situation could apply to your management team, potential business partners, or potential investors who want a fast, easy-to-digest rundown of your business.

While you might have an elevator pitch ready, a one-page plan helps back up your claims, especially when it comes to items like financial projections or your cash flow statement . A one-page business plan template means it’s easy for you to quickly synthesize relevant information for the required audience. Simply drop the latest information into your template and get ready to present.

What are some examples of one-page business plans?

Before you write a one-page business plan, it’s helpful to get familiar with the various types of templates available and decide which one is best for your needs.

Startup one-page business plan template

Writing a business plan for a startup is a very different process than creating a plan for an established business. Startups are beginning from the very start of their journey with little historical data to go on. By nature, they need to be a lot more flexible with their ideas and decisions as they decide what works.

Example of a one page business plan template for startups

( Image Source )

So a one-page plan for startups is more about laying the groundwork for more in-depth strategic analysis and taking an agile approach to developing a business model.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a well-known template for business plans. A single page is divided into squares, with each square representing an important component of the business strategy.

Example of business canvas model template

With a business model canvas, you’ll be able to quickly outline items like your target markets, value proposition, and revenue streams. Writing and comparing these sections on one-page allows you to validate your business model against your market analysis and quickly iterate on different elements of your business strategy .

Business idea action plan template

While many business plan templates focus on strategy and high-level objectives, some businesses require more focus on operations and action right from the start. In those instances, a business idea action plan template can be more beneficial.

Example of a one page business plan for actioning business ideas

This type of one-page business plan focuses on what you are going to do and how you are going to do it, rather than analysis and projections. It enables business owners to develop tactics for how they’ll design, develop, market, and sell their products or services.

Small business plan template

Small businesses are often operating with limited funding and narrow profit margins. These constraints make revenue targets and cost-effective operations critically important to success, especially for a service business.

Example of business plan template for small business

When this is the case, a shorter business plan template for small businesses which focuses on defining your business niche, setting clear targets, and creating detailed timelines keeps your strategy aligned to the bottom line at all times.

monday.com’s one-page business plan template

Building a one-page business planning template from scratch involves a lot of key elements for consideration, but it doesn’t have to be a tricky process. Having a template to keep you on track enables you to effectively shape your strategy, goals, key activities, and targets in one place.

monday.com has created a one-page business plan template to help you create an effective one-page business plan that will keep your goals and targets at the front of your mind as you grow your business. The monday.com template includes:

  • Digital visualization of your entire business strategy in one location, so you can easily share your plan and make updates
  • Extensive customization options so you can create a business plan that aligns fully with your company branding
  • The ability to add your own visuals such as tables, images, and videos that are relevant to your business plan
  • The ability to collaborate in real-time with business partners and senior management on the creation and development of your one-page plan
  • Integrations with popular business tools such as Excel and Outlook so you can move your business plan seamlessly from creation to execution

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Have your one-page business plan created quickly and seamlessly with monday.com. Sign up for our free trial and select the one-page business plan template to stay aligned with your business objectives and core goals.

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One-page business plan tips & tricks

Although a one-page business plan is not as extensive as a full-length business plan, there are some best practices you should follow to get the most out of it. With these tips and tricks, you’ll have a one-page business plan that’s realistic, accurate, and functional.

Understand your target market

Before you start outlining your business activities and tactics, it’s imperative that you fully understand your target market and your product-market fit. This understanding includes considerations such as customer price sensitivity, buying preferences, demographics, and more.

Without understanding your target market, building a business model can lead to sales targets and timelines that don’t materialize, a marketing plan or marketing materials that miss the mark, and unrealistic financial projections.

Fine-tune your products and services

Another key element of your business plan is the outline of the products and services you’ll offer. In this area, business owners need to thoroughly understand the cost of production, how to price products and services so they remain profitable, and how your offering measures up against competitors in the market.

By getting a firm grasp of your value offering, you can more accurately project costs, revenue, and profitability over the long term.

Keep your goals and projections realistic

When creating your one-page business plan, use the hard numbers regarding costs and budget to remain realistic about your business goals.

This approach applies to your timelines, too. Although your goals and targets may be ambitious, there needs to be an achievable timeline and resource allocation attached to them.

FAQs about one-page business plans

How do you write a business plan in one page.

It might be more beneficial for some business owners to start with a long business plan and then work on synthesizing it into a one-page template. That way, you can gain a deep understanding of your strategy before selecting the most important highlights for your one-page business plan.

You can also use visuals in place of written text where appropriate to save on space. For example, you can condense the highlights of your financial projections onto a single graph that’s understandable at a glance.

What is the primary characteristic of a one-page business plan?

The primary characteristics of a one-page business plan are clarity and brevity. Anyone who picks up your one-page plan should quickly get a clear idea of what your business does, its goals, and how you plan to achieve them. So it’s essential to keep all the information extremely clear and concise. Using a template like one on monday.com already gives you a leg up with a helpful outline.

What should a simple business plan include?

While every business is unique in some way, there are fundamental pieces of information you should incorporate into all simple business plans, including:

  • Business mission and objectives
  • Target audiences
  • Competitor analysis
  • Products/services outline
  • Key operational considerations
  • Time-bound financial projections

Depending on the purpose of your plan, you might choose to leave some items off the page. For example, if it’s for internal use by a wider team, you might omit elements like business financing plans, income statements, cost structure, etc.

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Create a Business Plan One-Pager (+ Proven Templates )

Learn what to include in a business plan one-pager & the best doc format. Learn how to write a one-page business plan, either from scratch or using a template.

one page business plan template

Dominika Krukowska

14 minute read

What is a one-pager

Short answer

What to include in a business plan one-pager.

  • Title slide
  • Unique value proposition (UVP)
  • Company overview
  • The problem you are solving
  • Market analysis
  • The solution you offer
  • Marketing and sales plan
  • Main objectives and success metrics
  • Key team members and their roles and accreditation
  • Request for funds and use of funds
  • Next steps (small concession)

Even the best business plan can be badly received if not presented well

If you make it too complex, dry, or fail to spark the investors’ interest, you’ll bury your chances of securing the funding necessary to get your business off the ground.

Your success lies in how you’re going to structure and deliver your business plan.

This post will provide you with essential tips and templates for creating a winning business plan one-pager .

You'll learn what to include, how to structure, and how to design a visually striking business plan that grabs attention and gets results.

Read on to build your confidence and empower yourself to present any business idea persuasively and stand out from your competition.

Let’s see how it’s done!

What is a business plan one-pager?

A business plan one-pager is a document that summarizes the key elements of a full business plan onto a single page.

It includes an outline of your company's mission, target market, products or services, revenue streams, competitive advantage, marketing and sales strategy, and financial projections.

Business plan one-pagers are often used as a pitch deck for investors, a proposal for business partnerships, or as an executive summary for internal use.

Why use a one-page rather than multi-page business plan?

Compared with traditional multi-page business plans, a one-pager has 3 significant advantages.

  • It's concise and to-the-point. This makes it easier for investors and partners to grasp your vision quickly.
  • A one-pager business plan has limited space. This forces you to present only the most important aspects of your business plan which makes your case more clear and compelling.
  • It's more share-worthy. Because it's just one page, it's more likely to be read and shared.

Can I use a one-page business plan as a substitute for a more comprehensive business plan?

Probably not. Your business plan one-pager is not meant to replace a full business plan, but rather to supplement it.

While your one-pager provides a high-level overview of your business idea, it may not provide the level of detail some investors or partners require.

TIP: You can use a business plan one-pager as a way to test your business idea and get feedback before investing time and resources in creating a full-scale business plan.

How to write a one-page business plan

Let’s see how you can distill your business idea into a compelling format that makes you stand out and leave a lasting impression.

By the end, you'll be equipped with the skills and knowledge to make others believe in your vision with just one page.

What to include in a business plan one-pager

We've identified 11 key elements that should be included in every highly effective business plan one-pager.

11 critical slides included in a business plan one-pager:

1. Title slide

The title slide of your business plan one-pager is your first chance to make a great impression on potential investors, so make it count!

Adding a video in your cover slide can boost engagement by 32% , get people to read your one-pager 37% longer, and make them 17% more likely to take the desired action at the end.

TIP: You can add the average reading time in the cover slide (right below your company name and logo). This simple little fix can shrink your bounce rate by 24%.

2. Unique value proposition

The Unique Value Proposition (UVP) slide of your business plan one-pager is where you get to showcase what sets your business apart from the competition. You can do it in the form of a tagline that encapsulates your company's essence.

A vision statement that speaks to the heart of your business can capture the interest of investors and entice them to read on.

The mission statement should be snappy, catchy, and memorable.

Example UVPs:

"Transforming the future of sustainable energy"

"Innovating personalized healthcare solutions."

3. Company overview

The company overview slide should tell investors the story behind your business.

A company overview should answer 3 critical questions:

  • how it came to be
  • what it stands for
  • and where it's headed

This slide should give investors a clear understanding of the type of business you're running, the problem you're trying to solve, and how your business aims to succeed in the marketplace.

By providing a succinct and compelling overview of your company, you can demonstrate that you have a solid understanding of your business, its strengths, and its potential for success.

A strong company overview slide can set the tone for the rest of your one-pager and make a great impression on investors.

4. The problem you are solving

This section should outline the pain points of your target market and explain why a solution is needed.

Presenting a compelling case for a real-world problem helps convince investors of the potential market demand for your solution.

TIP: Focus on the customer's perspective. Highlight the challenges they face and the impact those challenges have on their lives or businesses.

5. Market analysis

The market analysis slide is your opportunity to showcase your knowledge of the competitive landscape and your potential market.

It should describe your customer segments, the size of your target market, the current players in the market, and any gaps or opportunities that your business can leverage.

A strong market analysis slide demonstrates to investors that you've done your homework and that you have a deep understanding of the market you're entering.

6. The solution you offer

The solution slide should present the key features and benefits of your solution and demonstrate how it uniquely addresses the pain points of your target market.

A strong solution slide is the heart of your business plan one-pager.

It should showcase the innovation and value of your product or service. It should transport investors into a better world brought on by your business solution.

TIP: Carefully choose your words and visuals to describe your solution as transformational. The most successful business plans build excitement and anticipation and leave investors eager to learn more.

7. Marketing and sales plan

Your marketing and sales plan slide is your opportunity to showcase your strategy for reaching your target audience, generating interest in your product or service, and ultimately driving sales.

From pricing strategy and promotion to distribution channels, the marketing and sales plan slide should provide a comprehensive overview of how you plan to turn your vision into reality.

A well-crafted growth plan demonstrates your creativity and strategic thinking, you can inspire confidence in investors and show that you have what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of business.

8. Main objectives and success metrics

Your business plan one-pager's objectives and success metrics slide is where you define your key performance indicators (KPIs) and objectives. It’s important to add this slide early on, as it serves as a roadmap for your business's growth.

Presenting a well-defined set of objectives and metrics will show investors that you have a solid understanding of what it takes to succeed in your industry, as well as a strategic mindset and commitment to achieving your goals.

9. Key team members and their roles

The team slide is where you showcase the people behind the business, including relevant skills, experience, and accreditation. Investors want to see a team that has what it takes to bring the business to life and drive its success.

This slide should highlight each team member's unique contributions, including their roles and responsibilities, as well as any relevant accomplishments. I recommend that you include a brief bio and corporate headshot to add personal depth.

TIP: Remember, you are selling you and your team just as much as you’re selling your business idea. Business success relies on a great team. What takes business from good to great is first “Who” then “What” .

Show that your team brings a diversity of thought, a wealth of experience, and a passion for the business that can inspire investors and make them fall for your team even more than they fall for your business idea.

10. Request for funds and use of funds

When you're asking for funding, it's essential to be crystal clear about how much you need and why.

Whether you're planning to launch a new product, hire more staff, or boost your marketing efforts, make sure to provide specific details and supporting data to back up your request.

In the use of funds section, break down precisely how you plan to allocate the funds you receive.

This involves outlining how much you'll spend on product development, marketing, hiring, or other expenses.

Remember, investors want to see a clear return on investment (ROI). Whether you bringing in a dedicated development team or buying a comprehensive tool stack, by prioritizing your spending based on your business goals and demonstrating how the funds will help you achieve them, you'll show investors that their money is in good hands.

11. Next steps

Don’t end with a thank-you slide! Instead, end your business plan one-pager by providing a clear and actionable call-to-action.

This slide should leave no doubt in investors' minds about what you want them to do next and how they can get involved in your business.

By providing a compelling call-to-action, you can increase the likelihood of securing funding and gaining valuable support for your business.

Our research shows that decks with a clear, singular next step have a 27% higher conversion rate than those which end with a generic “thank you” slide.

Business plan one-pager possible next steps:

  • Scheduling a meeting to discuss the plan in more detail
  • Scheduling a live demo of the product
  • Downloading additional materials (market research, positioning, marketing plan, user research, product technical documentation, etc.)
  • Signing a letter of intent
  • Making an investment (mostly good for small donations/investments)

Here’s an example of a business plan built with this structure:

Business plan one-pager

Business plan one-pager

This one-page business plan presentation template covers your company, market, product and services, and growth plan as an interactive visual story that's easy to follow and highly engaging.

How to effectively fit a business plan on just one page

Let’s see the concrete steps you need to take to effectively condense your entire business strategy onto a single page without sacrificing critical information or losing sight of your goals.

1. Limit what you have to say

It's essential to prioritize the most vital information that investors need to know about your business. This means being strategic about what you include and what you leave out.

Rather than trying to cram every detail of your business into a single page, focus on the core information that defines your business.

Your core information is most often your unique selling proposition, target market, and financial projections.

2. Say what you have to say with fewer words (but avoid jargon and acronyms)

Since you're limited to just one page, it's important to be concise and to the point.

Avoid using complicated jargon or industry-specific acronyms that may be difficult for investors to understand. Instead, use clear and simple language that gets your message across quickly and effectively.

TIP: Write your message as if you're talking to a friend with no previous knowledge of what you do.

3. Give summaries and link to read full content

While it's important to be concise, you also want to ensure that you're providing enough information to give investors a good understanding of your business.

One way to do this is to provide brief summaries of key information and then provide a link to more detailed content.

4. Limit your use of visuals

Visuals can be a powerful tool for conveying information quickly and effectively, but they can also take up a lot of space on a one-page business plan.

Use visuals sparingly and only when they add value to your message. Consider using graphs, charts, and infographics to illustrate key points and data.

5. Move from PDF one-pager to web-based one-pager

Unlike PDFs, which require readers to constantly pinch in and out of content to make it legible, web-based one-pagers create an interactive experience with scrollable documents.

You can also use multimedia elements, such as videos and animations, to enhance your message and make the information more engaging.

With a web-based business plan one-pager , you can break up dense text into smaller, more comfortable chunks, creating a better reading experience for your audience.

Web-based one-pagers are designed to be mobile-friendly, so your audience can easily view your content on any device, from anywhere.

How to make your business plan one-pager stand out

First impressions are everything. An impressionable business plan one-pager can be the difference between securing investment and being left in the dust.

Here are some tips on how to make your business plan one-pager stand out:

1. Use motion

Including animation or video into your one-pager can be a powerful way to grab investors' attention and keep them engaged. Use motion to highlight key points or demonstrate how your product or service works.

To learn more about how it’s done, check out our article on how to use video animations to create engaging content .

2. Use original designs

Using original designs is a key element for standing out.

Avoid falling into the trap of using generic designs. Instead, take the time to create something that is truly unique and eye-catching.

This can be as simple as using your branding or as complex as creating your own infographics or custom illustrations such as Procreate color palettes .

3. Personalize

Personalization is the most effective way to make you stand out and leave a lasting impression.

Effective personalization:

  • Including a personalized note
  • Addressing the investor by name
  • Referencing their previous investments (to show that you've done your research)

Tailor-made decks are read in full 68% more often , 41% longer, and are shared internally 2.3x more often.

4. Customize according to the investor’s preferred format

Customizing your one-pager to the specific investor's needs and preferences is the best way to get and hold their attention.

Look for guidelines on their website, ask previous candidates, or ask the investors directly.

Fit your plan to their format and highlight aspects of your business that align with their investment portfolio or industry expertise.

5. Tell a story with data visualization

Data can be overwhelming, but presenting it in a visual format can make it more accessible and compelling.

Use infographics, charts, and other data visualization elements to tell a story about your business's growth and potential.

Here’s our selection of the best data visualization tools to get you started.

How to make a persuasive business plan one-pager

If you want your business plan one-pager to persuade investors to get on board with your vision, you need to make sure it hits all the right notes.

We've got you covered with tips for making a highly-persuasive business plan one-pager.

1. Define a unique audience with an acute problem

You should define your ideal customer profile (ICP) and the problems they face, and how your solution can help them solve these problems.

2. Describe your uncopyable solution to said problem

When describing your solution in your one-page business plan, it's important to emphasize what makes it unique and difficult to replicate by others.

3. Show traction or potential traction

To make your business plan one-pager more persuasive, it's critical to show evidence of traction or the potential for it.

Consider sharing metrics such as customer acquisition rates, revenue growth.

4. Incorporate social proof

You will never get funded without earning investors’ trust. Social proof is the best tool for building trust (other than a face-to-face meeting).

You can include customer testimonials, case studies, or awards to showcase your business's credibility and success.

5. Display your authority and expertise

Include any notable achievements,awards, or acknowledgement your team or product have received.

6. Tie your business goals with universal values

Consider connecting your business goals with universal values that resonate with investors.

This could include making a positive impact on society or the environment, supporting underrepresented groups, or promoting innovation and growth.

Some investors will appreciate the positive impact beyond ROI, others will care only about profitability. Do your research.

How to optimize business plan one-pager UX

When it comes to creating a one-pager business plan, choosing the right document format can make all the difference. Here are some crucial factors to consider:

1. Move from static to interactive

Static formats like PDFs and Word documents can kill engagement and interest with your one-pager.

On the other hand, interactive formats like web pages or Storydocs offer a more immersive, engaging, and memorable experience.

With interactive formats, you can include videos, animations, and other multimedia elements to help showcase your business in a more engaging way.

Static business proposal presentatio

Interactive

2. Move from pinch and zoom to scroll

Pinch-to-zoom gestures on PDFs are annoying for most people. They make navigating the one-pager frustrating and make reading needlessly hard

A scroll-based interactive one-pager gives investors a familiar and easy way to read through your business plan. Just like they're accustomed to do with any other online content (that’s also mobile-friendly).

one page business plan template

3. Become mobile-friendly

Static document formats like PDFs and Word documents are difficult to read and navigate on mobile devices, while web-based formats offer seamless mobile experience.

4. Move from local file to online docs

Local files, such as PDFs or Word documents are being replaced with web pages or cloud-based documents.

Online docs offer your readers easy access from anywhere and from any device, a better reading experience, reduced exposure to virus and malware, and easy sharing.

Best business plan one-pager document types

You have various document formats to choose from when creating your business plan. Each format has its own set of benefits and limitations that can affect how it's received by investors and stakeholders.

Let’s run through the important differences.

Best document type for a business plan one-pager:

Business plan one-pager do’s and don’ts.

✅ Keep it conversational and easy to understand.

✅ Use data to support your claims.

✅ Tell a story.

✅ Talk about your solution in the context of your audience's needs.

✅ Use interactive formats with multimedia.

✅ Focus on your unique selling proposition.

✅ Show that you have a plan for execution.

✅ End with your ask and a call-to-action.

✅ Clearly present your market positioning.

✅ Address major obstacles and provide plans to overcome them.

❌ Don't use buzzwords, jargon or go into technical detail.

❌ Don't make unrealistic claims.

❌ Don't spout out facts.

❌ Don't talk about your product (we, we, we).

❌ Don't use static formats.

❌ Don't focus on what makes your competitors bad.

❌ Don't make wild moonshot promises.

❌ Don't end with a “thank you” slide.

❌ Don't ignore your competition.

❌ Don't overlook potential risks and challenges.

Create your business plan from interactive template

If you want to create a business plan one-pager that will cut above the noise and get results, it will require a lot of hard work to get right.

What's worse, you run the risk of losing potential investors or stakeholders if you get it wrong.

A poorly designed or incomplete business plan could make it difficult for others to understand your vision or see the potential in your business.

To save time and frustration and remove the risk, consider using our interactive templates.

With Storydoc's business plan one-pager templates , you can focus on the content and messaging of your business plan, rather than spending hours formatting and structuring it.

Pick a business plan one-pager template:

Create story from scratch

 business plan one pager presentation template

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

Make your best business plan to date

Try Storydoc for free for 14 days (keep anything you make for ever!)

How To Successfully Write a One Page Business Plan (With 3 Templates)

  • by IdeaBuddy Team
  • March 13, 2023
  • 38 shares 4 0 34
  • 6 minute read

one-page-business-plan

Table of Contents Hide

What is a one page business plan, advantage #1 condense your thoughts.

  • Advantage #2 See the big picture
  • Advantage #3 Build a business model

One Page Plan Template: Idea Plan

One page plan template: business model canvas, one page plan template: lean canvas, 1. market needs, 2. business solution, 3. competition, 4. target market, 5. sales and marketing, 6. budget and sales goals, 7. milestones/roadmap, 8. team summary, 9. key partners, 10. funding needs, start writing your one page business plan.

Writing an old-school business plan can be painful, so we’ve put together a quick guide where we’ll teach you how to make its simplified version, a one page business plan.

So, in the next five minutes of reading, you will learn the following things:

  • Why it can be better than a traditional business plan
  • What templates to use
  • What information to include in each of the sections

Now, without further ado, let’s dive right into it!

It’s a great tool for the earliest stages of your business because it helps you structure your thoughts and brainstorm your business ideas with partners, friends, and fellow entrepreneurs.

Also, you can explain on a single page what your product portfolio will be, how you will handle distribution and sales, how to prepare a market analysis,  and how to select the right brand strategy .

In a nutshell, your one page business plan should explain:

  • Who your customers are?
  • What their problems are?
  • How you can solve them?
  • Who are your competitors?
  • How can you set yourself apart?
  • Who is on your team?
  • How will you make money?
  • What are the costs you anticipate?

Basically, it should cover all the same points as a full-length business plan, but in a condensed format.

The advantages of a one page business plan

It’s possible to boil everything down to a single page if you’re economical with words.

It will help you to map out your idea in under an hour, and explain your business model to the potential investors. If they like what they see, it will make them want to read the full-length version.

As we’ve just covered, a one page business plan makes it more likely that investors or banks will give you the time of day. One page is a quicker read than a pamphlet — although you will need a comprehensive business plan, eventually!

In the meantime, there are other advantages to a one page business plan that will come in handy. So read on, if you’re still not convinced that you can work magic with a single page.

It’s easy to get carried away when you are dreaming about your future business. A one page business plan will force you to condense your thoughts and formulate them as clearly as possible.

Advantage #2  See the big picture

You’ll cut out all the fluff when you’re limited to one page. That automatically makes you look at the big picture. And that will also help guide your decisions when you put your plan into action.

Advantage #3  Build a business model

It will help you to identify all the internal and external factors that form the building blocks for the business model that can tell everything about the business, like the product, target customers, competition, or any other element of your business.

Popular one page business plan templates 

You know why it’s a good idea to write a one page business plan, and you could now open a blank Word document to get started. But why do that when there are ready-made templates?

Let’s have a look at some of the popular one page business plan templates below.

Idea Plan is created by the IdeaBuddy team, and it is inspired by more popular business model templates, like Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas.

What makes it unique, and why it’s more practical than the other one page plans?

It is very well organized, easy to understand, and it can be used by people who are not experts in business planning. Also, it has templates for the most popular business ideas.

The story starts from the inner, core blocks.

There you are defining the problem/solution and product/market fit that together represent your value proposition, or what makes you stand out from the rest.

Then you are moving on to the remaining blocks, in order to build your business model, and also to understand the external business elements, like competitors and market conditions.

Strategyzer is the team behind Business Model Canvas (BMC), which is a strategic tool for sketching, visualizing, analyzing, and pivoting business models.

one page business plan - BMC

This is the most popular one page business plan template and is has nine building blocks. These blocks allow you to map existing business models, design new ones, and manage a portfolio of models.

Lean Canvas was created by Ash Maurya, and it represents an adaptation from the original Business Model Canvas, inspired by the book Lean Startup by Eric Ries. This one page business plan can help you deconstruct your idea into its key assumptions.

one page business plan - lean canvas

What’s so special about this template is that it follows the problem-solution approach, and it’s more suitable for startups and entrepreneurs.

Sections Of Your One Page Business Plan

Hopefully, you’ve picked a template that looks visually appealing and suits your specific needs. Now it’s time to fill it in with all the information we mentioned at the beginning of this blog post.

You should describe the market needs right at the beginning of your business plan. Your entire business idea relies on solving a specific problem, so make sure you describe it clearly.

Once you’ve described the problem, it’s time to explain how your business is going to solve it. Whether you want to design a product or provide a service, this is where you sell it to the world.

Chances are that you’re not the only one who wants to solve that particular problem. Make sure you analyze your direct and indirect competition so you know what you’re up against.

Who has the problem your business wants to solve? Where are they in the world, what do they do, and what are their greatest hopes and worst fears? Describe your ideal customer in detail.

It’s not enough to know who’s interested in what you sell. You also have to sell it to them. Make a plan for how you want to promote your product or service and convert people into customers.

For example, are you going to use email newsletter software to create appealing newsletters and communicate over email? Or do you want to take the social media route and build an audience there? You can also create a combination of channels that works for you.

You need some money to get this baby off the ground. So what’s your startup budget and how do you plan to spend it? More importantly, how much do you plan to sell and over how long?

Your business will (hopefully!) evolve over time as you build a reputation. What does the future look like? Create a roadmap with milestones to mark significant progress along the way.

No matter how awesome you are, you’re only one person. It’s good to have a team to help you out. Who are they and what do they bring to the table in terms of skills and experiences?

Are you selling a product? Then who manufactures it, who distributes it, and who promotes it? You should list your key partners, without which your business can not exist.

Finally, we’re at the bottom line… literally. Make a list of people or resources you need but don’t have the capital to afford without the help of outside investment. Specify how much you need.

Congratulations! Now you know why you should write a one page plan, where to find some great templates, and what you should include in it.

But knowing is only half the battle.

Now it’s time to put your knowledge into action and actually write the damn thing! Fortunately, you don’t need to go back to Google for a solution to that problem – you’ve already found it.

IdeaBuddy is an excellent platform you can use to go from zero to a fully-fledged business. And the best part? You can write your one page plan completely for free!

So what are you waiting for? Start writing your one page business plan today, it’s much easier than you think!

one page business plan banner

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How to write a One Page Business Plan: templates, ideas, and a step-by-step guide

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Download our FREE one page business plan template + guide

The problem with business plans, using a one page business plan, vs. using no business plan at all, vs. a lengthy, drawn out business plan, the one page business plan bias, so what should you include in a one page business plan, examples of successful one page business plans, chris guillebeau’s one page business plan from the $100 startup, fizzle’s one page business sketch template, bplan’s one page business plan template, how to write a one page business plan from patrick bet-david of valuetainment, millo’s own one page business plan template & step-by-step guide, some final encouragement about your one page business plan, show me your one page business plans.

Writing a one page business plan (instead of a hundred-page, in-depth business plan no one will ever read) has become a popular and efficient way to get your small business moving in the right direction.

This article is meant to be an all-inclusive resource for anyone wanting to write their own one page business plan and use it to actually start a business .

I’ll include links to quality one page business plan templates, ideas for what to include in a business plan, and more resources to walk you through the process of building a one page business plan yourself.

If you’re ready to skip all of this and just want to download our one page business plan completely free, you can enter your email below and we’ll send it to you asap. Otherwise, keep reading.

Here’s the fundamental problem with business plans—I’m not talking about a one page business plan here, I’m talking about the typical business plan you might see in silicon valley or presented to a bank loan officer.

Therein lies the issue: if you’re looking for a one page business plan template, you’re most likely not headed to the bank to try and get some huge loan to start your business.

Like millions of people around the world, you’re probably a freelancer, a side-hustler, a solopreneur or aspiring to be one of these.

You’re not trying to start the next huge corporation. You just want to make some extra money on the side—and maybe eventually quit your job and work for yourself.

For this much more common purpose, a one page business plan is the exact perfect remedy.

Why? Because by putting all your business plans onto just one single page, you’re forced to do a few things:

  • Prioritize: Limiting your business plan to one page means you can only include the most important elements of your new small business.
  • Simplify: When you’re dreaming up what your business might look like in the future it can be really easy to get carried away. By limiting your business plan to one page, you force yourself to keep it simple.
  • Organize: Instead of letting all your dreams and plans swirl around in your brain, putting them down into a simple one page business plan allows you to quickly organize and move forward.

By forcing yourself to prioritize, simplify, and organize, you’ll find you can get down to what’s more important in your business: actually getting work done and getting paid for the work you do.

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Let’s compare what your first 6-12 months of business might look like with a one page business plan vs. no business plan at all vs. a lengthy, drawn out traditional business plan.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to develop a one page business plan:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you want to explore. You jot down a few ideas including how you’ll make money, what you’ll be selling, and how much you’d like to make doing what you’re doing.

After just a couple of hours total working on your one page business plan, you’re ready to get to work on the tasks that actually move your business forward.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use no business plan at all:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d like to explore. Instead of writing anything down, you decide to sketch out what your logo might look like.

The logo sketching leads to a dead end but reminds you of another business idea you once had in college. So you talk to your friends about that business idea for a while.

A year later, you’ve followed a similar pattern with dozens of potential ideas, but without a business plan, none of them ever came to fruition.

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Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use a long, drawn-out business plan instead of something that fits on one page:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d enjoy exploring further. You start to crunch the numbers on what this might look like if it gets really big and successful.

Knowing you’ll need funding from angels or the bank, you decide to draft up a large document explaining what actions your small company will take over the next 5-10 years to ensure your lenders get their money back.

You go through so many revisions of this hundred-page document, you finally burn out and decide it’s easier just to keep your day job.

Ok, obviously, I’m biased toward the one page business plan scenario. It’s clean, it’s easy, it’s simple. But most of all, it gets you to take action…quickly!

When I was contemplating taking my own business full-time, I called up my dad who, my whole life, has been talking about entrepreneurship and inventing. If I had a dollar for every time my dad said something like “that’s a great business idea” or “I can’t believe no one has made a business out of that yet,”….well, I would never need to work again.

But my dad…he’s not in business for himself.

He never has been, really. He’s always been at a desk job. And I admire him for his persistence in taking care of our family.

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One day I called him up and asked him: “why did you never try to build a business of your own?”

His response, among other things, was he couldn’t wrap his brain around how to build a business plan, get funding, and find the right manufacturing (all of which, might I add, were infinitely harder 30 years ago than they are today).

Why do I tell you this story? Because I’ve seen it a thousand times in lots of variations: people get overwhelmed with what they think they need in order to start a business.

One of those overwhelming tasks: building a 40-page business plan complete with competitive SWAT analysis, positioning statement, and blah blah blah.

So it kills your idea.

On the other hand, using a one page business plan lights a fire under you and pushes you forward into the work that matters more than the planning: the actual doing.

Okay, enough talking about a one page business plan. You’re convinced. Putting all your plans down on one simple piece of paper is going to be better than any other option.

But where do you start? What exactly do you put down in your one page business plan to really make it effective without being too complicated?

Remember, a one page business plan is much different from a 70-page plan primarily because this plan isn’t meant to be shown off to other people in an effort to gain support or get funding.

This business plan is primarily for one person: you.

That means there are lots of things you might find are recommended to go in a typical business plan. But that doesn’t mean they should be in your one page plan. Examples include “Executive Summaries,” “Management Organization” or “Funding Requests.”

Don’t waste your time on that kind of thinking for now.

Instead, include the most important elements of your new business only. Here are a just a few ideas to get you started:

  • Company Description: What will your company do? What exactly will your company sell? Will you provide a service? Sell a product? To whom? Why?
  • Products or Services: What products or services will you offer? How much will they cost in the beginning?
  • Marketing and Sales: How will you get your first customers? Who will pay you for your service or product?
  • Goals and Milestones: How many customers do you need to make this business “successful”? How long will it take to get the ideal number of customer or monthly revenue?

There are countless examples of business plans on the internet, but below, I’d like to highlight a few of my favorite approaches to one page business planning from some of the smartest people I personally know in the world of solopreneurship and small business.

Note: PLEASE don’t pay for an app or software to help you write a one page business plan. Maybe down the road you’ll need something like that, but keep it simple and download one of the free options below or just get out a blank sheet of paper and create your own.

Chris Guillebeau, author of one of my all-time favorite business books, The $100 Startup , offers a free one page PDF that’s pretty great.

One page business plan template - Guillebeau

It asks simple questions like: What will you sell? Who will buy it? And How will your business idea help people?  

I also love how Chris’s one page business plan focuses on success metrics—or what the business will look like if it’s “successful.” Will have it have a certain number of customers? A certain amount of monthly revenue?

This allows you to put an actual end point or goal on your one page business plan so that you know exactly what you’re working toward.

You can access Chris’s one page business plan here .

Another great resource to get you moving quickly toward your business goals is the Business Sketch Template provided my my friends at Fizzle.co.

Here’s what they have to say about one page planning:

“It might seem surprising or impossible to imagine that all of the most crucial pieces of your business can fit onto one page. At Fizzle, we call this plan a sketch: it’s meant to be completed quickly, if not a bit roughly, but the objective is still to put pencil to paper.”

What I like about Fizzle’s business sketch template is that it starts with the center focus on Key Metrics and prompts you to ask questions like “What will you measure to determine that this audience has this problem and wants this solution?”

one page business plan template - Fizzle

As big proponents of building a small, lifestyle business, It’s no surprise this template also includes some unique sections like “personal fit” which force you to ask questions about how the business will interact with your daily life, personal passions, and life goals.

You can access Fizzle’s one page business sketch template here .

Another potential one page business plan is presented by Bplan.

Here’s what they have to say about “a new kind of business planning.”

one page business plan template - bplans

“A business plan no longer needs to be a long document that takes weeks to write and research. It’s not something that you print, bind professionally, and then stick on a shelf. You probably only need a formal, traditional business plan if you’re seeking a bank loan or outside investment—you’ll be expected to provide one in those instances.”

With that, they offer some great advice on how to write a business plan in under 1 hour .

You can download their “lean business plan” template here .

If you prefer to learn by watching a video, I found this video is a pretty great resource to help you with your one page business plan. I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but I like his overall approach to tackling business planning.

After studying this topic extensively—reading hundreds of articles and looking at lots of one page business plan templates, we’ve decided to include a free download of one of our own templates as well.

Our one page business plan template is tailored particularly to freelancers and solopreneurs—one-person businesses who want to stay small and build a healthy revenue for themselves and their loved ones.

Our one page business plan template is designed to be completed in less than 45 minutes and give you the ammunition you need to hit the ground running—instead of getting stuck in the details of starting a business.

You can download our free one page business plan template by entering your email below:

Before you go, here are some final words of encouragement and advice when it comes to planning your business.

First of all, you can plan everything you need to on just one page. At least for now.

Sure, one day you might need a more lengthy, in-detail plan to present to someone else, but for now, give yourself a break. You don’t have to write a plan that Mark Cuban would be proud of. You just have to write a plan that helps you get from point A to point B.

Secondly, don’t get stuck at this phase. If you have to, time yourself. Set a time limit of 45 minutes (or whatever amount makes sense for you). And when the timer’s up, it’s time to get back to work actually starting or building your business.

Finally, use this one page business plan as a compass, but be flexible. The point is to give yourself a roadmap, but just like your GPS has to “reroute” when there’s an unexpected obstacle, you might also need to pursue a different path, different method, or different goals as you go along.

In fact, I’d say it’s next to impossible to build a business plan of any kind and then stick to it 100% over any significant amount of time.

There will always be unforeseen obstacles and changes. There will always be hiccups. The idea is to just write your business plan .

Roll with the punches and something as simple as a one page business plan can take you far.

After you draft up your one page business plan, I’d love to see what you landed on. Share a link with me in our mastermind group , by leaving a comment below, or sharing on twitter .

I can’t wait to see what you’ve done. Good luck!

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Starting a Business | How To

One-Page Business Plan: The Step-By-Step Guide

Published July 2, 2020

Published Jul 2, 2020

Blake Stockton

WRITTEN BY: Blake Stockton

This article is part of a larger series on Starting a Business .

Right now you likely have a business idea. Awesome! Now you need to think through that idea by getting your thoughts on paper. The One-Page Business Plan will walk you through each step of planning your business idea. Once you know your financial projections, you can finish the basics of this plan in less than 15 minutes. Planning is a great way to thoroughly understand the costs and income potential of your business idea.

Before continuing, download our one-page business plan template:

One-Page Business Plan

Download the template and save it to your desktop for easy access. The fields in the PDF are editable. You can also print out the document and write by hand. Answer each question with one or two sentences—feel free to write in incomplete sentences.

If you need additional space to write then place your basic ideas on the template, and continue writing on a personal document.

Question: What problem will your business solve?

Every business solves a problem. What specific problem will your business solve for a customer? Try to get down to the core issue your customer is having.

For example, for a landscape company, “time wasted” maintaining a lawn may be a problem for your customer; however, if possible, make it more specific. For example, the specific problem may be an unkempt lawn. You can visually see an unkempt lawn—it’s much harder to see “time wasted.”

2. Solution

Question: What will your business provide to solve that problem?

You’ve identified the problem, now you need the solution. What specific action will you take to resolve the customer’s issue? This solution is your product or service. Don’t be afraid to get specific with your solution.

Going back to the landscaping example, your solution is to improve an unkempt lawn and maintain it. However, I challenge you to go one step further with your solution. Perhaps you’re creating a lawn that makes neighbors jealous, which is a solution tied to an emotion—very powerful.

Tip: If you’re starting a new type of business , try to test your solution on a small scale without spending a lot of money. This test makes sure customers will pay you for the solution. In entrepreneurship, a common saying for a struggling new business is that it created “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” Don’t be that business.

3. Business Model

Question: How will your business make money?

For many businesses, its business model is straightforward. A product is sold or service is provided, and the company is paid.

You also want to outline how and where the products and services will be sold. Will they be sold in your own business or office. Someone else’s store or office? Will you be engaging in ecommerce—on your own website or an online marketplace such as Amazon?

During this step, you should also set your pricing—which basically means, how much will you charge? This can be difficult to figure out. Consider browsing competitor websites for pricing. You may want to call a competitor and ask for a quote.

4. Target Customers

Question: Who will purchase your products or services?

Your target customers are your ideal customers. The worst answer to who is your target customer is “everyone.” Not even some of the most popular companies started out for everyone—Facebook was for college students, Amazon sold books. Also, a common marketing saying is that if you’re “marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.”

When thinking about who your target customers are, think demographics. Think about features such as age, income, gender, hobbies, and location.

When you’re clear on your target customers, your marketing strategy will become apparent as well—you’ll understand where and how to spend your marketing dollars.

5. Promotion

Question: How will target customers learn about your business?

List any strategies you will use to get potential customers to learn about your business. As a new business, it may be challenging to reach and persuade your first customers. How will you do it?

In-person networking and marketing for your business are often more effective than online marketing. However, some online marketing is free and can have the ability to reach a lot of people.

If looking for local customers, consider claiming and optimizing your free Google My Business (GMB) listing . Additionally, once you create your GMB listing, set up your free one-page website. Affordable!

6. Competitive Advantage

Question: What will your business do better than the competitors?

Before you can state your competitive advantage, study your competitors—learn their strengths and weaknesses. Once you know you can do better than competitors, choose one or two areas where you know you can outperform them.

For example, if you notice they have poor online reviews, you can have exceptional customer service. In fact, your marketing can even call that out, such as a satisfaction guarantee.

Or maybe you can be faster than your competitors—“done in two days or less!” Don’t be afraid to call out your competitors and state why your business has the best “X.”

7. Financial Projections

Question : How much money do you need to start?

One part of financial projections is called startup costs —how much money you need to open your doors. For this cost, simply list all the items and services you need to get your business started.

When estimating the startup cost, you’ll want to overestimate on the amount, rather than underestimate. Often, a new business owner may be unaware of certain startup costs. If you underestimate costs, you could run out of cash before you get your first customer.

Question : How much will you spend every month?

Calculate how much money your business is likely to spend every month. Make the calculations for the first 12 months.

This may take research. You may have to pick up the phone and request a quote for items such as raw materials, equipment, and insurance.

Question : How much will you earn every month?

Now for the fun part—the amount of money you expect to make. How many customers do you plan on having every month for the first 12 months? You should have your pricing from the business model step. Take the number of customers times the price to come up with an estimated income every month.

Depending on your type of business, you may expect to grow your customer base every month. You may expect to only have a few customers in your first month—by 12 months, dozens of new customers. However, you don’t have to grow. Some companies may be content with a few consistent customers every month.

8. Funding Required

Question: How much money do you need to both start and operate your business?

Funding required is the total amount of money you need to start and operate your business for at least six months. You typically should have more funding than just the amount to start.

What if the company doesn’t get the sales you initially predicted? Or a natural disaster hits such as a hurricane or pandemic? Does your business have enough funds saved up to get through a difficult time?

Now that you have the amount of funding required to start and operate for at least six months, you can go out and raise that money through various sources, such as:

  • Personal funds
  • Family and friends
  • Crowdfunding
  • Business credit cards
  • Personal loan

The One-Page Business Plan Alternative

If you’d like to create a more in-depth business plan after reading through this guide, remember, there are different types of business plans . For example, if you’re seeking funding from a bank or investor, you will need to create a traditional business plan . This type of plan requires more thorough market research and financial forecasting.

Bottom Line

Now that you have your one-page business plan created don’t put it in a drawer never to be looked at again! As you move forward with your business, revisit your plan often.

It’s a best practice to keep track of your income and expenses to see if your predictions played out correctly. Did you outperform your goals? What’s working well or not so well? Use your one-page business plan to reflect on your business’s current state and update it if necessary.

About the Author

Blake Stockton

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Blake Stockton

Blake Stockton is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on how to start brick-and-mortar and online businesses. He is a frequent guest lecturer at several undergraduate business and MBA classes at University of North Florida . Prior to joining Fit Small Business, Blake consulted with over 700 small biz owners and assisted with starting and growing their businesses.

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Single Page Business Plan

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Single Page Business Plan

A single page business plan is just as it sounds: a summary of business objectives displayed on a single page. Single page business plans are typically used to pitch ideas before writing longer, more detailed business plans for potential investors and partners. Instead of starting from scratch, use our free Single Page Business Plan PDF Template to outline company goals in a professional, accessible PDF document. Once you’ve filled out a simple form with details regarding your company’s overview, objectives, challenges, and strategies, this Single Page Business Plan Template will automatically convert that information into a professional PDF that can be read at a glance. With your single page business plan saved as a PDF, you can easily download it for your records, email the file to coworkers, or print out copies for company meetings.

This Single Page Business Plan Template already has a stunning design, but you can quickly customize it to meet your business needs with our drag-and-drop PDF Editor. Easily add fields for additional information such as milestones, market or competitive analysis, and financial summary. Don’t forget to represent your business by adding your logo and changing the fonts and colors to match your branding. No matter what modifications you make, your custom Single Page Business Plan Template will create an impressive, brief breakdown of business objectives to help steer your company in the right direction.

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What is a single-page business plan?

A single-page business plan is a compressed version of a traditional business plan that is designed to fit on one page. It gives a succinct overview of your business concept to potential investors or partners so that they can quickly understand your key goals, strategies, and mission in a format that’s easily accessible.

Why should I use a single-page business plan?

Consider using a single-page business plan to pitch your business to investors, partners, or stakeholders more effectively by communicating your goals succinctly. The single-page business plan requires you to clarify and condense the key elements of your business so you can better articulate your vision, mission, and core values to important players — which helps you streamline your goals. While this short version can’t fully replace a long-form business plan, it’s useful for introductory meetings.

What are the key components of a single page business plan?

Every single-page business business plan should include these key components:

Mission and vision statement

Start your plan with a brief statement that describes the purpose and core values of your proposed business. This section typically also includes a comprehensive description that outlines exactly what your business will do and the target market it will reach.

Value proposition

This section outlines the problem that your business is trying to solve, its unique selling points, and its customer benefits. Be specific about the value that your business will provide. 

Objectives overview

Lay out the specific short-term and long-term goals of your business. These goals should be reasonable based on the resources currently available to you. This section also includes key metrics, timelines, and cost structures.

Strategies and action plan

This area outlines your market analysis and marketing approach, as well as the key activities that will drive operations. The action plan may also include an overview of how your business will generate revenue.

How do I create a single-page business plan using a template?

Creating a single-page business plan with Jotform’s free template is beyond easy! Simply click Use Template , and fill out the form with your own information to populate the document. You can then add or edit sections, change fonts and colors, and add your own logo with our intuitive drag-and-drop form builder. Once you’ve adjusted the template to your liking, you can forward it via email or link, or save it as a PDF. 

Can a single-page business plan template be used for any type of business?

The beauty of the single-page business plan template is that you can customize it to any type of business or industry. Whether you’re in technology, retail, entertainment, healthcare, or marketing, the single page business plan template will help you succinctly communicate your business to the world.

Is a single-page business plan template suitable for startups?

The single-page business plan template is perfect for startups. Companies that are in the early stages of development constantly need to pitch their concept to potential investors and venture capitalists — which is where the single-page business plan template comes in. Investors are busy people, and our template is useful for presenting your startup’s value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential to these individuals.

Additionally, constantly recreating lengthy business plans for different audiences can be resource-intensive, especially for startups with few employees. But you can easily adapt the single-page business plan template to address feedback, changes in the market, or other circumstances. 

How often should I update my single-page business plan?

You should update your single-page business plan any time there are changes to your mission, vision, goals, strategies, or market. The single-page business plan should accurately reflect the trajectory of your business, so consider doing periodic reviews, such as whenever you reach milestones. 

What are the advantages of using a single-page business plan over a traditional business plan?

Ultimately, the single-page business plan is a time-saving tool for businesses that need to pitch their concept thoroughly and quickly. On top of that, the plan helps identify and distill the key elements of the business. The single-page business plan can be easily adapted to reflect changes in the market or feedback from periodic assessments. Lastly, because it’s only one page, the plan is easy to share and digest.

These templates are suggested forms only. If you're using a form as a contract, or to gather personal (or personal health) info, or for some other purpose with legal implications, we recommend that you do your homework to ensure you are complying with applicable laws and that you consult an attorney before relying on any particular form.

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About Simple Business Plan Templates

Plans, strategies, roadmaps – Businesses rely on these things to gain perspective on what’s about to happen. Milestones laid down in strategic and careful planning for growth and expansion, visions of where the company’s headed 10 years from now, goals that should meet timelines, all these require a smart, prudent and calculated planning.

Whether you’re a startup, an SMB, or close to a Fortune 500, a solid business plan is crucial. And of course, writing business plans is a huge task. But, what if you needed something that requires input from others though? Say, an online form or a PDF template where responses from your colleagues and managers matter? Well, here’s a collection of PDF templates for business planning.

These are beautifully designed templates, specifically tailored for businesses and companies who don’t know where to start. The hard part was already done and that’s designing the template. These will serve as boilerplates for whatever milestone your business needs. You won’t need to worry on building something from scratch, you just need to focus on the content. Some of these templates will contain or collect executive summaries, opportunities, expectations, execution, financial plans, forecasts, the whole nine yards.

Business plan templates help give a clear vision of what lies ahead. They help you get things organized, planned out, and help you check off items from your to-do list more efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the seven parts of a business plan.

  • Executive summary. This is an overview of your business plan. The executive summary should include your company’s offerings, mission, goals, and projections. Think of it as the elevator pitch for your business plan. If you can’t get investors interested here, it’s unlikely they’ll want to keep reading.
  • Company description and history. Describe your business’s legal structure and history in addition to what you do. If you just started this business, you may replace company history with your leadership team’s experience. The purpose of this section is to explain the company structure and build confidence in the people running the company.
  • Products and services. Talk about what your company offers, whether that’s products, services, or a combination of the two. Describe your products and services in detail. Explain what makes your offering unique, what your profit margins are, what kind of demand you’re seeing for it, etc.
  • Market and competitor research. Investors want to know if there’s demand for your offering. Describe the target market and how your product or service benefits potential customers. Include projections of where the industry is headed over the next few years. Additionally, detail your competitors and how saturated the market is.
  • Sales and marketing strategy. This part of the business plan explains how you’ll promote your product. Outline elements such as your ideal customer profile (ICP) as well as your marketing channels, budget, and methods.
  • Operations and logistics. Explain how you’ll source materials if you sell products as well as the technology you need to deliver such products and services. Also, provide details about your team, like how many people you’ll need and how you’ll manage employees.
  • Financial plan and projections. It’s crucial to prove that your business will be financially viable. For this, you’ll need revenue and expense projections. Many investors want to see sample account statements, balance sheets, and cash flow projections.

How do you write a business plan?

Your business plan should be a realistic roadmap that helps you build a successful company. When writing it, take a balanced approach so that you’re not blind to the potential pitfalls and risks. You’ll draft each of the seven sections previously discussed.

Tackling these sections can be overwhelming, so some people like to start with a one-page business plan that includes short paragraphs for each element. Another way to give yourself a head start is by working from a business plan template. Once you have a good start, you can expand each section to make a compelling case for your business.

Can I write a business plan myself?

Yes, you can. However, depending on your writing experience and goals, you may want outside help. If the business plan is for internal use with the purpose of improving business functions, you’ll likely be OK tackling it alone. But if you’re trying to secure funding from a bank or investors, a professional business plan writer can give you a leg up.

Even if you decide to do it yourself, have a trusted friend or business mentor review your plan and provide feedback. An objective point of view will help you refine your work.

What are the four types of business plans?

  • One-page or mini business plan. The one-page option is a great way to improve the focus of your business plan and highlight the essential elements. It can be an effective way to workshop your company’s plan or quickly give others a rundown of your entire business.
  • Traditional business plan. The traditional business plan is more in-depth than its one-page counterpart and will be more thorough in each section (often, plans exceed 40 pages). For example, it may contain detailed financials, branding samples, and competitive research documents.
  • Business model canvas (BMC). The business model canvas is a more visual representation of your business architecture. It includes sections for infrastructure, offering, customers, finances, etc. Many businesses find the BMC appealing since it can be summarized in a single page.
  • Strategic business plan. The strategic business plan can have different purposes, like proving feasibility, discussing planning operations, or projecting growth. It will outline the company’s goals, its strategy for reaching them, and the company structure. The main difference between this and the traditional plan is its focus on specific strategic initiatives.

What are the common mistakes in business plans?

  • Poor writing. Sloppy writing may suggest that you’re not serious about your business or you lack the needed professionalism.
  • Unrealistic expectations. While you should be optimistic about your business, if your financial projections reflect your hopes more than reality, people may hesitate to back your business.
  • Lack of supporting documentation. People reviewing your business plan want to see how you back up your claims. You can include research docs, sample financials, and estimates to make your case.
  • Failing to define the target audience. For a successful marketing plan, you need to define your target audience. Investors and financial institutions need to see if you’re confident about who you’re selling to.
  • Unbalanced. It’s important to lay out the risks and potential upsides. This analysis shows investors that you’re considering the whole picture regarding your business.

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One Page Business Plan

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Writing a 30-page long business plan can look like a huge hassle if you are just starting with your business. You might even feel like skipping the planning process altogether.

But you don’t have to. There’s a quick and easy solution to your problem.

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Free One Page Business Plan Template

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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With the help of a page-long plan, you’ll neither have to spend days planning your business nor skip the planning process completely.

A business plan can be of great help to your business, and a one-page plan can become your plan’s foundation as you expand your business.

Read on to find out everything about a one-page business plan.

How Can a One-Page Business Plan Help You?

A one-page business plan can help you with the following:

  • It can help you understand the market you are getting into.
  • It can help you set clear and precise goals for your business.
  • It gives form and structure to your business idea.
  • It acts as a foundation stone for your business model.

And most importantly, a page-long plan can be written in a short time.

Although you’ll eventually need a detailed and comprehensive plan in the future, a one-page plan is a good place to start.

One Page Business Plan Outline

This is the standard one-page business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

  • What will you sell?
  • Who will buy it?
  • How will your business idea help people?
  • What will you charge?
  • How will you get paid?
  • How else will you make money from this project?
  • How will customers learn about your business?
  • How can you encourage referrals?
  • The project will be successful when it achieves these metrics
  • Specific concern or question #1
  • The proposed solution to concern #1

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Now, let’s understand in detail what you should write each section of this business plan.

How to Write a One Page Business Plan?

Though, you might wonder, is it even possible to fit all the details about a business on just one page?

It surely is. Also, it is a more compact and faster way of writing a business plan.

The following sections will help you write a compact and well-rounded business plan:

This section would consist of a brief overview of all that your business stands for. It would mainly include your vision and mission statement.

As your business plan is going to be super short, you need to sum up this section in two to three lines. Remember to be as clear and precise as possible.

For example, if you are a fashion designer, your business’s overview might look like this.

“ We design clothes to give something new and something special to everyone.”

Target Market

Including information about the target market is crucial for any business plan.

Knowing your target market not only helps you serve them better, but also helps you in streamlining your marketing efforts.

You can separate your target market based on age, gender, income, geographical location, and occupation.

Market Needs

Before you enter any market, it is a good practice to evaluate how valid your business idea is.

Also, what market needs does your product or service fulfill? In this section, you’ll precisely cover the market gap that exists. And how do you aim to fulfill it with your product or service?

Writing this section helps you understand how much optimization your product needs. And if it is needed in the market at all.

Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is immensely helpful for any business.

It helps you decide how you will reach out to your target audience and how you’ll convince them to buy your product or use your service.

It is also important to evaluate whether your marketing campaign would resonate with your target audience or not.

Obstacles/Challenges

This section would consist of the potential market threats that your business would have to face, and how would you overcome them.

For this section, you can carry out a SWOT analysis and include its results in your plan.

Knowing the threats that exist in the market helps you in being better prepared while facing them.

Having milestones to achieve helps you keep better track of your business journey.

Milestones give you something tangible to work upon. Hence, you become more organized and motivated.

Moreover, it also helps you in knowing whether you are working in the right direction or not. In this way, it helps you steer clear of roadblocks and dead ends in your business journey.

Competition

Before you enter any industry or market, it is important to analyze your competitors .

Include what are their strengths and weaknesses. Also, include what sets you apart from them and would help you create your unique place in the market.

Funding Needs

The financial section consists of the funds you’ll need to keep your business going. Writing this section clearly and backed with strong facts can help you in getting funded.

Especially when you are just starting, getting funded can act as a big plus.

Download a sample one-page business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go;  download our free one-page business plan pdf  to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your one-page business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

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One Page Business Plan Summary

All in all, summing up your entire business idea on a single page is very much possible and feasible.

A plan can give form and structure to your idea even if it is only a page long.

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample one-page business plan template into your business plan and modify the required information and download your one page business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing a business plan.

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About the Author

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Upmetrics Team

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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How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Growthink One Page Business Plan Template

The one-page business plan is one of the most popular tools for entrepreneurs, startups, and established companies. It’s also one of the simplest to develop. This article will walk you through a description of a one-page business plan, the purpose of this type of plan, and how to create a one-page business plan for your company.  

What is a One-Page Business Plan?

A one-page business plan is a compressed version of a traditional business plan that fits neatly into a single page. Creating a one-page business plan requires significant research, strategizing and financial modeling on the front end to be effective. In that respect, rather than being easier or simpler to create than a full-length business plan, the single-page business plan actually requires an additional distillation effort for the entrepreneur.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

As always, utilizing a business plan template provides the basis for you to clearly communicate your value proposition, business concept, business strategy, services, product offerings, etc., and improve your business planning process. ​  

Benefits of Using a One-Page Plan

A one-page plan is easier to read, share and understand.

By boiling down your business plan into one page with only the most important elements, you are better able to 1) focus on the key action items your business must accomplish and 2) present your vision and plan to your team in a way that won’t overwhelm them and will allow them to most easily understand it.

The reward is that the brevity of a 1 page business plan is very attractive to prospective investors, who are usually pressed for time. Because it is so brief, it is also an effective tool to share among your management team and employees to get your team motivated and working towards the same goals. A strong one-page business plan proves you grasp the crux of your business and appreciate what is most critical for audiences to quickly understand about it.

Below, we walk through the content of a one-page business planning template.  

The One-Page Business Plan Template

Whether you are starting a service business or a product-focused business, your one-page business plan should include the following 7 items:

  • Business Model
  • Market Analysis
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Financial Projections
  • Funding Required & Uses of Funds

Each of these items are detailed below.

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How to Create a One-Page Business Plan

Each of the key elements included in a traditional business plan retains its position in the 1 page business plan. You need only provide a few words, phrases, or sentences in the description for each of the sections and move on to the next. The following are the essential elements:

identify customer problem

For example, Netflix in its budding days identified a problem with video stores. It was time consuming and inconvenient to go to the video store every time you felt like watching a new movie.

2. Solution

the key to attract customers

Again, looking at Netflix, the company initially solved the problem of time consumption and inconvenience by delivering movies directly to customers’ homes.

3. Business Model

how will your new business make money

Consider the example of YouTube. YouTube’s business model hinges on users who by and large engage on the platform for free. YouTube leverages this ever-increasing user base to attract advertisers, which provides revenues.

4. Market Analysis

target market research

For example, Swedish furniture brand Ikea’s US target market could be described as urban young professionals who like the Scandinavian style and are willing to put in a little setup work themselves to save money on quality furnishings. These individuals spend, on average, $8,000 on furnishing when they move into a new home or apartment.

5. Competitive Analysis

provide your customers with better service

Take the example of coffee giant Starbucks. Their competitor analysis would yield large brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread and McDonald’s McCafé, as well as boutique coffee shops on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. Starbucks differentiates itself through providing specialty coffee products of consistent quality under a national brand.

6. Financial Plan & Projections

sales goals to make more money

See below for example graphs that show a growth in topline revenues year over year as well as the projected revenue distribution by service area for a hair salon:

Financial Projections for One-Page Plan

7. Funding Required & Uses of Funds

detailed information regarding the use of funds

See below for an example table of fund uses for a startup hair salon:

Use of Business Plan Funding

Free Downloadable One-Page Business Plan Example PDF

Download our one page business plan template pdf here.

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Download Growthink’s One-Page-Business-Plan-Template for Microsoft Word  

Final Thoughts

Remember to focus on your business’ strengths as much as you can. If your market analysis reveals you have a strong position then highlight it more in the single-page plan. Likewise, if your financial projections come out stronger then elongate the financial section.

Editing the enormity of a business plan into a single page is a daunting task but doing so will bring clarity to the core idea and value of your business and help you pitch well in front of potential investors.  

One-Page Business Plan FAQs

What are the benefits of one-page business plans.

Traditional business plans are sometimes 25-50 pages long. It's hard to read that many pages for one company, let alone dozens of them.

One-page business plans are more digestible. 

They provide key points on what you do, why you do it, and how you plan for growth. 

What is the difference between a one-page business plan and a lean business plan?

A one-page business plan is a reduced version of a traditional business plan that can be easily wrapped onto a single sheet of paper.

The key elements included in a one-page business plan are:

On the other hand, a lean business plan is a short-term planning method that allows you to more quickly and accurately develop your business plan based on actual customer feedback and interactions. A lean business plan is focused more on helping you build a better business and testing a variety of strategies to assess if they are effective for your chosen business model. 

Also in a single-page format, the key elements included in this type of plan are:

  • Business Overview
  • Value Proposition
  • Key Partnerships
  • Key Activities
  • Key Resources
  • Customer Relationships
  • Customer Segments & Channels
  • Cost Structure
  • Revenue Streams

A typical rule of thumb for these types of plans is that every sentence should be meaningful and useful for orientation purposes in order to appease investors in an efficient way while retaining their interest long enough to make an informed decision about investing in your business. 

Looking for more information? Lean Business Plan: How-To Guide & Template

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies that have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how Growthink’s professional business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.

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The Ultimate Business Plan Template

May 22, 2023 - 10 min read

Kelechi Udoagwu

Business plan templates set you up for success by providing a framework to guide you through setting goals and planning crucial aspects of your business, like operations, marketing, and financials. 

A one-page business plan template compiles the essential information you need to explain your business and present it in the best light to investors, partners, suppliers, vendors, and employees. It is a brief document that organizes and communicates the most impressive, practical, and persuasive details of your business.

Depending on your business case — e.g., raising funds, launching a new product, or updating workflows and processes — you can add or remove specific sections in your business plan template to fit your needs. Using a business plan template frees up and saves valuable time and effort by providing guidance on what to include and highlight while ensuring you don’t overlook any necessary details.  

There are many business plan types, including startup business plans , expansion plans, business operational plans , and lean or one-page business plans. These plans have different goals and help entrepreneurs and small business owners sustain momentum and growth through different phases. 

This article will teach you how to write a business plan effectively. We ’ ll discuss the essential sections of a business plan, tips to complete each one, and mistakes to avoid. You can begin right now by downloading one of Wrike’s business-focused templates .

Is a business plan really necessary? 

As the world of work accelerates with the speed of innovation, globalization, and remote work , many practices are changing. Transactions and negotiations that would have taken months to complete can now transpire in hours or days using video conferencing and other collaborative tools . Seeking confirmation, giving feedback, signing contracts, and closing deals are done more efficiently and across many borders. 

But even so, business plans are as essential and valuable as ever. Widely used is the one-page business plan, which is a quick, concise way to summarize and present your business ’ s status, current needs, and projected future. One-page business plans help illustrate where your business is and how you plan to achieve its potential. Investors, partners, and stakeholders can see the main points at a glance and decide whether to continue conversations, turn down the offer, or agree to your ask. 

Business plan templates help simplify the process of creating thorough and effective business plans. They get you past the initial blank page and provide a structure for building your own professional and comprehensive business plan in minutes or hours, not days or weeks. These templates make it easy to visualize viable exit strategies and desired business outcomes, promoting strategic and impactful decision-making as a sole entrepreneur, small business, or CEO of a fast-growing startup answering to shareholders.

Business plans help to: 

  • Get more clarity on your business roadmap : Whether you ’ re a first-time entrepreneur or a small business owner looking to raise funds, business plans clarify your goals and organizational objectives for different periods, e.g., one to five years. Clear goals translate to actionable plans. Teams can break them down into tasks and projects and chart a timeline to achieve milestones. 
  • Pitch and raise funds from investors: The most common reason people do the hard task of creating business plans in the first place is to pitch their startup or business idea to investors, bankers, or venture capitalists. A business plan shows you're serious about your business and communicates the business's potential. If your plan is clear and investors are convinced, you can raise the funds you need. 
  • Convince stakeholders: There are many instances in business when you have to convince others to buy into a new idea or try new ways to improve the company ’s bottom line. Teams and project managers create internal business plans to present their cases and convince stakeholders about the viability of their proposed solution. A well-done business plan can win the necessary sponsorship and stakeholder support you need.
  • Navigate potential risks: A business plan template ensures you cover all crucial aspects of your business. It creates visibility into potential risks and challenges the business or project may face as well as an opportunity for proactive brainstorming and strategy development to mitigate these risks.

How long should your business plan be?

A conventional business plan can be many pages long. The ideal length is whatever is required to explain the business adequately and excite your readers about its potential. Business plans can be from as few as five to as many as 25 pages. However, it’s advisable to keep it as short as possible to hold your readers ’ attention through most of it. 

A one-page business plan is a condensed, lightweight version of a conventional business plan. The one-page plan illustrates what your business does by summarizing its mission, operations, marketing, and financial forecasts on one page. 

You use visual elements like graphs and charts, bullet points, summaries, and clever formatting to keep the one-page plan informative, engaging, and clear for readers to understand. Answer frequently recurring questions in the appendices and carry along useful, additional documents to provide details and proof of work when seeking investment. Investors want to know your business can be profitable, and they can cash out. They ’ d like to see evidence of a viable market and customer interest. 

How do I write a simple business plan?

Before you begin writing your business plan, talk to your customers and employees to validate and shape your business concept. It doesn ’ t matter if you ’ re just beginning to grow your business or raising another round for expansion. 

Writing a business plan starts with speaking to people on the ground — customers, leads, residents, consumers, employees, and any other groups that directly use and experience your products, services, and business management . 

Once you have their input, you can start writing your business plan by completing the seven sections below. 

Essential components of a business plan

Every business plan should include the following sections:

  • Executive summary
  • Company description
  • Products and services
  • Market analysis
  • Management team
  • Financial plan
  • Operational plan

These seven parts cover the crucial areas that keep a business running and successful. Without clarity on any section, you may struggle to build a thriving business. 

1. Executive summary

The executive summary outlines your one-page business plan. It introduces what readers can expect in the following sections and highlights the most impressive statistics and information in the business plan to pique their interest.

Executive summaries should be concise. Every sentence should be necessary and add value to the plan. Here ’ s an example of a one-page business plan executive summary:

Marigold Panes, a joint venture between a shipping and manufacturing company, aims to expand its successful European portfolio and capture a significant percentage of the rapidly growing North American window pane renovation market, focused on modern styles for residential and commercial spaces. This niche market is expanding at 12.6% yearly. It generated $19 billion in the US alone in the last year. Building on its success in Europe, Marigold Panes aims to establish a similarly structured company in the US within the next six months, using a hyper-localized go-to-market strategy across selected major cities.

2. Company description

The company description section should explain what your business does, highlighting your business model, industry, and type.

Include a clear mission and vision statement to set the foundation for your organization’s purpose, values, and long-term goals. This provides clarity and context around your business presence, creating a shared understanding of the business’s key objectives, guiding decision-making, inspiring teams, and setting the stage for long-term success.

Stating your mission and vision statements early in the business plan helps establish a sense of purpose from the outset. Be firm yet flexible to allow room for adapting to changing market conditions while remaining true to the company’s core values.

Continuing with the Marigold Panes example, let ’ s see what a company description may look like.

  • Introduction: Marigold Panes is a partnership between a shipping and a manufacturing company focused on winning window pane renovation projects from North America.
  • Business type: Joint venture (JV) , i.e., a partnership between two entities: a shipping company and a manufacturing company. 
  • Founding team: Partnering companies have a track record of delivering high-quality projects in their industries. This JV brings a double assurance of quality and standards for the market in North America. Both companies have strong executive and management teams with experience and expertise in fields apart from the core two.
  • Business mission: Marigold Panes ’ mission is to source, manufacture, and ship the highest - quality window panes worldwide. 
  • Establish a trustworthy brand presence in North America.
  • Grow customer base >15% month on month.
  • Meet a revenue target of $2 billion from the North American market within three years

3. Products and services

Your plan ’ s products and services section should outline all the business ’ s products and services. This should include your current products and services, those in the pipeline, and any others you plan to launch. Add necessary details about each one, so readers have a concise yet clear understanding of them.

Ensure you ’ re clear about ownership and copyright issues for every product or service listed. Share details about the workflows and processes that enable your business production and allow you to deliver successfully to customers.

Continuing with Marigold Panes, its products and services section may look like this: 

  • Procurement of window pane materials
  • Manufacturing of window panes
  • Shipping of window panes
  • Managing window pane disposal
  • Windowpane renovation projects

4. Market analysis

Your market analysis section should highlight the most important peculiarities about your target market and customer types, presenting research that validates the products and services. Depending on the stage your company is at, your market research section may be more focused on total market size, percentage of market share, rate of market share growth, or competitor activities. 

Break down your total market into smaller segments based on factors such as demographics, location, and priority needs. This will help identify the size and value of a specific target audience within the broader market, enabling you to create tailored marketing strategies for reaching and appealing to different market segments.

Market research helps you learn about your industry ’ s current demand and supply balance, how best to position yourself to solve the market ’ s needs, the most viable segments within it, and the best strategies for achieving product/market fit. It helps teams understand target customers’ pain points, needs, and preferences. That way, companies can create a product or service that effectively addresses particular needs, leading to high demand and customer satisfaction.

You can use the popular SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) technique to show your company ’ s positioning and competitive advantages. SWOT analyses are excellent complements to one-page plans as they convey so much information about your business operations , positioning, and potential using little space on the page. 

For Marigold Panes, it would start by listing all the window pane companies in North America operating for over two years and conducting above $500 million in annual revenue. It can then research the shortlisted companies and learn its business weaknesses and strengths compared to them. 

5. Management team

The management team section outlines your business ’ s top, most critical personnel and their expertise, experience, and credentials. This should show your organizational hierarchy and business ’ s legal structure. 

For Marigold Panes, it may list the personnel working on the new partnership from the executive and management teams of both companies.

Ensure that every team member in your business plan is credible, competent, and quick at their job — with the capacity and ability to convey your business goals and convince stakeholders your team and organization can execute their projects. 

6. Financial plan

Not all business plans need an in-depth financial plan, but every one needs a well-done forecast and estimations to show where the business is currently and how you plan to grow from there. A financial plan section provides a snapshot of your business ’ s current and future financial health. It shows investors whether your business will become profitable, where you spend the most money, and how fast you spend it. 

For a one-page plan, you only need an overview of your financial activities and projections, including where your capital came from, how much runway you have, the cash burn rate, how much investment you need for the next round, and how you plan to use the money. 

Your finances may be in the red and making losses when you ’ re just starting your business. Investors expect this and are more interested in learning how and when you plan to break even, pay off any loans, and start to make profit. 

Our example, Marigold Panes, is a partnership between two existing companies. Its financial plan for the new joint venture would include a balance sheet summary showing assets, liabilities, and capital of the new joint venture, as well as additional financial data including periodic projections.

7. Operational plan

The operational plan section in your one-page business plan should include a summary of what needs to be done to transform your raw materials into finished products and how they will be delivered to customers. 

The operational plan outlines your business ’ s main goals and the processes, tasks, and milestones to reach them. Think of how your products and services are created from scratch. What essential tasks, expenses, and steps must be taken every time to create the product/service or achieve a goal? Operational planning is best optimized with project tracking software such as Wrike to ensure smooth and efficient collaborative workflows, encouraging progress from one phase to the next.

For Marigold Panes, the operational plan may include getting procurement quotes from international suppliers, a system for estimating production costs on each new project, manufacturing equipment to design the panes, and manufactured/sales inventory for shipping to customers.

Business plan example

Here is a one-page business plan example to inspire your own. This business plan example has fields for your: 

  • Executive summary: In this section, write a brief, compelling summary of your business plan
  • Company description: Detail a comprehensive overview of your company, including its legal structure, mission, vision, and objectives
  • Products and services: Here, you focus on the products or services your company offers, highlighting the unique selling points that differentiate your offerings from competitors
  • Management team: Introduce your management team, emphasizing their skills, experiences, and qualifications that are relevant to your industry and company
  • Marketing analysis: In this section, present a thorough analysis of your target market, including market segmentation, target audience identification, market size, growth potential, and competitor analysis
  • Financial plan: In this section, outline the company’s financial projections and goals
  • Operational plan: List the day-to-day processes, tools, and procedures required to run the business effectively

Business Plan Template: Create the Foundation for Your Business With One Page 2

Business plan best practices

Follow the following best practices to create an effective plan for your business: 

  • Be realistic: Use figures as close to current reality as possible to create budgets and estimate fixed and variable costs over time. This applies to timelines and schedules as well. Take note when the actual work being done begins to deviate from the planned work and resources . 
  • Conduct quality research: Gather the figures, dates, and other data used in preparing your business plan from reputable, unbiased, authoritative sources. Cite these sources in the appendices of your plan.
  • Review and iterate: One-page business plans are lean enough to be easily adjusted to reflect market fluctuations, economic changes, and any other variations. Iterating and updating your business plans regularly ensures your team members and stakeholders work using the latest findings and stay aligned on the same goals and timelines. 
  • Focus on your business strengths: Showcase the best reasons for anyone to want to partner, support, or invest in your business. If you have impressive financial projections or a highly skilled management team, emphasize these sections in your plan. When you illustrate weaknesses, ensure you have a solution for them in your roadmap. 
  • Have your documents on hand: Your readers may want to look deeper into some assumptions of your plan. Have answers to frequently asked questions in the appendices and hold on to copies of practical documents you can share. 

What to avoid when writing a business plan

Business plans are developed to communicate business goals and convince important stakeholders to believe in, and possibly invest in, your company. It is important to keep this in mind when creating a business plan. This way, you write to impress and convince the reader rather than simply presenting facts and figures about the business. Keep the following tips in mind and avoid commonly made mistakes in business planning:

  • Make your business plan easy to scan. Separate sections, color-code where possible, and format your document to look inviting. Avoid long blocks of text and vary the way you present your data, e.g., using visual charts and bullet points.
  • Avoid including irrelevant information in your plan. You have limited space on a single page, so make sure every sentence and section serves a purpose. Your business plan should be packed with data that shows your business is on track to increase profitability with your team and anticipated resources.
  • Avoid ambiguity. Be clear about where you are in your business and what you need to get to the next stage so your readers or investors know exactly what’s required and how they can be a part of it. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what ’ s most important for them to know to make a favorable decision. For instance, instead of focusing on your product ’ s features and technology, you focus on your audience ’ s needs, e.g., the financial viability and operational feasibility of your plan.
  • Maintain a realistic perspective: Avoid overly optimistic projections, especially in the financial projections, day-to-day capabilities of the team, and estimated output and revenue at key milestones. This helps to plan a realistic runway, show your resource management strategies, and lead your business toward success. Overconfident estimates can also damage your business’s credibility and discourage potential investors. Make sure to address your competitors’ activities to show how you plan to differentiate and position your company.

Use Wrike to create the best business plan for your growing business

Wrike helps entrepreneurs, business owners, intrapreneurs, and teams create business plans easily. You can organize your projects using folders and sub-folders and assign them to specific team members or groups with a shared timeline and completion date. Wrike takes business planning from passive to active in this way. 

You can begin writing your project objectives , invite involved team members and stakeholders, and request their input in creating the business plan where necessary. For example, the accounting manager fills out the details required in the financial plan section, while the operations manager fills out the operations guidelines. 

Even a solo team can gain many benefits from planning with Wrike. From templates to reduce rework to workload charts that show your task assignments, Wrike helps make planning and managing your business efficient. Get started with a free trial today to plan and run your business better.

Kelechi Udoagwu

Kelechi Udoagwu

Kelechi is a freelance writer and founder of Week of Saturdays, a platform for digital freelancers and remote workers living in Africa.

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One-Page Business Plan Template (with Examples)

The first step of scaling a business is planning, and one of the easiest ways to create a scaling plan is to use the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP). Originally introduced by Verne Harnish in his books Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up , the One-Page Strategic Plan makes it simple to keep everyone on the same page to achieve business goals.

We’ll share with you how to create your own One-Page Strategic Plan, how companies have used these plans to scale a business , and templates to guide the strategy of managing people and processes.

These templates can be used throughout the rest of the Hub articles on scaling a business to help you implement your calling with more success. Let’s start by examining what is included in the One-Page Strategic Plan.

One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP)

The One-Page Strategic Plan is normally two pages, but I guess the decision was made to call it a One-Page Strategic Plan because it sounds better. The first page focuses on people and long-term vision, while the second focuses on processes and quarterly results. We’ll look at each page separately.

Download the OPSP . If you print it, please use landscape mode and fit-to-page for the best results. Then use the template to follow along.

Long Term Plan

The first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan is focused on people and is broken into six sections:

  • Strengths and Weaknesses
  • People that Drive Your Reputation
  • Core Values
  • 3 to 5-Year Targets
  • 1-Year Goals

We’ll look at each of these to help you understand how they help business leaders scale a business for success.

Strengths and Weaknesses (Bottom)

I’ve included the strengths and weaknesses first because the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) was created with the intent for people to work their way from the bottom to the top. The first step of solving any problem is recognizing there is one.

Given that we’re using it to scale a business, you’ll probably want to focus on areas where you are:

  • Struggling to meet core customer demands
  • Spending too much time
  • Reaching a point that you need to hire more people

If your strength is serving customers but you’re spending 20 hours a week performing accounting tasks, your weakness is likely your accounting process. By reducing the time spent on accounting, you can focus more on serving your core customer base.

Take this portion seriously, as it will drive the rest of the plan. While you’re working on it, check out our interview with Mike about writing business plans.

People Drive Reputation (Top)

People are the key to running a successful business. Whether the people are employees, customers, or owners, they can impact the business’s success. Let’s look at each concept and how they affect planning to scale a company.

The creator of the One-Page Strategic Plan intends for you to use metrics that show the company is succeeding, but you need to understand the stakeholder expectations to create meaningful metrics. So we’ll discuss expectations.

Employees (1st Question)

If the scaling opportunity you are working on only involves certain employees or divisions, you might want to include who they are in this section. You will probably want to consult with employees as you develop the scaling strategy because they will be the key to success during the implementation stages. 

The Harvard Business Review outlines why change management fails —ultimately, all of the reasons focus on the inability of management to get employees to buy into the strategic plan. Include employees early and often to get the most out of your scaling plan.

If it is the whole company, you may want to include information on how you measure success. If you have never created metrics before, the Academy to Innovate HR lists 21 employee performance metrics that help measure employee success. I suggest reading it.

Customers (2nd Question)

Without customers, there is no company. It’s just a glorified hobby. You’ll want to include customers in various ways when scaling a business. Consider drawing upon customer knowledge and opinion in the following ways:

  • Customer service surveys
  • Beta testing
  • Market research
  • Requests for new product features. Craft.io has a blog on collecting feedback , and it sounds like many product managers love their feedback portals.

If you’re going to include customer metrics in this section, you may want to have ones like Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, and Churn Rate. Check out Hubspot’s 15 customer success metrics to learn more about customer metrics .

Owners and debt holders (3rd-6th Question)

This section was called shareholders in the original One-Page Strategic Plan, but in today’s business world, there are many more potential stakeholders than just shareholders.

Scaling opportunities might need approval for business decisions from:

  • Shareholders
  • Debt holders

You may also need to disclose your new strategies and risks in quarterly or annual reports.

Make sure to include anyone who can help or hinder your scaling strategies. The executive team will be the driver that ties the company’s core values with the brand promises and a Big Hairy Audacious Goal® (BHAG). Without them on board, this powerful tool may not achieve the key results.

Boston Research Group surveyed 60 CEOs to understand what the most important metrics are for new members of their executive teams and found that the three most important measures of executive success are:

  • Exceeding performance goals
  • Establishing a reputation as an expert, both within the company and externally
  • Fitting the company’s culture

The same can be used to establish whether owners provide measurable results to help the company achieve scaling goals that improve revenue and profitability. Keep reading for information on how core values guide a growing firm.

Core Values (Column 1)

Core values are the first column in an OPSP tool because the scaling strategy owners implement should stay in line with the core values and vision. Reminding the team of how the company sees the world is key to keeping the implementation in line with the company’s focus.

If you have a mission statement and values, include them in this column. Also, include behaviors and values the team should and should not emulate as they implement the strategy. Here is an example of an email Elon Musk sent emphasizing how important it is for every team member to keep the brand promise:

Be clear, compassionate, and honest when communicating core values with your company and customers. This column and the next are driven entirely by the small business owners, CEOs, or the executive team.

Keep reading to learn about how the purpose column fits into the one-page personal plan and how it guides the company scaling strategy.

Purpose (Column 2)

The purpose column in the one-page plan focuses on why you are doing what you are doing. It is meant to be inspirational. When originally written, the column was meant to be worked on from bottom to top. It takes an approach where you must build the foundation first and then build upon it. 

The foundation is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®, a term registered by Jim Collins and introduced in his book Built to Last . The next step is how the company wants to measure profits, followed by actions, and finally, the purpose, which is the summary.

An example of what the purpose might look like would look something like the statement below:

“XYZ LLC aims to triple the number of millionaires in the US by providing content that makes starting and running a business more profitable. To drive revenue, we partner with companies with a Trust Pilot score of 4.5 or higher and provide referrals that help clients and partners create better results.

We are looking to scale the company revenue by using AI to identify, apply, and insert referral links into our blogs in meaningful places.”

The above statement summarizes how a company might try to scale revenue from blogging.

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ® is simply a statement of how you will change the world. An example is Meta’s (formerly Facebook) intended goal “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” It’s big and nearly impossible to achieve fully without merging us all as one.

Most people will create a BHAG using four strategies:

  • Numerical: Hit a specific revenue, profit, or customer number.
  • Aspirational: Attempt to be like another company, for instance, become the “Nike” of backpacks.
  • Market Leader: General Electric once aimed to be one of the top two companies in the industry or exit the business.
  • Transformational: Change how the industry operates. For instance, Airbnb and Uber changed their industries by making it so that homeowners and restaurants can earn additional income. Both companies’ main asset is tech playing the middleman between consumers and owners.

When you started your company, you probably had a meaningful reason. What was that reason? Write it down on your OPSP template.

We’ve given you a few ideas of what you should include as the foundation, so let’s go to the next section of the One-Page Strategic Plan, measuring profits.

Measuring Profits

Measuring profits can be done in a variety of ways, but the goal is to give a meaningful way of defining how much profit you want to make from a venture. For scaling a business, the primary goal, as discussed in The Ultimate Guide to Scaling a Business , is to reduce the marginal cost of sales. That means you might want to consider profit metrics like:

  • Profit per Customer
  • Profit per Transaction
  • Profit per Employee
  • Profit per Piece of Content

Once you’ve defined how to measure profits as the company grows, it’s time to look at the actions to achieve success.

The actions are the changes you make to reduce the marginal cost of increasing revenue. Include the high-level goals of your scaling projects in this section, such as comparing automated accounting, training people on process changes,  and implementing dashboards to monitor progress.

Paul Akers encourages focusing on making improvements that save 2 seconds per task completed. He finds this a great strategy to improve his company and life using LEAN mindsets. Listen to our interview with Paul to hear how easy it is for small improvements to build up.

Once you have some high-level priorities outlined, it’s time to look at what you want the company to look like in a few years.

3 to 5-Year Targets (Column 3)

In this column, you want to get more specific about where you want to be in the next three to five years.  At the top is a box for the date you want to accomplish everything by, the revenue you want to generate, profit margins, market cap, or cash on hand.

This column will consist of brand promises, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure them, primary capabilities, and the sandbox. Start from the bottom and work your way up. You’ll also want to update this section when the execution of the action items is complete.

Let’s look at each.

Brand Promises (Column 3, Bottom)

Brand promises are what you agree to deliver. The specifics will vary by industry, but there are six main ways of differentiating your company from competitors:

  • Product: Explain your product features, performance, efficiency, warranty, etc.
  • Service: Explain how your services compare to the industry.
  • Channel: Explain how you deliver your product or service to the customer.
  • Relationship: Explain how your customer service differs from the competition. Are you faster or friendlier? For instance, the HVAC company One Hour Air promises “ALWAYS ON TIME…OR YOU DON’T PAY A DIME!®”
  • Reputation: This can be accomplished through marketing or by combining the differentiation strategies so when people ask about your service, your clients immediately think of you.
  • Price: Are you a premium brand, a low-cost provider, or priced based on client needs?

Check out 6 Ways to Differentiate Your Business by MarketResearch.com to learn more about these strategies.

Once you have established your brand promises, it’s time to create KPIs to measure their success.

Measuring Brand Promises with Key Performance Indicators

Promises are only as good as the emphasis put behind them. To fulfill a brand promise, you’ll need to measure the results across the entire organization using key metrics. Jack Welch once said:

There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.

No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

Your business may need more KPIs than employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow to identify whether you are meeting the brand promise. Datapine has a list of over 300 KPIs to consider based on the job, industry, and technology you are using. Find the ones that drive your business to match the company identity you are trying to create.

Keep reading for information on how to define the primary capabilities of your organization.

Primary Capabilities

Primary capabilities are focused on what you want the organization to be able to achieve. As it relates to scaling, these might be steps like:

  • Automate fulfillment
  • Start using a phone app for employees to input receipts into the accounting system
  • Create a database for customer feature requests

These are also referred to as key thrusts. As long as they align with the core purpose and can be verified with a measurable target, they should help the team complete its business goals.

The owner of Urbanity wrote nearly 100 page business plan and got a business loan without any experience in the boutique business. Find out how below.

Keep reading to learn how the sandbox impacts the ability to scale a business.

Sandbox (aka Target Market)

The sandbox is a term used in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits to describe what we more commonly call the target market. You likely already know the target market because most people looking to scale a business have already reached their ideal customers. The focus here is to remind the team of who the organization serves and who it doesn’t.

Keep reading to define the annual goals of an organization.

1 Year Goals (Column 4)

Fast-growing firms can see over 100% growth per year. An organization growing at this rate will need to define its goals and fast-track them to maintain the customer service and quality control level executives expect. 

The top of the column has space to input the targets for financial targets and should be updated before the beginning of each year. To give even more clarity to employees, I suggest including the percentage change over the last year, which we’ve included in the templates. The picture below shows what direction I would expect each to move.

This column includes sections on initiatives, critical personnel goals, and critical profit and loss numbers that the company needs to meet. We’ll look at each to help you create a strategic plan to scale a business.

Key Initiatives

Key initiatives break down the primary capabilities into smaller, more manageable tasks. For instance, you may want to break down fulfillment automation into:

  • Research alternatives
  • Plan layout for implementation
  • Implement a fulfillment automation plan
  • Train employees on the process

Critical Personal Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

In this section, you’ll want to include critical numbers for hiring to meet your annual revenue targets. Make sure to break it down to the skills, too. For instance, a construction company might want to add:

  • 50 general construction workers
  • Four project managers
  • Two accountants
  • Four delivery drivers

Verne Harnish’s OPSP separates critical numbers into four categories:

  • Dark green: Meets 100% of the goal
  • Light green: Can successfully meet the goal, over 75%
  • Yellow: 25% to 75% of the goal
  • Red: Under 25% of the way to the goal

You can use the color coding in an online dashboard to help the executive team quickly review the execution of the plan on a routine basis. Don’t check them daily, but weekly or monthly would make sense. You can emphasize action items with your team to meet the critical numbers based on the information in the dashboard.

Critical Profit  and Loss Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

Like the critical number for hiring, profit and loss numbers help identify what has been completed and what should be emphasized to meet future growth. In this section, you are looking for leading indicators that show whether the work is being performed to meet the objectives.

Some examples of leading indicators are:

  • Emails collected
  • Requests for bids
  • Phone calls received
  • The number of people who click on your ads
  • Anything that can be used with other data to approximate the number of sales you can expect

Most industries average a 5% to 10% closing rate. Hubspot industry data shows that a 2% growth in traffic creates a 1% increase in transactions, but analytics will show better estimates.

That concludes the first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan. The second page focuses more on the actual actions to meet future growth expectations. Let’s look at the processes plan.

Process Plan

The process plan is where you get into the real details of how to scale your business. It covers industry trends, productivity drivers, quarterly actions, the theme of the quarter or year, and how to measure each person’s success. Create this page before the beginning of each quarter or after you successfully build the processes.

Let’s look at each to see how the One-Page Strategic Plan can help you scale a small business.

Trends (Bottom)

The process plan starts with a solid foundation at the bottom of the page. In every industry, some trends occur. How well you can recognize and respond to trends impacts how profitable the company can be.

List the ones you see going on in this section. If you aren’t already keeping up with the pulse of your industry, I suggest becoming more active on:

  • Trade Organizations
  • Location of searches
  • Historical trends
  • Related topics
  • Related search terms
  • Check out the picture below for what comes up with eCommerce:

Keep reading for more information about using a strategic plan to scale an organization.

Productivity Drivers (Top)

The top of the page is broken into three categories that drive productivity:

Make or Buy

Record and report.

Each of these should be focused on meaningful results that will help drive revenue and profitability during the quarter.

This section is focused on inventory and manufacturing. You may want to measure metrics like inventory per SKU, turnover per SKU, gross margin percentage, and loss. Remember, the goal is to increase revenue and profit by becoming more efficient.

In this section, you’ll focus on growth statistics in sales and marketing. You may want to include the sales leads, consultations, and closing percentages. You might also want to have or review metrics like average transaction value, average discount, and revenue per employee.

This section focuses on accounting and should include items like how long it takes for accounts receivable to be paid, EBITDA , and other metrics that show the company’s financial health.

Quarterly Actions (Column 5)

Column 5 is focused on the quarterly results. It includes a table with the financial goals for the quarter, followed by your “Rocks” and critical numbers. We discussed the critical numbers earlier, but be aware that each column will have different critical numbers.

Keep reading to learn about what Verne Harnish calls rocks.

Rocks are the goals you must accomplish to stay on track. They are things like hiring a new developer, increasing your seller ranking on Amazon, or completing 20 consultations with prospective clients. You will have some goals with which you must succeed. If you fail to meet those goals, you may have to cancel the initiative.

Make sure to specify who is responsible for each Rock.

Quarterly and Annual Theme (Column 6)

The theme needs to focus on helping motivate employees. It consists of a theme name, scoreboard design, celebration, and reward for meeting the goals. Depending on your company size, you might need to have a single theme or a theme for each division.

Your theme name should be catchy to get people’s attention. For instance, if you run a business in which most of the revenue is generated during the summer, you might want to run a quarterly theme in the spring called “Heating Up,” then “It’s a Scorcher” for the summer months. If the reward is specific, you can base the name on that, too.

Scoreboard Design

A scoreboard is a fun way to measure progress and what it should look like as you go. Common methods of showing the progress are with a thermometer scoreboard like the one pictured below. Alternatively, you can use a baseball diamond or a football field if you plan to take the team to a game.

You can also have a graphic designer and developer create something to view it in the company’s tech stack. Get creative and fun with it for the best results, but don’t spend a lot of time overcomplicating it.

Celebration and Reward

A celebration and a reward are similar but different. A celebration might be a pizza party, while a reward would be a bonus or taking the team to a sporting event. Doing both is a way of thanking the team and each individual. If you do a reward for individuals, try to make it something meaningful to them.

Keep reading for info on the accountability column.

Accountability (Column 7)

Accountability is about the individual and their performance. It should include the KPIs for the team and break them up based on each person. In addition, this section should spell out what each worker’s priorities are. At the bottom, it will include the critical numbers to meet.

Let’s look at individual KPIs and priorities to see how they impact when you scale a business.

Personal KPIs

You’ll want Personal KPIs that are meaningful to each position. As a writer, I might be judged on words per article, affiliate links clicked per blog, or an average Google ranking.

KPIs and priorities should be the basis for your promotions, reviews, and bonuses. Otherwise, they aren’t significant or specific and might easily be overlooked.

Personal Priorities

Personal priorities are the specific tasks to be accomplished for an employee to be successful. When focusing on how to scale a business, an accountant might need to have a personal priority of categorizing all vendor spending within the first eight weeks of the quarter. A salesperson might need to increase sales by 10%.

Scaling a business means you’ll consistently improve the processes, but that doesn’t mean you need an overly complex business plan to get great results. Once you’ve created the first page, you can use it until you surpass your three-to-five-year goals. Then, you just need to use the second page to plan new and improved processes. If you’re applying for financing you might want to go with a more traditional business plan .

What KPIs do you find most useful for scaling and managing your business?

Brandon Boushy

Brandon Boushy lives to improve people’s lives by helping them become successful entrepreneurs. His journey started nearly 30 years ago. He consistently excelled at everything he did, but preferred to make the rules rather than follow him. His exploration of self and knowledge has helped him to get an engineering degree, MBA, and countless certifications. When freelancing and rideshare came onto the scene, he recognized the opportunity to play by his own rules. Since 2017, he has helped businesses across all industries achieve more with his research, writing, and marketing strategies. Since 2021, he has been the Lead Writer for UpFlip where he has published over 170 articles on small business success.

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Patrick Bet-David

How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

  • By Patrick Bet-David

For the longest time I didn’t like writing business plans. Here’s why. Because every time it came time to write a business plan, it was almost as if my school teacher from Jr. high school would say, “Patrick, go do your homework. Write up a business plan.” I said, “Wait a minute.” First of all, I didn’t know how to write business plans and secondly, didn’t think they worked. That changed once I realized how to write up a business plan that worked for me.

From there on, I couldn’t wait to write up my business plan for the following year.

So today we’re going to talk about two different types of business plans. One type is dissecting and spending six or more hours getting every single detail of a business plan in place, and then reading it once a month. Then from there you gather all the information and create a one-page business plan. You look at the one-page business plan multiple times a day.

What’s More Important Than Writing a Business Plan

Before you write up a business plan, let me tell you what's even more important than writing a business plan for 2017. Many times we will go through a past relationship. And the relationship didn't work. And then you go to the next relationship, which also didn’t work. This happens again and again. Four years goes by, and you ask yourself, “Why don’t I have a steady relationship? Why aren’t any of these relationships working out?”

This keeps happening to you because every time one of them doesn’t work out, you fail to ask yourself what you could have done differently. What will you change about the next one? Is there a trend that isn’t working for you?

It’s the Same with Business Plans

People do the exact same thing with business plans. All you think about is the next year, when the most important data is the year that just passed you by. In order to predict the future, you have to study history. What happened this year for you? What went right?

I gauge my year based on the percentage of goals that I wrote down a year ago became a reality. If less than 50% of my goals became a reality, that tells me something. It tells me that I either didn’t give my best effort or that I didn’t have the best strategy in place. And by the way, most of the time it’s the first thing, lack of effort.

Sometimes people blame their lack of success on the market or other factors beyond their control. Great. One percent of the time you’re forgiven for that. But 99% of the time you need to focus on what you can control and you can control most of it.

The Impact of Relationships on Business

Imagine trying to grow a business when you’re arguing night and day with your girlfriend. It’s hard to get into a sales presentation when you and your girl just got into a text fight. They won’t want to do business with you because they’ll feel something is wrong with you.

Everything That’s Connected to Business

So I started looking at my business with everything that’s connected to it. Personal relationships impact business. Financial issues impact business because I’m stressed out if my finances aren’t in order.

Poor health impacts business. If you’ve gained 40 pounds, you’ll have lower energy and get tired earlier. If you get a lot of headaches, you may need glasses. These physical things impact your business.

For those of you that are spiritual, that, too, is connected to your business.

So gauge how you did in all these different areas in the past year. Look at the good, bad and ugly. What would you have done differently? What didn’t work? Are there things that you can control and change?

The Good, Bad, and Ugly

With health you can look at what you could do differently. Did you eat too much bread? Too many sweets? Did you become lethargic? Maybe you used to walk, but you don’t any more. Why now?

Let’s say that you found all the mistakes you made. You said you were going to give up some things and make sacrifices, and you didn’t. You still watch a lot of T.V. Look at trends, and what you said you would do and didn’t.

This is facing the truth. It hurts. It sucks, and it isn’t fun. But facing it is what will help you have a better year next year. If you can get through this, heaven’s around the corner for you in business. But you have to go through hell first.

Do Your Research and Write Things Down for Each Category

Now you need to start writing things down. For instance, in the area of finances, let’s hypothetically say that you’re going to start saving $3,000 a month. Or you want to save $50,000 or $100,000. Whatever the number is, write it down.

With family, if you’re single, consider if you want to get married. If you’re married, consider if you want to have kids. When I assessed my 2006, I asked if I even wanted to get married. A lot of my friends were getting married and having kids. Some were happy and others were miserable. I studied it and made a decision. I do want to have kids. I'm the only Bet-David left in our lineage that can continue the family, so I do want to have  family. The book, 101 Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged by Norman Wright helped me figure out what I wanted in a wife and helped me to determine the right person to marry. But I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my family.

What Needs to Change?

Next you need to look at what needs to change in the different areas. For example, in business you may need better systems. You may need to hire new people. Write those things down. How much do you need to expand your business? Write it down.

How Are You Going to Do It?

Next, you need to look at how you’re going to accomplish those things. This is the part where you write the long business plan. You need to create a mathematical formula. If I do x times y plus z, I will make a million dollars. So you give yourself a formula to hit that number.

The One-Page Business Plan

Once you’ve written out your detailed business plan, the next step is to write a one page business plan that you can laminate and look at every day.

Give Your Business Plan a Title

Every year is a new campaign. What will the coming year be for you? Here’s one of my favorite ones: 2017: The Year of Recreating Myself!

That’s a phenomenal start for anyone. But yours may be the year of explosion, the year of growth, the year of expansion, etc. You figure out your word, and give it a title. What will the new year represent to you?

Next, you’ll write down three habits and three goals for each of the six areas. For example, in ‘02, I created a habit of running my credit score, once a month. I also tracked every single one of my financial accounts - mutual funds, stocks, investments, etc. on the 19th of every month.

Three goals could be things like weighing 190 pounds, 13% body fat, and bench pressing 300 pounds.

Listen in here for more examples and the detailed explanation of what to put on your one-page business plan.

Daily Review and Sacrifices

The thing that this one sheeter does for you is it allows you to review it daily. You can use it to drive your initiatives. It’s in your face and reminds you of your habits and goals.

With this one pager, you have to make some sacrifices. What will you give up this year? T.V.? Drinking or smoking? Sleeping in? Everyone’s got a vice. What are you going to give up this year? Because that’s the effort and the strategy. And the more time you spend on the strategy the better one-pager you can write.

Your One-Pager

You may be saying, “Man, I wish I had this format.” I got it for you. All you need to do to get it is fill out the form below and we’ll email it to you.

Then you can print it, fill it out, laminate it, and review it every day. You’ll be amazed what a difference this will make in just a few weeks. You won’t be able to keep yourself from thinking about it, and somehow, some way, you’ll start hitting it. We have the strategy, and if you put in the time, this time next year you’ll say, “Oh my gosh. This is so exciting. I hit 80% of my goals.”

Book Recommendation

People ask me for book recommendations for this. And while it may sound like I’m self-promoting, I can tell you that I highly recommend reading this book I wrote called 25 Laws for Doing the Impossible . In it, I wrote out the exact formula I used to recreate myself. I tell you from pure experience how this cat went from having  a 1.8 GPA in high school, and being someone no one expected to do anything to being who I am today.

If you have any questions, comments, thoughts, about this video, comment on the bottom. And if you haven’t yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, click on the button below to subscribe.

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Business Plan Template.

While your company’s goals might be crystal clear in your head, going in without a formal business plan could make things tricky. If the idea of creating one seems daunting, don’t worry. With a free business plan template, you can be up and running in no time. 

Discover more about how to create your ideal business plan and download free templates to get started here. 

Download Your Free Business Plan Template. 

Download your own free business plan template and jump right into planning your next venture. You can download a free business plan template with Adobe.  

one page business plan template

Edit templates using Acrobat.

Explore Adobe’s online PDF editor . Add text, sticky notes, highlights, drawings and more to your PDF with ease. Work smart with Adobe. 

What you'll learn:

•   What is a Business Plan?

•   Why is a Business Plan important?

•   How to Write a Business Plan.

•   Download Your Free Business Plan Template.

What is a Business Plan?

Business plans define core business objectives and the strategies to achieve them, in the form of a written document. They’re key for all types of businesses - whether they’re small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), start-ups or individual entrepreneurs.  

Generally, a straightforward and simple business plan template can be divided into the following five sections: 

  • Executive summary
  • Business description and structure
  • Market analysis and strategies
  • Organisation and management
  • Financial documents.

Why is a Business Plan important? 

A good business plan can be a vital tool, as it can act as a guide through each stage of starting your company. When you’re lost, it can be your compass to get back to the right track and help you and your team realign with the original vision. Think of it as a map pointing you from now to the future.  

It can also be a helpful document for the relevant external parties, such as investors or lenders.  

Here are some key benefits: 

  • Outline and Clarify Goals . Using a business plan template can help you to define and set goals, helping you to easily pitch them when required. It can serve as an excellent touchstone, too. 
  • Identify Issues . By clearly outlining plans ahead of time, you may be able to identify issues early - whether in the planning stage or based on the reality of deliverables versus the plan. 
  • Secure Financing . Being able to confidently lay out your goals, analysis, forecasted spending, personnel requirements and business structure is a great way to build confidence and potentially secure financing. 
  • Measure Progress . By comparing progress against your goals, you can get a sense of a project’s timescale and forecast for any potential disruptions or changes. This means you can stay on track and better adapt to any unknowns. It may help you plan for the future, too. 

How to Write a Business Plan.

Building upon a business plan template may seem daunting - but when you break it down, it’s no more intimidating than planning a trip. Just like a holiday, it requires preparation and organisation, but can be exciting. It’s a chance to see all your ideas come together into something coherent and actionable. 

Important Sections to Include in Your Business Plan Template.

  • Business, Products and Key Objectives . This lets you set an overall scope for your business plan and serves as a fundamental part of your company. 
  • Target Market and Competition . Analysing your target market and competition lets you make informed business decisions and can help to justify your plan. 
  • Sales and Marketing Plans . Detailing your sales and marketing plans can help you to arrange KPIs in the future and show how you’re utilising the data from your market research. 
  • Operational Plans . This section details the day-to-day running of your business, giving an in-depth outline of strategies for specific teams or supply chains. 
  • Personnel Structure . Writing a personnel structure gives you a sense of key responsibilities and requirements within the wider business. This can be an excellent place to take note of the skills that roles might require, what you already have and what you might need. 
  • Financials . Breaking down the operational costs and funding required for your business can help you to set future goals and secure backing if required. 

Having a PDF printable business plan template makes things easier when it comes time to format, print and share it with potential stakeholders. If you want to change the file format of your business plan, you can easily convert PDF to Word   and back again. 

Sharing your business plan as a PDF also allows for easy collaboration, with no subscription required and the ability to add comments, highlights and notes with our free online PDF editor tool .  

Top Tips for Your Business Plan.

Writing a business plan template is easier with these top tips, so you can get off to a smooth start - whatever your project. 

  • Be Realistic . Being realistic about your business plan means you can make informed decisions and will have minimal friction as the project progresses. 
  • Understand Your Market . By demonstrating an understanding of your market, you can better inform decisions and plan. It also makes your vision an easier sell. 
  • Keep it Concise . Don’t waffle on or obscure important facts in jargon. If you want to add additional detail, create an appendix to expand on areas. 
  • Stay Professional . This is key, as your business plan serves as a reference point both for internal operations and potential business. 
  • Review Your Business Plan . During the process of creating a business plan, certain details may change and mistakes can be made. Review your plan to ensure everything is correct and to double-check if anything needs to change with any new information during the process. You can easily edit business plans in PDF with Adobe Acrobat PDF editor online . 

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How To Create a One-Page Business Plan for Your Marketing Agency (+ Template)

Elyse Gagné bio

QUICK SUMMARY:

A one-page business plan simplifies a marketing agency's strategy, focusing on core objectives and actionable steps. Ideal for agencies seeking clarity in goals, it serves as an efficient roadmap. This article offers insights into crafting such a plan, highlighting its benefits for agencies aiming to streamline their strategic approach, with a template for developing your agency's focused business strategy.

Much like flossing or getting enough sleep, many leaders of marketing agencies are on the verge of a new business move–whether it’s growing their agency’s franchise or creating a separate branch with distinct services. They know they should create a business plan, but don’t. Whether it’s being overrun by “higher priorities” or questioning the value of this exercise altogether, it’s not uncommon for the business plan to fall by the wayside.

While it may be common for marketing agencies to operate without an actual written plan, that doesn’t mean it’s the smartest move for you . Enter the one-page business plan. The fast, effective way for marketing agency owners and CEOs to reap the benefits–without the herculean effort.

In this article, we’ll define the differences between traditional and one-page business plans and answer your questions about whether or not you should prioritize writing one for your marketing agency. (Spoiler alert: you should!)

We’ll cover:

What a One-page Business Plan Is Not

What Is a One-page Business Plan?

Can I Skip Writing One?

The Benefits of a One Pager

What Should I Include in It? (Free Template) 

How Do I Write a One?

How Do I Use My One-page Plan at My Marketing Agency?

Scaling Your Agency

Before we define what it is, it’s easiest to define what it is not . A one-page business plan is not a traditional business plan. These are two different documents that serve different purposes for different audiences.

A formal or traditional business plan is a core document for any business, not just marketing agencies. They are a pitch–your proof of concept to get a loan or investment from a bank or venture capitalist. But they can also be used to formalize the vision of agency leadership to make sure everyone is on the same page. 

Traditional business plans follow a standard structure and include a company’s executive summary , vision, and values, a general overview of operations and structure, marketing analysis, and financial projections. They can range from five pages to 50 and are usually accompanied by a formal presentation.

Some marketing agencies start without one–maybe yours did. And that’s OK. But we’re willing to bet that the most successful agencies, from Omnicom Group to Deloitte Digital, are definitely not winging it today; they each have meticulous business plans. Guaranteed. 

Additionally, formal business plans are essential for acquiring loans or investments, particularly from established institutions. Bankers, venture capitalists, and angel investors will all expect to see a written plan at the outset. So, if you are actively looking for funding, focus on creating a traditional business plan to wow potential investors. Of course, it’s more than just a pitch to investors. It’s also an excellent resource for your executive team as your agency grows and changes. 

However, not every agency has the time–or the need–for a 50-page business plan. This is where the one-page agency plan comes in. It can provide the same value as a traditional one in a condensed format that makes it more accessible and easier to use on a regular basis. It may be shorter than a traditional one, but it is equally vital to your company’s growth and scalability.

Ok, So What Is a One-Page Business Plan?

Think of your agency’s growth as an epic quest. There will be bumps in the road and a cast of colorful characters. As you journey onward, you’ll pick up new skills and ditch the dead weight. Where does a one-page business plan factor into this journey? It’s your GPS.

Your one-page plan is where you input your destination and map the most efficient route to get there. It’s how you know whether you’re making progress or falling off track. It’s this mapped trajectory toward your goals that keeps your agency focused–and for marketing agencies, focus equals growth, scalability, and more satisfied clients.

Unlike a traditional business plan, which is a lengthy and detailed formal pitch to investors, the one-page version is a scaled-back version of the same information distilled down to the essence of your business. You can use a one-page plan as a pitch document for certain investors or as the starting point when you write your formal document. But it can also serve as an internal document to keep you and your staff on target. As the name implies, it’s just one page long. 

From Shakespeare to Thomas Jefferson, a lot of smart people praise the power of brevity–and complain that it’s harder to be concise than it is to be long-winded. It may be a challenge to condense the expansive concepts of objectives, USP (Unique Selling Proposition), financial projections, etc., into one or two short, simple sentences. But persevere! There’s no room–and no need–for fluff. Your plan will be powerful because it’s short.

Can I Skip Writing One? 

Sure! You can skip this valuable exercise in the same way you can skip flossing–but it’s not smart in the long run.  

Many marketing agency owners or CEOs don’t get around to creating this living document because of three misconceptions. Raise your hand if any of the following concerns are the reasons you’ve delayed writing yours:

It’s going to be time-consuming to write 

It’s a ceremonial document that isn’t practical or useful  

It’s not your highest priority 

Let’s tackle each of these misconceptions.

1. It’s Going To Be Time-consuming To Write

You get to decide how much time you will invest in this project. You can weigh the cost of your time against defining what success looks like to your business and specifying how you will get there. You choose the amount of time that you think is appropriate. 

But think of it like that old adage “Measure twice, cut once.” The more time you spend understanding how you will achieve your agency goals, the better you will be able to envision your path forward. This could save you a lot of time–and costly mistakes–down the road.

2. It’s a Ceremonial Document That Isn’t Practical or Useful

This is going to sound a bit harsh: if that’s what you end up with, you didn’t do it right. (Don’t worry, if you follow this guide, that won’t happen.) A one-pager can–and should–provide important guidance for every aspect of your agency from daily operations and hiring to sales and customer retention.

3. It’s Not Your Highest Priority

When weighed against other urgent tasks and competing demands on your time, you may feel like your agency plan should go on the back burner. But how will you know if your staff is working on the right things to grow and scale your agency if you’ve never defined or documented your goals and milestones? Putting in the initial work to do this exercise can save your team from wasting time, effort, and resources later.

As Rob Da Costa said in his recent Agency Accelerator podcast , “We’re all really busy, but no one wants to be a busy fool.” 

The Benefits Of a One-page Business Plan

We wouldn’t ask you to read a blog about them if they weren’t important (just like your dentist doesn’t ask you to floss for the heck of it). We’re all about helping agencies produce quality work quickly and easily, not about persuading you to spend your limited time and resources doing busy work or vanity projects.

A business plan improves the decision-making abilities of the executive team by proactively answering some of the most critical questions you will face and acting as a rubric to assess performance. Business leaders, authors, marketing professors, and other experts all agree: having a plan that evolves with your business is a major differentiator between businesses with sustained growth and those that plateau. 

The reason is competitiveness. Without a strategy that specifies an agency’s competitive edge and defines a targeted market, that agency is eclipsed in a sea of generalized agencies. As world-renowned marketing expert Peter Levitan says, “you need to be unignorable.” Your one-page plan defines how you are unignorable.

What Should I Include in My One-page Plan?

OK, so by this point, you’re clear on what a one-page plan is and is not and why it’s a worthwhile exercise. Now let’s get into how to structure it.

Business plans typically include some or all of the following sections. A one-page plan could include them all or a selection or merge some ideas together. Peter Levitan recommends that you think of your one-page plan as a tool you would use if you were selling your agency: “I like the idea of having the idea of an eventual sale as a guide. How will you grow agency value–if only for a sale five years down the road?”

The Free One-page Agency Business Plan Template

We encourage you to start with this outline and adapt it to suit your needs.

One page agency business plan template preview

Download Your One-page Business Plan

Use this template as a living document for your agency's next move., how do i write one.

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to write a business plan. The method that will be most effective for you is as unique as your agency and is deeply rooted in context. Where you are in the agency lifecycle , what niche you serve, how many staff you have, and what you offer in your market–these all play a role in how you handle this task. 

Generally, when someone hears “business plan” it conjures up ideas of the visionary CEO alone in his or her office, coming up with the magical ideas that set their agency on a path to success. Sure, that’s one (totally valid) way to do it. But if you find this task too daunting, or find your solo draft lacking, let us suggest a few alternative processes.

Method 1: Co-create it with your trusted inner circle or your c-suite.  

This could be an offsite leadership meeting where you tackle big-picture questions for your agency. This is the best option for an agency with an experienced crew of executives at the helm. 

Method 2: Invite all staff to contribute ideas in a group brainstorm or a shared document.  

If you’re a new or small agency with bright employees and a flat organizational structure, consider allowing your staff to contribute to the vision and plan of your agency. Set expectations immediately that this is an idea-sharing exercise only and define who will have the final say on the strategic direction of your agency. 

You might be surprised at the insight you gain about the team itself. This is the best option for small but mighty agencies that pride themselves on their team culture.

Agency Tip: Considering a change to your org. chart? Read this article for the pros and cons of a traditional hierarchy versus a pod structure .

Method 3: Hire a consultant who specializes in business planning.  

While it may not be the cheapest choice, it may be the quickest and most effective. If you’re feeling particularly concerned about getting it “right”, there are professionals who can ask insightful questions and get to the heart of what your business is all about–and where it’s headed. This is the best option for an agency owner who sees the value of this exercise and wants to get it done quickly while ensuring quality.

Just as important as the initial writing of this plan is the rewriting . A one-page agency plan is meant to be a “living document”; that’s the only way it remains a useful waypoint for your employees and relevant for your agency as a whole. That means you can–and should–update it regularly, whether on a set schedule or when you’re on the cusp of big changes at your agency. 

Your agency–and this industry–is constantly evolving, and your business plan should not only reflect that but anticipate that. As Peter Levitan wrote, “Not having an updated plan that recognizes industry shifts is a bad idea that will most likely impede your revenue quest.” 

How Do I Use It at My Marketing Agency?

Whether or not you write this document alone, with your second-in-command, or with your entire team, make sure the end result is shared widely and often. A business plan that gets filed away on your computer, never to be seen again, is utterly useless. 

You’ll need to experiment until you land on the most effective communications methods that work for your agency. These will vary widely based on the size and maturity of your team, whether or not your staff works remotely, how frequently you meet, etc. But let these tips inspire you to look for ways to use your plan in the day-to-day running of your business. 

Read It in Meetings

Start meetings by reading a line or two from your business plan. These could be someone’s personal favorite, a random selection, or hand-picked by the meeting organizer based on relevance (e.g., quarterly financial review, read from the financial projections section).

Sign Your Emails With It

Use the best line from your business plan as your company-wide email signature.

Put It on Your Walls

Design posters or artwork that include keywords or phrases from your business plan. Hang them around the office, or mail mini versions (such as postcards, notepaper, or printed on water bottles or t-shirts) to your remote staff.

Use It in Your Online Workspaces

Provide digital versions of this artwork that staff can use as LinkedIn cover photos, desktop backgrounds, etc.

Make It Available

Create a “big picture” folder that’s accessible to everyone on your shared drive. In this folder, you should have PDFs of your business plan, your company values, your client profile(s) , your brand guidelines, and any other strategic information that every employee should use to guide their day-to-day work. 

Start–or End–Every Presentation With It

Create a slide (just one slide!) for your company’s branded PowerPoint template with the top takeaways.

Make It Part of Managing

Encourage the leaders in your company to review it often with their teams. Managers should help their direct reports connect goals, projects, and tasks directly to the plan and also compare performance against the business plan during performance reviews.

Review It Together

Host an annual or bi-annual company-wide meeting where you review the document and unveil any revisions (or workshop them as a team).

Use It for Hiring, Onboarding, and Training

Train your HR teams and hiring managers to include selections from your business plan in job postings and to work them into questions during interviews. Likewise, ensure training and onboarding includes practical examples of how your staff can use the plan in their work.

Start With a One-page Plan To Scale Your Agency

Are you a young agency, and the idea of a written plan makes you feel hemmed in? Are you a mature agency worried a business plan might kill your team’s flexibility or stifle their creativity? Are you concerned that your employees will raise their eyebrows when you change direction to capitalize on new opportunities or pivot to avoid obstacles? Don’t be. 

Research shows that the most successful businesses plan ahead, but they also adapt their plans as needed. So keep that document alive and update it regularly with small or big changes. 

So, if you’re an agency owner who has put off writing your business plan. A one-pager forces you to do the strategic thinking to answer important questions about how your agency will differentiate from competitors, target customers, and what milestones you’ll aim for on the road to success.

Ultimately, agency scalability and growth are about honing in on the unique skills and services that only you can provide and reaching the customers who specifically need your skillset. The one-page business plan is your GPS, keeping you on track to your goals . Plus, it provides a useful starting point for writing a traditional one, should you need one to approach investors.

Manage Your Entire Agency With a Robust Client Reporting Platform

Elyse Gagné bio

Elyse Gagné develops branding and content strategies that unite businesses with their customers. A podcast junkie, you'll find her learning about the latest technologies and brand storytelling techniques while she gardens or hikes.

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Feeling overwhelmed by endless marketing options and unsure where to start? You're not alone. Small businesses often struggle with limited resources and time, making it difficult to develop and implement a cohesive marketing strategy. But fear not! This one-page Marketing Plan offers a simple yet powerful solution .

This action-oriented guide cuts through the fluff and helps you create a focused plan , tailored to your unique business and goals. Forget complex documents and jargon-filled strategies. This approach empowers you to define your target audience, identify your unique selling proposition, and choose the right marketing channels – all on a single page!

This article is based on “The 1-Page Marketing Plan” book by Allan Dib, (hopefully) cleverly condensed down to this guide, and the downloadable template (below). But if you have the time and want to really understand this process, I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the book and download the template that comes with it.  I will provide the links below. 

For those of you who want to get started immediately, let’s dig in:

  • Stop wishing, start specifying:  Don't settle for "more customers." Instead, aim for clear, measurable goals. Think "increase website traffic by 20%, by generating 1,000 new blog visitors per month," or "acquire 50 qualified leads per month, converting 10% into paying customers."
  • SMARTen up:  Ensure your goals are S pecific,  M easurable,  A ttainable,  R elevant, and  T ime-bound. Don't aim for "grow social media presence." Aim for "increase Instagram followers by 15% to 5,000 within 3 months."
  • Prioritize like a pro:  Focus on 2-3 key goals that align with your overall business objectives. Don't overwhelm yourself! Choose the goals that will have the biggest impact on your desired outcomes.

2. Target Audience:

  • Meet your ideal customers:  Craft detailed profiles, also known as  buyer personas . Include demographics like age, location, and income, but don't stop there. Dig deeper into their interests, challenges, and online behavior. Imagine them! What websites do they frequent? What podcasts do they listen to?
  • Step into their shoes:  What problems do they face? Where do they go for information and solutions? Understanding their world leads to  targeted messaging  that resonates and converts.

3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

  • Stand out from the crowd:  Define your  competitive advantage . What makes your business unique and valuable? Why should someone choose you over your competitors?
  • Benefits over features:  Don't just list product specs. Explain how your offerings  solve customer problems  and make their lives better. Are you the fastest, most affordable, or the most eco-friendly option? Highlight what sets you apart and makes you truly special.

4. Marketing Channels:

  • Choose wisely, grasshopper:  Don't spread yourself thin across every platform. Select channels where your target audience actively engages. Research their online behavior and preferences.
  • Channel buffet:  Consider social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), email marketing, content marketing (blogging, infographics), search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising (Google Ads, social media ads), influencer marketing, and even offline options like events or local sponsorships.
  • Align & conquer:  Use different channels for different objectives. Social media might be great for brand awareness and engagement, while email marketing could be your conversion powerhouse. Align your channel selection with your specific goals.

5. Key Activities:

  • From ideas to action:  For each chosen channel, list specific activities you'll undertake. Don't just say "do social media." Be specific: "post 3 engaging Instagram stories per week," "run a targeted Facebook ad campaign promoting our new product," or "collaborate with relevant influencers for a video review."
  • Bite-sized steps:  Don't overload yourself. Start with activities you can manage consistently. Remember, progress over perfection!
  • Realistic expectations:  Be honest about your time and resources. Don't plan to conquer social media, write daily blog posts, and host weekly webinars if you're a solopreneur. Prioritize and be realistic.
  • Allocation magic:  Divide your marketing budget based on chosen channels and their  impact potential . If Facebook ads are converting well, invest more there. If a local networking event yields no leads, re-evaluate.
  • Start small, dream big:  You don't need a million dollars to market your business effectively. Be efficient and track your return on investment (ROI) to optimize spending. Remember, even small budgets can be used strategically.
  • Free is your friend:  Leverage organic reach and free tools before jumping into paid advertising. Utilize Facebook Groups, free webinars, and guest blogging opportunities to build your brand and audience without breaking the bank.

7. Measurement & Tracking:

  • Data is your friend:  Define key metrics for each channel and activity. Track website traffic, leads generated, conversion rates, engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares), and anything else relevant to your goals.
  • Tools of the trade:  Utilize analytics tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and email marketing platforms to gather valuable data. These tools are your window into customer behavior and campaign performance.
  • Track regularly:  Monitor progress weekly or monthly. Analyze results and adjust strategies as needed.

8. Timeline:

  • Set deadlines:  Assign realistic deadlines for each activity and key milestone.
  • Schedule check-ins:  Regularly review your progress and make adjustments as you learn and adapt.
  • Be flexible:  Be prepared to adapt your timeline based on results and opportunities.

Additional Tips:

  • Focus on value:  Create content and engage in conversations that are valuable to your audience, not just promotional.
  • Storytelling matters:  Craft compelling narratives around your brand and offerings.
  • Be consistent:  Regular activity is key to building brand awareness and trust.
  • Experiment and adapt:  Don't be afraid to try new things and adjust your approach based on data and feedback.
  • Seek help:  Utilize online resources, marketing communities, and professionals for guidance when needed.

Additional Resources:

  • Book:  "The 1-Page Marketing Plan" by Allan Dib
  • Website:   https://www.dib.ae/
  • Template:   https://leanmarketing.com/

Remember, this template is a springboard. Customize it, be creative, and most importantly, take action! By setting clear goals, understanding your audience, and implementing strategic activities, you can unlock marketing success for your small business.

Forget a one-size-fits-all approach! Marketing to B2B and B2C businesses is like navigating two distinct landscapes, each demanding its own map and compass. In the B2B arena, logic reigns supreme, with complex buying journeys and rational decision-making demanding data-driven strategies and targeted messaging. B2C, on the other hand, is an emotional dance, where brand storytelling and tugging at heartstrings hold the key to unlocking customer loyalty. So, buckle up as we delve into the fascinating world of B2B vs. B2C marketing, unpacking the unique challenges and opportunities that each

Digital Marketing: The 1-Page Marketing Plan To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn't get done.

Digital Marketing: Defining Your Ideal Customer and Market Defining the perfect target audience or market is a challenge faced by brands in all industries everywhere.

Copyright © 2023 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

one page business plan template

Create a form in Word that users can complete or print

In Word, you can create a form that others can fill out and save or print.  To do this, you will start with baseline content in a document, potentially via a form template.  Then you can add content controls for elements such as check boxes, text boxes, date pickers, and drop-down lists. Optionally, these content controls can be linked to database information.  Following are the recommended action steps in sequence.  

Show the Developer tab

In Word, be sure you have the Developer tab displayed in the ribbon.  (See how here:  Show the developer tab .)

Open a template or a blank document on which to base the form

You can start with a template or just start from scratch with a blank document.

Start with a form template

Go to File > New .

In the  Search for online templates  field, type  Forms or the kind of form you want. Then press Enter .

In the displayed results, right-click any item, then select  Create. 

Start with a blank document 

Select Blank document .

Add content to the form

Go to the  Developer  tab Controls section where you can choose controls to add to your document or form. Hover over any icon therein to see what control type it represents. The various control types are described below. You can set properties on a control once it has been inserted.

To delete a content control, right-click it, then select Remove content control  in the pop-up menu. 

Note:  You can print a form that was created via content controls. However, the boxes around the content controls will not print.

Insert a text control

The rich text content control enables users to format text (e.g., bold, italic) and type multiple paragraphs. To limit these capabilities, use the plain text content control . 

Click or tap where you want to insert the control.

Rich text control button

To learn about setting specific properties on these controls, see Set or change properties for content controls .

Insert a picture control

A picture control is most often used for templates, but you can also add a picture control to a form.

Picture control button

Insert a building block control

Use a building block control  when you want users to choose a specific block of text. These are helpful when you need to add different boilerplate text depending on the document's specific purpose. You can create rich text content controls for each version of the boilerplate text, and then use a building block control as the container for the rich text content controls.

building block gallery control

Select Developer and content controls for the building block.

Developer tab showing content controls

Insert a combo box or a drop-down list

In a combo box, users can select from a list of choices that you provide or they can type in their own information. In a drop-down list, users can only select from the list of choices.

combo box button

Select the content control, and then select Properties .

To create a list of choices, select Add under Drop-Down List Properties .

Type a choice in Display Name , such as Yes , No , or Maybe .

Repeat this step until all of the choices are in the drop-down list.

Fill in any other properties that you want.

Note:  If you select the Contents cannot be edited check box, users won’t be able to click a choice.

Insert a date picker

Click or tap where you want to insert the date picker control.

Date picker button

Insert a check box

Click or tap where you want to insert the check box control.

Check box button

Use the legacy form controls

Legacy form controls are for compatibility with older versions of Word and consist of legacy form and Active X controls.

Click or tap where you want to insert a legacy control.

Legacy control button

Select the Legacy Form control or Active X Control that you want to include.

Set or change properties for content controls

Each content control has properties that you can set or change. For example, the Date Picker control offers options for the format you want to use to display the date.

Select the content control that you want to change.

Go to Developer > Properties .

Controls Properties  button

Change the properties that you want.

Add protection to a form

If you want to limit how much others can edit or format a form, use the Restrict Editing command:

Open the form that you want to lock or protect.

Select Developer > Restrict Editing .

Restrict editing button

After selecting restrictions, select Yes, Start Enforcing Protection .

Restrict editing panel

Advanced Tip:

If you want to protect only parts of the document, separate the document into sections and only protect the sections you want.

To do this, choose Select Sections in the Restrict Editing panel. For more info on sections, see Insert a section break .

Sections selector on Resrict sections panel

If the developer tab isn't displayed in the ribbon, see Show the Developer tab .

Open a template or use a blank document

To create a form in Word that others can fill out, start with a template or document and add content controls. Content controls include things like check boxes, text boxes, and drop-down lists. If you’re familiar with databases, these content controls can even be linked to data.

Go to File > New from Template .

New from template option

In Search, type form .

Double-click the template you want to use.

Select File > Save As , and pick a location to save the form.

In Save As , type a file name and then select Save .

Start with a blank document

Go to File > New Document .

New document option

Go to File > Save As .

Go to Developer , and then choose the controls that you want to add to the document or form. To remove a content control, select the control and press Delete. You can set Options on controls once inserted. From Options, you can add entry and exit macros to run when users interact with the controls, as well as list items for combo boxes, .

Adding content controls to your form

In the document, click or tap where you want to add a content control.

On Developer , select Text Box , Check Box , or Combo Box .

Developer tab with content controls

To set specific properties for the control, select Options , and set .

Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each control that you want to add.

Set options

Options let you set common settings, as well as control specific settings. Select a control and then select Options to set up or make changes.

Set common properties.

Select Macro to Run on lets you choose a recorded or custom macro to run on Entry or Exit from the field.

Bookmark Set a unique name or bookmark for each control.

Calculate on exit This forces Word to run or refresh any calculations, such as total price when the user exits the field.

Add Help Text Give hints or instructions for each field.

OK Saves settings and exits the panel.

Cancel Forgets changes and exits the panel.

Set specific properties for a Text box

Type Select form Regular text, Number, Date, Current Date, Current Time, or Calculation.

Default text sets optional instructional text that's displayed in the text box before the user types in the field. Set Text box enabled to allow the user to enter text into the field.

Maximum length sets the length of text that a user can enter. The default is Unlimited .

Text format can set whether text automatically formats to Uppercase , Lowercase , First capital, or Title case .

Text box enabled Lets the user enter text into a field. If there is default text, user text replaces it.

Set specific properties for a Check box .

Default Value Choose between Not checked or checked as default.

Checkbox size Set a size Exactly or Auto to change size as needed.

Check box enabled Lets the user check or clear the text box.

Set specific properties for a Combo box

Drop-down item Type in strings for the list box items. Press + or Enter to add an item to the list.

Items in drop-down list Shows your current list. Select an item and use the up or down arrows to change the order, Press - to remove a selected item.

Drop-down enabled Lets the user open the combo box and make selections.

Protect the form

Go to Developer > Protect Form .

Protect form button on the Developer tab

Note:  To unprotect the form and continue editing, select Protect Form again.

Save and close the form.

Test the form (optional)

If you want, you can test the form before you distribute it.

Protect the form.

Reopen the form, fill it out as the user would, and then save a copy.

Creating fillable forms isn’t available in Word for the web.

You can create the form with the desktop version of Word with the instructions in Create a fillable form .

When you save the document and reopen it in Word for the web, you’ll see the changes you made.

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IMAGES

  1. Printable One Pager Template Pdf Free

    one page business plan template

  2. One Page Business Plan with Examples, Samples & Templates

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  3. Coaching Business Plan Template Free

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  1. One Page Business Plan

  2. What makes your business plans so special ? #businessplaninhindi #businesstips

  3. Realtor Business Plan 2023 Template

  4. How to Write a One Page Business Plan

  5. One Page Business Planning

COMMENTS

  1. Free One-Page Business Plan Templates

    Download free, one-page business plan templates for various types of businesses in Excel, Word, and PDF formats. Learn how to create a simple, organized, and easy-to-use one-page plan with a quick guide and an example. Find out the key elements to include in your plan and how to write them concisely.

  2. One Page Business Plan Template for Word, PDF

    Download a free one-page business plan template for Word or PDF. This template helps you outline the most important details about your new company or product in eight sections: business opportunity, industry analysis, target market, company description, timeline, marketing plan, financial plan, and funding requirements.

  3. How to Write a One-Page Business Plan [2024 Guide]

    Download Now: Free 1-Page Business Plan Template What's the most challenging part of writing a business plan? Getting started. That's why you should create a one-page plan as a starting point. The one-page business plan is simple to create, easy to update, and built for adaptation.

  4. How to Write an Impressive One-Page Business Plan [Including Templates]

    8 One-Page Business Plan Templates Quick Read A one-page business plan is a concise document that provides a quick and clear overview of a business's core aspects. One-page business plans are faster to create, serve as an outline for a more comprehensive plan, make it easy to get feedback and are easy to modify and revise.

  5. Free Simple Business Plan Templates

    Download free simple business plan templates in PDF, Word, and Excel formats. Choose from one-page, startup, small-business, lean, outline, and more templates to suit your needs. Learn the main components of a business plan and how to create one with Smartsheet.

  6. One-Page Business Plan Templates

    Learn how to write a concise and effective one-page business plan for your service or product business with these templates. The templates cover the basics of a business plan, such as vision, objectives, marketing, and financials, and provide examples and tips for each section.

  7. Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

    Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even...

  8. Free One-Page Business Plan Template (Word, PDF)

    Download a blank template and instructions to create a one-page business plan in less than 30 minutes. Learn how to write a one-page plan with expert support and access to industry benchmark data, AI-powered writing assistant, and more.

  9. Easy-to-use one-page business plan template

    A one-page business plan template is a document that outlines a business's strategies and goals. A one-page business plan template helps you map out what elements are the most important to include and how you'll organize them to make the most sense to the audience.

  10. Create a Business Plan One-Pager (+ Proven Templates)

    Get business plan one-pager templates ⭢ Create your business plan one-pager ⭢ Even the best business plan can be badly received if not presented well If you make it too complex, dry, or fail to spark the investors' interest, you'll bury your chances of securing the funding necessary to get your business off the ground.

  11. How To Successfully Write a One Page Business Plan (With 3 Templates)

    Advantage #2 See the big picture. Advantage #3 Build a business model. One Page Plan Template: Idea Plan. One Page Plan Template: Business Model Canvas. One Page Plan Template: Lean Canvas. 5. Sales and marketing. 6. Budget and sales goals.

  12. How to write a One Page Business Plan: templates, ideas, and a ...

    Download our FREE one page business plan template + guide Already subscribed? We'll just send your download link. The problem with business plans

  13. One-Page Business Plan: The Step-By-Step Guide

    Before continuing, download our one-page business plan template: Download the template and save it to your desktop for easy access. The fields in the PDF are editable. You can also print out the document and write by hand. Answer each question with one or two sentences—feel free to write in incomplete sentences.

  14. Free editable and printable business plan templates

    Business plan templates Starting your own business? Get focused and organized, so you can track your goals and achieve them. Learn how to craft a comprehensive business plan using free, editable templates on Canva. Skip to end of list Simple Business Plans Startup Business Plans Small Business Plans Restaurant Business Plans Clothing Business Plans

  15. Single Page Business Plan

    Single Page Business Plan - PDF Templates | Jotform Single Page Business Plan PDF PREVIEW FORM PREVIEW Single Page Business Plan ABC Transport Company 428 Conference Center Way Bloomsburg, PA, 17815 What is the purpose of the business plan? The goals, strategies, and financial projections of a company are described in a business plan.

  16. One Page Business Plan: Guide & Template (2024)

    Services One Page Business Plan Want to write a business plan quickly Check out our Sample One Page Business Plan Template answer the key question and your business plan will be ready to download Download Template Create a Business Plan Writing a 30-page long business plan can look like a huge hassle if you are just starting with your business.

  17. One Page Business Plan Template & How-To Guide [Updated 2024]

    The One-Page Business Plan Template Whether you are starting a service business or a product-focused business, your one-page business plan should include the following 7 items: Problem Solution Business Model Market Analysis Competitor Analysis Financial Projections Funding Required & Uses of Funds Each of these items are detailed below.

  18. The Ultimate Business Plan Template (Free Download)

    A one-page business plan template compiles the essential information you need to explain your business and present it in the best light to investors, partners, suppliers, vendors, and employees. It is a brief document that organizes and communicates the most impressive, practical, and persuasive details of your business. ...

  19. PDF ONE-PAGE BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE

    Any articles, templates, or information provided by Smartsheet on the website are for reference only. While we strive to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the website

  20. Write your business plan

    Learn how to write a business plan quickly and efficiently with a business plan template. Choose between a traditional or lean startup format, depending on your needs and goals. Find examples of each format and nine key sections to include in your plan.

  21. One-Page Business Plan Template (with Examples)

    One-Page Business Plan Template (with Examples) by Brandon Boushy 1 year ago Blog 0 The first step of scaling a business is planning, and one of the easiest ways to create a scaling plan is to use the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP).

  22. How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

    Do Your Research and Write Things Down for Each Category. Now you need to start writing things down. For instance, in the area of finances, let's hypothetically say that you're going to start saving $3,000 a month. Or you want to save $50,000 or $100,000. Whatever the number is, write it down.

  23. Business Plan Template

    Financial documents. Outline and Clarify Goals. Using a business plan template can help you to define and set goals, helping you to easily pitch them when required. It can serve as an excellent touchstone, too. Identify Issues. By clearly outlining plans ahead of time, you may be able to identify issues early - whether in the planning stage or ...

  24. How To Create a One-Page Business Plan

    QUICK SUMMARY: A one-page business plan simplifies a marketing agency's strategy, focusing on core objectives and actionable steps. Ideal for agencies seeking clarity in goals, it serves as an efficient roadmap. This article offers insights into crafting such a plan, highlighting its benefits for agencies aiming to streamline their strategic ...

  25. A One-Page Marketing Plan Guide

    Small businesses often struggle with limited resources and time, making it difficult to develop and implement a cohesive marketing strategy. But fear not! This one-page Marketing Plan offers a simple yet powerful solution. This action-oriented guide cuts through the fluff and helps you create a focused plan, tailored to your unique business and ...

  26. Create a form in Word that users can complete or print

    In Word, you can create a form that others can fill out and save or print. To do this, you will start with baseline content in a document, potentially via a form template. Then you can add content controls for elements such as check boxes, text boxes, date pickers, and drop-down lists. Optionally, these content controls can be linked to ...