Free business plan template + step-by-step guide to write your plan

A business plan is the first thing you’ll need when starting a business, but it can be tricky to know where to start. That’s why this guide will help you through the process step-by-step — whether you’re starting from scratch or refining your business idea.

A business plan isn’t something you should skip on either, as it lays out your goals, strategies, and financial plans. It should also cover every aspect of your business journey, from ideation and objectives to competitive analysis and marketing strategies.

To help you out, we’ve included a free downloadable business plan template you can use as a starting point. It’s also fully editable, so you can tweak it to your business needs and easily update it as your business grows.

Executive summary

This section is a summary of your entire business plan. Therefore, it’s a good idea to write it at the end of your plan, not the beginning.

Just as with the overall business plan, the executive summary should be clearly written and persuasive, but also balance sales talk with realism to be convincing. It should also be no more than 1,000 words.

An executive summary should cover the following:

• Mission statement: what is your company’s purpose?
• Business idea and opportunity: what unique selling point (USP) does your business offer?
• Business objectives: what are you aiming to achieve?
• Target market: who is your ideal customer base?
• Management team: who are the owners/senior managers?
• Competition: which businesses are you competing against?
• Financial summary: can you prove the business will be profitable?
• Marketing strategy: what is your marketing plan and associated costs?
• Timeline: how long will it take to launch/grow your business?

Why do I need an executive summary?

The executive summary is often the first thing investors, lenders or partners read – and sometimes the only thing they have time to review. Therefore, it’s important to have a strong summary that grabs their attention, gives them a clear snapshot of your business, and convinces them to keep reading. In other words, it’s your chance to make a first impression, so you should make it count.

Personal summary

Investors want to know who they’re investing in, as much as what. This is where you tell people who you are, and why you’re starting your business.

For this, you’ll need to outline your general details first, such as your telephone number, email address, website/portfolio and any professional social media profiles you might have.

Personal branding can be a great way to sell your business and develop trust with investors. Make sure to include:

• The skills/qualifications you have
• The passions in your career
• Your area(s) of industry expertise
• The reason(s) you want to run your own business

Why is personal branding important?

Investors are investing in you just as much as your business idea, so you need to prove that you have the skills, experience, and passion to make your business succeed. It also helps give investors more confidence that you’re the right person to lead the company forward. Just as business branding is all about building customer loyalty, personal branding is about building that trust and credibility with your investors, partners, and anyone else who will support your journey.

Your business idea

This section serves to offer a general outline of what your business idea is and why it brings something new to the market.

Here, you should include your general company details, such as your business name and a one-line summary of your business idea, otherwise known as an elevator pitch. This section should also list a few key objectives to show how you plan to scale over the next 1-3 years.

You should also carry out a SWOT analysis as part of your strategic planning to share the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business idea. Think about:

• Strengths: why is this a good time to enter the sector?
• Weaknesses: what market challenges could you encounter?
• Opportunities: what demand is your product/service meeting in the market?
• Threats: how will the business be financed to maintain liquidity?

What is an elevator pitch, and why is it important?

Put simply, this is a brief summary of your business idea – usually just one or two sentences – that quickly explains what your business does and why it matters. It’s called an “elevator pitch” because it should be short enough to deliver during a quick elevator ride.

A good elevator pitch is important because it helps you clearly communicate your value proposition to potential investors, partners, customers, or anyone you meet. It’s also a great way to practice talking confidently about your idea anytime, anywhere.

Your products and/or services

Now you’ll need to explain what you’re selling to customers and how you will produce your sales offerings.

Use this section to explain what you plan to sell and how. Just like your business idea outline, your answers should be concise and declarative. For this, you’ll need to answer the following questions:

• What product(s) or service(s) do you sell?
• Do you plan to offer a new product(s) or service(s) in the future?
• How much does your product/service cost to produce/deliver?
• What is your pricing strategy?
• What sales channels will you use?
• Are there any legal or insurance requirements you need to meet?
• What is the growth potential for your product/service?
• What are the potential challenges you could face?

How do I decide my pricing strategy?

Figuring out your pricing comes down to a mix of covering your costs, staying competitive, and making sure your customers are getting good value.

A good place to start is by checking out what competitors are charging. From there, you can think about how much it costs you to make or deliver your product/service, how much profit you want to make, and what your target audience is willing to pay.

Still need help? Check out our guide to pricing strategies to help you find what works best for your business.

Market analysis

This section demonstrates your understanding of the market you’re entering and any challenges you’ll likely face when trying to establish your company.

This section pulls all of your target market and customer research together to indicate to stakeholders that you know about the sector and how to succeed. At this stage, you’ll need to determine:

• Who your typical customer is and where they’re based: use Voice of Customer (VoC) insights to describe the average age, location, budget, interests, etc.
• How many customers your business will reach: outline the size of your market and the market share your business can achieve.
• Whether you’ve already sold any products/services: if you have, describe these sales. If not, have people expressed interest in buying from you?
• What you’ve learnt about the market from desk-based research: what are the current challenges in your industry? How has it been affected by the economic downturn? What has been the response to artificial intelligence (AI)?
• What you’ve learnt about the market from field research: what customer feedback have you gathered from primary research, like questionnaires or focus groups?

How do I find my target market?

You’ll need to think about who your product or service is really for, who needs it, wants it, and would be most likely to buy it. Look at things like age, location, income, interests, and buying habits. You can also dig into data from industry reports, social media trends, and competitor audiences to spot any patterns.

Read our guide on target marketing for a step-by-step breakdown on how to define your ideal customer and reach them effectively.

Competitor analysis

Here, you’ll need to demonstrate how well you know the key players and rivals in your industry. It should clearly show the research you’ve carried out in a table format.

Your competitors will either be direct or indirect.

Direct competitors are businesses that offer the same (or similar) products or services to the same target market. They also fulfil the same customer needs and often compete on factors like price, quality and brand reputation.

On the other hand, indirect competitors offer different products and services that act as substitutes or alternatives. While they may not offer the same thing, they still cater to the same customer needs or solve a similar problem in a different way.

Start by listing the key information about your competitors, including:

• Name
• Location
• Business size
• Product/services
• Sales channels
• Pricing
• Strengths and weaknesses

Note: Don’t worry about sounding too critical or positive. Try to prioritise accuracy over anything else.

Once you’ve shared who your rivals are in the market, provide details on how you plan to stand out from them through your marketing plan. This should outline your business’s USP, your promotional strategy and any associated advertising costs.

How do I find information about my competitors?

Start by checking out their websites and social media profiles to see what products or services they offer, how they market themselves, and what customers say in reviews or comments. Additionally, tools like Google Alerts, SimilarWeb, or SEMrush can help you track their online presence and advertising strategies. You can also check their physical locations (if they have one), or mystery-shop their services to get a better idea of what they offer.

Example of a SWOT analysis

Below is an example of a SWOT analysis of a competitor for a vegan skincare brand, showing how to identify key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Cash forecast

This is where you’ll need to outline your financial outlook, including how much you expect to spend and make in your first year.

All of your considered costs can be put into an easy-to-read document called a cash flow forecast. This should contain:

• Incoming costs, such as sales revenue, customer account fees or funding.
• Outgoing costs, such as staff salaries or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) (e.g. raw materials, shipping and handling, manufacturing, etc.). If you’ve already started trading, include any previous year’s accounts (up to three years), as well as any outstanding loans or assets.

What are annual cash forecasts?

An annual cash forecast is a financial projection that estimates your business’s cash inflows and outflows over a year. 

By preparing 12 monthly forecasts, you can create an annual cash forecast to work out when your company will become profitable. This process is known as a break-even analysis, which you’ll need to do when your total incoming costs = total outgoing costs.

In your annual cost budget, make sure to include the month’s opening/closing balance. This is important to monitor for accounting, particularly for year-end.

• Opening balance = the amount of cash at the beginning of the month
• Closing balance = the amount of cash at the end of the month 

The opening balance of any month will always be the same as the closing balance of the previous month. If you are repeatedly opening months with a negative closing balance, you might need to adjust your spending.

Operations and logistics

Explain how your day-to-day business activities will be run, including key business partnerships around production and delivery.

This section should cover these three areas:

1. Production

List all the behind-the-scenes information about how your business will operate, including:

• Management team: who do you plan to hire as senior staff and why?
• Premises: where will you be based? What will be the cost?
• Materials: what materials/equipment will you need to offer your product/service?
• Staffing: how many employees will you recruit? How much will they cost?
• Insurance: what insurance do you need for production?

2. Delivery

Outline how your customers will receive your product or service, including:

• Distribution: how will you sell your product(s)/service(s) to customers?
• Transport: how will you transport the product(s) to customers or partners?
• Insurance: what insurance do you need for delivery?

3. Supplier analysis

Lastly, you should carry out a supplier analysis, which involves evaluating potential suppliers based on factors like cost, quality, reliability and delivery times. This helps to ensure that you choose the best suppliers to meet your business needs efficiently and cost-effectively.

How do I estimate staffing costs?

For this, you should figure out the specific roles you need and the number of employees for each. You’ll then need to research typical salaries or wages for those positions in your area or industry through job sites or salary surveys. Also, don’t forget to include extra costs like payroll taxes, company benefits, training, or any equipment your staff might need.

Backup plan

Demonstrate how you’ll manage any surprise losses if your cash forecast doesn’t go to plan.

In the event that your business doesn’t go to plan, there will be costs to sustain. Therefore, a backup plan is crucial to explain to investors how you will pay back any outstanding loans or debt.

To manage this effectively, it’s important to consider both short-term and long-term strategies.

• Short-term: what steps could you take to quickly raise money? (e.g. reducing non-essential spending, speeding up collections from customers or looking into short-term financing options like a business line of credit)
• Long-term: what changes you can make to improve your cash flow in the long-term (e.g. adding more products/services, trying out different marketing strategies or adjusting your pricing to increase sales and profits)

To placate investors even further, it’s a good idea to include details about potential support channels you can utilise (e.g. a business network or contact) who might be able to help if you get caught in a sticky cash flow situation.

What’s the difference between a backup and a contingency plan?

They might be similar, but there’s actually a subtle difference between a backup plan and a contingency plan.

A backup plan focuses on how you’ll handle a specific financial shortfall or setback, like falling short of your cash forecast or losing a key client. It’s about the steps you’ll take to stay afloat in the short-term.

On the other hand, a contingency plan covers a wider range of “what if” scenarios – such as supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, or staff shortages – and outlines how your business would respond to keep things running smoothly. Think of it as your safety net for any kind of disruption, not just the financial ones.

Tips for writing a business plan

Writing a business plan can feel like a mammoth task, but breaking it down into clear, manageable steps can make the process much easier and a lot more effective. To help you get started, these simple tips can help you write a plan that’s clear, realistic and investor-ready.

1. Keep your predictions realistic

Your business plan should show a deep understanding of the industry and what’s achievable. Also, don’t try to impress investors with inflated numbers or buzzwords – focus on what’s practical and realistic.

2. Don’t go overboard

Business plans should be clear and to the point. That means sticking to key information and avoiding lengthy or overly detailed sentences.

3. End with supporting documents

Use your appendix to include product diagrams, detailed research or any data that strengthens your business case. Only include what’s necessary for clarity or backing up your claims.

4. Get a second opinion

A second pair of eyes can help catch any mistakes or errors that you might miss. Ask a trusted business contact or associate to review your plan before you send it out to potential investors or business partners.

5. Allow time for writing

While it’s exciting to think about getting your business up and running, writing a detailed plan takes time. Don’t rush it – spend at least a month creating a well-thought-out plan with all the important details laid out clearly.

6. Show the team behind the business

Investors like to know who is behind the idea. Highlight the strengths and expertise of your team members and how they contribute to the success of the business.

7. Provide a realistic financial plan

Make sure your financial projections are realistic and based on research. Include profit and loss statements, cash flow projections and break-even analysis to show you’ve thought through the numbers.

8. Keep it flexible

While your business plan is an important roadmap, remember to stay flexible. Markets change, so the ability to adapt will make your business stronger in the long run.

What comes next?

Once you’ve developed your business plan, here are the next steps you should think about:

Securing funding

Obtaining business finance to launch your company is essential – whether it’s through loans, investors, business grants or personal savings. Your business plan is crucial in this step, as investors or lenders will want to see how you plan to use the money and how you’ll generate returns.

Registering your business

Make sure that your business is legally registered, whether as a sole trader, partnership, limited company (LLC) or corporation. You’ll also need to obtain any necessary licenses or permits, depending on your location or industry.

Setting up business operations

This includes setting up accounting systems, choosing your location (if applicable), building an online presence (business website and social media) and making sure you have the right tools, technology and resources to run things smoothly.

Building a brand

Develop a strong brand identity, including your business name, logo and messaging. This will help establish recognition and trust with your customers.

Marketing your business

Use the marketing strategies you outlined in your business plan, such as digital marketing, networking and traditional marketing, to attract customers.

From plan to profit

Designing a business plan is essential for laying a solid foundation for your business, so you should dedicate at least a month to creating it.

Once your plan is ready, you’ll be ready to move on to other crucial aspects of setting up your business, like registering your company or getting your marketing up and running.

And don’t forget – you can download our free business plan template to help guide you through the process and make it easier to get started.