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How To Structure Multiple Businesses Under One Roof

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In part one of this series , we discussed the various options to incorporate multiple businesses while keeping each business as a separate entity. It’s worth noting that having a separate legal business entities can be costly when it’s time to file your taxes as most CPAs charge an additional fee to file each business entity’s tax returns.

Additionally, you may want to develop a line of businesses that are closely related in terms of the products and services offered, the industry, or even its customers. In such a case, it may make good sense to create a single brand that will unify the various business operations. Marketing can be simplified under this type of multiple business structure and the businesses could flourish under a unified brand.

If you find your future plans include the addition of similar lines of business to your existing business (or the business entity you are about to form), there may be a simple way to structure multiple business entities which could reduce tax filing costs and administrative time in the future.

Do you have a question?  Ask at the bottom of this post.

One of our advisors will answer!

How to Structure Multiple Businesses Under a Single Business Entity

• First determine which type of business entity you’d like to form: a. Limited Liability Company; or b. Corporation (an S or C Corporation); or c. Partnership.
• Determine if the business trade name you’d like to use is available in the state in which you choose to form a business entity.
• If it is available, determine if the trade name has been federally trademarked by another party. If so, go back to the drawing board!
• If it is available for your federal trademark registration, consider filing for it after you launch your business.
• Form the business entity you’ve chosen in the state in which you choose.  If  you choose an LLC, you will need to  draft an Operating Agreement.   If you choose a Corporation, you will need to file Incorporation documents.
• File all of the necessary start-up documents and public notices with your state and local government (if applicable).
• File for a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the business entity.
• Make any federal tax elections necessary.
• Under the business entity, apply for a fictitious name for any other lines of business you’d like to operate under the umbrella of the business entity you’ve formed.
• Check out our Startup Checklist for your new business to make certain you take all of the necessary steps.

Example of Multiple Business Structure Under a Single Business Entity

If you have a business that manufactures shoes in New York called ‘Soho Shoes, Inc.’ and you’d like to offer speaking engagements to shoe designers under the trade name Soho Shoes Speaks and start a blog about the life of a shoe designer at SohoShoesMusings.com, you could hold all these lines of business under one company.

To do so, the incorporated business known as Soho Shoes, Inc. would apply for two fictitious names (or DBAs) — one for Soho Shoes Speaks (for speaking engagements) and another for Soho Shoes Musings (for the blog).

It’s important to note that before your business files for a DBA or Fictitious Name, you should verify that your use of the name does not violate another party’s intellectual property rights. You don’t want to get into trouble and have to start over again after your start marketing your products and services to potential customers.

This multi-business structure example is really one business entity with three different marketing or trade names. So, it’s relatively easy to co-market the related lines of business while minimizing the tax reporting requirements. In my book, this structure saves time and money and that is always good!

What Does Filing a Fictitious Name Mean?

When your LLC, Corporation or Partnership has filed for a fictitious name, the state has given permission to the business to use a trade name for marketing purposes which differs from the business entity’s legal, or official name. It’s really that simple.

The fictitious name certificate does not create a separate business entity so the line of business operating under a DBA is part of the business entity which filed for the DBA.

You will not be able to sell member shares in the LLC, stock in the Corporation, or partnership rights in the Partnership for one of the lines of business which operates under the fictitious name.

And if you choose to sell one of the lines of business operating under the fictitious name, you will have to sell under an asset sale agreement as only part of the business entity will be transferred to the buyer. This can be tricky to do if the accounting books and records for the multiple lines of business have not been kept separately. So, seriously consider keeping separate banking and accounting records for each line of business under this multiple business structure if you think you may sell your business in the future.

In part three in this series, you may explore alternatives to using a single business entity with multiple fictitious names (or DBAs).

Hello, looking to purchase another auto shop( SCorp) with my auto shop (SCorp). How do i go about combining the 2 under one roof but 2 separate identities so i can keep his contracts in tact until further down the road, if this is even possible or advised?

Hi Jim, By forming a separate business entity for the newly-acquired business, the identities of the two auto shops, its contracts, assets and liabilities would be separated. It’s not clear to me what you mean by “under one roof” in the context of your situation. It’s not likely you’d operate an auto shop in another location under the same physical space as your existing auto shop unless the location of one of the two shops is not important. With further clarification, I’d be happy to address your question…

There are 4 of us looking at purchasing a building to put each of our small businesses in. The group wants to take out a loan to include kitchen equipment for the catering business. I am an art business and disagree with this decision. We are just in the discussion phase. The businesses are not related, I have an art business, one is a yoga studio, and one is a catering business. The building is actually perfect for all 3. The thought behind purchasing the kitchen equipment in the original loan is that we could rent out the kitchen when not in use for additional income. My thoughts are that the kitchen equipment is part of the catering business and therefor would be subject to depreciation on their books. My thoughts are we should purchase the building separately as a group of owners (maybe as a holding company) and each business lease their space of the building. Otherwise, why wouldn’t we also include in the loan the equipment each business needs to set up shop? For example, the art studio needs a Trailor for vendor shows and some printing and press equipment as well? Is setting up a holding company for the building with all partners as owners the right way to go? That way if their business does not work out they are still owners in the building and can lease their space out to another business if they desire to do so? Am I correct in my thinking or do you recommend another way?

Hi Amy, I always recommend forming a separate business entity (from the operating business(es)) to hold real estate for many reasons, including your last point about having the owners of the real property separated as landlords to be free to lease to whatever business operation they choose. As for the kitchen equipment, I think it may really come down to whether the commercial kitchen is truly going to be rented out to other parties. If not, it is truly equipment necessary to operate the catering business not the real property. All the best…

Im the sole proprietor of a mind and body spa offering massage therapy, life coaching, skin therapy and yoga and would like to open a massage school under the same roof. What would be best?

Hi Michelle, Your existing offerings are all related to wellness offerings to consumers and share similar risks. Your intended new venture in education, although related to your existing business, is a different animal with a different set of risks and likely licensing requirements. For this reason, I recommend exploring how you would obtain insurance for these two lines of business and if it’s necessary by licensing regulations to form a separate business entity for the school. Your business attorney should be able to assist you with this as well. All the best…

Hello, my wife is a massage therapist and wanting to open her own business with two of her co-workers. They will each be independent contractors but are wanting to operate under one business name so that there are not multiple names on the door, is this possible?

Hi Patrick, This is certainly possible. However, your wife should carefully consider whether she wants to share a business with two others. They may be great friends now… just assuming… If they share a business, one or more of them may want out at some point and that’s where things get tricky. Your wife may want to consider branding her business and licensing the brand name she wants to share with the others. A fee could be paid annually to your wife’s business (brand) to cover the costs of marketing, signage, website, software, etc. If the others want out at some point, they’d simply not sign up for a renewed licensing agreement. Be certain this is possible with your wife’s professional licensing rules and regulations which differ by state licensing boards! Hope this helps…

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What's the Best Way to Legally Structure Multiple Businesses? There are advantages and disadvantages to structuring multiple business, and lots of ways to do it wrong.

By Nellie Akalp • May 20, 2019

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Most entrepreneurs I know are driven, curious and never content with the status quo. These traits are probably why so many of them dabble in multiple ventures. A restaurateur may open a wine shop; a personal trainer may launch a line of fitness apparel. There's always a new opportunity out there somewhere, and diversifying your income can be a sound strategy.

If you are running multiple businesses or thinking about starting a second one, you may be wondering what is the best approach for legally structuring each business: should you have separate corporations/LLCs for each one or a big umbrella company to hold them all? Are there any limits to the number of companies one person can form?

Generally speaking, there are three different ways to structure multiple businesses. There are advantages and disadvantages for each approach -- and the best structure will depend on your personal situation. Here's some general advice to consider, and you can always discuss your specific needs and details with a CPA or attorney.

1. Create individual corporations/LLCs.

First, there's no limit to how many corporations or LLCs one person can form. Many entrepreneurs opt to file a new LLC or corporation for each of their startup ventures. For example, you can form an LLC for your landscaping business and another LLC for the golf course you purchased.

Related: Why You Should Never Start Just One Business

The main advantage of this approach is that it isolates the risk to each individual business. Should a client sue your landscaping business, your golf course business will be protected. Likewise, if your golf course has a few down years, your landscaping business won't have to share in any of the liability.

The main downside with this approach is that it involves additional maintenance fees and paperwork. For example, you'll need to pay to incorporate/form an LLC for each business, as well as any annual maintenance fees/forms to the state. You'll also need to get separate business licenses and EINs for each business, and file tax forms for each corporation. For some entrepreneurs, all this separate paperwork can be a pain. But for others, the added fees are well worth it in order to protect each individual business from the others.

In particular, real estate investors often form an LLC for each property in order to shield each investment. If "Property A" is sued, you won't be risking any of the assets belonging to "Property B" or "Property C."

2. Put DBAs under one corporation/LLC.

Another common option is to file one LLC or corporation, and then set up multiple DBAs (Doing Business As) for each of the other ventures. Keeping with the previous example, you may have an LLC for "Ken's Landscaping Services." Then, if you start a golfing business, the LLC can file a DBA for "Ken's Golf Course." From a marketing perspective, you can run each business as if they are separate companies -- use each individual business name, accept checks written to each business name, etc.

Related: 4 Tips for Managing Multiple Locations of Your Business

With this approach, each business venture can use the right branding and company name, while you simplify some of the annual maintenance. You just need to pay your annual LLC/corporation maintenance fees for the LLC/corporation (and not each individual DBA). If you need and/or use an EIN, you'll just need one EIN. And when it's time to file your taxes, you can take the income earned from each DBA and report them in a single tax filing under the main LLC or corporation.

Each business venture (DBA) enjoys the legal protection of the main LLC/Corporation. For example, if something should happen to one of your DBAs, your personal assets will be shielded (assuming you filed the DBA under your LLC/Corporation). But each DBA isn't protected from the other DBAs. So if one DBA is sued, all the other DBAs under the main LLC/corporation are liable.

3. Create a business under the holding company.

In the third approach, you can create individual corporations/LLCs for each of your businesses and put them under one main holding corporation/LLC.

This scenario is common in a few situations. One, for companies that are looking to be acquired or potentially spin off one of their businesses. Two, for established companies that are looking to start a new business (and the established company will fund the new venture). As expected, this scenario can have complex tax and legal implications -- and it's best to consult with a tax adviser or attorney on the best way to structure a holding company and subsidiaries.

Related: We want to start several businesses

The bottom line is there's no (legal) limit to how many business ventures you can start and run. Just make sure that you properly account for your liability risks when structuring these ventures.

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Smart tips for owning multiple businesses and making them profitable.

Owning multiple businesses can pose a challenge for entrepreneurs, but there are strategies you can employ to successfully juggle multiple businesses and make them all successful. Owners of multiple startups have to be incredibly organized and manage their time wisely, so that all their businesses get the attention they need. Hiring the right people for all your different companies can help you manage the workload and leverage the expertise of others.

These topics offer useful advice on successfully owning multiple businesses:

How to Legally Structure Multiple Businesses

How to run multiple businesses successfully.

If you’re a business owner starting a second venture, you’ll need to decide on the best way to legally structure your businesses. Small business owners should choose one of the following approaches to structuring multiple businesses:

1. Create Separate LLCs or Corporations

You can create separate LLCs or corporations for each of your businesses, because there’s no limit to how many a person can form. The biggest advantage to this approach is that each business won’t have to assume the risk of the others; they’ll all be legally and financially protected from one another. The biggest disadvantage is that it costs more money (in the case of corporations, it can be a significant cost) and it requires a great deal of time-consuming paperwork to register the businesses separately.

2. Create Multiple DBAs Under One LLC or Corporation

Your next option is to form one corporation or LLC and then set up separate DBAs for each additional business. DBA stands for “Doing Business As” and means each separate company can do business under a different name. The advantage of this method is that every business can have a separate identity with unique branding , but you can save money and time on paperwork by only registering and paying fees for the one LLC or corporation. The disadvantage of this approach is that the separate businesses aren’t protected from one another, so a lawsuit brought against one company could affect all your businesses.

3. Create Businesses Under a Holding Company

The final option for legally structuring multiple businesses is to create separate LLCs or corporations for each business and place them all under a holding company. This is the most common approach among businesses that are looking to be acquired. This approach can be complex and expensive. It will also affect your taxes. It’s best to consult an accountant or a lawyer before going this route with your multiple businesses, to see if it’s the right option for you.

Entrepreneurs can run multiple businesses and turn a profit by giving each project the attention it needs and looking for ways to maximize resources between the different companies. Here are some helpful tips on how to manage more than one business:

1. Choose Projects Wisely

Before taking on a new business, make sure it has the potential to turn a profit and you have the resources to manage it. If, in analyzing a potential business idea you discover that it will take a great deal of time and resources to get it off the ground, evaluate whether it’s worthwhile to undertake the new project at this time, or whether your other business ventures will suffer too much as a result.

2. Share a Location

When you take on more than one business, it’s a smart idea to share a location if possible. Sharing a common space allows you to be involved with both ventures on a daily basis and helps you easily switch back and forth between the two. It will save you time, since you won’t have to constantly commute between two separate business locations. If it isn’t possible for your businesses to share a space, at least try to keep them as close to one another as possible.

3. Schedule Your Days

Organization and time management are key when juggling multiple businesses at once. When you add a second business to your work mix, you might find that your free time gets swallowed up by other obligations much more quickly. Scheduling your time in detail can help you ensure you set aside enough time each week to devote to important work projects that deserve your full attention, along with meetings, appointments and personal time. Scheduling can help you divide your time appropriately between your different businesses.

4. Track Your Time

This goes hand in hand with scheduling, but it’s helpful to track how you actually spend your time. There are time tracking apps and browser extensions you can use to record how you spend your time. Tracking your time is more precise than scheduling because it gives you insight into how you actually spend your work day. You can use the data to see whether you’re spending considerably more time on one business than another. Time-tracking data also helps you become more efficient. For example, you might find that you’re spending a large chunk of the week in meetings. You might be able to reevaluate the meetings you attend and see if you can delegate the task to other employees, freeing up your time.

5. Leverage Your Assets

If it’s possible, leverage assets between your separate businesses to save time and money. Administrative tasks can often be shared between multiple companies, including purchasing and payroll. Even functions like marketing and sales can sometimes be spread across multiple businesses, especially if they complement one another.

6. Create Reports Regularly

It’s important to understand how your businesses are performing, both on their own and in relation to one another. Create regular reports, including financial statements like your balance sheet , income statement and cash flow statement . Analyze and compare reports to see where you can become more efficient. See how each company is performing and, if necessary, allocate more time to a business that requires more support to grow.

7. Hire the Right People

If you’re spreading your time across multiple companies, you probably can’t manage every aspect of your businesses alone. That’s why it’s so important to hire the right people to help you grow your businesses. Bring on people who meet the following requirements:

• They understand your industry
• They have skills that fill your knowledge gaps
• They’re passionate about your brands and your mission
• They demonstrate a willingness to grow with the company

8. Learn from Past Mistakes

One of the great benefits of starting a second business is that you bring valuable wisdom from your earlier startup experiences. When developing a business plan for a new venture, be sure to analyze the challenges you faced in previous businesses and build into your business plan strategies for dealing with those issues.

9. Prioritize Work-Life Balance

For the owners of startup companies — and especially multiple startups — the threat of burnout is real. To keep yourself fresh, productive and motivated, it’s important to maintain a good work-life balance. Balancing your personal and work time will keep you healthier and happier, which is good for you and good for your businesses.

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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

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

Download a free SBA-approved business plan template built for small businesses and startups.

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Sample business plan library

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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.

Table of Contents

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

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4 Ways You Can Successfully Look After Multiple Businesses

• Running Multiple Businesses

Your dream of running multiple businesses has come true, more than once! You now run or are about to run more than one business. Running one company can be tough enough, and you need to balance several. Worry not — we have put together some tips to help you run multiple businesses.

How To Run Multiple Businesses

1. You’ll need to decide how you will structure your companies

You can make them completely separate or together. If they are separate, you will need to keep separate books and file taxes separately. Another option is to form an LLC that each business is a part of. It’s smart to consult a professional when making these kinds of choices to ensure that everything is done correctly.

2. When running multiple small businesses, time management is key

To help you balance your time, you might consider having a central office for all of your businesses. Carefully plan your time to give each the attention it needs.

3. If you find yourself becoming overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to ask for help

Getting some help can free up some of your time to focus on other important matters. Let a trusted colleague or employee manage some of the smaller tasks. Getting help when you need it can also keep you less stressed, which will make you a better manager.

4. Letting parts of your companies intermingle can help you grow all of your businesses

Your businesses can promote each other and help one another grow. Customers from one can be offered a discount at another. Even if your businesses are separate, they can still build and complement each other.

Yes, it is possible to successfully manage multiple businesses simultaneously. However, it requires careful planning, effective delegation, strong organizational skills, and the ability to prioritize and manage your time efficiently.

Effective delegation is key when managing multiple businesses. Identify tasks that can be delegated and find capable individuals to handle them. Clearly communicate expectations, provide necessary training and resources, and establish regular check-ins to ensure tasks are being completed satisfactorily.

Prioritizing your time is crucial when managing multiple businesses. Start by identifying the most critical tasks and deadlines for each business. Use time management techniques such as creating to-do lists, setting clear goals, and utilizing time-blocking methods to allocate dedicated time for each business and task.

Staying organized is essential for effectively managing multiple businesses. Utilize organizational tools such as calendars, project management software, and digital or physical filing systems to keep track of important information, deadlines, and tasks for each business. Regularly review and update your systems to ensure they remain efficient.

Sharing resources or staff between your multiple businesses can be a strategic way to optimize efficiency and reduce costs. Assess common needs and overlaps between the businesses and determine where sharing resources or staff members can be beneficial without compromising the quality or productivity of each business.

How can I maintain effective communication across multiple

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Latest Federal & Government Contracting Companies' News Coverage

10 Best Tips for Starting Multiple Businesses

The  billion-dollar  government contracting industry is still projected to rise in the coming years, especially with America mobilizing contractors to aid the nation’s recovery from the recent pandemic. With this great opportunity just within grasp, who wouldn’t dare jump into creating not just one company but multiple businesses!

Table of Contents

Why should you start multiple businesses?

Starting multiple businesses is daunting and, not to mention—risky. But, what’s life without taking risks, right?

As the saying goes, “high risk, high reward.” You strengthen your financial security by diversifying your income sources when pursuing different businesses. So even if your Business A didn’t take off, you still have your Business B to rely on. At the same time, running multiple businesses simultaneously also pushes you to grow to be a better entrepreneur. With the success of your companies riding at your back, you motivate yourself to think more creatively and hone your skills to be a better version of yourself, too!

How to start creating multiple companies?

1. Research about your target industries

Just like when you establish a single company, performing thorough market research on your prospect industries is essential to achieve your goal of owning multiple businesses. Here are some of the things you know before deciding to open multiple businesses:

• Who are your clients?
• Look up federal agencies likely to purchase your products and services in this free database.
• Who are your competitors?
• Search your potential competing contractors and study their way of trade. Visit this website and see which federal agency they are currently working with.
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your company? 
• Using the knowledge you have gathered from above, it is time to evaluate your business’s unique selling points.

In this line of business, knowledge is power. So as a future CEO of multiple government contracting firms, you should avoid cutting corners when conducting market research. Otherwise, this might spell considerable losses to you and your business partners as well.

2. Know the best legal structure for your multiple businesses 

There are different ways to legally structure multiple businesses, and it all depends on how you or your partners desire to manage your company. Selecting a legal business structure will affect how your company will pay its taxes and other liabilities.

Aside from the series of paperwork you have to file to  register as a government contractor , you also need to consult with a business attorney beforehand to assess which business structure will work for you.

Here are some of the well-known methods you can use to structure multiple businesses:

• Establish individual LLC or corporation

For starters, LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a type of business structure in the U.S. that protects the business owners from personal responsibilities from debts and liabilities. Depending on which state your businesses are operating in, there are  no limits  on how many LLCs you can form. So no matter how many businesses you have, you can all register them as separate LLCs.

• Your assets are safe from any liabilities.

The only resource you’ll risk losing should your LLC fail is your invested money in the business. Registering your enterprise as an LLC or corporation will protect your personal assets such as cars, homes, and personal bank accounts from any business debt and claims.

• Each LLC is considered a separate entity. 

Registering separate businesses for LLCs means that you protect the individual business from the risks and liabilities of your other business. This means that if your first business were sued, the assets of your second business would remain unaffected. Real estate investors are the ones who usually observe this practice to shield every investment from any liabilities.

• Time-consuming and expensive.

Since each business is registered as a corporation, you have to file a series of tedious tax forms and, of course, pay a significant amount of taxes for each business.

• File your DBAs under an LLC or corporation

You can register just one of your companies as an LLC and then put up DBAs (Doing Business As) for your other business ventures compared to our previous legal business structure.

You can run your businesses under DBAs as separate entities with this structure. This means you can use different company names and implement different branding for each venture.

• You only need to file your taxes for one LLC.

This equates to fewer costs from filing and paying taxes since you do not need to pay for the individual taxes of your DBAs.

• Your assets will also be protected from business liabilities.

Similar to the first business structure we’ve discussed, you will also enjoy the legal protection of LLCs if ever one of your DBAs encounters business losses.

• Your DBA is not protected from the risk and liabilities of other DBAs.

Since only the primary company is registered as LLC, your other DBAs will be held liable for any debts and losses of your other DBAs as well. If one DBA were sued, the rest of your DBAs would be held accountable too.

• Build a business under a holding company

If you or your business partners are looking to be acquired by more prominent companies, then this method will work best for you.

If you choose this path of structuring your business, you should register your businesses as separate LLCs and place them all under a holding company. By doing this, you are subjecting your businesses to be the holding company’s subsidiaries.

• You will pay fewer taxes.

You only need to pay your taxes mandated by your state instead of filing for your taxes for all your profits compared to previous business structures. Consult your state’s tax laws and tax lawyer to know the specifics.

• You will be subjected to greater bureaucracy

The holding company, also known as the parent company, will own 50% (or more) of the company shares. Although they wouldn’t be handling your day-to-day operations, they will influence your policies and corporate decisions.

• You will be handling more complex financial statements and legalities

Since your companies are now under a parent company, you have to fulfill more complicated financial and other operational documents than before. Get in touch with a tax adviser or attorney to know how to navigate through it.

As you can see, structuring multiple businesses requires you to go through a tedious process. You must ensure that all your documents satisfy the legal requirements to avoid future problems.

3. Build your multiple businesses close to each other

Setting up your companies within a central location will save you valuable resources compared to running multiple businesses in different places. If you are still starting up, you can rent adjacent office spaces in the same building for your businesses.

By doing this, overseeing your ventures personally will be easier and efficient too. Additionally, you can encourage your personnel from your different companies to interact with each other and even get them on board for collaboration projects.

4. Be on top of your business’ financials

Most serial entrepreneurs might think if they somehow overspend in one business, they can just offset your expenses by reallocating assets belonging to your second business. In some emergency cases, this move might be acceptable. But doing this frequently may spell disaster not only to one business but to an entire chain of business ventures.

As a multiple business entrepreneur, you should set clear boundaries between your businesses and treat them as separate corporations to keep sufficient resources to pay off their necessary expenses.

To help manage your corporate finances, you should seek financial advice from a trusted expert then prepare a comprehensive business plan around a specific budget range.

5. Learn how to prioritize

It is probably common sense, considering you manage more than one business, right? But sometimes, most entrepreneurs tend to spread themselves thin—and business owners like you can only handle so much. So, take a step back, evaluate which of your businesses have the most potential to grow, then prioritize it.

But, that does not equate that you will neglect your other businesses. You are still maintaining the rest of your ventures; you are just dedicating more of yourself and your resources to a business that is more likely to succeed.

6. Hire a team of experts to take a load off your plate

Asking others to come on board in running your enterprise that you’ve dedicated your blood, sweat, and tears can be daunting.

But, it is a necessary step to take, or you’ll risk hindering the growth of your businesses. Remember: one of the qualities of a good leader is knowing how to delegate tasks. It is impossible to be an expert in all aspects of your business, so entrusting some aspects of running your business to seasoned professionals will set up your corporation to success.

Additionally, having a team of experts and co-founders supporting you will safeguard your businesses from snags you will probably overlook if you try to run everything yourself.

7. Foster a healthy working environment

Once you have hired a solid team to fill in the ranks, you should now strive to create a healthy space and conducive work environment for them. Keeping up with the rapid growth of your businesses, especially during its early stages, is undeniably stressful for you and the rest of your employees too.

As you grind to success, make sure that you don’t overlook the welfare of your staff because they, too, are human. A healthy working environment encourages high-quality productivity and instills loyalty among your employees.

8. Maximize online productivity tools 

Owning multiple businesses can be overwhelming, especially if you are not equipped with the right tools to stay on top of every task. Fortunately, recent tech innovations gave birth to these online tools that can help boost your staff members’ productivity and streamline your operational processes as well.

Here are some online tools that many entrepreneurs trust and rely on for their day-to-day activities:

To manage a successful business, you have to be a master in time management. Fortunately, this online collaboration tool helps entrepreneurs like you keep everything in place. See projects and deadlines at a glance, communicate and collaborate with your staff, and easily access important files with just a few clicks.

• Google Workspace

Made by the known tech giant, Google Workspace is a collection of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools. They offer different business plans depending on your needs.

• Time Doctor

Like other entrepreneurs still managing their team remotely, this employee monitoring tool will help you keep track of your team members’ activity and productivity levels.

This video conferencing tool has become a staple in every online workspace, especially with COVID-19 still keeping businesses confined in a work-from-home setup. They offer a free version and business plans for unlimited video call times.

9. Always keep a pen and notebook handy

Entrepreneurs who run multiple businesses will never run out of ideas—may it be a new business concept for a specific target market or a creative solution to improve the business’s hiring practices. These lightbulb moments usually come without a moment’s notice, so you should always keep a notebook on your person whenever, whenever. Who knows, maybe the next big idea for your new venture might come any time soon!

10. Take a break

You might find yourself reminiscing the more relaxing times when you’re still a business owner managing small businesses. So we’re ending this article with our most important tip: never forget to take a moment to step back from the stress of owning multiple businesses.

Your sole focus shouldn’t only be running a business as a serial entrepreneur. You should also set your sights on how you can live your life to the fullest from the fruits of your hard work.

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Written by Cielo Cinco

She is an advertising copywriter and content creator who writes about the federal government contracting industry and its key players who make waves across the GovCon field.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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Benefits and challenges of owning multiple businesses, september 15, 2022.

Running several businesses can be daunting, due to the time and money constraints, and yet it can also be incredibly rewarding. It provides young business owners the chance to diversify and showcase their skills in several fields, or to truly master one industry. The financial gains often surpass any losses that might happen. However, it is vital to consider all the possible obstacles one might encounter when running multiple businesses, especially for a  limited liability company.

What are the types of business ownership?

Before making the decision to run multiple businesses it is helpful to learn more about the types of ownership there are. Most business people opt for sole proprietorship, but often when running many businesses at the same time, a partnership would work better. Distinguish between LLP partnerships, that are basically legal entities that provide simple and pass-through taxation, with a limited liability for the partners; and LLC partnerships that allow you to retain sole proprietorship, while still limiting legal and financial liability, making them a popular choice for small businesses. Consider the type of ownership structure before starting to run several businesses at the same time.

Benefits of owning multiple businesses

More income.

Every entrepreneur wants to make more profit, but at the same time save some money. If you are trying to achieve both, then running multiple businesses might be challenging. However, according to the Harvard Business Review , people who are successfully running more companies, make more money on average than those who run only one. Think of it as having multiple sources of income or a form of a long-term investment.

Economy of scale

What economists call economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation. They can be measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. To make things clearer let’s take a look at what one needs when starting a business. For starters, one needs to register the business, hire employees, secure warehouses and/or equipment, etc. All of this costs a lot of money and time. If we consider the economy of scale principle we realize that running several businesses at the same time might be more cost-effective than running only one.

When scaling your operations, you can add more revenue streams by having multiple companies. Not only that, but you also share a lot of the expenses among the companies. The main principle of operation is quite obvious: more investments mean more profit. Consider expanding your business across several companies and see how it goes.

Diversification

Diversification minimizes risk, because if one business fails, there is always another one that thrives. Having companies in the same industry might pose a challenge when a whole industry is hit, like some during the COVID pandemic, but having diverse businesses then becomes a safety net. Having a different set of people working on different projects is another advantage of diversification. When a problem arises in one of your companies, an IT expert from your software company may provide a quick solution. Think about creating or updating your databases, or even creating a giant database for all your companies.

Challenges of owning multiple businesses

Every business owner needs to consider the real obstacles posed by having more companies than one. Although the income might increase, many new costs will arise. Likewise, time is always a challenge, as well as the increased paperwork.

Time management

When running a business the main thing that holds all operations together is proper time management. Only a good strategy enables better time management. The right scheduling enables proper time management. You can start by relying on your assistants or simply using online calendars to organize your time. 

Secondly, try to have all of your companies located in the same location . Online remote work makes this easier, as all employees are virtually in the same place . Thirdly and very importantly, you have to trust your employees to do their tasks timely and diligently. Vet them and choose them wisely before committing to more employees across different locations and companies. The right employee assigned to the right task will save you a lot of time and energy. It is better to spend time choosing the fitting employee, instead of wasting time correcting mistakes after an employee proves to be a bad fit for a task.

Financial costs

Despite possible, and very likely financial gains, one cannot underestimate the costs of running a business. From basic utilities cost to salaries, these are just some of the costs every business has to deal with:

• Office space 
• Equipment and furniture
• Salaried employees
• Technological supplies
• Insurance, license or permit fees
• Advertising or promotions
• Business plan costs
• IT services

Now take all of this into consideration and multiple them by the number of businesses you own! If the costs are overwhelming, you should definitely re-evaluate the number of companies you own. Sometimes two companies is more than enough, and often too many would put too much burden on your bank account. 

A very logical consequence of starting multiple businesses is the increased paperwork. Multiply each company’s paperwork by the number of companies you own and you’ll drown in paperwork. Each company requires specific paperwork, including business formation papers, business licenses and tax forms. For some all of the paperwork might be too stressful and expensive.

Always check what laws apply to each of your businesses. This means that many companies might require more legal research and paperwork for the additional regulation. From safety measures to special considerations, legal documents might pile up by the time you open your business. Hire someone who can go through the paperwork and resolve any issues that might arise.

Owning many businesses means providing yourself with multiple streams of income and financial security, especially if one company isn’t successful. Owning numerous companies makes life exciting and gives us a chance to put our diverse skills, experiences, and interests to the test.

More must-read stories from Enterprise League:

• The golden rules you need to build a steady buyer-seller relationship .
• No motivation? Get inspired with these   30 quotes about business growth .
• Getting more customers   – every business owner’s biggest concern.
• Unique and creative guerrilla marketing ideas for small businesses .
• Warning signs of a terrible boss that everyone must be aware of.

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES

Free business plan template for small businesses

• Cecilia Lazzaro Blasbalg
• Dec 7, 2023

Creating a successful business is about more than launching a business website or hanging a shingle on your front door. It requires a well-crafted plan that keeps you on track, anticipates obstacles and acts as a concrete roadmap for launching or improving your small business.

Business planning allows you to clarify your vision while providing information to both intrigue and reassure potential investors. The process may seem daunting, but creating a business plan isn’t difficult—and templates like the one below can help simplify the process even further.

Ready to launch your business? Create a website today.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is used by small business owners and entrepreneurs when starting a new business venture. It’s a strategic document that outlines the goals, objectives and strategies of your new or expanding business, including the company's vision, target market, financial projections and operational plans.

A business plan can attract potential partners, convince investors and banks to help you raise capital, and serve as a resource for future growth. Most importantly, you’ll be able to use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, operate and manage your new venture, whether it’s a sole proprietorship, a partnership or something larger.

Who needs a business plan?

Every business owner needs a business plan. They’re an essential tool for any person or entity interested in starting a business . There are many benefits, including:

Defining your business idea

Clarifying the market and competitive landscape

Outlining your marketing strategy

Stating your value proposition

Identifying/anticipating potential risks

Seeking investments from banks and other sources

Setting benchmarks, goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)

A business plan also gives you a way to assess the viability of a business before investing too much time or money into it. While all business involves risk, taking the time to create a plan can help mitigate fallout and avoid potentially costly mistakes.

When creating a business plan, it's important to establish your business goals up front and be prepared to spend time researching the market, performing a competitor analysis and understanding your target market .

Download Wix’s free business plan template

Creating a successful business plan is no easy feat. That’s why we’ve put together a simple, customizable, and free-to-download business plan template that takes the guesswork out of getting started. Use it to create a new business plan or to refresh an existing one.

Lean startup versus traditional business plan formats

In terms of types of business plans , there are two main formats to choose from: traditional and lean.

Traditional business plan format

A traditional business plan includes every detail and component that defines a business and contributes to its success. It's typically a sizable document of about 30 to 50 pages that includes:

Executive summary: The executive summary contains a high-level overview of everything included in the plan. It generally provides a short explanation of your business and its goals (e.g., your elevator pitch ). Many authors like to write this section last after fleshing out the sections below.

Company description: A company description should include essential details like your business name, the names of your founders, your locations and your company’s mission statement . Briefly describe your core services (or products if you’re writing an eCommerce business plan ), but don't go into too much detail since you’ll elaborate on this in the service/product section. Wix offers some helpful mission statement examples if you get stuck. It’s also a good idea to create a vision statement . While your mission statement clarifies your company’s purpose, a vision statement outlines what you want your company to achieve over time.

Market analysis: One of the most extensive sections of the business plan, this section requires that you conduct market research and write your conclusions. Include findings for the following: industry background, a SWOT analysis , barriers/obstacles, target market and your business differentiators.

Organization and management: This is where you outline how your business is structured and who's in charge, including founders, executive team members, board members, employees and key stakeholders. To this end, it can be helpful to create a visual layout (e.g., org chart) to illustrate your company structure.

Service or product line: Create a detailed list of your current and future products and services. If you’re still working on your idea, create a concept statement to describe your idea or product. You should also include a proof of concept (POC), which demonstrates the feasibility of your idea. Wherever applicable, include diagrams, product images and other visual components to illustrate the product life cycle.

Marketing and sales: Detail how your business idea translates into selling and delivering your offerings to potential customers. You can start by outlining your brand identity, which includes the colors and fonts you plan to use, your marketing and advertising strategy, and details about planned consumer touchpoints (like your website, mobile app or physical storefront).

Financial projections and funding requests: Include financial statements, such as a balance sheet, profit-and-loss statement (P&L), cash flow statement and break-even analysis. It's not uncommon for a business plan to include multiple pages of financial projections and information. You’ll also want to mention how much funding you seek and what you plan to do with it. If you’ve already secured funding, provide details about your investments.

Lean startup business plan format

A lean startup business plan—also referred to as a “lean canvas”—is presented as a problem/solution framework that provides a high-level description of your business idea. A lean plan is a single-page document that provides a basic overview of the most essential aspects of your business. It’s a good way to dip a toe into business planning since it doesn't require the same level of detail as a traditional plan. This includes:

Problem: What problem does your product or service solve, or what need does it fulfill?

Solution: How do you intend to solve it?

Unique value proposition (UVP): Why should people use your product or service versus someone else’s?

Unfair advantage: What do you have that other companies don’t?

Customers: Who are your ideal customers?

Channels: How will those customers find you?

Key metrics: How do you define success? How will you track and measure it?

Revenue streams: How will your business make money?

Cost structure: What will you spend money on (fixed and variable costs)?

Benefits of a business plan template

Business plan templates offer numerous benefits for entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners. Here are some key advantages:

1. Save time and effort: Templates provide a pre-defined structure, eliminating the need to start from scratch. This frees up valuable time and effort that can be invested in other crucial aspects of business development.

2. Improve structure: Templates ensure a consistent and organized approach to presenting your business plan. This makes it easier for potential investors, lenders and advisors to understand your vision and evaluate the feasibility of your business. 3. Enhance professionalism: Using a well-designed template demonstrates professionalism and seriousness to external stakeholders. This can significantly impact their perception of your business and increase their confidence in your venture. 4. Guide your thought process: Templates act as a helpful framework, prompting you to consider all the key elements of your business plan and ensuring you haven't overlooked any critical areas. 5. Ensure completeness: Templates often include checklists and prompts to ensure you cover all essential information, minimizing the risk of missing crucial details. 6. Standardize formatting: Templates ensure a consistent and uniform appearance throughout your business plan, contributing to a more polished and professional presentation. 7. Access to expert knowledge: Many templates are developed by experienced business professionals or organizations, incorporating best practices and insights gained from successful ventures. 8. Adaptability and customization: While templates offer a basic structure, they can be easily customized to reflect the unique characteristics and needs of your specific business. 9. Cost-effectiveness: Templates are generally available for free or at a low cost, making them an accessible and budget-friendly option for entrepreneurs. 10. Increased success rate: Studies have shown that businesses with well-developed plans are more likely to succeed. Templates can help you create a comprehensive and persuasive plan, increasing your chances of securing funding and achieving your business goals.

Tips for filling out your business plan template

The hardest part of a journey is always the first step, or so the saying goes. Filling out your business plan template can be daunting, but the template itself is meant to get you over that crucial first hurdle—getting started. We’ve provided some tips aimed at helping you get the most from our template.

These are best practices—they’re not rules. Do what works for you. The main thing to remember is that these tips can help you move more easily through the planning process, so that you can advance onto the next (exciting) step, which is launching your business.

Consider your goals: What is the purpose of your business? Are you looking to expand, launch a new product line or fund a specific project? Identifying your goals helps you prioritize important information in your business plan.

Fill out what you can: You may already have a vague—or specific—idea of what you want your business to achieve. Go through each section of the template and fill out what you can. We suggest leaving the executive summary blank for now, since it'll be the last thing you write.

Be realistic: Even though this document is meant to serve as a marketing tool for potential investors, don't exaggerate any numbers or make any false promises.

Dig into the research: Nothing's more motivating than getting some intel about your competitors and your market. If you're truly stuck, a little research can help motivate you and provide valuable insight about what direction to take your business. For example, if you plan to start a landscaping business, learn about the specific pricing offered in your area so that you can differentiate your services and potentially offer better options.

Get help from others: Bouncing your ideas off a friend, mentor or advisor is a great way to get feedback and discover approaches or products to incorporate into your plan. Your network can also give you valuable insight about the industry or even about potential customers. Plus, it's nice to be able to talk through the challenges with someone who understands you and your vision.

Revise and review: Once complete, step back from your plan and let it "cook." In a day or two, review your plan and make sure that everything is current. Have other people review it too, since having another set of eyes can help identify areas that may be lacking detail or need further explanation.

Once you’ve completed your business plan template, it can become a meaningful resource for developing your mission statement, writing business proposals and planning how to move forward with the marketing, distribution and growth of your products and services.

After launch, you can also analyze your value chain to identify key factors that create value for your customers and maximum profitability for you. This can help you develop a more effective business plan that considers the entire value chain, from research and development to sales and customer support.

Business plan template FAQ

What is the easiest way to write a business plan.

The easiest way to write a business plan is to utilize a template. Templates provide a structured format and guide you through each section, simplifying the process of creating a comprehensive plan.

Is there a template for how to write a business plan?

What are the 7 essential parts of a business plan, related posts.

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Starting & Leading Multiple Businesses: Tips from Executives

• December 6, 2021

For the past decades, businesses have been making noise in the economy and making people earn an immense profit. With that being said, many people wanted to take the risk and have their first business or first company holding on to the idea of gaining better compensation and at the same time being their own boss. As a result, during the pandemic outbreak, the idea of having a small business was unexpectedly rose into a great number. Most of them succeeded. Some have failed, yet many are still striving to run their own businesses.

Some business ventures have failed, but many are still fighting while others are already on the path to a successful business. On the other hand, many people are curious as to how other people manage to run multiple businesses at the same time?

When it comes to owning multiple businesses, you don’t need any luck or business enchantment. You just need to achieve a few things in able to do that.

If you are seeking an answer on how to start and lead more than one business, make sure that you keep reading for this article have all the answers.

Table of Contents

Can a person have multiple businesses?

First of all, as a responsible citizen or entrepreneur, you might be asking yourself how many businesses can I have? Is it feasible to establish more than one business but under the same person? The answer is Yes!

There are different types of business structures that you can undergo to establish a successful business, but in order to run multiple businesses, you might want to approach a Limited liability company. Whether you own a food industry business and open a fashion and clothing business, you can operate businesses under one company or one LLC.

For owning multiple businesses, you need to acquire an individual EIN (Employer identification number) to register multiple sole proprietorships. However, the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) are hesitant to issue several EINS for individuals operating similar businesses.

How to create multiple businesses?

1. Create separate LLCs or Corporation

You can start different companies as you like because there is no limit to the number of businesses you can start. You’ll need to set up separate LLCs or corporations for each of them to accomplish this. Thus, the most prominent benefit is that businesses can protect their personal assets and will no longer have to bear the risk of others. They’ll both be legally and financially safe from each other.

However, on the other hand, creating a separate LLC or corporation costs a lot of money and requires a lot of time-consuming paperwork to register the business separately than having just one business.

2. Create multiple DBA

The next thing you can do to legally structure multiple businesses is to form LLC or corporation but have multiple DBA. Doing business As or DBA means each separated company can do business different name.

Pro: You can have a separate identity for each business with unique branding, and it saves you money and effort for paperwork by only registering one LLC.

Con: Separate businesses are not protected from each other, so a single lawsuit and bad image of the company could affect all your businesses.

3. Register under a holding company

The last option to owning multiple businesses is to create corporations for each business and register them under a holding company. This strategy, on the other hand, can be time-consuming and expensive. It could potentially affect your tax situation significantly. Therefore, it is best to seek a lawyer or certified accountant for financial advice before executing your plan to see if this option will work for you.

How to manage multiple businesses

Running a single business involves creativity, implementation of ideas, problem-solving, analysis, managing the workforce and more. That sounds so hard to do, but things might get more overwhelming if you plan to work with multiple companies simultaneously.

Handling two businesses means doubling the effort, keeping values consistent, committed and willing to be in different hats. Without having this idea can even cause a feeling of not reaching the potential of your new business and yourself. To better understand how you can manage running multiple businesses, the essential tips can help you.

Choose business wisely

Before you establish one business or a new company, it is a general rule to make sure that your idea has the potential to run for a long time. You have enough resources to manage it and make a profit. If you think that your next business will take so much of your time and resources and will just give a little ROI, you should calculate if it will be worthy of fighting for. Take note that your other business venture can be affected in the long run if you fail in handling your new idea.

Set your schedule

Time management is an essential component of running a business. When structuring multiple businesses, you might see that your other obligation consumes your free time for another business. With that being said, Scheduling your time can help you to delegate your task effectively. You can have full attention, focus, meetings, deadlines for the business, and give yourself some better personal time.

As for the meetings and appointments, you can set a weekly or bi-monthly meeting with the team or visit them in the office if they all work together in person. By giving your presence to the team, you are ensuring that you are there no matter what. Also, it will be better if you can address their needs or queries as long as it will strengthen the workforce.

One of the reasons that you establish a new business is to have more profit. When you are managing multiple businesses, all your resources and money can be spent suddenly. Hence, you need firm control of your finances to avoid spending, and if you pay, make sure that it is less than what your business makes.

Create regular reports

It is vital to know how your businesses are performing. Advise your team to create regular reports such as HR issues, marketing strategy, income statements, cash flow statements and more. Regardless of whether you own multiple businesses or not, as an owner, you need to analyze and compare all the reports given to see where your new venture can become more efficient.

Analyze your business separately.

Analyzing your business helps in determining where your business lacks and how to improve it efficiently. It is good to analyze the business from time to time based on your employees’ reports. But remember that you cannot explore all your businesses at once, and it is not a good idea to analyze or solve all the businesses at once.

As a responsible business owner, make sure that you analyze your business separately to avoid any unwanted information and misinterpretation about the plan.

Hire the right people

Preparation of reports and other works couldn’t be done if your business lacked a workforce. However, when building teams, you cannot just hire anyone to do the job in your business. Make sure that you examine each applicant thoroughly and hire the right people.

When looking for a competitive applicant to work for your company, it is vital to have the right hiring practices seek people who have a strong sense of initiative and a desire to showcase their abilities. When looking for the perfect executive, consider the following suggestions.

• Understanding of the industry
• Equipped with the right skills
• Demonstrate a willingness to grow and develop to work for the same goal or business plan
• Must be able to work with the same goal of your business.

After you hire the right person, make yourself available to communicate with instructions. However, make sure you offer them enough room to work independently. In addition, hear out to their ideas and suggestions because these things might improve your business. Also, whenever possible, give your employees opportunities to gain new knowledge and enhance their skillsets through workshops and courses.

Set realistic plans and goals

When you set goals and plans for your business, make sure that it is realistic and intelligent. Developing a practical solution lets, you enjoy your business and personal life more. It also prepares you, your business and your team members for unwanted circumstances.

What is a plan that seems look unrealistic? Let us say profiting a million dollars in an hour. Well, that could be done if your business is already established and has many branches, operating in great numbers or already self-sufficient. But if it is just starting, this may not be realistic at the moment.

You can win an incredible amount of profit by joining government contracting , but that is another topic to talk about. Perhaps, if you want to know more about government contracting, read here.

Learn from past mistakes

One advantage of having different businesses is that you can bring valuable wisdom from your earlier stage in building your previous businesses. When you develop a new business, make sure that you avoid your past mistakes’ inappropriate decisions and build bolder plans to achieve success.

By doing so, you can create a more effective business plan to serve your target market, compete with other companies and develop a better brand.

Setup a work-life balance

There is no easy path to achieving success in running a business. Leading and starting multiple businesses can cause burnout, especially during the early stages. As an entrepreneur, you must have a great perspective in order to keep yourself and your team productive and motivated. One solution to that is to separate personal and work time. Separating personal and work time will keep everyone in the workplace healthier and happier.

Is it better to have multiple businesses?

I cannot give a definitive answer to whether or not having multiple businesses is a good or bad idea. These readings gave out tips about that matter, but in the end, it will be your decision if you will pursue it or not.

Owning multiple businesses sounds fulfilling, especially since many business owners and entrepreneurs are gaining success. But do not rush in into having your second venture. Equip yourself first with enough knowledge from your first business and strengthen the current business experience you have. With that, you can prepare yourself to work for other businesses or with working with business partners in different industries.

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Owning multiple businesses may be both challenging and rewarding. It gives business owners the opportunity to increase their earning potential, diversify their sources of income, and gain an edge over their competitors. But managing multiple businesses also requires a lot of time, work, and strategy.

The advantages of owning many small businesses, including how doing so could boost earning potential and diversify one’s revenue sources, will be covered in this blog. We will also go through the challenges multi-business entrepreneurs encounter and how to overcome them. As someone who owns multiple enterprises, the question of “Can two firms share the same address?” will also be covered. We will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of operating two businesses out of the same location as well as the practical and legal ramifications of doing so.

By the end of this article, readers will have a better knowledge of the pros and cons of starting or expanding their own several businesses, which will enable them to make smarter decisions.

Table of Contents

Advantages of owning multiple small businesses

• The ability to spread out financial risk among several small businesses allows entrepreneurs to avoid putting all eggs in one basket, which can lead to a more stable income and reduced financial stress.
• Business owners who own multiple businesses can tap into a variety of markets and clientele, potentially increasing sales and income.
• Entrepreneurs who own multiple businesses can benefit from shared resources such as staff, equipment, and buildings, which can reduce costs and improve enterprise management and operation.
• By applying their knowledge and expertise from one business to the next, entrepreneurs can expand and build another. A successful e-commerce entrepreneur, for example, can apply the same strategies to grow their brick-and-mortar business.
• By running multiple businesses, entrepreneurs can test new ideas on the market without jeopardising their primary source of income.
• Owners of multiple small businesses have the potential to make passive income from one or more of their enterprises, which can add to their financial security.

Challenges of being a multi business owner

Being a multi business owner can come with its own set of challenges, such as:

• Time management is important because it takes a lot of time and effort to run multiple businesses. Entrepreneurs often find it challenging to balance the demands of multiple businesses, leading to stress and burnout.
• Managing personnel, finances, and operations are just a few of the many tasks that multi business owners must juggle. It can be difficult to efficiently organize and priorities the various activities that result from this, and it can be daunting.
• Delegating responsibilities can be challenging for some business owners, which can result in fatigue and a lack of time to focus on other crucial activities.
• Multi business owners may find it challenging to focus on one task or business for an extended period, leading to decreased productivity and effectiveness.
• Managing numerous enterprises can be hectic and disorganized, making it challenging to remember deadlines and crucial information.

To overcome these challenges, multi business owners can try the following tips:

• Set work priorities: Setting task priorities and concentrating on the most crucial ones can help entrepreneurs better manage their time and energy.
• Delegate jobs: Giving work to dependable staff members or independent contractors can let business owners concentrate on more crucial activities and boost production.
• Process streamlining: By automating repetitive procedures and utilizing technology, business owners can better manage their operations.
• Create routines: Creating and adhering to a daily routine can help business owners stay organized and motivated.
• Seek assistance: Multi business owners can get assistance from business coaches, mentors, or other entrepreneurs who have successfully handled the difficulties of running many firms.

Importance of Business Plan for Multi Business Owners

Anyone establishing or growing a business has to have a business plan. It acts as the company’s road map, outlining the aims and objectives, financial estimates, and success-oriented tactics. A business plan can be crucial for managing and expanding various endeavours when you own multiple businesses.

A business plan can assist you when running multiple businesses by:

• Find fresh business prospects and assess their likelihood of success
• Make a strategy for running and expanding your businesses.
• Maintain your goals and objectives in order and on course.
• Obtain financing or investors for your companies.
• Develop ways to reduce any potential hazards and difficulties.

You can manage and expand each of your enterprises more effectively and efficiently by creating a business plan for each of them. This will help you keep focused on their aims. Furthermore, a well-written and thorough business plan can be a useful tool for luring investors or obtaining money for your companies.

Startup Stunners has been providing Business Plan writing services for the past several years and you may also consider acquiring our services to have a comprehensive Business Plan for your business by contacting our team of experts at startupstunners.com/contact-us/

In conclusion, having multiple businesses can be advantageous for entrepreneurs in many ways. Diversifying revenue streams, higher earning potential, improved effectiveness and productivity, use of knowledge and experience, chance to try out new ideas, and potential for passive income are a few of the major benefits.

However, it’s also critical to remember that running multiple businesses can present its own set of difficulties, including time management, managing a variety of obligations, and being organized and focused. Entrepreneurs can, however, overcome these difficulties and benefit from owning multiple businesses with right planning and management strategies.

We urge readers to think about the advantages of launching or growing their own multiple businesses. Owning multiple businesses may be a fantastic way to boost your earning potential, stable your income, and take control of your career and financial fate if you go about it the proper way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can two businesses have the same address.

It is possible for two firms to share an address, but there are some ethical and logistical issues to take into account. Two enterprises operating from the same address are required by law to have distinct legal organizations, including different company licenses and tax identification numbers. Additionally, it is crucial to confirm that the firms adhere to all applicable zoning laws and local ordinances. It’s crucial to make sure the companies are not in direct rivalry with one another and that there is a definite division between them, such as different entrances and office spaces. Additionally, it’s crucial to make sure that no proprietary information or resources are being shared between the companies. The flexibility to collaborate and share resources, as well as lower overhead expenses, are advantages of having two firms operating out of the same location. However, there can be negatives as well, such as the possibility for client or customer confusion and legal problems if the firms are not maintained distinct

How do I start a second business?

Finding a new company idea, developing a business plan, and acquiring the required capital and legal paperwork are all steps that can be taken to launch a second business. It’s also crucial to take into account the practical aspects, such time management and juggling the demands of several businesses.

Is it legal to run two businesses from the same address?

It is permissible to operate two businesses out of the same location, but it is crucial to make sure that they are compliant with all applicable local laws, have distinct company licenses and tax IDs, and have different legal organizations.

Can I have different types of businesses under the same LLC?

It is feasible to operate multiple sorts of businesses under the same LLC, but it’s crucial to make sure that they are not in direct rivalry with one another and that they are clearly distinct from one another.

What are the risks of owning multiple businesses?

Time management issues, the possibility of burnout, an increase in financial risk, and problems with legal and regulatory compliance are a few dangers associated with running several enterprises.

What are the benefits of owning multiple businesses?

Diversifying revenue sources, increasing earning potential, increasing production and efficiency, utilizing talents and experiences, having the chance to try out new ideas, and the potential for passive income are just a few advantages of owning many enterprises.

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Politics live: Tractors descend on Westminster for protest - as 'appalling' Kate speculation criticised

Tractors have descended on Westminster for a protest over the government's farming policies since Brexit. Elsewhere, the deputy prime minister has criticised "appalling speculation" about the Princess of Wales's health - and warned of the threats posed by Chinese cyber campaigns.

Monday 25 March 2024 20:51, UK

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• China blamed for 'malicious cyber campaigns'
• Sunak urged to label Beijing a 'threat' after MPs targeted
• Explained: What we know about attacks - and UK response
• Sophy Ridge: China is a David vs Goliath fight we cannot win
• PM facing another by-election as MP resigns
• Tractors descend on Westminster for protest
• 'Appalling speculation' about Princess of Wales criticised
• Live updates by Faith Ridler and (earlier)  Tim Baker

Today's big story from Westminster has been the UK government blaming China for a series of cyber attacks on British targets.

These included the Electoral Commission and several MPs.

Need a quick catch-up on all you need to know? Our science and technology editor Tom Clarke has you covered...

The government has today been urged to provide details of a compensation scheme for women affected by how state pension changes were communicated.

Last week, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) took the "rare but necessary" decision to ask parliament to intervene over complaints that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had failed to provide accurate, adequate and timely information about state pension reform.

MPs from all sides of the Commons urged Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride to provide details of a compensation scheme for Waspi women as quickly as possible.

Conservative MP Nigel Mills, a member of the Work and Pensions Committee, told the Commons: "I think this issue has gone on long enough, and we need now to choose a compensation scheme and get this issue finished."

He asked if the government will have "made its mind up" before an autumn fiscal event, but Mr Stride suggested he wasn't sure if one would even take place.

Conservative former minister John Penrose said "speed is vital" in the government's response to the issue of compensation.

Read more on the Waspis and their campaign from our political reporter Jennifer Scott :

As seen in our previous post, farmers have descended on Westminster in huge numbers for a demonstration in their tractors.

They are looking to raise awareness of problems they have with the government's post-Brexit agriculture trade deals and policies, which have seen farmers grapple with "substandard imports and dishonest labelling".

The pictures below show the scene in Westminster tonight…

Farmers are staging a protest in central London at the moment, having turned up to the Houses of Parliament en masse… in their tractors.

They are demonstrating against "substandard imports and dishonest labelling" they warn are threatening food security.

The campaign groups Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent are taking part in a "go-slow" convoy and drive around Westminster, with organisers expecting 50 to 100 tractors as well as other farm vehicles this evening.

Hopefully it doesn't harm our team's - and our guests' - hopes of getting home from tonight's instalment of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge .

All being well, we'll be back again tomorrow.

Sophy Ridge  asks her panel about rumours of a plot to oust Rishi Sunak - and replace him with Penny Mordaunt.

Asked who would do such a thing, Tory MP Caroline Nokes says: "I think it was done by people who wanted to damage Penny because they know that she's a credible future leader.

"They know that she has a lot of public support, she's got a very high profile."

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell reckons Ms Mordaunt would be a dangerous leader for his party to face.

But Ms Nokes, while a "fan" of Ms Mordaunt, is confident the current prime minister will last until the election - likely in the autumn.

We've had a new statement from the Chinese embassy in London this evening about the UK government pointing the finger at Beijing over several cyber attacks on British targets.

They included the Electoral Commission and a number of MPs.

The embassy denied this earlier today and have doubled down on its incredulous response.

"The so-called cyber attacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders," says a new statement.

"We strongly oppose such accusations."

It says China "has always firmly fought all forms of cyber attacks" and "does not encourage, support or condone" such activity.

The statement says today's statement from the UK government represents the "politicisation of cyber security issues" and the "baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence".

"We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information and stop their self-staged, anti-China political farce," it adds.

Lastly, Labour's Nick Thomas-Symonds is asked about the resignation of the former Conservative MP, Scott Benton.

Mr Benton was in the middle of facing a recall petition, and so his resignation has confirmed that a by-election will take place in Blackpool South ( see 19.42 post ).

Asked if this will be an easy win, the Labour frontbencher says: "We never take any votes for granted, and we'll be up there fighting for every vote.

"Excellent local candidate up there, Chris Webb, who's been about for some time campaigning. It's his local area, I'm sure he'll show great passion during the campaign."

Pressed that Labour has to be confident, Mr Thomas-Symonds says: "We are always confident but not complacent, and we certainly won't take a single vote for granted."

Changing the subject, Sophy asks Labour's Nick Thomas-Symonds about news the UN Security Council has today passed a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

He welcomes the development, saying it underlines "the position we've been taking for some weeks of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire".

"That was the motion that the House of Commons actually ended up passing unopposed," he adds, referring to the Labour motion that was the subject of such chaos in parliament a few weeks ago.

But Sophy notes the UN has gone further, calling for a ceasefire whether it's sustainable or not.

"We chose that wording because it was in line with allies, for example, Canada, Australia, New Zealand," Mr Thomas-Symonds says.

"We deliberately chose that wording because it added weight to the calls for a ceasefire that were already out there. 

"But we need to see now an end to the fighting. There's no dispute about that."

Next up with  Sophy Ridge  is Labour frontbencher Nick Thomas-Symonds.

They begin their conversation on China, after the government today blamed "Chinese state-affiliated actors" for two cyber attacks.

Mr Thomas-Symonds says this is a matter of "grave concern".

He adds: "We cannot have any interference by a foreign government in our democracy. 

"We've heard today that the government will be sanctioning two individuals, and indeed another organisation with links to the government of China. 

"We, of course, support those moves, but we also think we need to look more broadly now at our contest strategy."

Labour will review China policy 'very early'

The MP says the next Labour government would review the UK's China strategy "very early" in its life, saying the government "needs to be more robust".

"And that is exactly what the next Labour government, if we are privileged to have one, will do," he says.

"But we also have to bear in mind as well that there are other dimensions to the relationship."

Aside from China, the big political story of the day was the resignation of a former Tory MP who was facing the prospect of being removed from his seat by voters.

Scott Benton, who represents Blackpool South, said it had been "the honour of a lifetime to represent our wonderful Blackpool community in parliament over the last four years".

His departure triggers a by-election.

Read more from our political reporter Alexandra Rogers :

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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Updated: Nov 30, 2023, 4:49pm

Table of Contents

Why business plans are vital, get your free simple business plan template, how to write an effective business plan in 6 steps, frequently asked questions.

While taking many forms and serving many purposes, they all have one thing in common: business plans help you establish your goals and define the means for achieving them. Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even uncover a few alternate routes to success.

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Whether you’re a first-time solopreneur or a seasoned business owner, the planning process challenges you to examine the costs and tasks involved in bringing a product or service to market. The process can also help you spot new income opportunities and hone in on the most profitable business models.

Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. However, if you’re seeking startup funding or partnership opportunities, you’ll need a write a business plan that details market research, operating costs and revenue forecasting.

Whichever startup category you fall into, if you’re at square one, our simple business plan template will point you down the right path.

Copy our free simple business plan template so you can fill in the blanks as we explore each element of your business plan. Need help getting your ideas flowing? You’ll also find several startup scenario examples below.

Download free template as .docx

Whether you need a quick-launch overview or an in-depth plan for investors, any business plan should cover the six key elements outlined in our free template and explained below. The main difference in starting a small business versus an investor-funded business is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.

1. Your Mission or Vision

Start by declaring a “dream statement” for your business. You can call this your executive summary, vision statement or mission. Whatever the name, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Keep it brief, such as an elevator pitch. You’ll expand these answers in the following sections of the simple business plan template.

• What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information or a combination?
• Where does this happen? Will you conduct business online, in-store, via mobile means or in a specific location or environment?
• Who does your business benefit? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your concept?
• Why would potential customers care? What would make your ideal customers take notice of your business?
• How do your products and/or services outshine the competition? What would make your ideal customers choose you over a competitor?

These answers come easily if you have a solid concept for your business, but don’t worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of your plan template to brainstorm ideas and tactics. You’ll quickly find these answers and possibly new directions as you explore your ideas and options.

2. Offer and Value Proposition

This is where you detail your offer, such as selling products, providing services or both, and why anyone would care. That’s the value proposition. Specifically, you’ll expand on your answers to the first and fourth bullets from your mission/vision.

As you complete this section, you might find that exploring value propositions uncovers marketable business opportunities that you hadn’t yet considered. So spend some time brainstorming the possibilities in this section.

For example, a cottage baker startup specializing in gluten-free or keto-friendly products might be a value proposition that certain audiences care deeply about. Plus, you could expand on that value proposition by offering wedding and other special-occasion cakes that incorporate gluten-free, keto-friendly and traditional cake elements that all guests can enjoy.

3. Audience and Ideal Customer

Here is where you explore bullet point number three, who your business will benefit. Identifying your ideal customer and exploring a broader audience for your goods or services is essential in defining your sales and marketing strategies, plus it helps fine-tune what you offer.

There are many ways to research potential audiences, but a shortcut is to simply identify a problem that people have that your product or service can solve. If you start from the position of being a problem solver, it’s easy to define your audience and describe the wants and needs of your ideal customer for marketing efforts.

Using the cottage baker startup example, a problem people might have is finding fresh-baked gluten-free or keto-friendly sweets. Examining the wants and needs of these people might reveal a target audience that is health-conscious or possibly dealing with health issues and willing to spend more for hard-to-find items.

However, it’s essential to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be too specialized. For example, our baker startup can attract a broader audience and boost revenue by offering a wider selection of traditional baked goods alongside its gluten-free and keto-focused specialties.

4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing

Thanks to our internet-driven economy, startups have many revenue opportunities and can connect with target audiences through various channels. Revenue streams and sales channels also serve as marketing vehicles, so you can cover all three in this section.

Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In your plan template, list how you’ll make money upon launch, plus include ideas for future expansion. The income possibilities just might surprise you.

For example, our cottage baker startup might consider these revenue streams:

• Product sales : Online, pop-up shops , wholesale and (future) in-store sales
• Affiliate income : Monetize blog and social media posts with affiliate links
• Advertising income : Reserve website space for advertising
• E-book sales : (future) Publish recipe e-books targeting gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Video income : (future) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos for the gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Webinars and online classes : (future) Monetize coaching-style webinars and online classes covering specialty baking tips and techniques
• Members-only content : (future) Monetize a members-only section of the website for specialty content to complement webinars and online classes
• Franchise : (future) Monetize a specialty cottage bakery concept and sell to franchise entrepreneurs

Sales Channels

Sales channels put your revenue streams into action. This section also answers the “where will this happen” question in the second bullet of your vision.

The product sales channels for our cottage bakery example can include:

• Mobile point-of-sale (POS) : A mobile platform such as Shopify or Square POS for managing in-person sales at local farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals
• E-commerce platform : An online store such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail sales and wholesale sales orders
• Social media channels : Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest shoppable posts and pins for online sales via social media channels
• Brick-and-mortar location : For in-store sales , once the business has grown to a point that it can support a physical location

Channels that support other income streams might include:

• Affiliate income : Blog section on the e-commerce website and affiliate partner accounts
• Advertising income : Reserved advertising spaces on the e-commerce website
• E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Video income : YouTube channel with ad monetization
• Webinars and online classes : Online class and webinar platforms that support member accounts, recordings and playback
• Members-only content : Password-protected website content using membership apps such as MemberPress

Nowadays, the line between marketing and sales channels is blurred. Social media outlets, e-books, websites, blogs and videos serve as both marketing tools and income opportunities. Since most are free and those with advertising options are extremely economical, these are ideal marketing outlets for lean startups.

However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help build a marketing plan and budget.

5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations

This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also, include any certifications or permits needed to launch your enterprise in this section.

Our cottage baker example might use a structure and startup plan such as this:

• Business structure : Sole proprietorship with a “doing business as” (DBA) .
• Permits and certifications : County-issued food handling permit and state cottage food certification for home-based food production. Option, check into certified commercial kitchen rentals.
• Roles and responsibilities : Solopreneur, all roles and responsibilities with the owner.
• Supply chain : Bulk ingredients and food packaging via Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with annual membership costs. Uline for shipping supplies; no membership needed.
• Day-to-day operations : Source ingredients and bake three days per week to fulfill local and online orders. Reserve time for specialty sales, wholesale partner orders and market events as needed. Ship online orders on alternating days. Update website and create marketing and affiliate blog posts on non-shipping days.

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6. Financial Forecasts

Your final task is to list forecasted business startup and ongoing costs and profit projections in your simple business plan template. Thanks to free business tools such as Square and free marketing on social media, lean startups can launch with few upfront costs. In many cases, cost of goods, shipping and packaging, business permits and printing for business cards are your only out-of-pocket expenses.

Cost Forecast

Our cottage baker’s forecasted lean startup costs might include:

Gross Profit Projections

This helps you determine the retail prices and sales volume required to keep your business running and, hopefully, earn income for yourself. Use product research to spot target retail prices for your goods, then subtract your cost of goods, such as hourly rate, raw goods and supplier costs. The total amount is your gross profit per item or service.

Here are some examples of projected gross profits for our cottage baker:

Bottom Line

Putting careful thought and detail in a business plan is always beneficial, but don’t get so bogged down in planning that you never hit the start button to launch your business . Also, remember that business plans aren’t set in stone. Markets, audiences and technologies change, and so will your goals and means of achieving them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revisit, expand and restructure it as market opportunities and business growth demand.

Is there a template for a business plan?

You can copy our free business plan template and fill in the blanks or customize it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word processing app. This free business plan template includes the six key elements that any entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a new business.

What does a simple business plan include?

A simple business plan is a one- to two-page overview covering six key elements that any budding entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a startup. These include your vision or mission, product or service offering, target audience, revenue streams and sales channels, structure and operations, and financial forecasts.

How can I create a free business plan template?

Start with our free business plan template that covers the six essential elements of a startup. Once downloaded, you can edit this document in Google Docs or another word processing app and add new sections or subsections to your plan template to meet your specific business plan needs.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and logistics, website platforms, payment systems, side-gig and affiliate income, and multichannel marketing. Krista holds a bachelor's degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin and held senior positions at NASA, a Fortune 100 company, and several online startups.