What You Need to Create a Simple One Page Business Plan

Summary: Part of starting a business is having a business plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated. We’ll discuss creating a simple one page business plan.<br> A business plan can be a scary term conjuring images of thirty-page documents. But it doesn’t have to be that involved. It’s just writing down what you have to get done and a simple one page business plan is a great place to start.<br> One Page Business Plan Basics<br> A simple one page business plan is nothing more than a map for your business that gives an outline of your goals and the steps you will take to achieve those goals. It’s not that different from having a plan to accomplish any goal.<br> If your goal is to pay off debt, you would outline a plan on how to do that; <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/plug-your-spending-leaks/">reduce spending</a> by eliminating dinners out and taking lunch to work, do a balance transfer to lower interest rates, use the <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/get-out-of-debt-snowballing-stacking/">snowball or stacking method </a>to determine which debt to work on first. Voila, you just wrote a one page business plan for paying off debt.<br> Having a long, detailed, formal business plan is really only necessary for businesses looking for investors or to show a bank to get a business loan. A one page business plan isn’t going to cut it.<br> Business Plan Template<br> Your one page business plan should fit on one page and include the following:<br> <br> * A problem you have identified.<br> * How your product or service can solve that problem.<br> * How you would make money.<br> * Who your customers are and how many of them are there.<br> * What separates you from those already doing what you plan to do.<br> * How much it will cost to start your business.<br> * How much runway you have.<br> <br> <br> The Money Part<br> This is the hard part. Depending on the type of business you want to start, you may have a pages long list of things you need to buy or really no list at all. You need to make two lists, one for your own personal cash needs and one for the cash needs of the business.<br> Here are some common expenses for each:<br> Personal Needs<br> <br> * Rent<br> * Utilities<br> * Food on the table<br> * Gas for the car<br> <br> Specific to the Business<br> <br> * Start-up costs<br> * Equipment<br> * Build out<br> * Insurance<br> * Licenses<br> * Deposits<br> * Inventory<br> * Accountants<br> * Lawyers<br> * Burn rate: (how long can you last?)<br> * Rent<br> * Utilities<br> * Cost of labor (employees or contractors)<br> * Financing<br> * Advertising<br> <br> You will already know the numbers for the things on the personal requirements list. And some of the ones on the start-up expenses list you can easily find too like rent and insurance costs.<br> Others you are going to have to estimate the best you can by doing a crazy amount of research. Based on that research, you can make assumptions that will give you numbers to work with.<br> You should make your initial costs as lean as you can.<br> Office space would be nice, but it’s not essential if you’re on a tight budget. That reduces rent expenses and utility expenses. Hiring dedicated employees would be nice but could freelancers do the same jobs in the beginning?<br> Your Numbers<br> There are some basic numbers you want to calculate as part of your simple one page business plan.<br> Running Room<br> Running room or runway is how much cash you need to have until your business starts to make money. This is your deadline for making a profit. This is probably <a href="http://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/business-planning/much-money-need-start-business/">less money</a> than you imagine. More than 40% of small businesses are started for less than $5,000 and 64% started with less than $10,000.<br> Break Even Number<br>