Business Plan Outline

---

   
This sample business plan outline plan will provide a guideline to show the sections that are typically included in a business plan. There is some room for flexibility.

Determine the sections and information you will include in your business plan based on the nature of your business (whatever information is most relevant to your business) and your reason for writing the plan (a business plan written to attract financial backers will have a different focus than a plan written as an internal document that guides your business decisions.)

You can click on the links in the sample business plan outline to find more detailed information about each section. Please note, however, the intention of these articles is not to provide you with all of the information you'll need to write a business plan. That's well beyond the scope of this site. Rather, this free business plan outline is here to help you to get a good overview of what is typically included in a business plan and, hopefully, to help you feel more confident in your ability to write a business plan.

Before you're ready to sit down and start your business plan, I'd suggest you visit your local library or book store and pick up a good book or two on the subject. Two I really like are: The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies for really thorough information about business plans and How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan: Step-By-Step Guide by David E. Gumpert for good, but more general (and possibly less overwhelming) information about writing business plans.

Sample Business Plan Outline

Cover Page

• Include company name, address, phone number and chief executive's name.

Table of Contents

• A logical arrangement of sections within the plan and page numbers to make it easy to find each section.

Executive Summary

• The foundation of your plan, it sums up the nature of the business.
  
• An effective executive summary should allow the reader to quickly develop a basic understanding of your business.

The Company

• Provides basic information about the company including: company history if it's not a startup, evolution of the product or service, current status of the company and future strategies.

Industry and Target Market Analysis

• Includes your assessment of your current target market and other customer groups that you may pursue, the competition and your marketing efforts.
  
• Provides evidence that your target market is interested in your product or service.

Strategic Opportunities and Risk Analysis

• Describes ways in which your company is meaningfully different from competitors
  
• Provides an honest assessment of your risks to help reduce potential threats to your business' success.

Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy

• Explains how you will reach your customers and sell to them.
  
• Outlines what kind of public relations strategies you have planned.

Operations

• This section covers issues that are essential to the success of your business, provide a competitive advantage and/or help you to overcome a problem inherent in your business.

Management Team

• This section can be crucial if you are applying for funding because many potential backers put a lot of weight on the quality of the team that is guiding the business.
  
• If your business plan will be used internally as a map to guide the development of the company, this section can provide you with an opportunity to honestly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals who are guiding your business.

Company Development and Milestones

• In this section, you will indicate the milestones the business has achieved to date, your immediate and long term goals for the company and the strategies you will use to reach these goals.

Finances

• Includes cash flow projections, profit and loss statements and balance sheets.
  
• There are standard formats for these reports. It's generally not wise to deviate from the traditional accounting formats.

Additional Resources
Business Research Resources These business research resources will help you to find the statisics and information you need to write an effective business plan.

 
Find more tips on Becoming an Entrepreneur
Return to Career Choice Guide from Business Plan Outline