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

Nowadays business owners are overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork and red tape when it comes to starting a new company. This is why more and more entrepreneurs are turning their attention towards using a one-page business plan that can help them get started quickly, save time, and focus on what’s important: building value for customers.

A one-page business plan is a step-by-step guide that outlines the company’s mission, vision, and goals. The one-page business plan sample pdf can be used as a template for creating your own business plan. Read more in detail here: one page business plan sample pdf.

You most certainly have a business idea right now. Awesome! Now it’s time to put your ideas down on paper and think about them. The One-Page Business Plan will guide you through each phase of the business planning process. You can complete the essentials of this plan in less than 15 minutes after you have your financial estimates. Planning is an excellent technique to fully comprehend the expenses and revenue possibilities of your company concept.

Download our one-page business plan template before continuing:

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

For easier access, download the template and save it on your desktop. The PDF’s fields are editable. Alternatively, you may print the page and write on it by hand. Fill up the blanks with one or two phrases for each question. Feel free to use unfinished sentences.

Place your initial thoughts on the template and continue writing on an own document if you need more room to write.

 

1st issue

What is the issue that your company will solve?

Every company seeks to address an issue. What is the exact issue that your company will address for a customer? Get to the heart of the matter with your consumer.

For example, “time squandered” keeping a lawn may be a concern for a landscaping company’s client; but, if feasible, be more specific. An overgrown yard, for example, might be the particular issue. It’s far more difficult to detect “time squandered” than it is to see an untidy lawn.

2. Suggestion

Question: What services would your company supply to address that issue?

You’ve discovered the issue; now it’s time to find a solution. What steps will you take to address the customer’s problem? This is your solution, whether it’s a product or a service. Don’t be scared to be detailed in your response.

Returning to the landscaping example, your answer is to enhance and manage an unruly grass. However, I dare you to take your solution a step farther. Perhaps you’re designing a lawn that makes your neighbors envious, which is a solution based on a strong feeling.

Tip: If you’re beginning a new firm, test your solution on a modest scale before investing a lot of money. This test ensures that buyers will be willing to pay for your solution. A frequent adage in entrepreneurship is that a failing new firm produced “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” Don’t be that company.

3. Business Strategy

Question: How will you generate money with your company?

Its business concept is basic for many firms. A product or service is sold, and the firm gets compensated.

You should also specify how and where the goods and services will be sold. Will you sell them at your own store or office? Is it your shop or workplace, or someone else’s? Will you be selling on your own website or via an online marketplace like Amazon?

You should also specify your price at this step—basically, how much will you charge? It’s not always easy to figure out what’s going on. For price information, look at competing websites. You may wish to get a price from a competition.

4. Identify Potential Clients

Who do you think will buy your goods or services?

Your ideal consumers are your target market. “Everyone” is the poorest response to who your target consumer is. Even some of the most well-known firms did not start out as being for everyone—Facebook was created for college students, while Amazon was created to sell books. Also, if you’re marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one, according to a popular marketing adage.

Consider demographics while determining who your target clients are. Consider factors such as age, income, gender, interests, and geographic region.

Your marketing plan will become evident after you’ve identified your target customers—you’ll know where and how to spend your marketing expenditures.

5. Publicity

Question: How would potential clients find out about your company?

Make a list of any techniques you’ll employ to educate prospective clients about your company. It might be difficult to approach and convince your initial clients as a new company. How are you going to go about it?

For your company, networking and promoting in person is typically more beneficial than internet promotion. Some web marketing, on the other hand, is free and may reach a large number of individuals.

Consider claiming and enhancing your free Google My Business (GMB) page if you’re seeking for local consumers. Set up your free one-page website once you’ve created your GMB listing. Affordable!

6. A competitive edge

Question: What will set your company apart from the competition?

Study your competition and discover their strengths and shortcomings before stating your competitive edge. Choose one or two areas where you know you can outperform competition after you’ve established that you can.

If you see they have negative internet evaluations, for example, you may provide great customer service. In fact, your marketing materials, such as a satisfaction guarantee, might explicitly state this.

Maybe you can beat your competition to the punch—”done in two days or less!” Don’t be scared to call out your rivals and explain why your company is the greatest at “X.”

7. Financial Estimates

How much money do you need to get started?

Startup costs—the amount of money required to open your doors—are one aspect of financial estimates. Simply list all of the things and services you’ll need to get your firm up and running at this price.

When it comes to predicting beginning costs, it’s better to overestimate than underestimate. A new company owner is sometimes ignorant of key initial expenditures. You can run out of money before you acquire your first client if you misjudge expenses.

Question: How much do you plan to spend each month?

Calculate the amount of money your company is expected to spend each month. Calculate the first 12 months’ expenses.

This may need some investigation. For goods like raw materials, equipment, and insurance, you may need to call and seek an estimate.

Question: What will your monthly income be?

Now comes the fun part: estimating how much money you’ll earn. For the first 12 months, how many customers do you expect to have per month? From the business model phase, you should have your price. To calculate an expected monthly revenue, multiply the number of consumers by the price.

Depending on your industry, you might anticipate to see a monthly increase in your consumer base. You could just have a few clients in your first month, but by the end of the year, you’ll have hundreds. You do not, however, have to expand. Some businesses may be satisfied with a few regular consumers each month.

8. You’ll Need Money

Question: How much cash do you need to start and run your company?

The entire amount of money you’ll need to establish and run your firm for at least six months is referred to as funding necessary. Typically, you’ll need more money than that to get started.

What if the company’s sales don’t meet your expectations? Or what if a natural calamity strikes, like a storm or a pandemic? Is there enough cash in your firm to bring you through a bad patch?

Now that you know how much money you’ll need to start and run your business for at least six months, you may seek finance from a variety of sources, including:

The Alternative to a One-Page Business Plan

If you want to write a more detailed business plan after reading this article, keep in mind that there are several sorts of business plans. If you want to get money from a bank or an investor, for example, you’ll need to write a standard business plan. This sort of strategy requires more in-depth market analysis and financial projections.

Conclusion

Don’t throw your one-page business plan in a drawer to be forgotten about now that you’ve finished it! Revisit your strategy often as you progress with your company.

Keeping track of your income and spending is a good idea to check whether your projections were true. Did you achieve your objectives? What’s working and what’s not? Use your one-page business plan to reflect on the current situation of your company and, if required, amend it.

The “simple business plan template” is a step-by-step guide that will help you create a one-page business plan. The plan includes a table of contents, executive summary, and introduction.

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