Choosing the right small business planner for your needs requires some research. How do you know which business planner is the best?
It’s worth comparing factors like sections, format, and size to find one that fits your needs. Here are the main types of business planners to consider.
Why You Need A Small Business Planner
If you are thinking of starting your own small business, then you should know that there are many things that you need to consider; it’s everything from knowing how much capital you’ll need, how many expenses you’ll have in the first year, how many employees you’ll need, and more.
And that’s why you’ll need to develop an organized plan to make sure you stay on top of everything that happens as you start and run your small business. That’s why this article will teach you how to create your own small business plan that will help you.
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What Are The Types Of Small Business Planner?
Traditional Business Planners
Looking for a place to keep track of your schedule, as well as your to-do list and contact information? A traditional scheduler may qualify. You can choose the format that suits your needs, be it a daily, weekly or monthly planner.
You also have a wide selection of brands, each with its own design and format. So it makes sense to compare options like Day-Timer, At-Glance and Blue Sky.
Professional Note-Taking Systems
If you need to take and organize a lot of notes—during meetings or brainstorming sessions—a professional note-taking system might be just the ticket.
Discbound planners like the TUL note systems give you the flexibility to easily add and change pages and sections, essentially making your planner your own.
You can color-code pages, add dividers for easy organization, or add calendar pages to keep track of your schedule.
Calendars
In addition to a more traditional business planner or notebook, you may also want a quick and accessible way to view your schedule for the day or week, or write down tasks that you (or your team) need to complete.
A natural solution for this is desktop calendars or calendars that can be mounted on the wall.
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Small Business Planner Template
With all the options available for business planning, is a template the best place to start? A good business plan template can help you organize your thoughts.
It can be a guide so you don’t get stuck on a blank page trying to figure out where to start. In addition, it can show you the general layout of a standard business plan.
A great business plan template will also provide instructions for each step of your plan and show you what an investor-ready, SBA-approved business plan should look like. There are tons of free businesses plan templates out there (including one you can download right here on this page).
You can also find business plan examples specific to your industry by searching our sample business plan library. Be careful though – there are many people who will try to charge you for a template.
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Best Planner For Small Business in 2022
The Busy Boss Business Planner
The Busy Boss Professional Planner includes 12 months of undated weekly planner pages and monthly calendars to help you organize your business and commitments.
Each month is labeled and includes a receipt pocket, shopping template, campaign tracker, social media/promotion planning pages, brainstorming sheets, and more.
Monthly goal checklists, goal trackers, milestone reminders, and to-do checklists are also included in the overview for each month.
The planner also has an events and deadlines overview page so you can easily see the upcoming year and all its important dates while planning.
Below are all the pages and features included in the Busy Boss Planner:
- 12 month calendars (no date)
- 5 pages of weekly schedule for each month (no date)
- Shopping list
- Monthly receipt pocket
- Monthly pages for social media or promotion planning (with space for each day of the month)
- Tracking of advertising or marketing campaigns
- Monthly notes and brainstorming pages
- Monthly review for each month including:
- Lists of important events
- Goal checklists
- Task lists
- Goal tracking
Login and password tracking template
Annual review list of important events and deadlines
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Key Elements Of A Business Plan Format
By using the following traditional business plan format, you will be able to write a suitable business plan for your new or growing business.
Executive Summary
An executive summary provides a brief description of your business plan, including your company’s mission statement and a description of its products and services.
Company Overview
This section of the business plan provides an overview of your business. It describes your products and services and explains the unique qualifications of your business to serve your target markets.
Industry Analysis
This section provides information about the market in which your company will compete, including market research, data on target market segments, and industry trends.
Customer Analysis
This section evaluates your customer segment(s). It should define your target customer, convey the needs of those customers, and show how your products and services will meet those needs.
Competitive Analysis
This part of your plan should identify your direct and indirect competitors, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and show your company’s competitive advantages.
Marketing Plan
A marketing plan details your sales strategy and marketing efforts to penetrate your target markets.
Operational Plan
This section details the internal strategies for growing your business. It describes staffing needs, milestones and processes.
Management team
The chapter on your management team should demonstrate that your company has the necessary staff, investors, advisors and shareholders to succeed.
Financial plan
Your financial plan should include the projected financial performance of your business over 5 years, including your previous income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to clearly illustrate your company’s revenue and profitability model.
Appendix
The appendix supports your overall business plan and should include your full financial projections along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling (ie intellectual property documentation, financial statements, executive summary, etc.).
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How To Write A Business Plan
Demonstrate that you understand your market and your customer
In order for a credit assessment team to feel confident that your business plans are viable, they will want to see that there is a market that wants and needs your product/service.
They want to see that you have thought about how to differentiate yourself from the competition, and that you know how to attract customers.
Any market research you can do, such as a simple online survey, researching industry reports, or interviewing potential customers, will help.
Use evidence and examples to support any statements you make
it’s strong statistics, customer quotes, examples of similar activities, or other research. It doesn’t have to be detailed – sometimes it’s enough to include a link to additional information – but it will help our credit assessment team be more confident that your business plan is viable.
Make sure everything is connected by linking each strategy to your main goals
The purpose of a business plan is to show what your goals are and how you are going to achieve them, so be sure to put your goals at the center of your plan.
For example, if one of your goals is to generate 10 new sales per month, then in your marketing department you will need to think about how many sales each advertising channel needs to deliver to support this goal.
Consider any risks you will face and how you will overcome them
Every business has risks, so don’t hesitate to mention them in your business plan. Demonstrating that you are aware of your main risks.
Having a clear plan on how to reduce or overcome them is what will make your business plan stand out and give our credit assessment team confidence that you are up for the challenge.
Be as clear and concise as possible and avoid waffle
Remember, we don’t want to see every detail of how your business will work; we just need to know enough information to be sure you have a clear plan.
You may want to use bullets, graphs, tables, and subheadings to help you focus your content and avoid the temptation to go into too much detail.
Presentation matters: proofreading, revising and formatting your document.
As with most things in life, first impressions count. Use clear headings, structure your document in a clear order, and make sure you use consistent fonts. Remember, you don’t have to be a writer or designer to produce a professional-looking document.
Most importantly, double-check that you haven’t made any spelling or grammar mistakes. It might be a good idea to have someone read your work for you when you’re done to pick up anything you might have missed.
Conclusion
While there are advantages to using a business plan template, depending on your situation, it may not be the best way to complete your plan. There is still a lot of work to be done — for example, you need to not only fill out the financial tables, but also do all the calculations yourself.
You also need to know enough about the process to make sure you get all the numbers in the right places. And there are usually limited instructions to go with a free template, so unless you already know what you’re doing with numbers, the process of writing your business plan won’t be much easier with a template.
Small Business Planner FAQs
What Is A Small Business Planner?
A business plan template is a document that allows you to quickly write a detailed business plan. Among other things, it contains an introduction, a brief description, a company description and a marketing plan.
How Do I Know The Type Of Business Planner I Need?
You may prefer the traditional business plan format if you are very detail-oriented, want a comprehensive plan, or plan to apply for funding from traditional sources.
What Is The Best Advice For Writing A Business Plan?
When you write your business plan, you don’t have to follow its exact outline. Instead, use the sections that best suit your business and your needs. Traditional business plans use some combination of these nine sections.
What Should I Include In My Business Plan?
Briefly tell the reader what your company is and why it will be successful. Include your mission, your product or service, and basic information about your company’s leadership team, employees, and location. You should also include financial information and high-level development plans if you plan to apply for funding.
