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Business Plan – Step-by-Step Planning Templates

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This guide to writing a business plan will outline the most important parts and what should be included in an effective plan.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


A business plan is a written description of your business’s future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you’ve written a plan, or at least the germ of one.

Business plans are inherently strategic. You start here, today, with certain resources and abilities. And you want to get to there, a point in the future (usually three to five years out), at which time your business will have a different set of resources and abilities as well as greater profitability and increased assets. Your plan shows how you will get from here to there.

Related: 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

You can visit our small business encyclopedia to learn more about business plans or our FormNet area to get the necessary forms to get started.

Before writing your plan

Writing your business plan

Business Plan Tools

Business Planning Videos

Video: What Investors Really Think About Your Business Plan. At our Entrepreneur magazine Roundtable, financial pros offer tough talk about the business plans of first-time entrepreneurs:

What Investors Really Think About Your Business Plan

Related: What Investors Really Think About Your Business Plan

Video: How Can I Hire Someone to Help Write My Business Plan? In the video below, Tim Berry, founder and president of Palo Alto Software Inc., responds to a reader seeking advice on finding a low-cost writer to help with a business plan:

How Can I Hire Someone to Help Write My Business Plan?

Related: 25 Business Plan Tips From Professionals

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Amazon Is so Powerful That Big Companies Are Producing Exclusive Brands Just for the Site

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Amazon Accelerator allows the ecommerce company to offer exclusive products to customers, while outsourcing all the costs.


3 min read


Search for “sugar” on Amazon and the top results will show cane sugar from 365, the in-house brand of the Amazon-owned Whole Foods, followed by a zero-calorie sweetener from Sugarly Sweet. Both are tagged “Our Brand,” but the latter is the product of Equal.

This new product is part of a push called Amazon Accelerator to have more brands that are sold exclusively on the ecommerce site.

“Amazon Accelerator creates new opportunities for suppliers and offers a way for them to launch brands directly to (and exclusively for) Amazon customers,” according to a statement from Amazon. “Participating suppliers develop and produce brands and products of their choice, and Amazon then makes those brands and products available to customers.”

Related: Amazon Will Let Entrepreneurs Start Their Own Delivery Business and Earn Up to $300,000 a Year

The advantages of partnering with Amazon are clear: top billing on the biggest store on the internet, as well as enhanced insights about the products. Meanwhile, Amazon outsources the costs of developing and manufacturing the products as well as shipping them, while holding exclusivity to sell them.

Amazon said that dozens of brands, ranging from health and personal care items to furniture to apparel, have created products for Accelerator. An Amazon spokesperson pointed to the Basic Care brand, as well as mattress brand Nod, from Tuft & Needle, as holding customer ratings above four stars.

For Merisant, makers of Equal, launching Sugarly Sweet was a way to expand its business.

“[Ecommerce is] an area that is ripe for significant growth and opportunity over time,” said Brian Huff, president of Merisant in North America. “For us, it was more of, what are the opportunities for us to be able to expand our portfolio and product line.”

Related: What Do the Major Changes at Whole Foods Mean for Food Entrepreneurs?

The new product line allowed Equal to expand into sweeteners made with sucralose, saccharin and stevia. Instead of taking up more pricey retail shelf space, the products occupy a digital space where companies have more room to explain the products’ benefits to customers, as opposed to fitting information on the back of a box that a customer never picks up.

“Online you have a lot better venue to be able to educate consumers than you do in brick and mortar,” Huff said. “People are looking for more customized and personalized offerings. Exclusive and unique offerings by retailers at least in the short term will continue to increase.”

An Amazon spokesperson would not say whether these exclusive brands will eventually be sold in Whole Foods.

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House Small Business Committee Outlines Goals for 2019

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2019 House Small Business Committee Goals

The House Small Business Committee recently announced five Committee Democratic Members who will serve as Subcommittee Chairs for the 116th Congress. With the Democrats in charge of the House now, Small Business Trends got in touch with House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) to get an idea of the committee’s goals for 2019.

2019 House Small Business Committee Goals

Issues

Velázquez stressed a hands-on approach to tackling the issues small businesses face.
“I am looking to hold a wide range of hearings that will probe the diverse challenges facing America’s entrepreneurs. I am proud that we have an exciting group of new Members who will be serving as Subcommittee Chairs for the 116th Congress,” she wrote in an email.

Top Priorities

“Through hearings at both the full and subcommittee levels, we will dive into the most pressing issues facing small firms such as access to capital, workforce development, exporting abroad, and expanding access to the federal procurement marketplace.”

The National Small Business Association recently placed the trained worker’s skills gap as the third priority issue for the 116th Congress. The association bookmarked several of the other points the committee flagged.

Velázquez also pointed to a focus on rural areas. She underlined a few of the digital issues facing small business there and acknowledged the impact of international trade disputes.

SBA Programs

“As a Committee, we will look at how we can expand investments in SBA programs for rural areas, as well as address the most pressing issues facing rural entrepreneurs such as a lack of broadband, the opioid crisis, and the impact of tariffs on our small agricultural and manufacturing firms.”

Small Business Concerns

There were other long standing small business concerns like lack of access to traditional capital for loans that Velázquez said would be another one of the committee’s focuses. She said that when it comes to start-ups particularly, there were several other sources of funding like the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program.

“The program was created as a source of financing to fill the gap between bank loans and more traditional equity capital. On the Committee, we constantly hear from entrepreneurs who need more flexible forms of capital investment, such as the SBIC program. The Committee will conduct work in this area to ensure that the SBA’s capital offerings keep pace with the needs of entrepreneurs.”

Flexibility

She pledged the Committee will work to make sure that any capital offerings from the SBA will be geared towards the flexible forms of capital investment start-ups need. There was at least one area where the incoming Chairwoman felt there was a special need for a bipartisan push from both sides of the aisle — infrastructure.

Infrastructure

She noted how deteriorating infrastructure has a negative effect on the nation’s economy because transportation delays up expenses for small businesses. She also mentioned how any needed reform would benefit three small business sectors specifically.

“For small firms operating in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, a robust infrastructure package has the potential to fuel new jobs and innovation,” she wrote.

Expanding small business access to the federal procurement marketplace was another touchpoint. While Velázquez pointed to the ongoing work that’s been done in the area, she acknowledged much more needs to be accomplished.

Disparities

“Despite recent advancements, disparities remain for small contractors and especially for traditionally underserved entrepreneurs when it comes to accessing the $500 billion a-year federal marketplace,” she writes. “Ensuring that small contractors are paid in a timely manner, expanding mentorship resources to underserved entrepreneurs, and ensuring proper oversight of existing initiatives are all steps the Committee must take towards leveling the playing field for small contractors and subcontractors.”

Velázquez offered a perspective on the Republican tax law that was at least partially geared toward small businesses.

“The Republican tax law is projected to add nearly two trillion dollars to our deficit and as we have heard on the Committee, provides little relief to small businesses. At the end of the day, we ought to be focused on tax reform that will increase compliance assistance for small firms and update the tax code to meet the needs of a 21st century workforce.”

The Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee Chairs for the 116th Congress are: Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA) will Chair the Subcommittee on Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade, and Entrepreneurship. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) will Chair the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) will Chair the Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) will Chair the Subcommittee on Innovation and Workforce Development. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) will Chair the Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations.

Image: smallbusiness.house.gov

This article, “House Small Business Committee Outlines Goals for 2019” was first published on Small Business Trends



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12 Most Unusual Offers Made to Recruit a New Employee

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12 Unusual Things In Offer Letters Employers Have Included
The hiring process can be long, tedious and repetitive — yet, completely necessary to find talent which will fit your company. Once you’ve found the perfect fit for your company, you want to make sure that your offer is accepted. This can lead to some very interesting or unusual elements within a potential new hire’s offer letter. To find out more, we asked entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council the following:

“What is the most unusual thing you’ve included in an employee’s offer letter?”

Unusual Things in Offer Letters

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Unlimited Seltzer Water

“We have an employee that is obsessed with seltzer and we knew that by adding this to the offer letter we’d get the right reaction and hopefully an acceptance. We wanted the employee to know that we were obsessed with the details, remembered the conversations we had and wanted to make their experience working with us a good one. Sometimes it’s the little things that stand out.” ~ Corey Eulas, Factorial Digital

2. Walks on the Beach

“Being in southern California, we had a candidate make a joke about loving walks on the beach. This candidate then crushed the interview; they were so passionate and had all the right questions. We left feeling like we knew this individual for years. We were confident this person would take our offer, so I included “walks on the beach” in the offer. They loved it and are now apart of our team.” ~ Colbey Pfund, LFNT Distribution

3. Pet-Friendly Office

“We have a team member with us now that is a huge dog lover. He brings his dog everywhere. Learning this through the interview process, we included in our offer letter that we’d make our office dog-friendly (it had never come up before) — meaning he could bring his pal with him to work every day. Now, not only does he get to have his dog in the office, but we have our very own mascot.” ~ Zach Binder, Bell + Ivy

4. Bagel Tuesdays

“During the interview they asked if we had any specific company morale events on a weekly basis. We said that we do something once a quarter, usually an outing. They suggested bagel breakfast Tuesdays. We liked it, so we added it.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting

5. Mugs with Personalized Avatars

“Because I run several online businesses, many employees have an online business profile. They can choose if they’d like to use an actual image of themselves or a professionally created avatar. While I offer more significant perks and bonuses in a job offer, I do also offer a personalized mug with their business avatar. What is more motivational than looking at yourself!” ~ Shu Saito, Godai Soaps

6. Unlimited Time Off

“Since our company is entirely remote, we can’t offer many perks that other companies with physical locations can like unlimited coffee, so instead we offer unlimited time off. This perk is perfect for a remote company and our employees who value job flexibility.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

7. Monthly Massages

“A fantastic benefit that I love to offer our management and front desk employees is access to a free massage at our studio, every month. This perk gets employees very excited about the potential for working with us, and is a nice benefit to welcome them to the team and thank them for their hard work.” ~ Rachel Beider, Massage Outpost

8. Their Choice Between Equity and Cash

“Everyone has a different set of priorities and life situation. We like to let our employees choose from a menu of three different cash and equity options. You can choose more cash and less equity, middle-middle or more equity and less cash. There is no judgment in selection, we just want to be creative about supporting our team in the way that fits them best.” ~ Aaron Schwartz, Passport

9. Seed Funding for Side Hustles

“Unlike some companies and corporations, particularly larger ones, we try to encourage our team to be entrepreneurial. This encouragement goes so far as to frequently help our employees start businesses in their downtime. Obviously, none of these can compete, but there is no reason not to let your team taste the fruits of the gig economy as well.” ~ Ryan Bradley, Koester & Bradley, LLP

10. Free Change of Environment

“If they’re not able to be productive in their current environment, they are free to change to a new environment of their choice at any given moment. They don’t have to stay stuck in an office they’re not happy in. They can move around at their discretion. I have seen that being in the office all the time actually inhibits productivity and hacks their creativity. I like to give freedom of location.” ~ Sweta Patel, Startup Growth Mode

11. International Remote Days

“We offer 14 “international remote days” to all hires. Millennials love to travel and our retention is higher because we allow our employees to have the best of both worlds. The rules? They have to be at least three time zones away, have access to high speed wifi and outline goals while remote. Our company wins because the team mixes PTO and remote days so productivity doesn’t completely halt!” ~ Krish Chopra, NPHub

12. No Management Structure

“Being a completely remote company we already offer unlimited time off and the ability to create your own office hours. If you are a night owl you can work during the middle of the night if you are a morning person, go for it. With that said, everyone at our company has a voice and there is no management structure. All employees are equally important and their ideas and concerns are listened to.” ~ Jared Brown, Hubstaff Talent

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “12 Most Unusual Offers Made to Recruit a New Employee” was first published on Small Business Trends



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How to Manage Finances When You’re Working as a Freelancer

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The evolution of work in the digital age is making workers’ lives easier. For example, online freelancing job sites have paved the way for many people to work from the comfort of their own homes. But the freedom to work your own way has its challenges, too. And one of those challenges is learning how to manage finances as a freelancer.

Freelancers often market their skills and services online today. Moreover, in the online world almost every skill is in demand. Whether your specialty is content writing, web design, social media, digital marketing, or something else, you’re bound to find your freelancing niche.

Freelancing Can Be a Risky Business

Freelancers have the freedom to work anywhere they choose, whether it’s a nearby coffee shop or their own home office. What’s more, many freelancers think of themselves as entrepreneurs, and claim the right to create their careers their own way.

On the other had, freelancers must almost continually market themselves and their skills. Otherwise, they’ll never attract the clients they need. Additionally, some admit that they miss having a regular job with a fixed salary. Instead, they have to manage their own business with its ever-changing cash flow.

For many freelancers, the main struggle is that the work is unpredictable. Consequently, they don’t necessarily have a steady income. One month, they might land a great client and make good money. The next month, they struggle just to keep up with basic expenses.

No longer can freelancers look forward to a paycheck that shows up in their bank account twice a month. Gone, too, are the end-of-year bonuses, group health insurance, and benefits of the corporate world.

In other words, freelancing can be a risky business if you don’t learn quickly to generate sufficient income and manage finances. What’s more, since freelancing is a one-person business, all of the responsibilities and liabilities fall on your shoulders.

Therefore, if you’re going to survive as a freelancer, you need to have an organized plan that will keep you afloat financially.

How
Smart Freelancers Manage Finances

manage finances

Project Your Income

At the beginning of the month, make a list of your current clients. Then, estimate your projected monthly income from each client.

If you see right away that you won’t be bringing in enough cash to make it through the month, you’ll know that your first order of business will be to market your skills to attract more clients.

Calculate Your Expenses

It’s pretty easy to keep your expenses low as a freelancer. No longer do you have the expenses of commuting and maintaining an expensive wardrobe.

Basically, your expenses as a freelancer will fall into two major categories:

  • personal expenses such as food, water, shelter, and car
  • business expenses such as Internet, electricity, taxes, equipment, software, and supplies

It can help to keep a simple spreadsheet where you keep track of your business income and expenses. Then, at tax time, it will be relatively easy to sort things out and report accurate numbers.

Create and Follow a Budget

While you’re building your freelancing business, you might not be able to live as you did when you were pulling in a regular paycheck. For example, instead of eating out every night, you might need to learn how to prepare your own meals at home.

Additionally, create a financial plan and follow it. Also, record all your expenses and track the receipts. Stick to your budget and stay disciplined.

The practice of following a budget will give you more peace of mind. In turn, this will allow you to focus on creating a great experience for your clients. Before too long, word will get around, and more clients will come your way. Eventually, you’ll notice that your freelancing business is growing and thriving.

Manage Finances by Saving More Money

When you’re learning to manage finances as a freelancer, remember that saving money is not an option. During those months when clients come calling and you have so much work you can barely keep up, use that additional income to start a rainy day fund.

Then, the next time you have a dry spell, you’ll be glad you did. As a matter of fact, if you can, try to set aside enough cash in a dedicated account to cover your basic expenses for at least four to six months.

However, there may be times when you’ll need to turn to additional resources just to keep going. When that happens, you could apply for an online loan at inexpensive rates and decent terms. For example, Best Moneylender offers good opportunities for funding.

While you’re building your freelancing business, learn to save money wherever you can. Take care of your basic needs and postpone luxury purchases until you’ve built a steady flow of income. And don’t be discouraged if that doesn’t happen overnight.

RELATED ARTICLE: THE SELF-EMPLOYED BUSINESS OWNER’S GUIDE TO SAVING FOR RETIREMENT

Manage
Finances Well for More Freedom as a Freelancer

There’s a lot to like about life as a freelancer. For example, freelancing gives you freedom and the flexibility to work the way you want. However, freelancers who don’t learn how to manage finances well in the beginning can have a difficult time.

Therefore, learn how organize your finances, manage your money wisely, and keep track of your expenses. Learning how to manage finances will give you greater peace of mind and allow you to become an even better freelancer.

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This Protein Drink Entrepreneur Was Able to Raise $8 Million — After Moving Across the Country

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Iconic Protein’s Billy Bosch hit a wall a few years after launching the brand, so he packed up and headed west.


3 min read


How far are you willing to go for your business? For Billy Bosch, the answer was across the country.

The founder of Iconic Protein, a maker of drinks and powders founded in 2013, had some good fortune at the early stages of his company when he was based in New Orleans, winning about $150,000 from pitch competitions. He then was able to secure a low interest loan of $250,000 through a local innovation fund, another $100,000 from a friends-and-family round, and finally a $1 million seed round from New Orleans investors. Still, Bosch needed constant capital to fund production runs, get into retailers and market his brand.

Image credit: Courtesy of Iconic Protein

“New Orleans is a fantastic place to start a business … but when it came to raising a series A, I just couldn’t find the investors there,” Bosch said. “The hunt for money led me out to the West Coast” in 2016.

Related: How the Co-Founder of Noosa Went From Office Drone to $220 Million in Sales

“California is the market for health and wellness,” he added. “I was single. I didn’t have a lot of stuff. So I packed a bag and came out for the summer and crashed on a couch. I started seeing so much success getting into stores from San Diego to Los Angeles, that I’m like, ‘I’ve got to stay out here.'”

Bosch still had to hustle to get money, however. He said it took 250 to 300 meetings to convince 30 investors to fund an $8 million series A round in 2017. But his efforts paid off. Iconic’s ready-to-drink beverages and protein mixes can now be found in more than 6,500 stores. The company said it has averaged more than 150 percent year-over-year revenue growth for the past three years. Its best-selling products are its Chocolate Truffle, Cafe Latte and Vanilla Bean grass-fed dairy protein drinks. The company employs 16 people.

 

Image credit: Courtesy of Iconic Protein

What led Bosch to starting Iconic was his own unhealthy eating habits. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was a traveling account manager for Shell, eating the “worst food that America has.” A doctor diagnosed him with high cholesterol, indigestion and heartburn, and questioned him about his diet, he said. But when the doctor prescribed him pills, Bosch said he knew he needed to change his diet. So he went to a nutritionist, Molly Kimball, who advised him to eat more protein in the form of a shake.

Related: How a Four Loko Co-Founder Became the Leader of a Plant-Based Protein Beverage Brand

“I went back to her and I brought every protein drink I could find, and piled them on her desk,” Bosch recalled. She said all of them were unhealthy. “So out of frustration, I said why don’t you help me create a drink?”

Bosch worked with Kimball on a formula, which led to the creation of Iconic. (She’s credited with creating the formula, but is not involved with the company.) It’s this development process that Bosch finds most satisfying about running his own company.

“The most satisfying part of this business is when you create a product and then you’re contacted by a customer who says it’s amazing and they drink it every day,” he said. “Most entrepreneurs describe [running a business] as getting kicked in the face every day. The little bit of gratitude that you get from people makes it totally worth it.”

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Finance, Disaster, and You

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The Financier, an often-overlooked 1912 novel by the iconic American writer Theodore Dreiser, isn’t just a page-turning morality tale about early American capitalism. It offers contemporary businesspeople valuable insights on hubris, risk, adversity, and redemption.

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In the News: Former NFLer Turning Attention to Mom-and-Pop Businesses

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Earlier this week, we all snoozed through a large portion of the Super Bowl.

Hopefully, before you dozed off, you were able to catch the story of former NFL star Nolan Carroll.

Nolan never got to play in the Super Bowl during his NFL career, but like nearly 1 in 4 former pro football players, he’s making a play in small business afterward.

He’s teaming up with an international human rights lawyer and launching an app called YOOTROO. It’s designed to help local mom-and-pop businesses, probably just like yours.

His story is not the only NFL start-turned-entrepreneur story we’ve shared. Check out this story on Chris Gronkowski, the brother of Super Bowl champion Rob, and how he’s using Instagram to build his brand.

Football wasn’t the only thing making headlines this week. We also learned about some surprising jobs numbers and a new survey was released on just what people want to see from your social media posts.

Check them all out in our news and information roundup below:

Employment

Economy Adds 300,000 Jobs in January Despite Government Shutdown

The U.S. economy added 304,000 jobs while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4 percent in the first month of 2019, according to Department of Labor (DOL) data released Friday. January 2019 Jobs Report January marks the 100th straight month of job growth in the U.S., a record more than twice as long as the previous one of 48 months set in June 1990.

Marketing Tips

26% of Gen Z Wants to be Entertained by Your Online Content

Content is the engine that drives today’s digital ecosystem. Whether it is a website, blog, social media channel or even e-commerce, you have to have the right content. And for 26% of Gen Z consumers, you will do better if you entertain them. The data comes from an international study commissioned by WP Engine and conducted by The Center for Generational Kinetics.

Research

30% of Freelance Writers Make Less Than $10 Per Hour Their First Year, Survey Says

Written content has become an integral part of an online presence, and this has created a boon for freelance writers. As more freelance writers enter this segment, the question has to be asked, “How Much Do Freelance Writers Make?” The Pay Survey 2019 from Make a Living Writing is looking to answer this question with the help of 1,400+ participating freelance writers.

Social Media

Big Changes Come for Business Users as Google Plus Shutdown Looms

If you use it for your small business, you probably know the end of Google Plus is near. The consumer side of Google Plus will shut down in April 2019, but the company started implementing changes starting on February 4, 2019. The shutdown comes months before the August 2019 date Google announced in October of 2018.

Taxes

14 Important Dates for Small Businesses in the 2019 Tax Calendar

Tax season is approaching. But for many businesses, managing taxes can be a yearlong undertaking. In fact, there are many different types of deadlines you should be aware of throughout the year. 2019 Tax Calendar Here are the most important tax dates for businesses to know in 2019.

Image: DepositPhotos.com

This article, “In the News: Former NFLer Turning Attention to Mom-and-Pop Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends



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Even Cupid Needs Customer Feedback

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Customer Reviews Business Cartoon

I swear, every time I buy something somewhere I have the cashier asking me to “take this survey” or “let me know how we did” or “fill this out for a chance at a prize.”

Ugh…

I mean, I know what they’re trying to do, but it gets really, really old.

Still, it did inspire this Valentine’s Day cartoon …

This article, “Even Cupid Needs Customer Feedback” was first published on Small Business Trends



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