One Page Business Plan

It doesn’t have to be the New Year to make new resolutions. In business we call these goals. If you then add specific plans and actions to achieve these goals, you are well on your way to creating a business plan.

While some successful businesses have lengthy and detailed business plans, they don’t have to be. Why make things more complicated than they have to be? You can create a business page on a single page. That’s right! One page is enough to provide clarity for you, your staff, potential investors and clients. This is a classic example of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

So, in the spirit of one page brevity, here is a very quick outline of what should be included in a One-Page Business Plan.

True North – Compass Items:

• Vision (Where you are going – long range goal of business)
• Purpose (Why you are in business and don’t just say to make money, you can get a job for that)
• Mission (This is what you do)
• Values (This how you do it)

Market Information:

• Target Market (Who we sell to and why)
• Competition (Who they are and they’re strengths)
• Differentiators (What makes us different and better)

Ready, Aim Fire:

• Top 3 Goals
• Top 3 Actions Items for each of your Top 3 Goals
• Assign responsibility for each activity listed with a date for completion
• Obstacles (Anything that could prevent you from achieving your goals)
• Obstacle removal strategies (activities that will reduce or remove the obstacles)

Easy peasy! You now have a one-page business plan.

Bonus Points if you add a few pages to add these items:

• Income Projection & Validation (Where are we going and what is our track record)
• Cost Projection & Validation (What will it take to get there?)
• Key Activity Metrics that measure progress towards your goals and support you income and cost projections
• People Make a Difference – Staff Credentials (Organizational chart, Certifications, Degrees, Professional Associations)

Now that was relatively easy!

The one-page business plan SHOULD be a WORKING document. To be truly useful, we recommend you revisit this quarterly and update it.

If you have questions or if you would like to receive a sample of our one page business plan, contact Greg here.