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New Year’s Planning for Business Owners

Make a resolution to review these six areas of your operation

Investopedia contributors come from a range of backgrounds, and over 25 years there have been thousands of expert writers and editors who have contributed.

At the beginning of every new year, it’s a good idea for business owners to take time to sit down and do a little planning, to make sure they can keep their company afloat and on the right course going forward.

Doing so can help ensure that your business has the necessary tools to meet its financial and operational goals and that your valued employees will be content with their working environment and unlikely to jump ship.

Read on for some tips on a smooth planning process for your digital presence, vendors, equipment, employees, insurance, and retirement plans.

Key Takeaways

• If you own a business, do some financial housekeeping at the beginning of each year to prevent unexpected money needs where possible.
• To avoid unpleasant surprises, make sure that your insurance policies and employee benefits program are on track and not set to lapse.
• Evaluate your staffing, vendor, and marketing efforts to keep up with your competitors.
• Consider the broader economy and determine whether factors such as labor market conditions or the pace of inflation require any changes on your part.

1. Consider Your Digital Footprint

Set up a business website.

If you want to compete, especially with the big names, you need a presence online and in social media . Begin by planning a website for your business, if you don’t already have one. How complex it has to be and how much traffic you need to generate will determine whether you can set it up yourself or should hire a professional to do it for you.

Here’s a basic checklist for this task:

• Select and purchase a recognizable domain name that customers can connect easily with your business.
• Determine whether you should share a host with other small websites, employ a managed hosting service for larger businesses, or set up your own dedicated server.
• For your budget , remember to build in costs for website maintenance and marketing.
• Develop a marketing plan to ensure that once you have your website up and running, it will draw visitors.

Develop a Social Media Presence

A social media presence for your business is essential these days. If you aren’t already, become familiar with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok.

Try to define the audiences who they serve and select those that match your customer profile. For example, certain age groups may focus on Facebook, while others may prefer TikTok. Most platforms will offer advertising kits, demographic data, and more to those interested in using their sites for sales and marketing purposes.

If you’re unsure of how or where to start building your social media presence, there are services that can assist you. You can also hire individuals or firms to help you maintain that presence if that’s not your strong suit or you simply don’t have the time to devote to the effort.

If you decide to be hands-on, create a social media team within your company to plot your online strategy for reaching potential patrons. This team should define your audience, its interests, and how to reach it with existing or newly created content. Blogging, vlogging (video blogging), and podcasts are just some of the ways to market your business and reach prospects and customers.

2. Review Your Vendors and Suppliers

Every business owner should periodically review their vendors and suppliers to make certain that they are receiving the competitive prices and quality service that they need. The beginning of the year may be the best time for such a review.

In many cases, vendors will be working on their own budgets for the year, looking to pin down business, and open to cutting deals to ensure that they achieve their quarterly and annual financial objectives.

With that in mind, business owners should ask themselves the following questions:

• Do current vendors charge reasonable rates?
• Do they provide excellent service and adapt to the changing needs of my business?
• Should I establish relationships with any new vendors or suppliers?
• Does it make sense to try out a new vendor with a small order?
• Would trying out a new vendor provide my business with leverage over an existing vendor?

Business owners with an eye on their bottom line want to know whether they’re getting the best possible products and services at the lowest possible prices. The first few months of the year are an opportune time to take stock of this.

3. Evaluate Your Equipment

Manufacturing companies and many service-related businesses depend on machinery, supplies, and a variety of other equipment to operate. However, many business owners are so focused on day-to-day activities that they forget to make sure they have what they need to operate smoothly and grow their enterprise.

Early in the first quarter is a good time to evaluate equipment needs and to determine whether any new capital investments are in order. This type of planning can ensure that your company is always properly equipped to capitalize on business opportunities. It can also help you allocate needed cash or arrange for borrowing.

Here are some questions to consider for equipment needs:

• Does your business have the equipment necessary to succeed and profit over the long haul?
• If not, can existing equipment last another year, and can your business sustain itself using it?
• What will new equipment cost, and where can you obtain quotes for it?
• Does your company have the cash on hand or the ability to finance such purchases, or will the money need to come from future operational cash flow ?
• Are there any expenses that could be cut to offset and help justify such expenditures?

4. Consider Your Employees

Your planning should also consider your staffing needs. It’s advantageous to uncover any deficiencies early on in the year, so that you can make the appropriate adjustments.

Also, bear in mind that finding, hiring, and training the right person can take a lot of time. So it helps to get started as soon as possible. That can be especially true when a low unemployment rate and hot job market mean that potential employees may receive multiple job offers.

Finally, it’s important to realize that many employees ponder their own futures at the end of the year. They may start thinking about whether they intend to stay with your company or move on. If they choose the latter, you’ll want to be ready to deal with the consequences.

5. Check Your Insurance Coverage

Though the old adage says that the best defense is a good offense, sometimes the best offense is a good defense. Simply put,  insurance coverage is a business necessity.

At the beginning of the year, new rates for health insurance , business liability insurance , automobile insurance , umbrella policies , and other types of insurance tend to go into effect, so it’s an opportune time to go quote shopping.

Be sure to consider the following questions about your insurance:

• Is your company adequately covered by liability insurance, and does it have adequate fire and health insurance?
• Are insurance companies running multiple policy bundling deals at the beginning of the year to win your business?
• Are there any new insurance carriers that might be able to provide competitive quotes?
• Has your company taken on any new assets or business interests that haven’t been accounted for and protected by existing policies?

6. Review Your Retirement Plans

Businesses that want to set up a 401(k) , simplified employee pension (SEP) , or other retirement plan should do so as early as possible during the year. Setting up a plan early can permit employees to take full advantage of their annual allowed pretax contributions and the tax advantage offered by qualified retirement plans. The longer their money can grow on a tax-deferred basis, the larger the nest egg they can potentially accumulate.

Reviewing the various plans, selecting an investment firm, and actually setting up a plan don’t happen overnight. Getting an early jump on these efforts makes sense.

Here are some questions that can assist your planning:

• What will it cost to administer the plan?
• How many employees might benefit from the plan and want to take advantage of it?
• How much, if anything, will your company need to contribute to the plan?
• Are there any advantages to setting up one type of plan over another based on costs, your company’s size, and your employees’ retirement needs?
• Which type of plan or combination of plans will best meet your own retirement needs?

Why Is Planning at the Start of a New Year a Good Idea?

Fiscal years often begin with the new year, so reevaluating and making any necessary changes at that point gives you the maximum benefit across the next 12 months. It also gives participants in retirement plans the opportunity to maximize their savings.

Which Areas of My Business Should I Look at?

Six important areas to consider are your online and social media presence, vendors, equipment, staffing needs, insurance, and retirement plans.

How Will Rising Inflation Affect My Business Outlook?

No one knows for sure whether inflation will rise or fall. But you’ll want to factor it into your financial planning. Among other things, inflation could affect your borrowing costs, the prices you pay for supplies, and the salary expectations of your employees. You’ll also need to weigh whether to raise your own prices and by how much, as well as the potential impact that might have on the demand for your products or services.

Business owners should continually evaluate their businesses and make adjustments accordingly. However, from a number of angles—such as insurance, retirement plans, staffing, vendors, and equipment needs—the beginning of a new year is a particularly opportune time to examine aspects of your business and plan decisively.

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New Year Business Planning Guide

The beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate your business strategy and plan for what you want to get accomplished in the upcoming 12 months. We’ve compiled a New Year Business Planning Guide to help you start your new year with a bang.

Table of Contents

Whether it’s in business strategy or operational protocol, we have articles to help you grow in your personal and business development. So relax, grab a coffee or tea, and read through our collection of articles to inspire and empower you for the new year.

New Year Business Trends

• What Your Competition Might Learn About You This Year
• Magnificent Marketing – New Trends You Need to Capitalize On
• The FUD Factor – Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt – How to Sell Like a Winner
• Today’s Business: Is “Going Green” an Advantage?

Work/Life Balance

• 7 Success Habits to Jumpstart Your Day
• Lifestyle/Balance: Separate Your Home Office from Family
• Motivational Tactics
• Balancing Your Business for Ultimate Success

New Year’s Checklist

• Setting Strategic Goals for the New Year
• Making the New Year Budget
• 4 Ways to Raise Funds for New Projects
• Hot Ways to Start the New Year
• “Create Your Marketing Plan in 5 Easy Steps”
• “I Don’t Need a Business Plan”

Staying Organized for the New Year

• De-cluttering Your Office
• 7 Tips to Keep Your Business Organized
• 6 Steps to an Organized Office
• Converting or Remodeling for a Home Office

To find other business-related tools, articles and resources, use our menu bar above or type in your search term on our search bar found at the top of the page to find what you are looking for. We have thousands of resources to help you with your New Year Business Plan.

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Strategic Planning

10 Strategies for Business New Year Planning

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If you want to make the next 12 months more successful, more profitable, and more productive than the last 12 months, these 10 strategies are for you.

By the way, this list isn’t just for a new calendar year – you can revisit this list at any time and create a real turning point in your business if you’re willing to reboot, reinvigorate, and reimagine your business success. Here are strategies for business New Year planning.

1. List the 3 most important objectives for your business over the next year. These should be critical “big picture” accomplishments that will lead to profits and future achievement.

2. For each objective listed above , identify your responsibility in achieving the objective. WHAT will you do? HOW will you do it? WHEN will you do it?

3. Be crystal clear in separating strategies (how and why items) from tactics (what and when items) and use “Verb-noun-date” format to create specific action steps and put them on your calendar.

4. Don’t think of the year as a whole . Break it down to monthly metrics and put quarterly goal-planning reviews on your calendar so you can adjust the dials on your plan, measure results, and take a strategic look at your marketing, sales, and business development activities every 90 days while keeping a close eye on results (profits, clients, projects, revenue) every 30 days.

5. Don’t go it alone . Remember, lone wolves starve to death. Think of partners, advocates, allies, referral sources, and joint venture partners who can help you leapfrog over obstacles and who are a great supplement and complement to your own products and services. Contact them and build (or grow) your relationship with them so you can collaborate more closely – starting right now.

6. Write down a list of professional development goals for the next 12 months. What do you want to learn, do, or become as a business owner? Go to conferences? Gain additional certifications or professional designations? Speak more? Get more articles published? Be specific and put these activities on your calendar so you make sure they happen.

7. Write down a list of personal goals for the next 12 months. What do you want to accomplish for yourself and how would you like to grow personally? Spend more time with your partner? Stay connected with your kids as they grow up and/or pursue their college or post-college adventures? Dig deeper into a special hobby or sport? Drop 10 pounds? Run a 5K? More golf? More vacation time? Where? When? With whom? Map it out to make it happen!

8. Don’t get distracted . Shiny object syndrome has a powerful pull on most entrepreneurs and business owners. Stay focused on the big picture goals you set in Step 1 above – and then relentlessly ask yourself for every new idea, initiative or project, “Does this support one of my three goals? If so, how?” And don’t let yourself off the hook as easily as you might have done in the past. If it’s a no, it’s a no. Metaphorically speaking, stop opening up hot dog stands in the parking lot and redouble your efforts to make your gourmet restaurant thrive!

9. Live out of your calendar, not your inbox . Plan your day – what MUST get done and WHEN? Chunk your day down into blocks and assign specific tasks to those blocks – Phone calls, emails, client tasks, whatever it is YOU want to do that will move you closer to your GOALS. Keep that calendar under your nose. All day. Make it your default screen. Hide, minimize or (gasp) close your email until “check email” pops up on your calendar.

10. Breathe. Relax. You got this . Any time you’re creating an inflection point in your business, it can be scary. You’re letting go of the old – letting go of what no longer works or what no longer serves you well. And you’re embracing the new – the untried, the uncomfortable, perhaps even what seems risky. But the biggest risks of all are stagnation, arrogance, or complacency. Remember – a bend in the road is never fatal… unless you fail to turn.

Category : Strategic Planning

David Newman

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5 Steps to Make a Business Plan for the New Year

It’s time to make an action plan for the new year! Can you believe it?! I feel like this year flew by, but then again, I say that every year! My team and I recently sat down to make our business plan for the new year, and it prompted me to pull the curtain back and show you exactly how I plan everything out in my business. This process is the key factor in turning my $100,00 a year business into making over a million dollars each year. So pull out your chart paper, sticky notes, and markers, and let’s get planning!

Step 1: Decide What Your Plan For the New Year MUST Include

The first step in making your business plan for the new year is getting clear on your priorities. If you listen to this podcast episode on planning for the new year, you’ll know that I call this your “Heck Yes” list. Write down the top ten things that you will say “Heck Yes!” to this year.

At the top of my list is babies and family and personal development. Before I even dip my toe into the business, I need to make sure I have dates and times blocked off for family and personal development. So when I’m making a plan for the new year, I know that I will be blocking off six weeks when my baby is due and any other important family events I want to prioritize.

If you’re having trouble deciding what is on your “Heck Yes” list, here are a few more that are on my plan for the new year. I base everything else I do in my business around my program launches, so that’s next on my list. Then, I prioritize email marketing, blogging, The CEO Teacher Podcast, and social media. I’m also taking this year to focus on affiliate marketing, which goes on the list too!

Step 2: Put Your “Heck Yeses” on Your Plan for the New Year First

Now that you have your “Heck Yes” list, it’s time to sit down and put those items on your plan for the new year. I have four large calendars each year in my business – one for each quarter. You may hear them called Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. These quarterly calendars each include three months of the year. So, when you’re planning out your Q1 (Quarter 1) calendar, you’ll be adding in all of your priorities in January, February, and March. Seeing the whole quarter at a glance, you can make important decisions and be proactive when creating your business marketing plan for the new year.

I will put what’s most important on my yearly calendar, and then I will focus on the details (social media, emails, blogging, and more) each quarter. This is what works best for my team and me, but you have to decide the best way to plan for the new year for you!

Step 3: The Best Way to Plan is to be as Detailed as Possible

As I mentioned above, I start my business plan for the year with a birds-eye-view to ensure the essential pieces are in place. But then, we get as detailed as possible when my team creates our quarterly calendars. We’ll note when we need to send specific emails , what I’m posting on Instagram, the content of my blog posts. 

When you can get super detailed and plan out every piece of content, every launch, every part of your marketing strategy?! That’s when you’ll win! Once it’s down on paper, we MAKE IT HAPPEN. So, write it down and MAKE IT HAPPEN! It’ll take more time now, but I promise you’ll thank me later!

Step 4: What Every Business Plan for the New Year Should Include

Now that you have your content and priorities in your plan for the new year, it’s time for the SECRET SAUCE. This is the IT factor that will set you apart from everyone else – HYPE. I see it all of the time… a teacher makes a new product line or launches a program that they’re excited about, but they don’t get the sales they’re hoping for. There are many reasons why, but one of the big reasons is they didn’t build enough HYPE.

Can I tell you a secret?! I start building hype for my launches almost TWO MONTHS before I open cart. Yup. It’s not a random thing that I think about three days before I release it. If you want to become an industry leader, you have to start thinking like one. There are tons of hype mechanisms out there, and I encourage you to try several and find what works for you and your audience. 

Hype is what your plan for the new year is missing, so think about how you could build momentum before you announce your next TPT product line or course launch. What could you do to get your community excited to purchase? Think about Nike, for example. They release a small number of pairs of shoes in a particular style, and the hype is so big that they sell out in SECONDS! Teacher friend, you can make this happen for you too. Think outside the box to make the new year the best one yet!

Step 5: Take Massive Action to See Your Plan Through

Are you ready for a little tough love?! The only thing standing between you and your success in the new year is YOU! It’s time to stop letting limiting beliefs and distractions get in your way. One of my favorite quotes is, “Action brings clarity, and clarity produces results.” Don’t make this beautiful, color-coded business plan for the new year just to let it collect dust by February. Be persistent and do what’s necessary to see your plan through. Stop letting the people you follow on Instagram influence how you run your business . Put your blinders on, keep taking massive action, and do the dang thing! I know you can do it. It may be hard, you may have to make sacrifices, but it will be so worth it in the end!

I believe in you. It’s our year, so let’s make it happen by taking massive action! Are you in?! Let me know by sharing your plan for the year on Instagram and tagging me @kaysemorris ! I can’t wait to see it and cheer you on!

[…] suit with everything else in our businesses. So, what do you need most as a teacher blogger? Consistency. This means that you should be posting regularly. That could be once a month, once every two weeks, […]

[…] 5 Steps to Make a Business Plan for the New Year […]

[…] habits. How are you going to get ready for what’s to come when you have no idea what it might be? Get your plan in place. What are your Heck Yeses, your non-negotiables? Set your goals so together we can take massive […]

[…] Create a business plan that provides potential customers with a snapshot of your tutoring services. Organize your offers with an easy-to-understand method or framework. Create a business hub (or website) to share with your audience. Include links to get on your schedule. We love Calendly as an option. That way you can schedule and receive payments at the same time.  […]

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Planning for the New Year: How to Set and Hit Your Goals

December 07, 2023

The end of the year is fast approaching, and it’s an excellent time to reflect on how far you’ve come, fine-tune your goals, and start planning for the new year. Take the opportunity to reflect on what you’ve learned — from your successes to things that didn’t quite work out as planned — and apply these newfound learnings to your business. Key takeaways from the past year will provide you with direction for new goal setting and implementation.

Planning for the new year will give you a renewed sense of purpose in your business. It will serve as a reminder of why you started your business and give you the motivation to hit the ground running in the new year.

To get started with planning your goals for the upcoming year, it’s important to first reflect on the past 12 months. Start by reviewing your business plan for the year and consider what worked for you and what didn’t. Ask yourself why you were able to reach some of your goals and not others. You can gain clarity by asking yourself questions such as:

• Where did I see success?
• What didn’t go to plan?
• Did I achieve the goals I set for your business last year? Why or why not?

Take note of what information you can gather from different tools that can also assist in your review:

• Website analytics
• Social media insights
• Practice Better Reports & Analytics
• Client feedback

Determine Your New Goals & Objectives

Once you’ve reviewed the past year, you’ll be ready to determine what you’d like to focus on achieving in the upcoming year.

Take note of both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of your business when considering your goals. Use your dreams as inspiration, but ensure the goals you set for yourself are attainable and actionable.

1. Quantitative Outcomes

Quantitative outcomes are objective, measurable, and numerical in nature. They aren’t influenced by your personal feelings or opinions. Consider reviewing the following quantitative information when planning for the new year:

• Your income (monthly, quarterly, and annually)
• Month-over-month growth
• The number of services, packages, and programs booked and purchased
• The performance of new services and programs launched
• The number of cancellations or no-shows
• Growth on your social media platforms
• Conversion ratios of prospective clients
• Repeat business and referrals

2. Qualitative Outcomes

Qualitative outcomes are more subjective and refer to the quality of something. These aspects of your business can typically be observed but not directly measured. As a business owner, these are important considerations when thinking about the culture of your business and the type of work environment you foster when planning for the new year:

• Did your schedule feel manageable?
• How were your stress levels throughout the year?
• Did you feel in flow and aligned?
• Did your business feel authentic to you?

What a successful business looks like will vary depending on the practitioner, so whether you want to focus your goals on the qualitative aspects of your business, the quantitative, or a combination of both, there is no right or wrong focus when it comes to goal planning.

Map Out Your Goals

Implementing a strategic plan can turn your desires and dreams into real goals that are ready to be put into action. Once you’ve determined what you’d like to achieve, it’s important to further break down your goals into smaller action steps.

A strategic approach to consider is the SMART goals for creating well-defined objectives : Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This is a formula for ensuring your goals are actionable and can be followed through on.

• Specific : Use as much fine detail and precise wording as possible when crafting your goals. Vague goals do not set the stage for easy strategizing and implementation. Specificity will help your goal be more effective.
• Measurable : Adding a quantifying aspect to your goal makes it much easier to track progress and success. To make a goal as impactful as possible, incorporate numbers that can help act as progress benchmarks.
• Attainable : Goals should inspire you and push you out of your comfort zone. While they should challenge you, they should also be realistic and within reach.
• Relevant : This is your opportunity to evaluate whether or not your goal is truly important to you and your business. Ask yourself, if you follow through with your goal, what impact will this have on your business? Is the goal aligned with your overall vision?
• Time-Bound : Objectives tied to a deadline will reduce the opportunity to procrastinate and keep you moving forward in a timely fashion. Time-bound goals should include a plan of when you’d like to have the entire goal accomplished and deadlines for your broken down, smaller tasks. You can consider what can be accomplished weekly, monthly, or quarterly to contribute to your annual goals.

Breaking down your broader goals into smaller actionable tasks will ensure efficiency and accountability and can help you turn your dreams into reality as you start planning for the new year. Consistent small steps add up to big wins! Smaller tasks will also make it easier to roadmap and create a timeline.

Starting with small, easier-to-implement tasks will also provide quick wins that can boost your sense of progress and help build momentum. This momentum will build so you have the confidence and motivation to take on bigger tasks along the way.

Work backward to break down your goals. Start at the end and think of all the steps it will take along the way to get you to your end goal. When working backward to map out your tasks, identify roadblocks you’ve experienced in the past or are anticipating encountering. This will allow you to be proactive in your approach rather than reactive as hurdles and other challenges present themselves along the way.

Create a Follow-Through Plan

Now that you’ve mapped out your goals for the year ahead, it’s important to implement a clear follow-through plan so you can stay on track when planning for the new year. There are many accountability exercises and strategies to consider:

• Understand your why : Why does it matter for you to achieve this particular goal? What will it mean to your business and you personally? Getting clear on the “why” will reinforce your goals and remind you why you started in the first place as the new year’s motivation and buzz wears off.
• Use the task feature : Take it further by creating Tasks within Practice Better for the action steps you’ve broken down your bigger goals into. Tasks can be set for yourself as a practitioner, with a due date, and will be on the first page you see when you log into your Practitioner Portal. This will provide a visual reminder to keep your goals top of mind.
• Write down your goals : Find a place to track or write down your goals so you can easily remind yourself of what you are working towards. Keeping them somewhere you will see every day will allow your goals to stay top of mind and keep you apprised of what you need to focus on at all times.
• Schedule your goals: Input target deadlines for your goals into your calendar. These scheduled reminders will keep you on the path you’ve mapped out for yourself and keep you accountable to your deadlines. Consider adding monthly and quarterly reminders in your calendar to regularly review your progress.
• Have an accountability partner : An accountability partner is someone you can check in with and who provides you with support and motivation. Consider asking a colleague or friend and sharing your goals with them, and plan to check in with one another regularly.
• Celebrate along the way : Plan to celebrate small wins along the way to maintain momentum and motivation.

The end of the year is a great opportunity for reflection and strategizing on how to reach new heights in your business. Reviewing your business to date, determining your goals, and mapping out an accountability plan will ensure you are planning for the new year with your best foot forward!

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on November 10, 2020, and has been revamped for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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New Year business planning

Table of Contents

Set goals for the year

Measure your success so far, pick your priorities, consider changes in the market, using countingup in the new year.

If you want to improve on the way your company performed this year, or you have new ideas on business management that you’ve been waiting to implement, you might want to use the new year as your signal to change things. The new year is a great time to refocus your business, but you have to be sure you’re doing things correctly so you can start next year strong.

This article will help you with your new year business planning and provide a few things you should consider when writing your plans and strategies. We’ll cover a variety of topics, including:

A vital feature of your business plan for the new year should be setting a few goals. Ask yourself what you would like to achieve for the year, but make sure your answers are specific. This means avoiding goals like ‘grow the business’ or ‘make more money’. Instead, it’s better if your goals relate to a particular department or area of your business. 

For instance, if you want to increase your company’s income, consider setting some sales goals . Look into ways you can increase sales of a particular product or service, or check if you need to invest more into marketing to convince more customers to buy your goods.

An important thing to remember is the difference between goals and objectives . A goal is a long-term target: it should help point your business activities in the right direction, but they usually don’t go into details about the methods involved. Expanding your network is a good goal, but consider how you’d actually expand your network. This is where objectives come in.

An objective is more specific, measurable and has some sort of deadline. To achieve your overall goal, it’s smart to break it down into smaller objectives. For example: as part of your goal of expanding your network, you might set yourself the objective of attending two networking events in the new year so you can meet more contacts.

If you want to succeed in the new year, you’ll need to define what success means to you and your company. A big part of working out this definition is to assess your progress so far, which means measuring the success of your business .

There are many different methods you can use to measure your success, but the simplest are the ones that involve calculating your income and comparing it to the income of previous years or months. 

For instance, to measure the success you had last year, you could compare your total income for each month and work out the percentage increase or decrease from month to month. This will help you set goals for the new year, as you could aim to maintain that same percentage or increase it.

If your main aim isn’t income-based, you might want to measure the success of a project you completed in 2021 instead. This can be a little harder than measuring the success of your business overall, especially if you don’t want to focus on income, profits, or similar statistics. It’s still possible, though: look at things like client feedback to measure the success of your project. This helps you determine what you did wrong and what to continue doing in the new year.

When you’re putting together a high-quality business plan for the new year, a small but essential detail to add is where you’re going to start. A list of tasks, goals, and targets is useless if you don’t know what you will tackle first.

To decide the order in which you’ll work through your business plan, you need to work out a method for prioritisation. Different things are important to different businesses, and you’ll want to figure out what’s especially important to your business. 

The best way to do this is to look at your achievements in 2021: determine what went right and what went wrong. If your marketing was phenomenal, but your production was slow and inefficient, you should prioritise the parts of your plan that will improve how you produce goods.

Prioritising tasks is the key to improving your time management . Time management is all about spending your time wisely, so it’s better to do important tasks before nonessential ones. 

The only thing you can ever guarantee about a new year is that it’ll be different from the last one. One of the big differences that a business may want to investigate is the changes within the market they sell their products to

Changes in the market are important because of how customers influence a business . If your target market seems to be changing the way they shop, or wants different things from the products they buy, you’ll need to be able to adapt to these changes. If you think your consumers are likely to change their behaviour in the new year, put measures in place to make the most of these changes. 

Another part of your market is your competitors. A big part of your business plan in the new year might be adjusting your marketing or sales strategy to account for a greater number of competitors. 

Whatever next year might hold for your company, it’s a good idea to move forward with a clear understanding of your finances. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to use the Countingup app. 

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, invoicing on the go, receipt capture tools, tax estimates, and cash flow insights, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Find out more here .

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How to Write a Business Plan for a Small Business

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated September 2, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of writing a business plan

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that writing a business plan helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your business plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After writing your business plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

When writing a business plan, the produces and services section is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

When writing a business plan, the operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

The last section of your business plan is your financial plan and forecasts. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI to write a business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of writing a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Writing a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of writing a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan

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Strategic Business Planning for the New Year

Take stock of where your business currently stands and plan your business’s future. Here are 6 steps to plan for next year.

The start of a new year is a great time to take stock of where your business currently stands and turn your attention to the future. What are your business goals for the year to come, and what kind of planning do you need to do to get there?

Strategic business planning basically answers three questions:

• How is your business performing?
• What business goals do you want to set for the new year?
• What are the best ways to meet your goals?

Here’s how to plan out the new year for your small business in more detail, by following these six steps.

1. Set Your Business Goals

The first step toward any strategic plan is to determine where you’re headed, so spell out in concrete terms what you’d like to accomplish this year. Be specific. Don’t just say you’d like to increase sales. By how much? In which area? How? The clearer you are, the easier it will be to map out ways to achieve your goals.

There are three areas to consider as you set your business goals:

• YOUR VISION FOR THE BUSINESS: Your vision is what caused you to start the business in the first place. What did you see when you looked to the future? Why did you start this business?
• THE MISSION OF YOUR BUSINESS: Your mission is the specifics of what you’d like to accomplish, whether it’s making the best widget available or serving the most awesome tacos.
• YOUR PERSONAL VALUES: Your values encompass what’s important to you in the way you run your business. What would you like your employees and customers to experience?

Articulating these three things – your vision, mission, and values – will help you put a strategy in place to accomplish them. Your plan will affect everything from the number of employees you hire to the types of goods and services you offer.

2. Do a Reality Check

Now that you’ve analyzed where you’d ideally like to be, figure out where you stand in relation to those goals. Sales figures are one way to measure how you’re doing, but success can mean many things; it all comes down to what success means to YOU.

Money is likely a big factor, but it also helps to think in terms of what your community involvement is like, how green your business is , and what kind of programs you have in place for your employees. Again, measure yourself against your vision, mission and values.

3. Choose Your Focus

Once you know where you are, compared to where you’d like to be, you can start working out how to get there. Most likely, you’ll have more things on your list than you might be able to accomplish at once, so you probably have to narrow it down a little, or at least choose priorities, or an order in which to proceed.

Based on your resources and capabilities, choose a handful of specific targets and start planning. Choosing just a few things to concentrate on will help you achieve your goals in actuality. It may sound simple, but work toward your strengths and away from your weaknesses.

4. Know When to Say No

As you start coming up with ideas, always keep your vision for the company and its purpose in mind. Reject any strategies that don’t fit. You’ll also have to shelve ideas that you don’t have the resources for right now. Those ideas may be wonderful, but you’ll need the right people , facilities, time and money to put your strategies into effect, so don’t plan what you can’t pull off. Understand what you can accomplish and what you can’t.

If you have ambitious plans, don’t be afraid to strategize how to get there down the road. You may not have the resources today, but part of what you’re planning for is to be able to develop in areas that will help you accomplish what you want in the future. Concentrate on longer-term business goals, like how to grow your business, improve the products and services you offer, and improve the way you run your company.

5. Create Your Implementation Strategy

Your strategic plan amounts to nothing more than an intellectual exercise until you start to implement it. Your next challenge will be doing the work to execute your ideas, making changes, and monitoring their effects.

Figure out how and when you will address each element of your plan. For the implementation of your plan to be successful, it’s helpful to assign specific responsibilities, activities, deadlines, and budgets.

6. Evaluate Your Plan’s Performance

Strategic planning isn’t a one-shot deal, but an ongoing process. You will need to evaluate how things are going after you put the plan into effect. As you move forward, don’t be afraid to change course if something isn’t working out the way you thought it would, and don’t be afraid of a little discomfort as you alter the way you’ve been doing things.

Schedule the time to take a look at what’s working and what might need tweaking. Make sure you and your staff are clear about your business goals and what needs to be done. For parts of the plan, you might decide on a daily or weekly check to see how the implementation is going. For other changes, monthly or quarterly reviews will do.

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How to Write a Business Plan (Plus Examples & Templates)

Have you ever wondered how to write a business plan step by step? Mike Andes, told us: 

This guide will help you write a business plan to impress investors.

Throughout this process, we’ll get information from Mike Andes, who started Augusta Lawn Care Services when he was 12 and turned it into a franchise with over 90 locations. He has gone on to help others learn how to write business plans and start businesses.  He knows a thing or two about writing  business plans!

We’ll start by discussing the definition of a business plan. Then we’ll discuss how to come up with the idea, how to do the market research, and then the important elements in the business plan format. Keep reading to start your journey!

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is simply a road map of what you are trying to achieve with your business and how you will go about achieving it. It should cover all elements of your business including: 

• Finding customers
• Plans for developing a team
•  Competition
• Legal structures
• Key milestones you are pursuing

If you aren’t quite ready to create a business plan, consider starting by reading our business startup guide .

Get a Business Idea

Before you can write a business plan, you have to have a business idea. You may see a problem that needs to be solved and have an idea how to solve it, or you might start by evaluating your interests and skills. 

Mike told us, “The three things I suggest asking yourself when thinking about starting a business are:

• What am I good at?
• What would I enjoy doing?
• What can I get paid for?”

If all three of these questions don’t lead to at least one common answer, it will probably be a much harder road to success. Either there is not much market for it, you won’t be good at it, or you won’t enjoy doing it. 

As Mike told us, “There’s enough stress starting and running a business that if you don’t like it or aren’t good at it, it’s hard to succeed.”

If you’d like to hear more about Mike’s approach to starting a business, check out our YouTube video

Conduct Market Analysis

Market analysis is focused on establishing if there is a target market for your products and services, how large the target market is, and identifying the demographics of people or businesses that would be interested in the product or service. The goal here is to establish how much money your business concept can make.

Product and Service Demand

A search engine is your best friend when trying to figure out if there is demand for your products and services. Personally, I love using presearch.org because it lets you directly search on a ton of different platforms including Google, Youtube, Twitter, and more. Check out the screenshot for the full list of search options.

With quick web searches, you can find out how many competitors you have, look through their reviews, and see if there are common complaints about the competitors. Bad reviews are a great place to find opportunities to offer better products or services. 

If there are no similar products or services, you may have stumbled upon something new, or there may just be no demand for it. To find out, go talk to your most honest friend about the idea and see what they think. If they tell you it’s dumb or stare at you vacantly, there’s probably no market for it.

You can also conduct a survey through social media to get public opinion on your idea. Using Facebook Business Manager , you could get a feel for who would be interested in your product or service.

 I ran a quick test of how many people between 18-65  you could reach in the U.S. during a week. It returned an estimated 700-2,000 for the total number of leads, which is enough to do a fairly accurate statistical analysis.

Identify Demographics of Target Market

Depending on what type of business you want to run, your target market will be different. The narrower the demographic, the fewer potential customers you’ll have. If you did a survey, you’ll be able to use that data to help define your target audience. Some considerations you’ll want to consider are:

• Other Interests
• Marital Status
• Do they have kids?

Once you have this information, it can help you narrow down your options for location and help define your marketing further. One resource that Mike recommended using is the Census Bureau’s Quick Facts Map . He told us,  

“It helps you quickly evaluate what the best areas are for your business to be located.”

How to Write a Business Plan

Now that you’ve developed your idea a little and established there is a market for it, you can begin writing a business plan. Getting started is easier with the business plan template we created for you to download. I strongly recommend using it as it is updated to make it easier to create an action plan. 

Each of the following should be a section of your business plan:

• Business Plan Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Description of Products and Services

SWOT Analysis

• Competitor Data
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Expenses Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

• Distribution Channel Assessment
• Operational Plan
• Management and Organizational Strategy
• Financial Statements and/or Financial Projections

We’ll look into each of these. Don’t forget to download our free business plan template (mentioned just above) so you can follow along as we go. 

How to Write a Business Plan Step 1. Create a Cover Page

The first thing investors will see is the cover page for your business plan. Make sure it looks professional. A great cover page shows that you think about first impressions.

A good business plan should have the following elements on a cover page:

• Professionally designed logo
• Company name
• Mission or Vision Statement
• Contact Info

Basically, think of a cover page for your business plan like a giant business card. It is meant to capture people’s attention but be quickly processed.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 2. Create a Table of Contents

Most people are busy enough that they don’t have a lot of time. Providing a table of contents makes it easy for them to find the pages of your plan that are meaningful to them.

A table of contents will be immediately after the cover page, but you can include it after the executive summary. Including the table of contents immediately after the executive summary will help investors know what section of your business plan they want to review more thoroughly.

Check out Canva’s article about creating a  table of contents . It has a ton of great information about creating easy access to each section of your business plan. Just remember that you’ll want to use different strategies for digital and hard copy business plans.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 3. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary is where your business plan should catch the readers interest.  It doesn’t need to be long, but should be quick and easy to read.

Mike told us,

How long should an executive summary bein an informal business plan?

For casual use, an executive summary should be similar to an elevator pitch, no more than 150-160 words, just enough to get them interested and wanting more. Indeed has a great article on elevator pitches .  This can also be used for the content of emails to get readers’ attention.

It consists of three basic parts:

• An introduction to you and your business.
• What your business is about.
• A call to action

Example of an informal executive summary 

One of the best elevator pitches I’ve used is:

So far that pitch has achieved a 100% success rate in getting partnerships for the business.

What should I include in an executive summary for investors?

Investors are going to need a more detailed executive summary if you want to secure financing or sell equity. The executive summary should be a brief overview of your entire business plan and include:

• Introduction of yourself and company.
• An origin story (Recognition of a problem and how you came to solution)
• An introduction to your products or services.
• Your unique value proposition. Make sure to include intellectual property.
• Where you are in the business life cycle
• Request and why you need it.

Successful business plan examples

The owner of Urbanity told us he spent 2 months writing a 75-page business plan and received a $250,000 loan from the bank when he was 23. Make your business plan as detailed as possible when looking for financing. We’ve provided a template to help you prepare the portions of a business plan that banks expect.

Here’s the interview with the owner of Urbanity:

When to write an executive summary?

Even though the summary is near the beginning of a business plan, you should write it after you complete the rest of a business plan. You can’t talk about revenue, profits, and expected expenditures if you haven’t done the market research and created a financial plan.

What mistakes do people make when writing an executive summary?

Business owners commonly go into too much detail about the following items in an executive summary:

• Marketing and sales processes
• Financial statements
• Organizational structure
• Market analysis

These are things that people will want to know later, but they don’t hook the reader. They won’t spark interest in your small business, but they’ll close the deal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 4. Company Description

Every business plan should include a company description. A great business plan will include the following elements while describing the company:

• Mission statement
• Philosophy and vision
• Company goals

Target market

• Legal structure

Let’s take a look at what each section includes in a good business plan.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a brief explanation of why you started the company and what the company’s main focus is. It should be no more than one or two sentences. Check out HubSpot’s article 27 Inspiring Mission Statement for a great read on informative and inspiring mission and vision statements. 

Company Philosophy and Vision

The company philosophy is what drives your company. You’ll normally hear them called core values.  These are the building blocks that make your company different. You want to communicate your values to customers, business owners, and investors as often as possible to build a company culture, but make sure to back them up.

What makes your company different?

Each company is different. Your new business should rise above the standard company lines of honesty, integrity, fun, innovation, and community when communicating your business values. The standard answers are corporate jargon and lack authenticity. 

Examples of core values

One of my clients decided to add a core values page to their website. As a tech company they emphasized the values:

•  Prioritize communication.
•  Never stop learning.
•  Be transparent.
•  Start small and grow incrementally.

These values communicate how the owner and the rest of the company operate. They also show a value proposition and competitive advantage because they specifically focus on delivering business value from the start. These values also genuinely show what the company is about and customers recognize the sincerity. Indeed has a great blog about how to identify your core values .

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement communicate the long lasting change a business pursues. The vision helps investors and customers understand what your company is trying to accomplish. The vision statement goes beyond a mission statement to provide something meaningful to the community, customer’s lives, or even the world.

Example vision statements

The Alzheimer’s Association is a great example of a vision statement:

A world without Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia.

It clearly tells how they want to change the world. A world without Alzheimers might be unachievable, but that means they always have room for improvement.

Business Goals

You have to measure success against goals for a business plan to be meaningful. A business plan helps guide a company similar to how your GPS provides a road map to your favorite travel destination. A goal to make as much money as possible is not inspirational and sounds greedy.

Sure, business owners want to increase their profits and improve customer service, but they need to present an overview of what they consider success. The goals should help everyone prioritize their work.

How far in advance should a business plan?

Business planning should be done at least one year in advance, but many banks and investors prefer three to five year business plans. Longer plans show investors that the management team  understands the market and knows the business is operating in a constantly shifting market. In addition, a plan helps businesses to adjust to changes because they have already considered how to handle them.

Example of great business goals

My all time-favorite long-term company goals are included in Tesla’s Master Plan, Part Deux . These goals were written in 2016 and drive the company’s decisions through 2026. They are the reason that investors are so forgiving when Elon Musk continually fails to meet his quarterly and annual goals.

If the progress aligns with the business plan investors are likely to continue to believe in the company. Just make sure the goals are reasonable or you’ll be discredited (unless you’re Elon Musk).

You did target market research before creating a business plan. Now it’s time to add it to the plan so others understand what your ideal customer looks like. As a new business owner, you may not be considered an expert in your field yet, so document everything. Make sure the references you use are from respectable sources. 

Use information from the specific lender when you are applying for lending. Most lenders provide industry research reports and using their data can strengthen the position of your business plan.

A small business plan should include a section on the external environment. Understanding the industry is crucial because we don’t plan a business in a vacuum. Make sure to research the industry trends, competitors, and forecasts. I personally prefer IBIS World for my business research. Make sure to answer questions like:

• What is the industry outlook long-term and short-term?
• How will your business take advantage of projected industry changes and trends?
• What might happen to your competitors and how will your business successfully compete?

Industry resources

Some helpful resources to help you establish more about your industry are:

• Trade Associations
• Federal Reserve
• Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal Structure

There are five basic types of legal structures that most people will utilize:

• Sole proprietorships
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

Partnerships

Corporations.

• Franchises.

Each business structure has their pros and cons. An LLC is the most common legal structure due to its protection of personal assets and ease of setting up. Make sure to specify how ownership is divided and what roles each owner plays when you have more than one business owner.

You’ll have to decide which structure is best for you, but we’ve gathered information on each to make it easier.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the easiest legal structure to set up but doesn’t protect the owner’s personal assets from legal issues. That means if something goes wrong, you could lose both your company and your home.

To start a sole proprietorship, fill out a special tax form called a  Schedule C . Sole proprietors can also join the American Independent Business Alliance .

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is the most common business structure used in the United States because an LLC protects the owner’s personal assets. It’s similar to partnerships and corporations, but can be a single-member LLC in most states. An LLC requires a document called an operating agreement.

Each state has different requirements. Here’s a link to find your state’s requirements . Delaware and Nevada are common states to file an LLC because they are really business-friendly. Here’s a blog on the top 10 states to get an LLC.

Partnerships are typically for legal firms. If you choose to use a partnership choose a Limited Liability Partnership. Alternatively, you can just use an LLC.

Corporations are typically for massive organizations. Corporations have taxes on both corporate and income tax so unless you plan on selling stock, you are better off considering an LLC with S-Corp status . Investopedia has good information corporations here .

There are several opportunities to purchase successful franchises. TopFranchise.com has a list of companies in a variety of industries that offer franchise opportunities. This makes it where an entrepreneur can benefit from the reputation of an established business that has already worked out many of the kinks of starting from scratch.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 5. Products and Services

This section of the business plan should focus on what you sell, how you source it, and how you sell it. You should include:

• Unique features that differentiate your business products from competitors
• Intellectual property
• Your supply chain
• Cost and pricing structure 

Questions to answer about your products and services

Mike gave us a list  of the most important questions to answer about your product and services:

• How will you be selling the product? (in person, ecommerce, wholesale, direct to consumer)?
• How do you let them know they need a product?
• How do you communicate the message?
• How will you do transactions?
• How much will you be selling it for?
• How many do you think you’ll sell and why?

Make sure to use the worksheet on our business plan template .

How to Write a Business Plan Step 6. Sales and Marketing Plan

The marketing and sales plan is focused on the strategy to bring awareness to your company and guides how you will get the product to the consumer.  It should contain the following sections:

SWOT Analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Not only do you want to identify them, but you also want to document how the business plans to deal with them.

Business owners need to do a thorough job documenting how their service or product stacks up against the competition.

If proper research isn’t done, investors will be able to tell that the owner hasn’t researched the competition and is less likely to believe that the team can protect its service from threats by the more well-established competition. This is one of the most common parts of a presentation that trips up business owners presenting on Shark Tank .

SWOT Examples

Examples of strengths and weaknesses could be things like the lack of cash flow, intellectual property ownership, high costs of suppliers, and customers’ expectations on shipping times.

Opportunities could be ways to capitalize on your strengths or improve your weaknesses, but may also be gaps in the industry. This includes:

• Adding offerings that fit with your current small business
• Increase sales to current customers
• Reducing costs through bulk ordering
• Finding ways to reduce inventory
•  And other areas you can improve

Threats will normally come from outside of the company but could also be things like losing a key member of the team. Threats normally come from competition, regulations, taxes, and unforeseen events.

The management team should use the SWOT analysis to guide other areas of business planning, but it absolutely has to be done before a business owner starts marketing. 

Include Competitor Data in Your Business Plan

When you plan a business, taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is key to navigating the field. Providing an overview of your competition and where they are headed shows that you are invested in understanding the industry.

For smaller businesses, you’ll want to search both the company and the owners names to see what they are working on. For publicly held corporations, you can find their quarterly and annual reports on the SEC website .

What another business plans to do can impact your business. Make sure to include things that might make it attractive for bigger companies to outsource to a small business.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing and sales part of business plans should be focused on how you are going to make potential customers aware of your business and then sell to them.

If you haven’t already included it, Mike recommends:

“They’ll want to know about Demographics, ages, and wealth of your target market.”

Make sure to include the Total addressable market .  The term refers to the value if you captured 100% of the market.

Advertising Strategy

You’ll explain what formats of advertising you’ll be using. Some possibilities are:

• Online: Facebook and Google are the big names to work with here.
• Print : Print can be used to reach broad groups or targeted markets. Check out this for tips .
• Radio : iHeartMedia is one of the best ways to advertise on the radio
• Cable television : High priced, hard to measure ROI, but here’s an explanation of the process
• Billboards: Attracting customers with billboards can be beneficial in high traffic areas.

You’ll want to define how you’ll be using each including frequency, duration, and cost. If you have the materials already created, including pictures or links to the marketing to show creative assets.

Mike told us “Most businesses are marketing digitally now due to Covid, but that’s not always the right answer.”

Make sure the marketing strategy will help team members or external marketing agencies stay within the brand guidelines .

This section of a business plan should be focused on pricing. There are a ton of pricing strategies that may work for different business plans. Which one will work for you depends on what kind of a business you run.

Some common pricing strategies are:

• Value-based pricing – Commonly used with home buying and selling or other products that are status symbols.
• Skimming pricing – Commonly seen in video game consoles, price starts off high to recoup expenses quickly, then reduces over time.
• Competition-based pricing – Pricing based on competitors’ pricing is commonly seen at gas stations.
• Freemium services –  Commonly used for software, where there is a free plan, then purchase options for more functionality.

HubSpot has a great calculator and blog on pricing strategies.

Beyond explaining what strategy your business plans to use, you should include references for how you came to this pricing strategy and how it will impact your cash flow.

Distribution Plan

This part of a business plan is focused on how the product or service is going to go through the supply chain. These may include multiple divisions or multiple companies. Make sure to include any parts of the workflow that are automated so investors can see where cost savings are expected and when.

Supply Chain Examples

For instance, lawn care companies  would need to cover aspects such as:

• Suppliers for lawn care equipment and tools
• Any chemicals or treatments needed
• Repair parts for sprinkler systems
• Vehicles to transport equipment and employees
• Insurance to protect the company vehicles and people.

Examples of Supply Chains

These are fairly flat supply chains compared to something like a clothing designer where the clothes would go through multiple vendors. A clothing company might have the following supply chain:

• Raw materials
• Shipping of raw materials
• Converting of raw materials to thread
• Shipping thread to produce garments
• Garment producer
• Shipping to company
• Company storage
• Shipping to retail stores

There have been advances such as print on demand that eliminate many of these steps. If you are designing completely custom clothing, all of this would need to be planned to keep from having business disruptions.

The main thing to include in the business plan is the list of suppliers, the path the supply chain follows, the time from order to the customer’s home, and the costs associated with each step of the process.

According to BizPlanReview , a business plan without this information is likely to get rejected because they have failed to research the key elements necessary to make sales to the customer.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 7. Company Organization and Operational Plan

This part of the business plan is focused on how the business model will function while serving customers.  The business plan should provide an overview of  how the team will manage the following aspects:

Quality Control

• Legal environment

Let’s look at each for some insight.

Production has already been discussed in previous sections so I won’t go into it much. When writing a business plan for investors, try to avoid repetition as it creates a more simple business plan.

If the organizational plan will be used by the team as an overview of how to perform the best services for the customer, then redundancy makes more sense as it communicates what is important to the business.

Quality control policies help to keep the team focused on how to verify that the company adheres to the business plan and meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Quality control can be anything from a standard that says “all labels on shirts can be no more than 1/16″ off center” to a defined checklist of steps that should be performed and filled out for every customer.

There are a variety of organizations that help define quality control including:

• International Organization for Standardization – Quality standards for energy, technology, food, production environments, and cybersecurity
• AICPA – Standard defined for accounting.
• The Joint Commission – Healthcare
• ASHRAE – HVAC best practices

You can find lists of the organizations that contribute most to the government regulation of industries on Open Secrets . Research what the leaders in your field are doing. Follow their example and implement it in your quality control plan.

For location, you should use information from the market research to establish where the location will be. Make sure to include the following in the location documentation.

• The size of your location
• The type of building (retail, industrial, commercial, etc.)
• Zoning restrictions – Urban Wire has a good map on how zoning works in each state
• Accessibility – Does it meet ADA requirements?
• Costs including rent, maintenance, utilities, insurance and any buildout or remodeling costs
• Utilities – b.e.f. has a good energy calculator .

Legal Environment

The legal requirement section is focused on defining how to meet the legal requirements for your industry. A good business plan should include all of the following:

• Any licenses and/or permits that are needed and whether you’ve obtained them
• Any trademarks, copyrights, or patents that you have or are in the process of applying for
• The insurance coverage your business requires and how much it costs
• Any environmental, health, or workplace regulations affecting your business
• Any special regulations affecting your industry
• Bonding requirements, if applicable

Your local SBA office can help you establish requirements in your area. I strongly recommend using them. They are a great resource.

Your business plan should include a plan for company organization and hiring. While you may be the only person with the company right now, down the road you’ll need more people. Make sure to consider and document the answers to the following questions:

• What is the current leadership structure and what will it look like in the future?
• What types of employees will you have? Are there any licensing or educational requirements?
• How many employees will you need?
• Will you ever hire freelancers or independent contractors?
• What is each position’s job description?
• What is the pay structure (hourly, salaried, base plus commission, etc.)?
• How do you plan to find qualified employees and contractors?

One of the most crucial parts of a business plan is the organizational chart. This simply shows the positions the company will need, who is in charge of them and the relationship of each of them. It will look similar to this:

Our small business plan template has a much more in-depth organizational chart you can edit to include when you include the organizational chart in your business plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 8. Financial Statements 

No business plan is complete without financial statements or financial projections. The business plan format will be different based on whether you are writing a business plan to expand a business or a startup business plan. Let’s dig deeper into each.

Provide All Financial Income from an Existing Business

An existing business should use their past financial documents including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to find trends to estimate the next 3-5 years.

You can create easy trendlines in excel to predict future revenue, profit and loss, cash flow, and other changes in year-over-year performance. This will show your expected performance assuming business continues as normal.

If you are seeking an investment, then the business is probably not going to continue as normal. Depending on the financial plan and the purpose of getting financing, adjustments may be needed to the following:

• Higher Revenue if expanding business
• Lower Cost of Goods Sold if purchasing inventory with bulk discounts
• Adding interest if utilizing financing (not equity deal)
• Changes in expenses
• Addition of financing information to the cash flow statement
• Changes in Earnings per Share on the balance sheet

Financial modeling is a challenging subject, but there are plenty of low-cost courses on the subject. If you need help planning your business financial documentation take some time to watch some of them.

Make it a point to document how you calculated all the changes to the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in your business plan so that key team members or investors can verify your research.

Financial Projections For A Startup Business Plan

Unlike an existing business, a startup doesn’t have previous success to model its future performance. In this scenario, you need to focus on how to make a business plan realistic through the use of industry research and averages.

Mike gave the following advice in his interview:

Financial Forecasting Mistakes

One of the things a lot of inexperienced people use is the argument, “If I get one percent of the market, it is worth $100 million.” If you use this, investors are likely to file the document under bad business plan examples.

Let’s use custom t-shirts as an example.

Credence Research estimated in 2018 there were 11,334,800,000 custom t-shirts sold for a total of $206.12 Billion, with a 6% compound annual growth rate.

With that data,  you can calculate that the industry will grow to $270 Billion in 2023 and that the average shirt sold creates $18.18 in revenue.

Combine that with an IBIS World estimate of 11,094 custom screen printers and that means even if you become an average seller, you’ll get .009% of the market.

Here’s a table for easier viewing of that information.

The point here is to make sure your business proposal examples make sense.

You’ll need to know industry averages such as cost of customer acquisition, revenue per customer, the average cost of goods sold, and admin costs to be able to create accurate estimates.

Our simple business plan templates walk you through most of these processes. If you follow them you’ll have a good idea of how to write a business proposal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 9. Business Plan Example of Funding Requests

What is a business plan without a plan on how to obtain funding?

The Small Business Administration has an example for a pizza restaurant that theoretically needed nearly $20k to make it through their first month.

In our video, How to Start a $500K/Year T-Shirt Business (Pt. 1 ), Sanford Booth told us he needed about $200,000 to start his franchise and broke even after 4 months.

Freshbooks estimates it takes on average 2-3 years for a business to be profitable, which means the fictitious pizza company from the SBA could need up to $330k to make it through that time and still pay their bills for their home and pizza shop.

Not every business needs that much to start, but realistically it’s a good idea to assume that you need a fairly large cushion.

Ways to get funding for a small business

There are a variety of ways to cover this. the most common are:

• Bootstrapping – Using your savings without external funding.
• Taking out debt – loans, credit cards
• Equity, Seed Funding – Ownership of a percentage of the company in exchange for current funds
• Crowdsourcing – Promising a good for funding to create the product

Keep reading for more tips on how to write a business plan.

How funding will be used

When asking for business financing make sure to include:

• How much to get started?
• What is the minimum viable product and how soon can you make money?
• How will the money be spent?

Mike emphasized two aspects that should be included in every plan, 

How to Write a Business Plan Resources

Here are some links to a business plan sample and business plan outline. 

• Sample plan

It’s also helpful to follow some of the leading influencers in the business plan writing community. Here’s a list:

• Wise Plans –  Shares a lot of information on starting businesses and is a business plan writing company.
• Optimus Business Plans –  Another business plan writing company.
• Venture Capital – A venture capital thread that can help give you ideas.

How to Write a Business Plan: What’s Next?

We hope this guide about how to write a simple business plan step by step has been helpful. We’ve covered:

• The definition of a business plan
• Coming up with a business idea
• Performing market research
• The critical components of a business plan
• An example business plan

In addition, we provided you with a simple business plan template to assist you in the process of writing your startup business plan. The startup business plan template also includes a business model template that will be the key to your success.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our business hub .

Have you written a business plan before? How did it impact your ability to achieve your goals?

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How to Create a Profitable Annual Business Plan [+Free Template]

Published: February 09, 2023

The beginning of a new quarter is the perfect time to start planning the next year for your business. Start the next year or quarter off on the right foot by creating an annual business plan for your company.

Q4 often brings a flurry of business-related activity. And while all this activity helps fill the pipeline, it can distract you from reflecting on past performance and preparing for the year or quarter ahead.

Fortunately, you can write an annual business plan at any time of the year. Start your plan now to set your team up for success.

What is an annual business plan?

An annual business plan is just that — a plan for you and your employees to help achieve the company’s goals for the year. Think of an annual business plan as the guide to complete all of your company’s overall goals outlined in your initial business plan.

The first business plan you wrote for your business is the blueprint and the annual business plan is the detailed instructions to keep your business running long-term.

Usually, an annual business plan contains a short description of your company, a marketing analysis, and a sales/marketing plan.

Because an annual business plan is for the year, you’ll want to review your business at the end of four consecutive quarters and revise your plan for the next four quarters.

Why is annual business planning important?

Even though the fourth quarter might be a busy time of year, don’t put off creating an annual business plan.

Not only will your annual business plan keep you on track, it will also help you map out a strategy to keep your employees accountable. You can then more easily achieve the overall goals of your business.

Here are some reasons why it’s well worth creating an annual business plan for your company.

You can measure your success.

An annual business plan is the best way to measure your success. And I’m referring to the collective “you” here because it takes the entire company or all of your employees to make new business efforts effective.

An annual plan not only sets expectations for you but also for others within your company who need to contribute to the business’s success.

You can reflect on the past and plan ahead.

Creating an annual business plan allows you to reflect on the past 12 months.

As you reflect on the previous year, you’ll be able to get a good idea of what your business is capable of doing and set accurate, attainable projections based on previous numbers.

You’ll define your business goals.

Your annual business plan will shed some light on what the heck you do at your company. For those who are not routinely involved in new business, it can seem like a black hole of mystery.

Sharing your plan — whether to an executive committee, department heads, or even the entire staff — adds clarity and gives everyone something to aim for.

You can impress your boss.

If you head a department that could benefit from an annual business plan, don’t wait to be asked before you start writing. Get on your CEO’s schedule to review your outline and discuss your intentions for putting this plan together.

Sometimes the hardest part is getting started. You can get the ball rolling with the basic template that follows.

Annual Business Plan Template

Each section of your annual business plan will help tell the story of your company and clearly define your company’s goals for the year.

Let’s take a look at each section of the annual business plan template .

Executive Summary

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New Year, New Goals: A Guide to Effective Business Planning

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Every January, with the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, many business leaders tend to pivot to a “back to business” mindset, complete with the anxiety-generating thought, “What about that annual business plan I never got around to writing?”  Indeed, January seems to pass by quickly, and before you blink, 1 st Quarter is halfway over.  To have a chance at hitting Q1 goals and setting a great tone for the new year, you need to move quickly. Here’s a structure for a quick-and-dirty New Year business plan you could handwrite on a single sheet of notebook paper.

What Happened Last Year?

Jot down the key things that happened to your business over the past year.  (You can refine it later.) You may already be close to your financial results but also think through the non-financial performance results (e.g., customer satisfaction, fill rate, etc. – specific to your business) that impacted you last year. Try to be as specific as possible, even if it takes a little time to chase down the exact numbers from others in the organization. This will set you up well for the later steps.

What Did You Learn Last Year?

Beyond the financials and performance results, what insights about your business, your internal capabilities, your competitors, and most especially your customers did you learn over the past 12 months? Your insights about your business and your customers help you differentiate from the competition.  And yet, most businesses skip this step entirely.  Try to spend a little bit of time in thought and contemplation over this. Ask yourself: “What specific insights or experiences can help me gain an edge this year?”

What Do You Want to Happen This Year?

Grounded in our recent learnings, it is time to turn our attention to the year ahead.  Looking at last year’s performance, decide what success looks like to you for next year. Again, these goals can be both financial and non-financial. (The most successful companies track both types of goals.)

And don’t forget to make these “SMART” goals. There are many definitions of the SMART acronym out there, but the ones businesses tend tend to use is: Specific, Measurable, Aligned (with long-term strategy), Realistic, and Time-Bound. 

Make sure that every goal you set has each of these elements.  And also, challenge yourself to do less this year.  Sometimes, less is more – attempting to do fewer things better is often a more successful approach than running the risk of spreading yourself too thin.

What Do I Need To Do to Achieve Those Goals? 

A goal without a way to achieve it is less than worthless. For every one of your goals, think through a high-level strategy and a step-by-step action plan (with rough milestone timing) to make it happen. You don’t need to write a novel, but you do need to provide enough detail to guide yourself and your team when the ideas aren’t as fresh in your head.

How Can I Stay On Track?

The point of your newly-crafted plan is not to sit in a folder or gather dust. Set check-ins for yourself and your team in a time frame that makes sense. Scheduling a quarterly review of the overall plans is usually a good idea.  And if, later in the year, you find yourself off-track on any of your goals, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, determine what it would take to course-correct yourself toward the success you originally envisioned. Allow yourself to factor in what you know to reframe your going-in plan and target something realistic based on what you know.

Rather than write a drawn-out conclusion paragraph, I’m going to implore you instead to pull out your pad and pen and get started right now.  Start jotting down rough thoughts. You can crystallize them later. But bear in mind – any planning at all that you’re able to do is going to be 100% better than no plan at all. 

If getting ahead of your staffing needs is part of your goals for this new year, we can help! Here at Labor Finders, we're dedicated to helping our clients put their best foot forward this year and beyond. Connect with us today to see how we can help you achieve your new year's business goals.

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From developing comprehensive emergency plans to securing a job site when a storm is imminent, we provide practical and actionable steps you can start taking today.  

In honor of June being National Safety Month, we sat down with Labor Finders’ Director of Safety, David Zolnowski, to get his unique perspective on what “safety” really means for the country's oldest and largest privately held industrial staffing company.

By implementing comprehensive safety protocols, providing proper training, utilizing protective gear, and more, companies can significantly reduce workplace hazards and enhance the well-being of their workforce.

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10 Best Business New Year’s Resolutions for 2022

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You may not have been able to meet many of the goals you set for your business in 2021, a tumultuous year that brought a lot of the same challenges as 2020. Regardless, there are still ways to get back on track and prepare for a better 2022.

Not sure what resolutions should make their way onto your list? Keep reading for 10 new year's resolutions for business professionals.

Small business new year’s resolutions for 2022

These resolutions should help you brainstorm how you can give your business operations a bit of a refresh this year. Think carefully about what day-to-day and overarching problems you want to solve and how you can create better habits to make them happen. Also, consider what larger projects will make the biggest impact on your business.

1. Create realistic organizational processes

While it may seem like the whole point of setting business resolutions is to be super ambitious, sometimes it can help to take a more realistic approach. While many people like to organize their homes during the new year, you can choose to organize your business. And the key to any good organizational system is to create realistic processes. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of a fresh new year and to have your sight set on major changes. But for an organizational system to be sustainable, it needs to be realistic.

Take a good hard look at what did and did not work for you and your staff over the last year. What processes seemed to be more trouble than they were worth? Which did you have to refresh repeatedly because the system was too hard to keep up with? Use your findings to update your processes for 2022.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

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

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

2. Learn to be okay with outsourcing

This resolution can sting a bit for anyone who is used to being the only one in charge of their small business. Many entrepreneurs are responsible for every role in their business when things are just getting off the ground, and this can make it challenging to step away from what you’ve built and let someone else take the reins.

When it comes time to outsource, consider what tasks you struggle with the most. Do creative assignments like marketing campaigns keep you up at night? Are you uncertain if you’re managing your financial accounts correctly? Do you spend way too much time on small administrative tasks that an assistant or software could handle? Your time as a business owner is valuable, so consider hiring some extra help or investing in digital tools to free up your schedule.

3. Update your business plan

Hopefully, you wrote your business plan as one of the first steps of starting your business. A good business plan can serve as a roadmap to success when you need guidance. It can help keep you organized and on track. If you decide you want to pursue an investor, seek a business loan , or take on a new partner, a business plan can also act as a tool to illustrate your business’s worth to outside parties.

In other words, a business plan is crucial to your success. But it isn’t meant to be a one-and-done document. We’re willing to bet your business has changed since you first wrote your business plan. Now is a great time to revisit it and update your plan with the latest financials, goals, competitor research, marketing ideas, and more so your business will continue to grow in 2022.

4. Refresh your marketing plan

Just like with your business plan, you’ll want to take a closer look at your marketing plan. What worked well for your business last year? What didn't? Where did your marketing budget stretch the furthest? What channels worked best for you?

Now that you’ve identified what marketing efforts helped your business the most last year, and which didn’t make as much of an impact, you can update your marketing plan with your insight and knowledge. Your new plan should cut out anything that didn’t work and prioritize what is working best for your business. Feel free to add in new strategies as well. This will help dictate where your marketing budget should go in 2022 so you get the biggest return on your investment.

5. Expand your network

When you’re swamped with work and trying to check off your must-do list, it can be difficult to visualize adding anything that won’t have an immediate impact on your business to your already overpacked schedule. This is why a good resolution for 2022 is to continue expanding your network.

If you make an effort to make a new connection once a week or monthly, you improve the odds of finding a new business lead, learning some valuable trade intel, or creating a strong professional relationship. The more you network, the more results you’ll see. Schedule networking on your calendar like any other to-do to ensure it becomes a priority and not an afterthought.

6. Identify customer service missteps

Customer service matters. In fact, 93% of customers reported they are more likely to become repeat customers at companies that offer excellent customer service.

When it comes to customer service, people remember the really bad experiences as often as the really good ones. Identify what your biggest missteps were in 2021 and outline how you and your employees can avoid them in the future. At the same time, highlight what went well and how you can build on those experiences in 2022.

7. Look for automation opportunities

Technology makes our lives easier every day, but are you using it to its full potential for your business? Look for areas of your business that you can automate. There is software that can make processes such as invoicing, managing inventory, customer service, bookkeeping, sales, and more an automatic occurrence you no longer need to worry about. Not only does this cut down on the chance of manual errors, but it also frees up time in you and your staff’s schedules to tackle other important tasks.

8. Prioritize company culture

If your small business relies on the work of your employees, then focusing on building a good company culture is a fantastic resolution for 2022. Employees that feel engaged and inspired at work are 125% more productive than simply “satisfied” employees. Having a strong company culture that makes employees feel appreciated, respected, and as if their career development matters is a great way to boost employee engagement and loyalty.

Consider surveying your staff on what changes they would like to see culture-wise. Then work toward developing a company culture that reflects your business’s values and prioritizes the needs of your staff. Happy employees are good for business, after all.

9. Build a website

If your business doesn't already have a website, now is the time to invest in building one. A good business website can do wonders for sales, audience growth, brand recognition, and customer service.

An e-commerce website builder can help you create an easy-to-use online store. And in general, a good business website can at the very least allow new customers or clients to find you via search engines, share examples of your work, and provide contact information to anyone who may want to work with you.

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10. Beat burnout

It can be rather exciting to return from a leisurely holiday break with the energy to hit the ground running in January. It’s great to capitalize on the energy that comes after taking time to rest and spend time with loved ones, but before you dive headfirst into work in 2022, consider creating a plan for beating burnout this year.

It’s no secret that many small business owners work themselves to the bone. Burnout is not good for you, your business, or your personal life. Setting clear boundaries, knowing when to take a break, and learning when to ask for help are all great ways to beat burnout. We all have different thresholds for how much we can work and varying ways of coping with stress, just make sure you’re running your business in a way that is good for you.

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

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Annual Planning: 5 Easy Steps To Plan Next Year (+Template)

Get ready to take your strategic annual planning game to the next level! This process is essential for companies who want to set a clear direction for the future and ensure everyone is working towards the same goal. 

But, let's be real, executing a killer strategic plan is easier said than done. That's why we're here to help you help you build a bullet-proof annual plan for the upcoming year.

In this article, we'll dive into the nitty-gritty of annual planning and cover all the tips and tricks you need to know. From involving the right people to communicating your plan like a pro, we've got you covered. 

We'll also share some common pitfalls to watch during the annual planning process and provide real-life examples to help bring it all to life. 

So, whether you're a seasoned planning pro or just starting out, get ready to learn how to make your annual strategic planning a total success!

In this article, you’ll discover:

What Is Annual Planning?

• The Benefits of The Annual Planning Process

5 Steps To Build A Highly Effective Annual Plan

• The Only Annual Planning Template You Need in 2024
• 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Conducting Annual Strategic Planning

Build And Execute Your Annual Plan With Cascade 🚀

🎥 Prefer to watch? Check out our YouTube podcast on "Planning for the New Year" for insights on reflection, goal setting, budgeting, and monitoring strategies.

Annual planning is about turning  long-term business goals  into short-term action plans for the year ahead. It contains insights from past performance and a clear roadmap with a timeline. This yearly plan should be realistic and achievable, while also being ambitious enough to move the business forward.

Annual planning is your opportunity to take the previous year's wins, knocks, and lessons and adjust your strategy to help your business grow consistently and become better.

Miriam Lesa, Strategy Execution Director at Cascade , emphasizes: "It’s not about starting from scratch. Reflect on the wins and lessons from the previous year. Because as you're approaching the new year, you already have a good indication of what's worked and what hasn't. That reflection is crucial to set you up for success."

Annual planning and regular reviews help you proactively adjust strategies, adapt to changes, and steer your organization in the right direction to get the business results you want by the end of the year or toward your  vision  in the future.

The Benefits Of The Annual Planning Process

Whether it's your IT,  supply chain , pricing, marketing,  operations , or sales strategy—improving, pivoting, or optimizing your annual planning approach from one year to the next year is non-negotiable. The annual planning process will help you assess the effectiveness of your  business strategies  and make adjustments to keep up with customer needs and market trends.

An effective annual planning process for the new year can offer the following benefits.

Provide strategic clarity

Annual strategic planning helps define and align goals, mission, and values, leading to more focused and effective decision-making across all levels of the organization. This in turn sets a clear and consistent direction for future initiatives, maximizing the organization's potential to achieve success.

Maintain long-term focus

By regularly reviewing and updating its  strategic plan , your organization stays focused on long-term objectives instead of being constantly sidetracked by day-to-day operations.

Laura Blackmore, Head of Strategy Execution at Cascade , advises, “You need to reflect on the last year's performance and celebrate your wins. Taking stock of what worked will help you build on your strengths going into the new year.”

Benchmark performance

An annual strategic planning process helps you measure and track progress on key  strategic initiatives , and evaluate the progress made compared to last year.

Identify gaps and opportunities

By regularly reviewing your strategic plan, your teams will  identify gaps  and opportunities for improvement and innovation, which can help you stay ahead of your competition.

Optimize resource allocation

By  aligning your strategic plan  with your budget, you can allocate resources that will support your goals and cut costs from misaligned initiatives.

Increase engagement and buy-in

Involving  key stakeholders  in the strategic planning process will increase engagement and buy-in across your organization, leading to a more cohesive and motivated team.

A clear and execution-ready annual plan that focuses on the big picture and pays attention to the details can be the glue that binds your teams together. And this is crucial if you want to reach this year's goals with greater speed and efficiency. Plus, it's much better than the alternative of just winging it and hoping for the best!

📚 Recommended read:  How To Create An Effective Annual Operating Plan (+Template)

Don't get us wrong—creating and managing a yearly planning process can be a daunting task. But, with the right approach, you'll be able to get it right and  start executing faster.  Here's how to do annual planning the right way:

1. Analyze your performance and identify opportunities

Before you  set goals , you should do an analysis of your company's current performance, market, and competitors to see where you stand.

Miriam advises, “Do a proper post-mortem. Look not only at what worked in terms of your business, but also in terms of processes, customers, and employees. This holistic check-in will give you a great starting point for your annual plans.”

Here are some tools you can use in the process: 

• SWOT analysis
• PESTLE analysis
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Competitive analysis 
• Financial performance of the previous year
• Gap analysis  

A better understanding of your current performance can help you make data-driven decisions when building your annual plans for the year ahead. 

Want to make it fail-proof? Don't forget to include key stakeholders who will be involved in the day-to-day execution of your annual plan. 

Here's who should be included in the analysis process: 

• Executive leadership: They are responsible for setting the overall direction and strategy for the organization.
• Department heads and team leaders: They can offer insights into team capabilities and resources. They can provide insight into the specific needs and challenges of their teams and ensure that their  operational plans  align with the annual plan.
• Employees: Employees often have valuable insights and ideas that can help improve the plan. By involving them in the planning process, you can tap into this wealth of knowledge and potentially identify new opportunities or challenges that may not have been considered otherwise.
• Customers: Customer feedback is critical to understanding the needs and priorities of the target market.
• Suppliers and partners: Depending on the nature of the business, it may be beneficial to involve suppliers and partners in the strategic planning process. They can provide valuable insights into industry trends and potential challenges. 

👉Bonus tip: Don't let analysis paralysis slow you down! Set a timeline, prioritize data, make informed decisions, and don't overthink it. Move into the  execution phase  as fast as possible. Adapt later.

2. Formulate your strategy 

The data and insights from Step 1 should inform the formulation of your strategy for the coming year. At this point, you should have a clear sense of direction and objectives that your company wants to achieve in the coming year. 

💡 To identify and formulate your strategy, consider the following questions with your team:

• What is the business problem that we are trying to solve?
• What are our core  strategic objectives , and how will we measure success?
• What are our  key strategic initiatives,  and how will we prioritize them?
• What are our  key performance indicators , and how will we track progress?
• Are there potential  risks , and how will we mitigate them?
• What resources will we need, and how do we allocate them?

Answering these questions will help you test the validity of your strategy and identify any potential gaps or risks that need to be addressed. In this way, you'll build a solid foundation for your annual plan and increase the chances of its successful execution.

3. Build your annual plan

Next, you'll need to  turn your strategy into a detailed roadmap  that outlines the steps you'll take to achieve your annual strategic objectives and goals. 

Laura advises, “When building your annual plan, don’t over-complicate it. Start with high-level goals and break them down into more specific actions—focus on clarity and execution.”

It's like taking a map from a broad view of the journey to a more detailed look that zooms in on the roads and landmarks you'll need to follow to reach your destination.

📝Your annual plan should include the following:

• 🔎 Focus areas: The specific areas of the company or its operations that need improvement.
• 📌 Goals and objectives: Specific outcomes the company wants to achieve in its yearly plan. 
• 📈 Measures:  Deliverables and Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ) to track progress toward your company's goals and objectives.
• 📤 Actions: Specific actions or projects to achieve goals and objectives.
• 😎 Owners: Individuals or teams responsible for implementing the actions.
• 📆 Due dates: Specific deadlines and milestones throughout the year.
• 💰 Budget: Allocating the resources to achieve goals and objectives.
• 🛡 Contingency plans: Predefined responses to potential risks that could impact the execution of your annual plan.

👉Here’s how Cascade can help you:  

Cascade's  strategic planning feature  gives your annual planning process a standardized and structured approach that includes all the key elements for success. It helps you set high-level annual goals, break them down into smaller initiatives, and assign owners to drive accountability.

4. Create tight alignment with your teams

If the leadership team's job is to set high-level company priorities to frame key strategic initiatives, then it's up to specific business functions or teams to chart out the path to reach those  strategic goals

The first step in ensuring  strategic alignment  is to clearly communicate the plan to all employees. This can be done through regular meetings, company-wide presentations, and other forms of communication, such as a central location for your annual plan that is easily accessible to your stakeholders.

The key is to make sure that everyone understands the goals and objectives of the plan and how their work fits into the bigger picture.

Laura mentions, “You need to get a bird’s-eye view of where the organization is heading and ensure the entire team is aligned with that direction before moving forward with your annual business planning.”

👉Here's how Cascade can help you:  

With , you can link your annual strategic plan to individual departmental or team plans in a single source of truth. As a result, it's easier to ensure that everyone in the organization is aligned with the goals and objectives and monitor the progress being made toward those goals.

5. Monitor progress and adjust your plan

Gone are the days of static, set-in-stone strategic plans! It's time to embrace flexibility and be willing to make changes as needed. Your annual plan is a flexible, dynamic roadmap that should be adjusted as circumstances change or new information becomes available. The key is to stay focused on your goals and objectives, and  be ready to pivot when needed

Here are some steps that you can take to monitor the annual plan and adapt as needed:

• Set up a system for tracking progress: This can be done using a variety of tools, including spreadsheets,  strategy reports ,  strategic planning software , or  status reports .
• Establish regular review meetings: These meetings can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on the needs of your organization. The key is to make sure that progress is regularly reviewed and that any issues are identified and addressed in a timely manner.
• Monitor key metrics: Track the most important KPIs that will help you quickly catch underperforming areas and evaluate the success of your annual plan and business strategies. 

If you want to be a savvy business leader, you need to always be monitoring progress, the business environment, and adjusting your plans accordingly. So, let's ditch the rigidity and embrace the flexibility of modern strategic planning and strategy execution! 

With Cascade's powerful data visualization, you can connect multiple data sources from spreadsheets, project management tools, or business intelligence tools in a single place. You'll be able to uncover powerful insights and deliver accurate  reports  to help stakeholders make better decisions.

Plus, Cascade's drill-down capabilities allow you to easily explore and interact with your data to gain deeper insights in real time.

The Only Annual Planning Template You Need in 2025

Ready for some serious annual planning made easy-peasy? We've got just the thing for you—our  annual planning template ! This bad boy is like your own personal planning sidekick, packed with all the goodies you need to align your teams, monitor performance, and rock this year.

Think of it as a one-stop shop for all your annual planning needs. It's pre-filled with examples that can guide you through the planning process, or you can customize it with your own information.

It’s a great alternative if you want to get out of messy and ineffective spreadsheets. Plus, it's got a super simple layout, so you won't be bogged down by a bunch of unnecessary features. This template can help, regardless of whether you work at a startup or an enterprise-sized company. And no matter the industry you’re in. 

Don't believe us? Give it a try! We guarantee it'll make your annual planning process a whole lot smoother and its execution a whole lot faster. So what are you waiting for? 

Sign up for a free forever plan with Cascade, add the annual planning template to your profile, and level up your game. It’s that simple. 

👉 Click here to get instant access to your annual planning template.

7 Mistakes To Avoid When Conducting Annual Strategic Planning

Alright, before you dive deep into your yearly planning session, let's talk about the elephant in the room:  planning and execution mistakes . In this section, we're diving into some of the most common blunders made during the annual planning process, so you can dodge them like a boss.

Lack of stakeholder engagement

Failing to involve critical stakeholders in the planning process can lead to a siloed plan that doesn't align with the organization's capacities, needs, and priorities. 

Unrealistic goals

Be sure your planning is grounded in your situation's realities and consider your organization's resources, skills, and timelines. This is why it's crucial that you consult with various stakeholders when planning and executing your strategy. If you need a  goal-setting  framework, you can check  OKRs  (Objectives and Key Results). Or take a look at these  5 best strategic planning models  to help you set SMART goals.

Miriam emphasizes, “Goals shouldn't be hastily formulated or carried over without proper thought. Take the time to carefully set realistic and impactful objectives for the upcoming year.”

Lack of flexibility

View your plan as a flexible roadmap, not a rigid set of rules, and be prepared to adapt as the business environment changes. The “perfect plan” doesn't exist. As  76% of corporate strategy leaders  report significant pivots in strategic plans happening more frequently, you need to be ready to expect the unexpected. 

Lack of resources

An annual plan that doesn't consider your team member's knowledge and skill sets won't result in tangible outcomes. Additionally, ensure that your business has the necessary resources and that your annual plan won't cause a cash flow crunch.

Inadequate communication

Clear and  transparent communication  is crucial for success, so communicate plans to all stakeholders and ensure they understand the goals and how they fit into the organization's overall strategy.

Laura explains, “Communication is often overlooked. You need to communicate the process before it starts, communicate expectations during, and then communicate the outcomes.”

Lack of follow-through

Nobody wins if your teams aren't hitting goals, and your strategy is just a document collecting dust. According to  Cascade's Strategy Report , less than 20% of team members review progress weekly. Set up regular progress reviews and take corrective actions as needed. Ignore this pitfall, and you'll set your strategy up for failure.

Misalignment between business strategy and team goals

Strategy execution is a team sport, and everyone needs to be on the same page. Share annual business goals with your team leaders and their team members. Let them  set their team goals  independently, give them feedback, and ensure buy-in early on.

Ready to tackle your annual planning with confidence? 

Remember, the key to success is having a clear plan in a single source of truth, organization-wide alignment, and being flexible enough to adapt when necessary.

And as a final reminder, don't forget to check out our annual planning template! It's the perfect tool to help you structure your plan, get your teams aligned with your strategic priorities, and keep track of your progress so you can adapt quickly if needed. 

So don't miss out,  book a demo with one of our strategy experts or sign up today for free , and let's get started!

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• 6 steps for operations leaders to build ...

6 steps for operations leaders to build a better annual plan

An effective annual plan is critical to keep your teams, departments, and company together, working toward the same goals. 

As an operations leader, you oversee how your organization runs its business. By reviewing how your company performed in the past year, you and your operations teams can identify which strategies worked—and which fell short—to build an effective annual plan designed to maximize the impact of every department.

Here’s what you need to know about building a successful annual plan.

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Annual plans drive clarity and accountability 

With an annual plan, departments can start the year off with a strong understanding of the overall vision and how their work contributes to larger business goals. Without an overarching plan, it can be difficult to understand how a specific project or initiative moves the business forward. 

Clear goals establish benchmarks for project progress

Your annual plan shouldn’t be a set-it-and-forget-it goal. Rather, periodically check project progress against your annual plan so you can see how your operations teams are doing. Doing this throughout the year will not only give you a sense of how your teams are tracking towards their overall goals—it can also help you understand if they’re ahead or behind schedule, and adjust accordingly. 

If you notice that a specific initiative is not on track to meet the strategic goals outlined in your company’s annual plan, you can use this data to pivot and double down on—or divest from—specific initiatives. 

Establish concrete goals for a specific time period

The more specific your goal, the more concrete your action plan. Providing detailed and specific goals gives your employees a clear understanding of what work to prioritize and what deliverables they’re responsible for. 

Make sure your goals are measurable, as well. Clear KPIs and OKRs demonstrate how tangible work connects back to larger business goals. 

6 steps for annual business planning

The annual planning process often takes place near the end of the calendar year or at the end of your company’s fiscal year. As you get closer to annual planning time, consider these six steps of the annual planning process. 

1. Reflect on previous strategies—and develop new ones

Before your business can start planning for next year, ask yourself, your stakeholders, and your operations teams: How did we perform against the strategies laid out in last year’s annual plan?

No matter the answer, use these recent data points to steer your decision-making when building your next annual plan. That could mean doubling down on big programs or initiatives born in the last year—or going a different direction entirely. 

A well-built annual plan factors in reflection on what did and didn’t work—and improves off of it.

2. Transform your business’s greatest needs into goals

After reflecting on last year’s performance, hone in on the most significant growth and improvement opportunities. Use this for guidance as you construct company- and department-wide goals.

It helps to have a consistent framework for goals across the business, to accelerate the goal-setting process and ensure greater understanding of goals within all corners of the organization.

The exact goal framework you use will depend on your company, but a few good ones to consider are: 

The Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method , which helps your business set goals using the framework “I will [objective] as measured by [key result].”

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) , which use leading and lagging indicators to track how you’re performing towards your goals. 

The SMART goals framework , which helps ensure the goals your organization sets are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

3. Create an action plan to maximize impact

The next step is to create an action plan for your business to achieve the goals outlined in step three. Your action plan should outline the list of steps your teams need to take to accomplish their goals. Think of an action plan like the map you’ll use to arrive at your final destination. 

From there, delegate the work laid out in the action plan to specific teams and departments. Connecting the work that your operations teams complete to larger company goals makes it easier for each team to understand the impact their work has on the business.

4. Ensure the annual plan is everyone’s plan

Not everyone can be involved in building the annual plan for your company—but every team member should feel like their work is seen and accounted for in the plan. 

As the annual plan comes together, meet with leaders and employees across the business to ensure varying perspectives and priorities are factored into the final product. This step is critical for getting buy-in and generating excitement across the business. 

You don’t want to be in a position where you’re just telling everyone what the annual plan is—you want to bring every department along for the journey and get them excited about what they’re working toward in the coming year. Consider conducting a presentation to not only share the company plan and why this plan matters, but also to outline timelines and how departments will use it to achieve the company’s goals. 

5. Execute your strategy, monitor metrics, and adjust as needed

At this point, your organization’s annual plan is completed, but nothing is ever fully set in stone. As the year progresses, make sure you’re continually monitoring success metrics and KPIs. If the results of your strategies are not behaving as you expected them to, it’s important to adjust so your business will still hit the goals outlined in your annual plan. 

6. Repeat again for next year 

At the end of the year, it’s time to start the process over again. Align with your strategic plan, look back at the past year’s results, and create another plan to achieve those business goals. 

What does a good annual plan include?

Effective annual plans should contain components that are essential for completing the work outlined in the plan itself, and context for why this plan will be effective. Here are a few examples of components you would find in an annual plan:

Reports of the previous year’s performance: Your company’s annual plan for the upcoming year should be based on the data from the previous year’s performance. This provides context for your teams as to what they’re capable of doing within one calendar year.

Budget estimates: A common KPI investors track is return on investment (ROI). Knowing how much money different teams are spending makes it easier for your organization to calculate ROI and adjust strategies. Providing budget estimations also gives departments the context they need for the amount of resources they have at their disposal for the year.

Clear and specific goals: Annual plans should use the SMART goal framework so that your company can easily measure progress and report back on it later. 

Important milestones: Your business can accomplish a lot of work within one year—but to do that, each department needs to know how they're doing. Milestones operate like checkpoints, giving teams and departments a sense of direction and an idea of how they're pacing against annual goals.

Project buffers and contingency plans: Unexpected things happen all the time, and it’s better to be prepared than caught off guard. Develop a contingency plan for how your organization will get back on track in the event of an unexpected roadblock. Also set aside some resource buffers, such as a small portion of your company’s budget, to accommodate for unexpected expenses.

Gear up for next year

After a year of hard work, it’s time to reflect back and plan for more great things in the future. While annual planning takes time, collaboration, and thoughtful strategy, the efforts show in the form of your business success. 

Still have questions? We have answers. 

What is annual planning.

Annual planning is the act of developing a strategy for the upcoming year based on the learnings from the current year’s performance. This provides an opportunity for your operations teams to iterate on strategy from the past year and incorporate those learnings into your upcoming plans. 

In essence, your annual plan should contain: 

The goals your business needs to achieve

A strategy for how your organization will hit those goals

Clear tactics for what each department will work on

Any important milestones that benchmark progress

What’s the difference between annual planning and strategic planning? 

Strategic planning and annual planning are both important business planning methods that help set your team's strategy for the future. However, the scale of these planning strategies are different.

Strategic planning is the long-term strategy for your business. This encompasses a basic roadmap of how business should develop within three to five years. You will use your strategic planning process to inform your annual plan. 

Annual planning represents all of the goals and strategies that you want your business to achieve, similar to a strategic goal. The main difference here is that an annual plan only encompasses one calendar year, instead of a few years. If you think of it like a pie, annual planning is just one slice of the larger strategic plan pie.

When should your operations teams start annual planning?

Begin your annual planning process during Q4, so you can begin day one of Q1 with your plan in hand. If that’s not an option, do your annual planning as close to the start of the new year as possible. 

There are two benefits to planning earlier. First off, you’ll beat the end-of-year crunch, and avoid the stress that traditionally comes with the end of the year. Additionally, if you run an efficient annual planning process with your leadership team, your operations teams will still be free to execute on high-impact projects throughout Q4.

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More From Forbes

Five realistic new year’s resolutions for small business owners.

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NEW YORK, NY: The 2022 New Year's Eve Numeral upon arrival in the Times Square of New York City. ... [+] (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Small business owners often go into the new year with the goal of strengthening and expanding their business. Like all new year’s resolutions, these plans can be limited when business owners are hit with the day-to-day challenges of life. However, there are some realistic resolutions that small business owners can set and achieve. Here are five of them. 

1. Build an Online Presence and Take Advantage of Digital Tool s 

The pandemic created a need and opportunity to rely more on digital capabilities. The Small Business Roundtable’s annual report said that in 2020 many businesses are using web presence for awareness, customer acquisition, e-commerce capabilities, and digital fulfillment (no touch) where possible. If business owners are assessing whether they have fully implemented digital resources, they should ask themselves if they have a website and ways to receive payments digitally. If they do not, there are many resources to help them make the digital transition. For example, Forbes offers a step-by-step guide for pivoting your small business to online. 

2. Create a Caregiving Plan for Your Employees

Covid-19 also highlighted and exacerbated challenges facing working caregivers. Business owners can support employees who are also caregivers by making a plan to adapt their business operations to meet the needs of family caregivers. Incorporate practices like flexible work-schedules, phased part-time, and cross-training to back-stop essential duties and prepare for employee absences due to personal illness or caring for children, senior citizens, and/or ill family members. AARP offers a caregiver guide for small business owners.

3. Get Certified

Business owners who are part of an underrepresented population or operate their business in an underserved community can apply for certifications intended to improve their access to hundreds of corporate representative and supplier diversity professional contacts. For example, the Biden Administration launched new efforts to build Black wealth and narrow the racial wealth gap and the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., has created the ByBlack initiative to give Black entrepreneurs access to valuable business resources. In addition, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce , National Minority Supplier Diversity Council , Disability: IN , and Women's Business Enterprise National Council are just a few of the organizations that offer such a certification. Take time to explore what opportunities are available and the process for applying. 

4. Get up to Speed on Federal Opportunities

For the rebuilding of the economy and infrastructure post-pandemic, there will be lots

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lots of funding going to states and localities from federal legislation, most notably the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. Small business owners should look into these and other federal contracting opportunities to determine if it makes sense to bid on them. The U.S. Department of Commerce offers a Good Jobs Challenge and the Minority Business Development Agency to support small businesses and Women Impacting Public Policy has targeted efforts to increase federal contracting for women business owners.  

5. Join a Small Business Organization

Organizations for business owners exist in most communities. Not only do they give small business owners greater connections and leadership roles in their communities, these organizations can also help lead to more business opportunities. Business owners can learn more about the organizations in their cities or towns, such as a chamber of commerce or rotary club, and determine what makes the most sense to join. It may also make sense to become a member of a national business organization, such as the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce , Asian American and Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship , National Association for the Self-Employed , Small Business for America’s Future , and National Small Business Association .  

Making changes and improvements can alway be a challenge, but these resolutions are achievable if business owners begin working towards them now.

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