The 7 Best Business Plan Examples (2024)
As an aspiring entrepreneur gearing up to start your own business , you likely know the importance of drafting a business plan. However, you might not be entirely sure where to begin or what specific details to include. That’s where examining business plan examples can be beneficial. Sample business plans serve as real-world templates to help you craft your own plan with confidence. They also provide insight into the key sections that make up a business plan, as well as demonstrate how to structure and present your ideas effectively.
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Example business plan
To understand how to write a business plan, let’s study an example structured using a seven-part template. Here’s a quick overview of those parts:
- Executive summary: A quick overview of your business and the contents of your business plan.
- Company description: More info about your company, its goals and mission, and why you started it in the first place.
- Market analysis: Research about the market and industry your business will operate in, including a competitive analysis about the companies you’ll be up against.
- Products and services: A detailed description of what you’ll be selling to your customers.
- Marketing plan: A strategic outline of how you plan to market and promote your business before, during, and after your company launches into the market.
- Logistics and operations plan: An explanation of the systems, processes, and tools that are needed to run your business in the background.
- Financial plan: A map of your short-term (and even long-term) financial goals and the costs to run the business. If you’re looking for funding, this is the place to discuss your request and needs.
7 business plan examples (section by section)
In this section, you’ll find hypothetical and real-world examples of each aspect of a business plan to show you how the whole thing comes together.
- Executive summary
Your executive summary offers a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. You’ll want to include a brief description of your company, market research, competitor analysis, and financial information.
In this free business plan template, the executive summary is three paragraphs and occupies nearly half the page:
- Company description
You might go more in-depth with your company description and include the following sections:
- Nature of the business. Mention the general category of business you fall under. Are you a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of your products?
- Background information. Talk about your past experiences and skills, and how you’ve combined them to fill in the market.
- Business structure. This section outlines how you registered your company —as a corporation, sole proprietorship, LLC, or other business type.
- Industry. Which business sector do you operate in? The answer might be technology, merchandising, or another industry.
- Team. Whether you’re the sole full-time employee of your business or you have contractors to support your daily workflow, this is your chance to put them under the spotlight.
You can also repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, Instagram page, or other properties that ask for a boilerplate description of your business. Hair extensions brand Luxy Hair has a blurb on it’s About page that could easily be repurposed as a company description for its business plan.
- Market analysis
Market analysis comprises research on product supply and demand, your target market, the competitive landscape, and industry trends. You might do a SWOT analysis to learn where you stand and identify market gaps that you could exploit to establish your footing. Here’s an example of a SWOT analysis for a hypothetical ecommerce business:
You’ll also want to run a competitive analysis as part of the market analysis component of your business plan. This will show you who you’re up against and give you ideas on how to gain an edge over the competition.
- Products and services
This part of your business plan describes your product or service, how it will be priced, and the ways it will compete against similar offerings in the market. Don’t go into too much detail here—a few lines are enough to introduce your item to the reader.
- Marketing plan
Potential investors will want to know how you’ll get the word out about your business. So it’s essential to build a marketing plan that highlights the promotion and customer acquisition strategies you’re planning to adopt.
Most marketing plans focus on the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. However, it’s easier when you break it down by the different marketing channels . Mention how you intend to promote your business using blogs, email, social media, and word-of-mouth marketing.
Here’s an example of a hypothetical marketing plan for a real estate website:
Logistics and operations
This section of your business plan provides information about your production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.
Financial plan
The financial plan (a.k.a. financial statement) offers a breakdown of your sales, revenue, expenses, profit, and other financial metrics. You’ll want to include all the numbers and concrete data to project your current and projected financial state.
In this business plan example, the financial statement for ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy includes forecasted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.
It then goes deeper into the financials, citing:
- Funding needs
- Project cash-flow statement
- Project profit-and-loss statement
- Projected balance sheet
You can use Shopify’s financial plan template to create your own income statement, cash-flow statement, and balance sheet.
Types of business plans (and what to write for each)
A one-page business plan is a pared down version of a standard business plan that’s easy for potential investors and partners to understand. You’ll want to include all of these sections, but make sure they’re abbreviated and summarized:
- Logistics and operations plan
- Financials
A startup business plan is meant to secure outside funding for a new business. Typically, there’s a big focus on the financials, as well as other sections that help determine the viability of your business idea—market analysis, for example. Shopify has a great business plan template for startups that include all the below points:
- Market research: in depth
- Financials: in depth
Internal
Your internal business plan acts as the enforcer of your company’s vision. It reminds your team of the long-term objective and keeps them strategically aligned toward the same goal. Be sure to include:
- Market research
Feasibility
A feasibility business plan is essentially a feasibility study that helps you evaluate whether your product or idea is worthy of a full business plan. Include the following sections:
A strategic (or growth) business plan lays out your long-term vision and goals. This means your predictions stretch further into the future, and you aim for greater growth and revenue. While crafting this document, you use all the parts of a usual business plan but add more to each one:
- Products and services: for launch and expansion
- Market analysis: detailed analysis
- Marketing plan: detailed strategy
- Logistics and operations plan: detailed plan
- Financials: detailed projections
Free business plan templates
Now that you’re familiar with what’s included and how to format a business plan, let’s go over a few templates you can fill out or draw inspiration from.
Bplans’ free business plan template
Bplans’ free business plan template focuses a lot on the financial side of running a business. It has many pages just for your financial plan and statements. Once you fill it out, you’ll see exactly where your business stands financially and what you need to do to keep it on track or make it better.
PandaDoc’s free business plan template
PandaDoc’s free business plan template is detailed and guides you through every section, so you don’t have to figure everything out on your own. Filling it out, you’ll grasp the ins and outs of your business and how each part fits together. It’s also handy because it connects to PandaDoc’s e-signature for easy signing, ideal for businesses with partners or a board.
Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template
Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template helps you map out the essentials of your business, like partnerships, core activities, and what makes you different. It’s a collaborative tool for you and your team to learn how everything in your business is linked.
Better business planning equals better business outcomes
Building a business plan is key to establishing a clear direction and strategy for your venture. With a solid plan in hand, you’ll know what steps to take for achieving each of your business goals. Kickstart your business planning and set yourself up for success with a defined roadmap—utilizing the sample business plans above to inform your approach.
Business plan FAQ
What are the 3 main points of a business plan.
- Concept. Explain what your business does and the main idea behind it. This is where you tell people what you plan to achieve with your business.
- Contents. Explain what you’re selling or offering. Point out who you’re selling to and who else is selling something similar. This part concerns your products or services, who will buy them, and who you’re up against.
- Cash flow. Explain how money will move in and out of your business. Discuss the money you need to start and keep the business going, the costs of running your business, and how much money you expect to make.
How do I write a simple business plan?
To create a simple business plan, start with an executive summary that details your business vision and objectives. Follow this with a concise description of your company’s structure, your market analysis, and information about your products or services. Conclude your plan with financial projections that outline your expected revenue, expenses, and profitability.
What is the best format to write a business plan?
The optimal format for a business plan arranges your plan in a clear and structured way, helping potential investors get a quick grasp of what your business is about and what you aim to achieve. Always start with a summary of your plan and finish with the financial details or any extra information at the end.
Want to learn more?
- Question: Are You a Business Owner or an Entrepreneur?
- Bootstrapping a Business: 10 Tips to Help You Succeed
- Entrepreneurial Mindset: 20 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur
- 101+ Best Small Business Software Programs
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550+ Business Plan Samples To Inspire Your Plan
Inspire your own plan with 550+ business plan samples
Use real business plan examples to jump-start your own plan!
Don’t start from scratch — get a headstart with 550 real business plan examples
How do you know what elements to include in your business plan, if you’ve never written one before? Looking at real business plan samples can help you visualize what a successful plan looks like, so you know what you’re aiming for before you get started. With LivePlan you’ll have access to over 550 free example business plans to use as a starting point.
Access our full library and browse real sample content for a broad range of businesses. You’ll see how others have written effective executive summaries, planned marketing activities, created financial forecasts , and more. Plus we’ll be right there to walk you through it .
Whether you run a dentist office or dog walking service, you’ll find examples of a business plan for every type of business.
Whether you’re a small- or mid-sized business, freelancer, nonprofit, or still figuring that out, we’ve got you covered.
LivePlan’s library of business plan samples has real business plans from 150 industries and growing. You can see the complete list here .
It’s OK if you can’t find an exact match to your business. You don’t need an exact match for a sample plan to be helpful. Instead, look for a plan that’s closely related to the type of business you’re starting. For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse will still be a great match.
While the specifics of your actual business will differ, the elements you’ll want to include in your restaurant’s business plan are similar—and they’re all included in LivePlan .
Real business plan examples to save you time
Read through as many sample business plans as you like to see how it’s done and get inspired. And if you really want to, you can even copy and paste sections to use in your own plan.
We’ve collected sample plans over more than 20 years, most through generous donations from happy customers who used our software and wanted to share their successful business plan samples with others.
Get LivePlan in your classroom
Are you an educator looking for real–world business plan examples for your students? With LivePlan, you give your students access to industry–best business plan samples, and help them set goals and track metrics with spreadsheet–free financial forecasts. All of this within a single tool that includes additional instructional resources to work seamlessly alongside your current classroom setup.
With LivePlan, it’s not just a classroom project. It’s your students planning for their futures. Click here to learn more about business planning for students.
Built-in examples and step-by-step help so you won’t get stuck
In addition to complete sample plans, LivePlan includes specific examples for each part of your business plan. Browse through a few examples to get an idea of how other businesses have worded their executive summary, for instance, or other key sections of the business plan. Find an example that works for you and personalize it to fit your business.
You’ll be confident that your numbers are right
In addition to sample business plans, LivePlan includes current industry benchmarks so you can see what the numbers look like for businesses just like yours. Knowing your industry standards helps ensure that your plan is both competitive and realistic.
Download a free sample business plan
Download a free business plan today. You can use it as a template for your own business plan and to see an example of what you’ll find in LivePlan. Download my free business plan .
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How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples
Noah Parsons
24 min. read
Updated March 18, 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 business planning
If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan .
You understand that planning helps you:
- Raise money
- Grow strategically
- Keep your business on the right track
As you start to write your 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 completing your 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
This 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
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
Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter.
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 for your 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 you need to cover in a business plan sometimes isn’t quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template.
If you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template to get you started, 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
Free business plan templates and examples
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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 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.
Having 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 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.
See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan
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.
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- Templates and examples
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Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan
By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021
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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice.
Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .
What Is a Business Plan?
A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.
A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:
- Product goals and deadlines for each month
- Monthly financials for the first two years
- Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
- Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years
Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.
While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.
For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .
Business Plan Steps
The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:
- Executive summary
- Description of business
- Market analysis
- Competitive analysis
- Description of organizational management
- Description of product or services
- Marketing plan
- Sales strategy
- Funding details (or request for funding)
- Financial projections
If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.
Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.
Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?
Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.
How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business
In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.
Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:
Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?
There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.
The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans
A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.
In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.
How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.
Step 1: Executive Summary
The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:
- What is the vision and mission of the company?
- What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?
See our roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.
Step 2: Description of Business
The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:
- What business are we in?
- What does our business do?
Step 3: Market Analysis
In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:
- Who is our customer?
- What does that customer value?
Step 4: Competitive Analysis
In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:
- Who is the competition?
- What do they do best?
- What is our unique value proposition?
Step 5: Description of Organizational Management
In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.
Step 6: Description of Products or Services
In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.
Questions to answer in this section are as follows:
- What is the product or service?
- How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?
Step 7: Marketing Plan
In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:
- Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
- What channels will you use to reach your target market?
- What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
- If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
- How will you measure success?
Step 8: Sales Plan
Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts.
Start by answering the following questions:
- What is the sales strategy?
- What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
- What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
- What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
- What are the metrics of success?
Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)
This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:
- How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
- How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
- What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?
Step 10: Financial Projections
Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years.
While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:
- How and when will the company first generate a profit?
- How will the company maintain profit thereafter?
Business Plan Template
Download Business Plan Template
Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet
This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.
For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy.
If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.
How to Write a Simple Business Plan
A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.
Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .
- Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company.
- Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision.
- Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
- Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
- Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
- Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
- Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
- Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
- Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting.
- Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.
Simple Business Plan Template
Download Simple Business Plan Template
Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Smartsheet
Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.
Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates .
How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup
A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.
While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:
- Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
- List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
- Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
- Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
- Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.).
- Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
- Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
- Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.
Lean Business Plan Template for Startups
Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.
See our wide variety of startup business plan templates for more options.
How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan
A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.
In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.
Download free financial templates to support your business plan.
Tips for Writing a Business Plan
Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.
- Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
- Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
- Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
- Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
- Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”
Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.
Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.
“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”
Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”
Resources for Writing a Business Plan
While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.
Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.
How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business
A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships.
Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.
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- Writing a Business Plan
Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you on are track to meet your goals.
Why Write a Business Plan?
Making a business plan creates the foundation for your business. It provides an easy-to-understand framework and allows you to navigate the unexpected.
Quick Takeaways
- A good business plan not only creates a road map for your business, but helps you work through your goals and get them on paper
- Business plans come in many formats and contain many sections, but even the most basic should include a mission and vision statement, marketing plans, and a proposed management structure
- Business plans can help you get investors and new business partners
Source: Write Your Business Plan: United States Small Business Association
Writing a business plan is imperative to getting your business of the ground. While every plan is different – and most likely depends on the type and size of your business – there are some basic elements you don’t want to ignore.
Latest on this topic
NAR Library & Archives has already done the research for you. References (formerly Field Guides) offer links to articles, eBooks, websites, statistics, and more to provide a comprehensive overview of perspectives. EBSCO articles ( E ) are available only to NAR members and require the member's nar.realtor login.
Defining Your Mission & Vision
Writing a business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement. Some questions you should ask yourself include:
- What type of real estate do you sell?
- Where is your business located?
- Who founded your business?
- What sets your business apart from your competitors?
What is a Vision Statement ( Business News Daily , Feb. 21, 2023)
How to Write a Mission Statement ( The Balance , Jan. 2, 2020)
How to Write a Mission Statement ( Janel M. Radtke , 1998)
Using a SWOT Analysis to Structure Your Business Plan
Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Evaluate by using the following questions:
- Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors?
- Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors?
- What are your competitors’ strengths?
- Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?
Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) ( Investopedia , Apr. 21, 2023)
How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business ( SCORE , Apr. 28, 2022)
SWOT Analysis Toolbox ( University of Washington )
Setting Business Goals
Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. For instance, if your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client, think about the following:
- How specifically will you implement this?
- Do you want to grow your business?
- Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space?
- How much growth do you aim for annually?
- What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?
What are Business Goals? Definition, How To Set Business Goals and Examples ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)
Planning and Goal Setting for Small Business ( U.S. Small Business Administration )
- Regular work goals.
- Problem-solving goals.
- Innovative goals.
- Development goals
Establishing a Format
Most businesses either follow a traditional business plan format or a lean startup plan.
Traditional Business Plan
A traditional business plan is detailed and comprehensive. Writing this business plan takes more time. A traditional business plan typically contains the following elements:
- Executive Summary
- Company description
- Market analysis
- Organization and management
- Service or product line
- Marketing and sales
- Funding request
- Financial projections
Lean Startup Plan
A lean startup plan requires high-level focus but is easier to write, with an emphasis on key elements. A lean startup plan typically contains the following elements:
- Key partnerships
- Key activities
- Key resources
- Value proposition
- Customer relationships
- Customer segments
- Cost structure
- Revenue stream
Creating a Marketing Plan
You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product , price , place and promotion .
- What is your product?
- How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile?
- How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients?
- How and where will you promote your services?
- What types of promotions will you advertise?
- Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons?
- Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?
Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan ( Business.com , Mar. 22, 2023)
10 Questions You Need to Answer to Create a Powerful Marketing Plan ( The Balance , Jan. 16, 2020)
Developing a Marketing Plan ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation )
Forming a Team
Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Some questions to consider are:
- Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues?
- If so, what specifically do you need them to do?
- How will you evaluate their participation?
- Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them?
- How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?
How to Start a Rock-Solid Real Estate Team ( The Close , May 26, 2020)
Don’t Start a Real Estate Team Without Asking Yourself These 8 Questions ( Homelight , Jan. 21, 2020)
Implementing a Business Plan and Reviewing Regularly
Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals. Consider the following while reviewing:
- Are you on track?
- Are the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy?
- How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?
And lastly, think about overall goals.
- How do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals?
- When will you review and refine your business plan goals?
- What process will you use to review your goals?
- What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success?
These items are only a few sections of a business plan. Depending on your business, you may want to include additional sections in your plan such as a:
- Cover letter stating the reasoning behind developing a business plan
- Non-disclosure statement
- Table of contents
How To Write a Business Proposal Letter (With Examples) ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)
How To Implement Your Business Plan Objectives ( The Balance , Aug. 19, 2022)
The Bottom Line
Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it).
Real Estate Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates
9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates ( The Close , Apr. 17, 2023)
How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+Free Template) ( Fit Small Business , Jun. 21, 2022)
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Real Estate Business Plan + Free Template ( Placester )
Write Your Business Plan ( U.S. Small Business Administration )
General Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates
Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ( SCORE , May 12, 2023)
Guide to Creating a Business Plan with Template (Business News Daily, Feb. 21, 2023)
Nine Lessons These Entrepreneurs Wish They Knew Before Writing Their First Business Plans ( Forbes , Jul. 25, 2021)
How to Write a Business Plan 101 ( Entrepreneur , Feb. 22, 2021)
Books, eBooks & Other Resources
Ebooks & other resources.
The following eBooks and digital audiobooks are available to NAR members:
20 Minute Manager: Creating Business Plans Gather Your Resources, Describe the Opportunity, Get Buy-in (eBook) E
The Straightforward Business Plan (eBook)
Business Plan Checklist (eBook)
The SWOT Analysis (eBook)
The Business Plan Workbook (eBook)
Start-Up! A Beginner's Guide to Planning a 21st Century Business (eBook)
Complete Book of Business Plans (eBook)
How to Write a Business Plan (eBook)
The Easy Step by Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (eBook)
Business Planning: 25 Keys to a Sound Business Plan (Audiobook)
Your First Business Plan, 5 th Edition (eBook)
Anatomy of a Business Plan (eBook)
Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (Audiobook)
The Social Network Business Plan (eBook)
Books, Videos, Research Reports & More
As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.
Writing an Effective Business Plan (Deloitte and Touche, 1999) HD 1375 D37w
Have an idea for a real estate topic? Send us your suggestions .
The inclusion of links on this page does not imply endorsement by the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR makes no representations about whether the content of any external sites which may be linked in this page complies with state or federal laws or regulations or with applicable NAR policies. These links are provided for your convenience only and you rely on them at your own risk.
Real Estate | How To
How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template)
Published June 30, 2023
Published Jun 30, 2023
REVIEWED BY: Gina Baker
WRITTEN BY: Jealie Dacanay
This article is part of a larger series on How to Become a Real Estate Agent .
- 1 Write Your Mission Statement
- 2 Conduct a SWOT Analysis
- 3 Set Specific & Measurable Goals
- 4 Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics
- 5 Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy
- 6 Calculate Your Income Goal
- 7 Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan
- 8 Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan
- 9 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates
- 10 Bottom Line
- 11 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A real estate business plan lays the groundwork and provides direction on income targets, marketing tactics, goal setting, lead generation, and an overview of your industry’s competition. It describes your company’s mission statement in detail and assesses your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as an organization. Business plans should include measurable goals and financial projections that you can review periodically throughout the year to ensure you meet your goals.
Continue reading to see real estate business plan examples and discover how to write a real estate business plan. Start by making your own by downloading and using the free real estate business plan template we’ve provided below.
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Real Estate Business Plan Template
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💡Quick tip:
Market Leader provides a comprehensive paid inbound lead, automated marketing, and CRM solution to help agents acquire, engage, and nurture real estate leads.
Furthermore, Market Leader offers and guarantees you a number of exclusive seller and buyer leads in your target niche at a monthly rate.
1. Write Your Mission Statement
Every real estate agent’s business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective. When you create a solid clear mission statement, all other items identified in your realtor business plan should be aimed at fulfilling this statement.
Compass’ mission statement: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” (Source: Compass )
Your mission statement should identify your target audience, what product or service you provide, and what makes your business distinct. As seen in the example above, a powerful mission statement should be short and concise but sums up a business objective.
Let’s take Compass’ mission statement above as an example: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” The statement identifies what the company offers, for what reasons, and who it benefits.
2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis
SWOT is an acronym that stands for a business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The primary objective of these four elements is to assess a business by evaluating internal and external factors that can drive decision-making and help you make more money . Conducting a SWOT analysis as you develop your business plan for real estate uncovers opportunities to differentiate yourself from the massive competition currently on the market.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths and weaknesses are internal parts of your organization. Strengths identify what product or services you provide better than others, your access to resources, and items that benefit your customers. Weaknesses are items that need improvement, lack of resources, or what your competition does better. These are items within your control to change because you can convert a weakness into a strength.
See the example below if “Agent X” was doing their SWOT analysis:
Opportunities & Threats
External factors drive opportunities and threats and are areas you can take advantage of to benefit your business. Examples of opportunities can be shifts in the current marketplace, emerging trends you can capitalize on, features that competitors lack, or even changes with your competitors. Threats, on the other hand, are anything that can negatively impact your business. You don’t have control over changing the opportunities or threats, but you can develop a practice to anticipate and protect your business against the threats.
The opportunities and threats for “Agent X” would be:
When you complete your SWOT analysis, use it as a guide when creating strategies to meet your business objectives. To gain the most benefit from creating a SWOT analysis, make sure you are being realistic about your business and evaluating it in its present state. You don’t want to be unrealistic by listing strengths or opportunities that don’t exist yet, and you want to allocate time and money to the most impactful solution to your business issues.
If “Agent X” completed the above SWOT analysis, a few strategies they could derive would be:
- Incentivize agents to keep them at the brokerage for longer
- Implement a technology-based key machine to reduce lost keys and keep the team accountable
- Find a competitive advantage against competing brokerages and use that in marketing messages
Zillow agent finder (Source: Zillow )
To help agents locate other brokerages operating in your preferred market, agents can use Zillow’s agent finder page as a research tool to see which agents or brokerages are operating in a specific area. You can find an agent by location, name, specialty, and language. Once you click on a Zillow profile , you can read their reviews, see their team members, contact and website information, and property listings. Take a deep dive into your competitor profiles and can use the information to implement strategies within your own business.
Visit Zillow
Read how our experts feel about this real estate lead generation company in our Zillow Premier Agent review .
3. Set Specific & Measurable Goals
You’re ready to set some business goals after clearly defining your mission statement and SWOT analysis. Goals can help set the tone to increase your performance and drive your business in the right direction. Your goals should have a definitive way to show progress, which can be a prime motivator to keep you on track to achieving them.
Each goal should follow a pattern to identify set criteria. This will ensure that your daily efforts are performed to meet business objectives within a set period. A way to do this is by using SMART goals:
Examples of SMART goals for agents or brokerages:
- Increase closed transactions by 20% to a total of 150 deals within the next year
- I will ask all closed clients for a referral and review within 30 days of closing the deal
Goals can be split into short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goal lengths vary between days and weeks but do not exceed six months. Short-term goals can also be worked on simultaneously with long-term goals. Long-term goals can take up to six months or more to complete and require careful planning and perseverance. A mix of short-term and long-term goals will help you maintain motivation.
All goals are equally important; however, success will stem from how you prioritize each one. Slowly add on additional goals as you have the capacity and feel comfortable with the current progress of your current set of goals. Without identifying your business goals, you’ll leave your results up to luck to attain your business objectives.
4. Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics
Developing marketing strategies and tactics and implementing them help you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate industry, along with specific timelines for execution. In addition to determining your overall business objectives and goals, your marketing strategy and plan should include the following:
- Pinpoint general marketing goals
- Estimate projected marketing budget
- Know your geographic farm area data and identify your target niche audience
- Analyze market competition
- Identify your unique selling proposition
- Establish a timeline and set your plan in motion
- Track your progress and readjust as needed
While a marketing strategy identifies the overall marketing goals of your business, developing marketing tactics will help you achieve those individual goals. They can include referral business tactics, retention efforts, and ways to acquire new customers. For example, you can offer incentives to anyone who refers your business, or you can implement new email drip campaigns to help increase lead conversion rates.
These tactics should have set key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you evaluate your performance. For instance, a KPI you can set for your business could be that referral business should exceed 20% of your lead generation sources.
If you’re unsure how to put together your marketing plan, check out our article Real Estate Marketing Plan Template & Strategy Guide and download the free template to get started.
Postcard campaign example (Source: ProspectsPLUS! )
If direct mail is part of your promotion strategy, services like ProspectsPLUS! can help easily create and distribute mailers to a targeted area. It also has options for postcards , brochures, newsletters , flyers, and folders. You can also send mailers to prospective clients by geographic or demographic farm areas through its campaigns. Check out its templates and mailing options today.
Visit ProspectsPLUS!
Read how our experts feel about this real estate direct mail service in our ProspectsPLUS! review .
5. Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy
Having a successful lead generation strategy will help you maintain business growth. Lead generation can be performed organically and through paid advertisements to attract and convert prospective clients. In addition to generating leads, agents should have systems to manage, nurture, and re-engage with contacts to maximize opportunities.
Generating leads through a multipronged approach is the best way to maintain lead flow. Use organic strategies like hosting an open house, reaching out to your sphere of influence, and attending networking events. Employ paid generation strategies, such as purchasing leads from a lead generation company or setting up a website to funnel potential clients. Your marketing strategies will directly correlate with your lead generation strategies.
Every lead is an opportunity, even if they don’t immediately convert into a deal. Effectively nurturing leads can make sure no opportunity falls through the cracks. Agents can nurture leads by continuously engaging and developing relationships with prospective leads . It’s important to provide prospective clients with a constant flow of essential and relevant information, depending on where they are in the real estate buying or selling process.
Here are the top lead generation companies for real estate agents and brokers:
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6. Calculate Your Income Goal
Your income goal is one of the most critical items to be included in your business plan. While this may be more difficult for new agents who are still learning the business, it’s still necessary to estimate the amount of money you will earn for the year. Work with an experienced agent or mentor to help you estimate your monetary goals. For professional agents, review your previous years to judge your income goals for the upcoming year.
To calculate your income goal and the amount of work you’ll need to complete to get to that goal, you’ll need to have some basic number estimates:
- Net income: The amount of money you will put in your pocket after commission splits with your real estate brokerage.
- Fee split with brokerage: This is the agreed-upon commission split you have with your brokerage for each completed transaction. For example, if you have a 70/30 split with your brokerage, you will collect 70% of the commission, and your brokerage will receive a 30% commission for each deal.
- Estimate of completed deals per year: You also want to estimate the number of deals you intend to complete yearly. Remember that some months will be busier than others, so make sure to account for holidays, weather, and your schedule.
Real Estate Yearly Goal Calculator
By figuring out these numbers, you can give yourself a realistic number for your income goal. Compute the gross income commission (GCI) or amount of money you must make before the commission splits and the average profit per deal and month you’ll need to reach your goal.
For a more detailed breakdown of your yearly goal, download and use our yearly goal calculator. Input your information into the highlighted yellow boxes, and the spreadsheet will automatically calculate the GCI, total deal count, and gross income you’ll have to earn each month to reach your goal. Adjust the average gross commission per deal and brokerage split as necessary.
FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculator
For additional information on real estate agent salaries, review our article Real Estate Agent Salary: How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make?
7. Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan
Business plans are only effective if you use them. A business plan is a roadmap for your business, and you’ll need to revisit it often to ensure you’re staying on track. It should be a constant resource to guide you through meeting your goals and business objectives, but it’s not necessarily set in stone if you need to make any changes.
Agents should revisit their business plans monthly to measure progress and make any changes to stay the course. If you find that you’re missing the times set for your goals, then you should continue to revisit your business plan regularly. Changing the business plan itself should occur annually once you can have a complete picture of your yearly performance. Evaluating the business plan can help you discover new strategies and ensure you have the appropriate resources for the upcoming year.
Overall status of sales activities in the dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )
Sales software like Pipedrive can help you track your overall business performance when revisiting your business plan. It presents company sales data in easy-to-visualize dashboards that track your business performance and contains forecasting tools to project future revenue. It can maintain company and team goals with progress tracking to keep goals top of mind.
Visit Pipedrive
Read how our experts feel about this real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) system in our Pipedrive review .
Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan
A real estate business plan keeps you up to date on market developments and one step ahead of your competitors. It also enables you to test lead-generating tactics and create new marketing campaigns while keeping track of results over time. A solid business plan for a real estate agent presents the following:
- Where you are at the moment
- Where you would like to be
- How you’re going to get there
- How to evaluate and measure your performance
- When and when to correct the course
Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates
Real estate agents and brokerages don’t have to build their business plans from scratch, as many resources provide different examples. Business plan templates can also have different objectives. Some are used to secure financing or help you focus on lead generation, while others are single-page plans meant to get you started.
Here are five real estate business plan examples you can use to create yours:
Lead Generation & Income Plan
Market Leader business plan example (Source: Market Leader )
This business plan is from Market Leader, a third-party lead generation platform. It specializes in lead generation, marketing, and converting leads into customers with an attractive IDX (Internet Data Exchange) website and robust automation tools. Agents can also participate in purchasing leads through their lead products to receive a guaranteed number of leads per month.
A Single-page Business Plan
Business plan for real estate (Source: PngFind )
Agents who are new to writing a business plan can start small. Business plans do not have to be multipage to be effective. This single-page business plan helps identify a single goal followed by three areas to focus on and five objectives for each focus area. As real estate agents begin to feel comfortable with goal setting and completion, they can continue to add to this single-page business plan with duplicate pages, identifying additional goals.
Business Plan for Real Estate Brokers
Real estate broker business plan (Source: AgentEDU )
This robust real estate broker business plan is designed to address organization and management goals. It contains pages identifying personnel information like title, job description, and salary. The business plan also encourages the broker to identify operational goals for future personnel changes. It’s best suited for a broker with a larger team to help drive operational change.
Business Plan With Detailed Financials
Example of real estate agent business plan template (Source: FinModelsLab )
This multipage business plan contains eye-catching graphics and detailed company financial information for real estate agents and brokers seeking funding from outside investors. One of the last sections of the business plan is a financial planning section geared toward showing how viable your business is through your provided income statements, cash flow, and balance sheet reports.
Real Estate Developers’ Business Plan
Realtor business plan template sample (Source: Upmetrics )
Upmetrics’ real estate business plan templates are easy to edit and share and contain professional cover pages to help agents convert their business ideas into actionable goals. The business plans from Upmetrics are geared toward agents looking to transition into real estate development. This plan includes vital sections important for a developer to analyze, such as building location, demand for housing, and pricing.
Real estate CRM (Source: Market Leader )
Market Leader’s business plan is centered around driving more business through lead generation. It helps agents understand their lead sources, average sales price, and how much commission was earned in a given year. It also allows agents to set income and transactional goals for the following year.
Visit Market Leader
Bottom Line
Whether you are a new real estate agent or looking to grow your brokerage, writing a real estate business plan template will help you define the steps needed to build a successful business . It serves as a guided roadmap to help you achieve your business goals, identify areas of improvement, and provide guidance in all aspects of your business, from marketing, operations, and finance to your products and services. Business plans can help determine if your business is viable and worth the financial investment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a real estate business plan.
A real estate business plan is a document that presents an outline of your organizational goals. A business plan lays out future company goals and structured procedures to achieve them. Business plans commonly contain plans for one to five years at a time, though they can differ from investor to investor.
A real estate business plan will put you in a position to succeed while also assisting you in avoiding potential pitfalls. It serves as a guide to follow when things go as expected and when they diverge from the initial plan of action. Also, a real estate business plan will ensure that investors know the steps they need to take to succeed.
How do I jump-start my real estate business?
It is important to note that starting a real estate business is not a simple task. Before launching a firm in any field, entrepreneurs should spend numerous hours researching and developing a solid business plan. As you start your real estate business, use the following tips as guidance:
- Think about your professional goals
- Conduct extensive research
- Organize your finances
- Create a business plan
- Establish an LLC
- Make a marketing plan
- Create a website
- Start campaigns
- Keep track of leads
- Develop a network of connections
How can I grow my real estate business?
You can use multiple strategies and ways to grow your real estate business. They include:
- Assess your current situation
- Invest in your professional growth
- Establish strategic alliances
- Take advantage of omnichannel marketing
- Start blogging
- Create consistent social media profiles and campaigns
- Improve your website
- Consider working with a marketing company
- Optimize your signs and direct mail
About the Author
Find Jealie On LinkedIn
Jealie Dacanay
Jealie is a staff writer expert focusing on real estate education, lead generation, marketing, and investing. She has always seen writing as an opportunity to apply her knowledge and express her ideas. Over the years and through her internship at a real estate developer in the Philippines, Camella, she developed and discovered essential skills for producing high-quality online content.
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Real Estate Business Plan
Things to Consider Before Writing a Real Estate Business Plan
Be specific.
The real estate industry is broad when it comes to work and what you can do. It can either be a source of primary or passive income. At the same time, you might be involved in the industry as an investor, agent, or builder. Decide what you want to do and plan on that basis.
Do your research
The trends of the real estate business change constantly, hence doing your research and updating it constantly is a crucial part of your profession.
As your knowledge and expertise is your greatest asset in this industry, keep expanding it to stay at the top of things.
Build a team of skilled professionals
Having a team you can build your real estate business with is essential.
Select a group of individuals with a diverse set of talents ranging from good communication skills to brilliant analytical skills. Given the dynamics of the real estate business, you never know what skills might come in handy in your business journey.
Be ready for change
As we have constantly discussed, real estate is a dynamic industry. Change is the only constant you’ll have in this business.
Thus, it is important for everything from your plan and way of doing business to be change-friendly.
Sources of Funding for a Real Estate Business
Gaining funds is one of the major reasons for writing a business plan. And here are a few good funding options for your real estate business:
A traditional loan is one of the most basic options for getting funded. You can opt for this if you have a good credit score.
Non-bank mortgage lending
This is a good option if you don’t want to go through a lot of paperwork.
The asset-based mortgage
For this, the lenders look at the rental value of your property and provide a loan on that basis. It is a good option if you don’t want or can’t get a loan based on your personal assets or income.
Above all, it is essential to plan your business to figure out your funding requirements and the right way to fulfill the same.
Write Your Business Plan
If you have enough connections, and the ability to find places for people that have attributes they want and need then a real estate business can be a profitable one for you.
A business plan helps you get funded, explain your ideas to the stakeholders of your business, and make better decisions.
Hence, planning is an important aspect of starting or growing your business.
It has been created using Upmetrics online business plan software that helps you create dynamic and customizable plans anywhere and at any time.
Our sample real estate business plan can help you with writing a well-rounded business plan for your business. It can act as a guide and prevent you from getting stuck in a certain section for too long.
Real Estate Business Plan Outline
This is the standard real estate business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.
- Market Opportunity
- Demand for Housing
- Financing & Investment Forecast
- Introducing Kegan
- Business Model
- Short Term Goals
- Long Term Strategies
- Keys to Success
- Contemporary Living for the 21″ Century
- The Complete Package
- Pricing Strategy
- Implementation Strategy – Action Plan
- Target Market Overview
- Housing Shortage Overview in Saudi Arabia
- Housing Shortage Overview in Riyadh
- Housing Prices
- Kegan Home Prices
- Market Positioning & Brand
- Marketing Strategies
- Sales Strategies
- Sales Process
- Competitive Landscape
- Competitive Advantages
- Rashid Bin Said
- Director of Construction
- Member name
- Chief Accountant
- Director of Marketing & Sales
- Other Staff
- Independent Directors
- Solid Balance Sheet
- Impressive Cashflow
- Financial Summary
- Financial Assumptions
- Income Statement (Five-Year Projections)
- Balance Sheet (Five-Year Projections)
- Cash Flow Statement (Five-Year Projection)
After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample real estate business plan into your business plan and modify the required information and download your real estate business plan pdf or doc file.
It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing your business plan.
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Download a sample real estate business plan
Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go; download our free real estate business plan pdf to start.
It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your real estate business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.
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Blog Business
5 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & How to Create One?
By Danesh Ramuthi , Nov 28, 2023
Crafting a business plan is essential for any business and the real estate sector is no exception. In real estate, a comprehensive business plan serves as a roadmap, delineating a clear path towards business growth.
It guides owners, agents and brokers through various critical aspects such as identifying target markets, devising effective marketing strategies, planning finances and managing client relationships.
For real estate businesses, a well-written plan is crucial in attracting potential investors, showcasing the company’s mission statement, business model and long-term income goals.
So, how can you write one?
Leveraging tools like Venngage Business Plan Make r with their Business Plan Templates to create your own real estate business plan can be transformative.
They offer a lot of real estate business plan examples and templates, streamlining the process of crafting a comprehensive plan.
Click to jump ahead:
- 5 real estate business plan examples
How to write a real estate business plan?
- Wrapping Up
5 Real estate business plan examples
As I have said before, a well-crafted business plan is a key to success. Whether you’re a seasoned agent or just starting out, examples of effective real estate business plans can offer invaluable insights.
These examples showcase a range of strategies and approaches tailored to various aspects of the real estate market. They serve as guides to structuring a plan that addresses key components like market analysis, marketing strategies, financial planning and client management, ensuring a solid foundation for any real estate venture.
Real estate business plan example
There are various elements in a real estate business plan that must be integrated. Incorporating these elements into a real estate business plan ensures a comprehensive approach to launching and growing a successful real estate business.
What are they?
- Executive summary: The executive summary is a concise overview of the real estate business plan. It highlights the mission statement, outlines the business goals and provides a snapshot of the overall strategy.
- Company overview: An overview on the history and structure of the real estate business. It includes the company’s mission and vision statements, information about the founding team and the legal structure of the business.
- Service: Here, the business plan details the specific services offered by the real estate agency. This could range from residential property sales and leasing to commercial real estate services. The section should clearly articulate how these services meet the needs of the target client and how they stand out from competitors.
- Strategies: A very crucial part of the plan outlines the strategies for achieving business goals. It covers marketing strategies to generate leads, pricing strategies for services, and tactics for effective client relationship management. Strategies for navigating market shifts, identifying key market trends and leveraging online resources for property listings and real estate listing presentations to help with lead generation are also included.
- Financial plan: The financial plan is a comprehensive section detailing the financial projections of the business. It includes income statements, cash flow statements, break-even analysis and financial goals. Besides, a financial plan section also outlines how resources will be allocated to different areas of the business and the approach to managing the financial aspects of the real estate market, such as average sales price and housing market trends.
Read Also: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023
Real estate investment business plan example
A real estate investment business plan is a comprehensive blueprint that outlines the goals and strategies of a real estate investment venture. It serves as a roadmap, ensuring that all facets of real estate investment are meticulously considered.
Creating a business plan for real estate investment is a critical step for any investor, regardless of their experience level Typically, these plans span one to five years, offering a detailed strategy for future company objectives and the steps required to achieve them.
Key components:
- Executive summary: Snapshot of the business, outlining its mission statement, target market, and core strategies. It should be compelling enough to attract potential investors and partners.
- Market analysis: A thorough analysis of the real estate market, including current trends, average sales prices and potential market shifts.
- Financial projections: Detailed financial plans, including income statements, cash flow analysis, and break-even analysis.
- Strategy & implementation: Outlines how the business plans to achieve its goals. This includes marketing efforts to generate leads, pricing strategies and client relationship management techniques.
- Legal structure & resource allocation: Details the legal structure of the business and how resources will be allocated across various operations, including property acquisitions, renovations and management.
Real estate agent business plan example
A real estate agent business plan is a strategic document that outlines the operations and goals of a real estate agent or agency. It is a crucial tool for communicating with potential lenders, partners or shareholders about the nature of the business and its potential for profitability.
A well-crafted real estate agent business plan will include
- Where you are today: A clear understanding of your current position in the market, including strengths, weaknesses and market standing.
- Where you aim to be: Sets specific, measurable goals for future growth, whether it’s expanding the client base, entering new markets or increasing sales.
- How can you get there: Outlines the strategies and action plans to achieve these goals, including marketing campaigns, client acquisition strategies and business development initiatives.
- Measuring your performance: Defines the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to assess progress towards the set goals, such as sales figures, client satisfaction rates and market share.
- Course correction: Establishes a process for regular review and adjustment of the plan, ensuring flexibility to adapt to market changes, shifts in client needs and other external factors.
For real estate agents, a comprehensive business plan is not just a roadmap to success; it is a dynamic tool that keeps them accountable and adaptable to market changes.
Realtor business plan example
A realtor business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the strategic direction and goals of a real estate business. It’s an essential tool for realtors looking to either launch or expand their business in the competitive real estate market. The plan typically includes details about the company’s mission, objectives, target market and strategies for achieving its goals.
Benefits of a realtor business plan and applications:
- For launching or expanding businesses: The plan helps real estate agents to structure their approach to entering new markets or growing in existing ones, providing a clear path to follow.
- Securing loans and investments: A well-drafted business plan is crucial for securing financing for real estate projects, such as purchasing new properties or renovating existing ones.
- Guideline for goal achievement: The plan serves as a guideline to stay on track with sales and profitability goals, allowing realtors to make informed decisions and adjust strategies as needed.
- Valuable for real estate investors: Investors can use the template to evaluate potential real estate businesses and properties for purchase, ensuring they align with their investment goals.
- Improving business performance: By filling out a realtor business plan template , realtors can gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of their business, using this information to enhance profitability and operational efficiency.
A realtor business plan is more than just a document; it’s a roadmap for success in the real estate industry.
Writing a real estate business plan is a comprehensive process that involves several key steps. Here’s a detailed guide to help you craft an effective business plan :
- Tell your story : Start with a self-evaluation. Define who you are as a real estate agent, why you are in this business and what you do. Develop your mission statement, vision statement and an executive summary.
- Analyze your target real estate market : Focus on local market trends rather than national or state-wide levels. Examine general trends, market opportunities, saturations, and local competition. This step requires thorough research into the real estate market you plan to operate in.
- Identify your target client : After understanding your market, identify the niche you aim to serve and the type of clients you want to target. Create a client persona that reflects their specific needs and concerns.
- Conduct a SWOT analysis : Analyze your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This should reflect a combination of personal attributes and external market conditions.
- Establish your SMART goals : Set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals. These goals could be financial, expansion-related or based on other business metrics.
- Create your financial plan : Account for all operating expenses, including marketing and lead generation costs. Calculate the number of transactions needed to meet your financial goals. Remember to separate personal and business finances.
- Revisit your business plan to monitor & evaluate : Treat your business plan as a living document. Plan periodic reviews (quarterly, semi-annually or annually) to check if your strategies are advancing you toward your goals.
- Defining your mission & vision : Include a clear mission and vision statement. Describe your business type, location, founding principles and what sets you apart from competitors.
- Creating a marketing plan : Develop a marketing plan that addresses the product, price, place and promotion of your services. Determine your pricing strategy, promotional methods and marketing channels.
- Forming a team : Ensure the cooperation of colleagues, supervisors and supervisees involved in your plan. Clarify their roles and how their participation will be evaluated.
Related: 15+ Business Plan Examples to Win Your Next Round of Funding
Wrapping up
The journey to a successful real estate venture is intricately linked to the quality and depth of your business plan. From understanding the nuances of the real estate market to setting strategic goals, a well-crafted business plan acts as the backbone of any thriving real estate business. Whether you’re developing a general real estate business plan, focusing on investment, working as an agent, or operating as a realtor, each plan type serves its unique purpose and addresses specific aspects of the real estate world.
The examples and insights provided in this article serve as a guide to help you navigate the complexities of the real estate industry. Remember, a real estate business plan is not a static document but a dynamic blueprint that evolves with your business and the ever-changing market trends.
Crafting a strategic real estate business plan is a crucial step towards achieving your business goals. So, start shaping your vision today with Venngage.
Explore venngage business plan maker & our business plan templates and begin your journey to a successful real estate business now!
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Here are some real-world and illustrative business plan examples to help you craft your business plan. 7 business plan examples: section by section. The business plan examples in this article follow this example template: Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business.
This is a fantastic template for an existing business that's strategically shifting directions. If your company has been around for a while, and you're looking to improve your bottom line or revitalize your strategy, this is an excellent template to use and follow. 5. BPlan's Free Business Plan Template.
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. The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template.
7 business plan examples (section by section) In this section, you'll find hypothetical and real-world examples of each aspect of a business plan to show you how the whole thing comes together. Executive summary. Your executive summary offers a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. You'll want to include a brief description ...
Looking at real business plan samples can help you visualize what a successful plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. With LivePlan you'll have access to over 550 free example business plans to use as a starting point. Access our full library and browse real sample content for a broad range of businesses.
The real estate business plan example goes into detail regarding the market conditions and financial analysis. Within the editor, you are able to import your own data to customize the charts and graphs for your specific situation. 15 Small Business Plan Example. Even small businesses need big plans.
L1 Business Plan Example. E2 Visa Business Plan Example. EB5 Regional Centre Business Plan Example. Merger & Acquisition Business Plan Example. Investor Business Plan Example. Crafting a comprehensive business plan could be challenging, particularly when it comes to structuring and content. To ease this process, we've curated a collection of ...
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 completing your plan, you can ...
7 business plan examples: section by section. The traditional business plan examples we'll look at below follow this example template: Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business. Company description. A more in-depth and detailed description of your business and why it exists. Market analysis.
Return to Table of Contents. Startup business plan example. An essential startup business plan should include a clear and compelling value proposition, market analysis, competitive analysis, target audience identification, financial projections, and a well-defined marketing and operational strategy.. For a typical startup, the need to appear disruptive in the industry is important.
Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...
How To Write A Business Plan: A Comprehensive Guide. A comprehensive, step-by-step guide - complete with real examples - on writing business plans with just the right amount of panache to catch an investor's attention and serve as a guiding star for your business. Introduction to Business Plans. So you've got a killer startup idea.
On this page: View Real Business Plan Examples/Samples. Important Sections to Include in Business Plan. Practical Business Plan Examples Illustrating Strategies for Startup Success. 1. E-commerce Plan Sample or Example. 2. Online Marketplace Business Plan Example or Sample. 3.
Analyzing free business plan templates can help you optimize your executive summary to make it more brief, persuasive, and attention-grabbing. 8. Realizing What Works and What Doesn't. Analyzing industry-specific and real-life examples can help you determine what works best and what doesn't within your industry.
One inspiring example is the business plan of a tech startup that revolutionized the healthcare industry. Their plan outlined a disruptive solution to streamline patient care, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and data analytics, this startup aimed to transform the way healthcare providers operate.
Real business plan examples of real entrepreneurs; Inspiration for your start into entrepreneurship; Down below you will find an overview of all the current business plan samples supplied to you in our business plan software SmartBusinessPlan. You can look up what other entrepreneur wrote in the same chapter, how they described their business ...
Write the Executive Summary. This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what's in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. Add a Company Overview. Document the larger company mission and vision.
Dishwasher: 133 watts Television: 1,200 to 2,400 watts Coffee Maker: 900 to 1,200 watts Washing Machine: 350 to 500 watts Toaster: 55 to 250 watts Window Fan: 800 to 1,400 watts. The majority of US households now spend roughly 35 percent of their energy consumption on appliances, electronics, and lighting.
Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it). Real Estate Business Plans - Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates. 9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates (The Close, Apr. 17, 2023)
Download as PDF. Download as Word Doc. 1. Write Your Mission Statement. Every real estate agent's business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective.
The market size, measured by revenue, of the Real Estate Sales and brokerage industry, is $156.2bn in 2021, and the industry is expected to increase by 0.4% in 2021. Also, the market is changing at a rapid rate and the way people use spaces is changing at a rapid rate too. Hence, to get on or stay on the higher end of the spectrum you'll need ...
Real estate agent business plan example. A real estate agent business plan is a strategic document that outlines the operations and goals of a real estate agent or agency. It is a crucial tool for communicating with potential lenders, partners or shareholders about the nature of the business and its potential for profitability.