550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business

550+ Free Sample Business Plans

Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration. Go even further with LivePlan , which harnesses AI-assisted writing features and SBA-approved plan examples to get you funded.

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Accounting, Insurance & Compliance

Accounting, Insurance & Compliance Business Plans

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Children & Pets

Children & Pets Business Plans

  • Children's Education & Recreation
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Cleaning, Repairs & Maintenance

Cleaning, Repairs & Maintenance Business Plans

  • Auto Detail & Repair
  • Cleaning Products
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Clothing & Fashion Brand

Clothing & Fashion Brand Business Plans

  • Clothing & Fashion Design
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Construction, Architecture & Engineering

Construction, Architecture & Engineering Business Plans

  • Architecture
  • Construction
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Consulting, Advertising & Marketing

Consulting, Advertising & Marketing Business Plans

  • Advertising
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Education

Education Business Plans

  • Education Consulting
  • Education Products

Business plan template: There's an easier way to get your business plan done.

Entertainment & Recreation

Entertainment & Recreation Business Plans

  • Entertainment
  • Film & Television
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Events

Events Business Plans

  • Event Planning
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Farm & Agriculture

Farm & Agriculture Business Plans

  • Agri-tourism
  • Agriculture Consulting
  • View All 16

Finance & Investing

Finance & Investing Business Plans

  • Financial Planning
  • View All 10

Fine Art & Crafts

Fine Art & Crafts Business Plans

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Fitness & Beauty

Fitness & Beauty Business Plans

  • Salon & Spa
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Food and Beverage

Food and Beverage Business Plans

  • Bar & Brewery
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Hotel & Lodging

Hotel & Lodging Business Plans

  • Bed and Breakfast

Finish your plan faster with step-by-step guidance, financial wizards, and a proven format.

IT, Staffing & Customer Service

IT, Staffing & Customer Service Business Plans

  • Administrative Services
  • Customer Service
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Manufacturing & Wholesale

Manufacturing & Wholesale Business Plans

  • Cleaning & Cosmetics Manufacturing
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Medical & Health

Medical & Health Business Plans

  • Dental Practice
  • Health Administration
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Nonprofit

Nonprofit Business Plans

  • Co-op Nonprofit
  • Food & Housing Nonprofit
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Real Estate & Rentals

Real Estate & Rentals Business Plans

  • Equipment Rental
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Retail & Ecommerce

Retail & Ecommerce Business Plans

  • Car Dealership
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Technology

Technology Business Plans

  • Apps & Software
  • Communication Technology

Transportation, Travel & Logistics

Transportation, Travel & Logistics Business Plans

  • Airline, Taxi & Shuttle
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Example business plan format

Before you start exploring our library of business plan examples, it's worth taking the time to understand the traditional business plan format . You'll find that the plans in this library and most investor-approved business plans will include the following sections:

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally only one to two pages. You should also plan to write this section last after you've written your full business plan.

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, and your funding requirements (if you are raising money).

Products & services

The products & services chapter of your business plan is where the real meat of your plan lives. It includes information about the problem that you're solving, your solution, and any traction that proves that it truly meets the need you identified.

This is your chance to explain why you're in business and that people care about what you offer. It needs to go beyond a simple product or service description and get to the heart of why your business works and benefits your customers.

Market analysis

Conducting a market analysis ensures that you fully understand the market that you're entering and who you'll be selling to. This section is where you will showcase all of the information about your potential customers. You'll cover your target market as well as information about the growth of your market and your industry. Focus on outlining why the market you're entering is viable and creating a realistic persona for your ideal customer base.

Competition

Part of defining your opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage may be. To do this effectively you need to get to know your competitors just as well as your target customers. Every business will have competition, if you don't then you're either in a very young industry or there's a good reason no one is pursuing this specific venture.

To succeed, you want to be sure you know who your competitors are, how they operate, necessary financial benchmarks, and how you're business will be positioned. Start by identifying who your competitors are or will be during your market research. Then leverage competitive analysis tools like the competitive matrix and positioning map to solidify where your business stands in relation to the competition.

Marketing & sales

The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you plan to reach your target market segments. You'll address how you plan on selling to those target markets, what your pricing plan is, and what types of activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success.

The operations section covers the day-to-day workflows for your business to deliver your product or service. What's included here fully depends on the type of business. Typically you can expect to add details on your business location, sourcing and fulfillment, use of technology, and any partnerships or agreements that are in place.

Milestones & metrics

The milestones section is where you lay out strategic milestones to reach your business goals.

A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its execution. You'll want to include a description of the task, a proposed due date, who is responsible, and eventually a budget that's attached. You don't need extensive project planning in this section, just key milestones that you want to hit and when you plan to hit them.

You should also discuss key metrics, which are the numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common data points worth tracking include conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, profit, etc.

Company & team

Use this section to describe your current team and who you need to hire. If you intend to pursue funding, you'll need to highlight the relevant experience of your team members. Basically, this is where you prove that this is the right team to successfully start and grow the business. You will also need to provide a quick overview of your legal structure and history if you're already up and running.

Financial projections

Your financial plan should include a sales and revenue forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet. You may not have established financials of any kind at this stage. Not to worry, rather than getting all of the details ironed out, focus on making projections and strategic forecasts for your business. You can always update your financial statements as you begin operations and start bringing in actual accounting data.

Now, if you intend to pitch to investors or submit a loan application, you'll also need a "use of funds" report in this section. This outlines how you intend to leverage any funding for your business and how much you're looking to acquire. Like the rest of your financials, this can always be updated later on.

The appendix isn't a required element of your business plan. However, it is a useful place to add any charts, tables, definitions, legal notes, or other critical information that supports your plan. These are often lengthier or out-of-place information that simply didn't work naturally into the structure of your plan. You'll notice that in these business plan examples, the appendix mainly includes extended financial statements.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. To get the most out of your plan, it's best to find a format that suits your needs. 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 for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you'll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or in any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual.

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.

The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It's faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business.

By starting with a one-page plan , you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You'll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan.

Growth planning

Growth planning is more than a specific type of business plan. It's 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, forecast, review, and refine based on your performance.

It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27 minutes . However, it's even easier to convert into a more detailed plan thanks to how heavily it's tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn't to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and remain stable through times of crisis.

It's faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

Download a free sample business plan template

Ready to start writing your own plan but aren't sure where to start? Download our free business plan template that's been updated for 2024.

This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan template is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. It includes additional instructions for how to write each section and is formatted to be SBA-lender approved. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.

How to use an example business plan to help you write your own

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How do you know what elements need to be included in your business plan, especially if you've never written one before? Looking at examples can help you visualize what a full, traditional plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. Here's how to get the most out of a sample business plan.

Choose a business plan example from a similar type of company

You don't need to find an example business plan that's an exact fit for your business. Your business location, target market, and even your particular product or service may not match up exactly with the plans in our gallery. But, you don't need an exact match for it to be helpful. Instead, look for a plan that's related to the type of business you're starting.

For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse can be a great match. While the specifics of your actual startup will differ, the elements you'd want to include in your restaurant's business plan are likely to be very similar.

Use a business plan example as a guide

Every startup and small business is unique, so you'll want to avoid copying an example business plan word for word. It just won't be as helpful, since each business is unique. You want your plan to be a useful tool for starting a business —and getting funding if you need it.

One of the key benefits of writing a business plan is simply going through the process. When you sit down to write, you'll naturally think through important pieces, like your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you'll need to do to be successful.

You'll also look at where you stand among your competition (and everyone has competition), and lay out your goals and the milestones you'll need to meet. Looking at an example business plan's financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt. Don't assume that financial projections for a sample company will fit your own small business.

If you're looking for more resources to help you get started, our business planning guide is a good place to start. You can also download our free business plan template , or get started right away with LivePlan .

Think of business planning as a process, instead of a document

Think about business planning as something you do often , rather than a document you create once and never look at again. If you take the time to write a plan that really fits your own company, it will be a better, more useful tool to grow your business. It should also make it easier to share your vision and strategy so everyone on your team is on the same page.

Adjust your plan regularly to use it as a business management tool

Keep in mind that businesses that use their plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30 percent faster than those businesses that don't. For that to be true for your company, you'll think of a part of your business planning process as tracking your actual results against your financial forecast on a regular basis.

If things are going well, your plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. If you find that you're not meeting goals, you might need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan can help you adjust quickly when you identify challenges and opportunities—it's one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.

Prepare to pitch your business

If you're planning to pitch your business to investors or seek out any funding, you'll need a pitch deck to accompany your business plan. A pitch deck is designed to inform people about your business. You want your pitch deck to be short and easy to follow, so it's best to keep your presentation under 20 slides.

Your pitch deck and pitch presentation are likely some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. So, you need to be informative and pique their interest. Luckily, just like you can leverage an example business plan template to write your plan, we also have a gallery of over 50 pitch decks for you to reference.

With this gallery, you have the option to view specific industry pitches or get inspired by real-world pitch deck examples. Or for a modern pitch solution that helps you create a business plan and pitch deck side-by-side, you may want to check out LivePlan . It will help you build everything needed for outside investment and to better manage your business.

Get LivePlan in your classroom

Are you an educator looking for real-world business plan examples for your students? With LivePlan, you give your students access to industry-best business plans and help them set goals and track metrics with spreadsheet-free financial forecasts. All of this within a single tool that includes additional instructional resources that work seamlessly alongside your current classroom setup.

With LivePlan, it's not just a classroom project. It's your students planning for their futures. Click here to learn more about business planning for students .

Ready to get started?

Now that you know how to use an example business plan to help you write a plan for your business, it's time to find the right one.

Use the search bar below to get started and find the right match for your business idea.

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  • What is project planning? (Plus, 7 ste ...

What is project planning? (Plus, 7 steps to write a successful project plan)

Julia Martins contributor headshot

Organize your projects with project plans to keep things on track—before you even start. A project plan houses all the necessary details of your project, such as goals, tasks, scope, deadlines, and deliverables. This shows stakeholders a clear roadmap of your project, ensures you have the resources for it, and holds everyone accountable from the start. In this article, we teach you the seven steps to create your own project plan.

Project plans are essential to keeping your project organized and on track. A great project plan will help you kick off your work with all the necessary pieces—from goals and budgets to milestones and communication plans—in one place. Save yourself time (and a few headaches) by creating a work plan that will make your project a success.

What is a project planning?

Project planning is the second stage in the project management process, following project initiation and preceding project execution. During the project planning stage, the project manager creates a project plan, which maps out project requirements. The project planning phase typically includes setting project goals, designating project resources, and mapping out the project schedule.

What is a project plan?

If you're still unsure about what a project plan is, here's how it differs from other project elements:

Project plan vs. work plan: A project plan and a work plan are the same thing. Different teams or departments might prefer one term or another—but they both ultimately describe the same thing: a list of big-picture action steps you need to take to hit your  project objectives .

Project plan vs. project charter: A project charter is an outline of your project. Mostly, you use project charters to get signoff from key stakeholders before you start. Which means your project charter comes before your project plan. A project charter is an outline of a simple project plan—it should only include your project objectives, scope, and responsibilities. Then, once your charter has been approved, you can create a project plan to provide a more in-depth blueprint of the key elements of your project.

Project plan vs. project scope: Your project scope defines the size and boundaries of your project. As part of your project plan, you should outline and share the scope of your project with all project stakeholders. If you’re ever worried about scope creep , you can refer back to your pre-defined scope within your project plan to get back on track.

Project plan vs. agile project: Agile project management is a framework to help teams break work into iterative, collaborative components . Agile frameworks are often run in conjunction with scrum and sprint methodologies. Like any project, an Agile project team can benefit from having a project plan in place before getting started with their work.

Project plan vs. work breakdown structure: Similar to a project plan, your work breakdown structure (WBS) helps you with project execution. While the project plan focuses on every aspect of your project, the WBS is focused on deliverables—breaking them down into sub-deliverables and project tasks. This helps you visualize the whole project in simple steps. Because it’s a visual format, your WBS is best viewed as a Gantt chart (or timeline), Kanban board , or calendar—especially if you’re using project management software .

Why are project plans important?

Project plans set the stage for the entire project. Without one, you’re missing a critical step in the overall project management process . When you launch into a project without defined goals or objectives, it can lead to disorganized work, frustration, and even scope creep. A clear, written project management plan provides a baseline direction to all stakeholders, while also keeping everyone accountable. It confirms that you have the resources you need for the project before it actually begins.

A project plan also allows you, as the person in charge of leading execution, to forecast any potential challenges you could run into while the project is still in the planning stages. That way, you can ensure the project will be achievable—or course-correct if necessary. According to a study conducted by the  Project Management Institute , there is a strong correlation between project planning and project success—the better your plan, the better your outcome. So, conquering the planning phase also makes for better project efficiency and results.

[Product UI] Brand campaign project plan in Asana, spreadsheet-style list (Lists)

7 steps to write a project plan to keep you on track

To create a clear project management plan, you need a way to track all of your moving parts . No matter what type of project you’re planning, every work plan should have:

Goals and project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders and roles

Scope and budget

Milestones , deliverables , and project dependencies

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan.

Not sure what each of these mean or should look like? Let’s dive into the details:

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

You’re working on this project plan for a reason—likely to get you, your team, or your company to an end goal. But how will you know if you’ve reached that goal if you have no way of measuring success?

Every successful project plan should have a clear, desired outcome. Identifying your goals provides a rationale for your project plan. It also keeps everyone on the same page and focused on the results they want to achieve. Moreover, research shows that employees who know how their work is contributing to company objectives are 2X as motivated . Yet only 26% of employees have that clarity. That’s because most goal-setting happens separate from the actual work. By defining your goals within your work plan, you can connect the work your team is doing directly to the project objectives in real-time.

What's the difference between project goals and project objectives?

In general, your project goals should be higher-level than your project objectives. Your project goals should be SMART goals that help you measure project success and show how your project aligns with business objectives . The purpose of drafting project objectives, on the other hand, is to focus on the actual, specific deliverables you're going to achieve at the end of your project. Your project plan provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, so you can create a workflow that hits project objectives.

Your project  plan  provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, by way of your project objectives. By incorporating your goals directly into your planning documentation, you can keep your project’s North Star on hand. When you’re defining your project scope, or outlining your project schedule, check back on your goals to make sure that work is in favor of your main objectives.

Step 2: Set success metrics

Once you’ve defined your goals, make sure they’re measurable by setting key success metrics. While your goal serves as the intended result, you need success metrics to let you know whether or not you’re performing on track to achieve that result. The best way to do that is to set  SMART goals . With SMART goals, you can make sure your success metrics are clear and measurable, so you can look back at the end of your project and easily tell if you hit them or not.

For example, a goal for an event might be to host an annual 3-day conference for SEO professionals on June 22nd. A success metric for that goal might be having at least 1,000 people attend your conference. It’s both clear and measurable.

Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles

Running a project usually means getting  collaborators  involved in the execution of it. In your project management plan, outline which team members will be a part of the project and what each person’s role will be. This will help you decide who is responsible for each task (something we’ll get to shortly) and let stakeholders know how you expect them to be involved.

During this process, make sure to define the various roles and responsibilities your stakeholders might have. For example, who is directly responsible for the project’s success? How is your project team structured (i.e. do you have a project manager, a project sponsor , etc.)? Are there any approvers that should be involved before anything is finalized? What cross-functional stakeholders should be included in the project plan? Are there any  risk management factors  you need to include?

Consider using a system, such as a  RACI chart , to help determine who is driving the project forward, who will approve decisions, who will contribute to the project, and who needs to remain informed as the project progresses.

Then, once you’ve outlined all of your roles and stakeholders, make sure to include that documentation in your project plan. Once you finalize your plan, your work plan will become your cross-functional source of truth.

Step 4: Set your budget

Running a project usually costs money. Whether it’s hiring freelancers for content writing or a catering company for an event, you’ll probably be spending some cash.

Since you’ve already defined your goals and stakeholders as part of your project plan, use that information to establish your budget. For example, if this is a cross-functional project involving multiple departments, will the departments be splitting the project cost? If you have a specific goal metric like event attendees or new users, does your proposed budget support that endeavor?

By establishing your project budget during the project planning phase (and before the spending begins), you can get approval, more easily track progress, and make smart, economical decisions during the implementation phase of your project. Knowing your budget beforehand helps you with resource management , ensuring that you stay within the initial financial scope of the project. Planning helps you determine what parts of your project will cost what—leaving no room for surprises later on.

Step 5: Align on milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies

An important part of planning your project is setting milestones, or specific objectives that represent an achievement. Milestones don’t require a start and end date, but hitting one marks a significant accomplishment during your project. They are used to measure progress. For example, let’s say you’re working to develop a  new product for your company . Setting a milestone on your project timeline for when the prototype is finalized will help you measure the progress you’ve made so far.

A project deliverable , on the other hand, is what is actually produced once you meet a milestone. In our product development example, we hit a milestone when we produced the deliverable, which was the prototype. You can also use project dependencies —tasks that you can’t start until others are finished. Dependencies ensure that work only starts once it’s ready. Continuing the example, you can create a project dependency to require approval from the project lead before prototype testing begins.  

If you’re using our free project plan template , you can easily organize your project around deliverables, dependencies, and milestones. That way, everyone on the team has clear visibility into the work within your project scope, and the milestones your team will be working towards.

Step 6: Outline your timeline and schedule

In order to achieve your project goals, you and your stakeholders need clarity on your overall project timeline and schedule. Aligning on the time frame you have can help you better prioritize during strategic planning sessions.

Not all projects will have clear-cut timelines. If you're working on a large project with a few unknown dates, consider creating a  project roadmap  instead of a full-blown project timeline. That way, you can clarify the order of operations of various tasks without necessarily establishing exact dates.

Once you’ve covered the high-level responsibilities, it’s time to focus some energy on the details. In your  work plan template , start by breaking your project into tasks, ensuring no part of the process is skipped. Bigger tasks can even be broken down into smaller subtasks, making them more manageable.

Then, take each task and subtask, and assign it a start date and end date. You’ll begin to visually see everything come together in a  cohesive project timeline . Be sure to add stakeholders, mapping out who is doing what by when.

[Product UI] Brand campaign project in Asana, Gantt chart-style view (Timeline)

Step 7: Share your communication plan

We’ve established that most projects include multiple stakeholders. That means communication styles will vary among them. You have an opportunity to set your expectations up front for this particular project in your project plan. Having a communication plan is essential for making sure everyone understands what’s happening, how the project is progressing, and what’s going on next. And in case a roadblock comes up, you’ll already have a clear communication system in place.

As you’re developing your communication plan, consider the following questions:

How many project-related meetings do you need to have? What are their goals?

How will you manage project status updates ? Where will you share them?

What tool will you use to manage the project and communicate progress and updates?

[inline illustration] Communication plan for brand campaign in Asana (example)

Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan. Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution phases of your project. Using project planning tools or task management software that integrates with apps like Slack and Gmail can ensure all your communication happens in one easily accessible place. 

Example project plan

Next, to help you understand what your project management plan should look like, here are two example plans for marketing and design projects that will guide you during your own project planning.

Project plan example: annual content calendar

Let’s say you’re the Content Lead for your company, and it’s your responsibility to create and deliver on a content marketing calendar for all the content that will be published next year. You know your first step is to build your work plan. Here’s what it might look like:

Goals and success metrics

You establish that your goal for creating and executing against your content calendar is to increase engagement by 10%. Your success metrics are the open rate and click through rate on emails, your company’s social media followers, and how your pieces of content rank on search engines.

Stakeholders and each person’s role

There will be five people involved in this project.

You, Content Lead: Develop and maintain the calendar

Brandon and Jamie, Writers: Provide outlines and copy for each piece of content

Nate, Editor: Edit and give feedback on content

Paula, Producer: Publish the content once it’s written and edited

Your budget for the project plan and a year’s worth of content is $50,000.

Milestones and deliverables

Your first milestone is to finish the content calendar, which shows all topics for the year. The deliverable is a sharable version of the calendar. Both the milestone and the deliverables should be clearly marked on your project schedule.

You’ve determined that your schedule for your content calendar project plan will go as follows:

October 15 - November 1: The research phase to find ideas for topics for content

November 2 - November 30: Establish the topics you’ll write about

December 1 - January 1: Build the calendar

January 1 - December 31: Content will be written by Brandon and Jamie, and edited by Nate, throughout the year

January 16 - December 31: Paula will begin publishing and continue to do so on a rolling basis throughout the year.

You’ll have a kick-off meeting and then monthly update meetings as part of your communication plan. Weekly status updates will be sent on Friday afternoons. All project-related communication will occur within a  project management tool .

How ClassPass manages project plans from start to finish

Kerry Hoffman, Senior Project Manager of Marketing Operations at  ClassPass , oversees all marketing projects undertaken by the creative, growth, and content teams. Here are her top three strategies for managing project plans:

Identify stakeholders up front: No matter the size of the project, it’s critical to know who the stakeholders are and their role in the project so you ensure you involve the right people at each stage. This will also make the review and approval process clear before the team gets to work.

Agree on how you want to communicate about your project: Establish where and when communication should take place for your project to ensure that key information is captured in the right place so everyone stays aligned.

Be adaptable and learn other people’s working styles: Projects don’t always go according to plan, but by implementing proper integration management you can keep projects running smoothly. Also, find out how project members like to work so you take that into account as you create your plan. It will help things run smoother once you begin executing.

Write your next project plan like a pro

Congratulations—you’re officially a work planning pro. With a few steps, a little bit of time, and a whole lot of organization, you’ve successfully written a project plan.

Keep yourself and your team on track, and address challenges early by using project planning software like Asana . Work through each of the steps of your project plan with confidence, and streamline your communications with the team.

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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1. Write an executive summary

2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. add additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan is a document that outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them. A strong, detailed plan will provide a road map for the business’s next three to five years, and you can share it with potential investors, lenders or other important partners.

Bizee

Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing your business plan.

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is the first page of your business plan. Think of it as your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services offered, and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description, which should contain information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, it should cover the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

project plan and business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out exactly what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the long term.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain why you have a clear need for the funds, how the financing will help your business grow, and how you plan to achieve your growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity presented and how the loan or investment will grow your company.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch the new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

Your sales strategy.

Your distribution strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

You may also include metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

» NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

List any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere, such as resumes of key employees, licenses, equipment leases, permits, patents, receipts, bank statements, contracts and personal and business credit history. If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to help your business plan stand out:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business loan at a local bank, the loan officer likely knows your market pretty well. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of loan approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors, taking their mind off your business and putting it on the mistakes you made. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. You can search for a mentor or find a local SCORE chapter for more guidance.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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How to Write a Business Plan: Business Planning Best Practices

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Every company needs a plan to determine how it will operate and position itself in the market. This is known as a business plan, which is one of the most important business management documents.

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that describes a business in detail. In a business plan, you’ll find the information you need to understand how a business works and how it plans to grow in the long term. Most business plans explain the business model, mission, vision, objectives, operational plan and financial plan of a company, among other important elements.

Creating a thorough business plan that outlines a business can seem like daunting work. In reality, the job can be done using common project planning methods and tools.

A business plan defines your business mission, vision and overall strategy, but that’s only the start. To turn those things into a successful business, you’ll need to assemble a team and start your business operations. ProjectManager has planning, scheduling and tracking tools that can help you track all your business processes and workflows. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

ProjectManager's Gantt chart

When Should You Create a Business Plan?

You should always write a business plan before starting a business because it’ll help you set the stage for your strategic planning and operations management . In addition, writing a business plan helps you find any potential business planning issues, omissions or opportunities for improvement, so your business has a solid start.

Business plans are also very important for business funding. For example, if you’re just starting a business and need a business loan, you’ll need to write a detailed business plan for banks and investors, who will require you to include certain things on your business plan so they can better assess the feasibility of your business model.

What Does a Business Plan Include?

As a business owner or entrepreneur, you can decide on the level of detail for your business plan. However, in most cases, it’s advisable to include as many details as you can because your stakeholders will want to know as much as possible about your business.

Here’s a sample business plan with some of the most commonly used elements. You can customize it to fit your particular business planning needs.

Sample Business Plan Outline

While business plans might differ from one organization to another, there are key elements that should be included in all business plans.

Executive Summary

The purpose of an executive summary is to compile the most important information about your business plan so that stakeholders can quickly get the idea without having to go over the whole document.

Business Description

Also called a company overview, a business description simply defines what your business purpose is, as well as general information such as your company background and your mission and vision statements. This part can also include other basic details you might want to share about your business such as your company principles and core values.

Market Analysis

This section provides information on the market for the product or service offered. A basic market analysis section should include three key elements: an industry analysis that addresses the sector at large, a competitor analysis that identifies direct and indirect competitors and a SWOT analysis that helps business managers understand the current competitive environment of a business.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

You should use the insights from your market analysis to create a marketing and sales strategy that helps you use your business strengths to position your brand in the market and establish your business as a leader in your industry. To create an effective marketing and sales strategy, you should consider these key elements.

  • Business proposition: Your business proposition or value proposition explains how you differentiate yourself from your competitors by better addressing the needs of your target market.
  • Target market: The market segment that includes your ideal customers. There are many qualitative and quantitative research techniques you can use to identify the ideal audience for your product or service.
  • Products and services: Your business plan should explain your product or service portfolio. Include a general description, profit margins and any other relevant information such as substitute or complementary products in the market.
  • Distribution channels: The distribution channels refer to the supply chain and logistics methods that your business uses to transport and distribute products or services to customers.
  • Pricing: Pricing is a key element of your marketing and sales strategy. Make sure to understand your competitive landscape, as well as the socio-economic conditions of your market to choose a price that benefits both your customers and your business.

Operational Plan

The operational plan describes how your business operates to achieve its long-term goals and objectives, highlighting key areas such as inventory control, supply chain, production planning , human resources and business process management.

Financial Plan

This area demands specific information. Financial plans and projections should include income statements, cash flow statements and balance sheets. The purpose of this section is to establish both the current financial state of a business as well as its budget and projections about the future.

Organization and Management

This section shows exactly how the business is organized, from day-to-day operations to its leadership team. For example, you may include c-suite executives, managers and possibly even interns. It can also delve into the roles and responsibilities of different individuals.

Legal Structure

Your business plan should specify the legal structure of your business. You can choose to establish a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company (LLC) and other structures, depending on the business owner and stakeholders’ preference.

Best Practices for Writing a Business Plan

No matter which type of business plan you’re writing, there are tips and tricks that’ll keep you on track to create a successful roadmap, such as using business templates . Following these five best practices helps ensure the information in your business plan is thorough, easy to understand and engaging to audiences. This way, you get your point across loud and clear, while keeping the audience interested.

1. Create a Business Plan Immediately

It’s a common mistake to wait until the last minute to write a business plan. However, if you have the information and are ready for presentation before operations even begin, you can rest reasonably assured that your business is prepared for anything. This “living document” should be written before the business begins and should be updated every step of the way.

2. Write for Your Audience

Before writing your business plan, consider who will be reading it. The audience determines which type of business plan you choose. It may also call for adjustments to tone and style. For example, if you’re writing a business plan to inform employees, the tone might be more casual than it would be for potential investors.

3. Keep It Logical: Focus on Facts, Not Emotions

No matter the audience, a business plan must be logical, not emotional. Passion is important, but the facts are key. For example, when writing financial projections, refer to hard numbers from past quarters about sales, expenses and profits—rather than just writing what you think the future will look like.

4. Remain Concise

Being concise is one of the most important rules of thumb when creating a project plan of any kind. A business plan aims to outline an entire operation, but it must convey the facts as simply as possible. Always keep in mind that this information will be presented to an audience, and it must capture and keep their attention.

5. Remember Your Goal

Avoid tangents and unnecessary information. Each section should tie into the main objective of the business plan, whether that be to inform stakeholders, obtain funding or anything else.

How to Use ProjectManager to Execute Your Business Plan

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that helps create, execute and track your business plan to ensure that it results in success. With it, you can lay out the day-to-day operations of your business and invite members of your team to collaborate and manage your resources.

Gantt Charts to Plan

On our Gantt view, you can add tasks, their duration and their priority and this information automatically populates the project timeline. With this powerful tool, you’ll be able to get a bird’s-eye view of your entire business plan, laid out in chronological order.

ProjectManager's Gantt chart

Dashboards to Track

As you work your way to making your business plan a reality, you’ll need a tool to ensure that you’re on the right track. With our real-time dashboard , you can view updates on the status of your tasks. Our dashboard also automatically calculates costs and other important KPIs and displays them in scannable graphs and charts.

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

Plus, ProjectManager has unlimited file storage, so you can collect all the important documents for your business plan in a central hub.

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that offers businesses the tools they need to manage projects. Complete with Gantt charts, task lists, dashboards and more, ProjectManager gives teams the ability to plan, launch and report on projects from anywhere. This makes creating and collaborating on documents like a business plan easier than ever before. Try ProjectManager for yourself with our free 30-day trial offer.

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

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How to Create a Realistic Project Plan with Templates & Examples

project plan and business plan

As a project manager, a huge part of your role is to write project plans that help you keep projects on track. But that’s not all a project plan should do. 

A project plan is arguably the most important document you’ll create for a project. At its core, a plan should communicate your project approach and the process your team will use to manage the project according to scope.

Let’s take a closer look at how you can develop a rock-solid planning process that guides your team and projects to success.

What is a project plan?

Project plan example: what to include, why you should always write a project plan, 5 steps to an effective project planning process, how to create a project plan in teamgantt, free project plan templates.

A project plan is a document that maps out the tasks, effort, timing, and resources needed to meet project goals within a predefined scope. It’s often presented in the form of a gantt chart because it’s easy to visualize the project timeline and ensure work stays on track.

Any solid project management plan should answer the following questions:

  • What are the major deliverables?
  • How will we get to those deliverables and the deadline?
  • Who’s on the project team, and what role will they play in those deliverables?
  • Which stakeholders need to provide feedback on deliverables, and when?
  • When will the team meet milestones?

A project plan communicates this information in a simple, straightforward way so everyone clearly understands the objectives and how they contribute to project success. It may also be accompanied by other planning documents, such as a project charter , risk assessment , or communication plan .

While no two project plans are alike, they all share the same common building blocks. Be sure to include the following components in any project plan you create:

  • Project tasks : A detailed list of work to be done organized by project phase, process step, or work group
  • Project schedule : A visual timeline of task start dates, durations, and deadlines, with clear progress indicators
  • Key milestones : Major events, dates, decisions, and deliverables used for tracking forward progress
  • Dependencies : A line connecting tasks that need to happen in a certain order
  • Resources : Assignments that indicate the person or team responsible for completing a task

Here’s a simple example of what a project plan looks like with these basic elements highlighted:

An example of a project plan in gantt chart format with the following components highlighted: project tasks, project schedule, key milestones, dependencies, and resources.

Some people don’t understand the power of a good project plan. If you feel pressured to skip the plan and jump right into the work, remind your team and stakeholders that having a plan benefits everyone by making it easier to:

  • Build consensus before work begins : A detailed project plan ensures everyone has a clear understanding of—and agrees on—the overall process, scope, staffing, and even communications from the outset. That goes a long way in keeping project confusion and pop-up requests from gumming up the works.
  • Avoid scheduling conflicts : Project plans enable you to organize tasks so it’s clear who's responsible for what and when. If your team is juggling multiple projects, you can cross-reference other plans to see who’s available to take on new work before committing to a timeline.
  • Monitor project goals and scope : When new tasks creep in, it’s easy to lose sight of the original objectives. Spelling out the work you need to complete in a time-based plan keeps project goals front and center so you can ensure project scope stays intact.  ‍
  • Hold your team and stakeholders accountable : A good project plan sets expectations around the process and pacing you'll follow each step of the way. When plans are shared with teams and stakeholders, it keeps folks honest about what is—or isn’t—happening and forces you to resolve issues in a timely way.

Poor planning can lead to some pretty ugly consequences—from missed deadlines and budget overages to team burnout and client frustration. That’s why it’s important to establish a solid process you can use to plan any project. 

Planning a project doesn’t have to be difficult. These basic project planning steps can help you write a plan that’s both realistic and on target.

A chart that outlines 5 steps of the project planning process: 1. Discover & define; 2. Outline & draft; 3. Formalize & format; 4. Present & confirm; 5. Execute & adjust

  • Start with project discovery & definition
  • Draft a rough outline of your plan
  • Formalize your project management plan
  • Present & confirm your plan
  • Execute your plan & adjust as needed

Step 1: Start with project discovery and definition

A project plan is more than a dry document with dates. It’s the story of your project, and you don’t want it to be a tall tale! So make sure you know all the facts before you start creating a project plan.

Understand the project scope and value

Understanding the ins and outs of the project will help you determine the best process and identify any snags that might get in the way of success. Conduct your own research to dig deeper on:

  • Project goals and outcomes
  • Partnerships and outlying dependencies
  • Potential issues and risks

Review the scope of work , and dive into any documents or communications relevant to the project (maybe an RFP or notes from sales calls or client meetings). Be thorough in your research to uncover critical project details, and ask thoughtful questions before you commit to anything. 

Interview key stakeholders

If you want to dazzle stakeholders with a stellar project delivery, you’ve got to know how they work and what they expect. Schedule time with your main project contact, and ask them some tough questions about process, organizational politics, and general risks before creating a project plan. 

This will give project stakeholders confidence that your team has the experience to handle any difficult personality or situation. It also shows you care about the success of the project from the start.

Be sure to discuss these things with your stakeholders:

  • Product ownership and the decision-making process
  • Stakeholder interest/involvement levels
  • Key outages, meetings, deadlines, and driving factors
  • Related or similar projects, goals, and outcomes
  • The best way to communicate with partners and stakeholders

See a list of sample interview questions to ask stakeholders so you can develop better project plans.

Get to know your team

The last step in the research phase is to take time to learn more about the people who’ll be responsible for the work. Sit down with your team and get to know their:

  • Collaboration and communication styles
  • Availability and workload

Understanding these basics about your team will help you craft a thoughtful plan that takes their work styles and bandwidth into consideration. After all, a happy team delivers better projects.

Step 2: Draft a rough outline of your plan

Now that you’ve gathered the basic project details, the next step is to knock out a rough draft of your plan. Take some time to think about the discussions you had in the pre-planning phase and the approach your team might take to meet the project goals.

Sketch out the main components of your project plan

Sit down with a pen and paper (or a whiteboard), and outline how the project should work at a high level. Be sure you have a calendar close by to check dates.

If you’re at a loss for where to begin, start with the who, what, when, and how of the project. A first outline can be very rough and might look something like a work breakdown structure . Make sure your project outline includes the following components:

  • Deliverables and the tasks required to create them
  • Your client’s approval process
  • Timeframes associated with tasks/deliverables
  • Ideas on resources needed for tasks/deliverables
  • A list of the assumptions you’re making in the plan
  • A list of absolutes as they relate to the project budget and/or deadlines

Considering these elements will help you avoid surprises—or at least minimize them. And remember, you’re doing this as a draft so you can use it as a conversation-starter for your team. It’s not final yet!

Get input from your team on process, effort, and timing

You don’t want to put yourself or your team in an awkward position by not coming to a consensus on the approach before presenting it to your client. That's why a project manager can’t be the only one writing a project plan.

Once you’ve created a basic project outline, take those rough ideas and considerations to your team. This enables you to invite discussion about what might work rather than simply dictating a process. After all, every project must begin with clear communication of the project goals and the effort required to meet them. 

Be sure to get input from your team on how they can complete the tasks at hand without killing the budget and the team’s morale. As a project manager, you can decide on Agile vs. Waterfall approaches , but when it comes down to it, you need to know that the team can realistically execute the plan.

You can also use this review time to question your own thinking and push the team to take a new approach to the work. For example, if you’re working on a digital product, could designers start creating visual concepts while the wireframes are being developed? Or can you have two resources working on the same task at once?

Running ideas by the team and having an open dialogue about the approach not only helps you build a more accurate project plan. It gets everyone thinking about the project in the same terms. This type of buy-in and communication builds trust and gets people excited about working together to solve a goal. It can work wonders for the greater good of your team and project.

Step 3: Formalize your project management plan

You should feel comfortable enough at this point to put together a rock-solid project schedule using whatever tool works for you. 

Build out a detailed project schedule that’s easy to read

Any good online project planning tool will help you formalize your thoughts and lay them out in a consistent, visual format that’s easy to follow and track. (Ahem, TeamGantt works nicely for a lot of happy customers. ) 

Make sure tasks have clear start and end dates so there’s no question when work needs to happen to hit project deadlines. Organize work into phases, and use labels and/or color-coding to improve scannability. The easier your project plan is to understand at a glance, the better!

See how to create a project plan in TeamGantt

Consider how your team likes to work

Be as flexible as possible when it comes to how your project plan is presented. There's no absolute when it comes to how to format your plan as long as you and your team understand what goes into one.

Remember, people absorb information differently. While you might be partial to a gantt chart, others might prefer to view tasks in a list, calendar, or even a kanban board. You can make all of those variations work if you’ve taken the steps to create a solid plan.

For example, here’s an Agile project plan we built that lists each sprint as its own task group with milestones for sprint planning and deployment.

Agile project plan example with 2 sprints scheduled on a timeline

And here’s what that same project plan looks like if you turn it into a kanban board in TeamGantt. Simply click the Board tab and set up your columns so your team can manage their daily workflows more easily.

Sample Agile project plan in a kanban board view with columns for to do, in progress, and done

If your team currently prefers spreadsheets and isn’t quite ready to use TeamGantt yet, try our free Excel gantt chart template .

Step 4: Present and confirm your plan

You’re almost finished! Now it’s time to do your due diligence. It’s easy to throw stuff in a plan, but you have to make sure you get it right.

Run your final plan by your internal team

Your team needs to know the reality of your plan as it stands after you’ve built it out in TeamGantt. And you want to be sure they’re comfortable committing to the details. If they don’t, things will quickly fall apart!

Always review your final plan with your team before delivering it to stakeholders. Why? Because things like dates and tasks—and even assignments—will shift as you formalize the rough sketch of your plan. 

Here are a few things you’ll want to discuss with your team as you review the final plan together:

  • Review times
  • Team work times
  • Dependencies
  • Time off, meetings, and milestones
  • The final deadline
  • Any assumptions you’ve made
  • Major changes since your last talk

There’s nothing more embarrassing than delivering a plan with an error or a promise you can’t keep. Taking a few minutes to get buy-in from your team will give everyone peace of mind about your plan.

Review your project plan with stakeholders

Once you’ve confirmed the plan with your team and have their full sign-off, you’re ready to share your project plan with stakeholders . 

When delivering your project plan, make sure you provide an executive summary. This might come in the form of a project brief . A short recap of the overall methodology, resources, assumptions, deadlines, and related review times will help you convey what the plan means to the project and everyone involved.

Project plans can be daunting, so schedule time to present your project plan to stakeholders at a high level. Here are some things you’ll want to point out about your plan during this review:

  • Overall process and pacing
  • Major deliverables and timing
  • The time they’ll have to review deliverables
  • Overall timing for task groups or phases
  • How far off you are from the deadline
  • Wiggle room on the final deadline

If a stakeholder is interested in the day-to-day details, feel free to walk them through the plan line by line. Otherwise, start by explaining overall sections or phases, and be sure to come back to your plan at intervals throughout the project to remind them of tasks, next steps, and overall progress.

Step 5: Execute your plan and adjust as needed

Some projects are smooth and easy to manage, and others are a complete nightmare that wake you up at 3 a.m. every other night. Thankfully, having a solid project plan is your best defense against project chaos once work gets underway.

Keep in mind that project plans are living documents. Projects change constantly, and someone has to stay on top of—and document—that change. Remember to:

  • Update your plan regularly as work progresses and things change
  • Communicate changes to your team, partners, and stakeholders
  • Monitor and communicate risks as your project evolves

Ready to plan your project in TeamGantt? Follow these easy steps to build a plan that’s structured well and includes the elements you need for project success.

1. Enter your basic project details.

To create a new project plan in TeamGantt, click the New Project button in the upper right corner of the My Projects screen. Then enter your project name and start date, and select the days of the week you want to include in your plan. Click Create New Project to move on to the next step.

Example of the project creation screen in TeamGantt

2. List out your project tasks and milestones.

Now the real planning fun begins! Enter all the different tasks it will take to get the job done. If there are any key meetings, deliverable deadlines, or approvals, add those as milestones in your project plan.

List of tasks organized into 2 task groups in a project plan

3. Organize tasks into subgroups. 

Scrolling through one long list of tasks can be mind-numbing, even to the best of us. Break tasks down into phases or sections to ensure your project plan is easy to read and understand. 

4. Add task durations and milestone dates to the project timeline.

A visual project plan makes it easy to see exactly what needs to get done by when. Make sure every task has a start and end date so nothing falls through the cracks. TeamGantt’s drag and drop feature makes this planning step quick and easy.

Example of TeamGantt's drag and drop scheduling for task durations

5. Connect related tasks with dependencies.

Adding dependencies between tasks ensures work gets done in the right order and also helps you plan for delay risks. If your plan shifts and you need to move tasks around, dependencies speed up the process.

Example of a dependency line connecting a task assigned to Peggy to a subsequent task assigned to Don

6. Assign responsible team members to tasks.

That way there’s no confusion about who’s doing what, and your team can update and manage their daily tasks . Don’t forget to check team availability along the way to avoid overloading anyone with too much work.

Task assignment in TeamGantt

7. Use the RACI chart to define task roles more clearly.

This feature takes accountability one step further by letting you assign more specific roles to each task: Responsible , Accountable , Consulted , and Informed . Learn how RACI charts work and what each role means.

Example of RACI assignments in TeamGantt for a digital marketing campaign project plan

8. Add hourly estimates and/or points to each task. 

This makes it easy to see the lift each task involves at a glance. Including hourly estimates in your project plan also enables you to manage workloads and track overages more accurately.

Example of estimated hours for tasks in a project plan with actual vs estimated hours progress indicators

9. Color-code tasks for better scannability.

You can use colors to categorize tasks by project phase, priority, department, or team member—whatever makes visual sense to you and your team.

Example of color selection menu in TeamGantt for color-coding taskbars on the timeline

10. Add notes to clarify tasks or spell out important details.

There’s no such thing as too much information if it means your team has what they need to deliver quality work on time. Use the Notes section of your Discussion tab to enter any pertinent details your team will find helpful.

Task detail window example with notes on scope and word count, as well as a creative brief attached to the task

11. Upload important documents to the project.

This ensures project files are accessible to everyone in a centralized hub.  For example, you might attach your creative brief to the project so your content and design teams have clear direction for completing their deliverables.

If you’re planning a project for the first time or taking on a totally new type of project, you might be struggling to get your plan off the ground. We created a simple project management plan template to help you get started.

TeamGantt gives you the ability to quickly and easily build and adjust your plan using drag and drop scheduling. Plus, it comes with customizable views to fit every team member’s work style. 

Try our basic project plan template for free!

Basic project plan template in TeamGantt with placeholder tasks that can easily be customized

Looking for more specific project plan examples to jumpstart your process? Use these project planning templates to generate ideas and save time building out your plan:

  • Construction project plan template
  • Event planning template
  • Strategic marketing plan template
  • Tactical marketing plan template
  • Software development plan template
  • Video production schedule template
  • Website project plan template

Plan your next project in minutes

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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.

project plan and business plan

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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project plan and business plan

How to write an effective project plan in 6 simple steps

Deanna deBara

Contributing writer

If you’re a Type A personality, project planning might sound like music to your ears. Setting deadlines, organizing tasks, and creating order out of chaos — what’s not to love?

The reality is that project planning isn’t for everyone. In one survey by Association for Project Management, 76% of project professionals said their main project was a source of stress . Poor planning, unclear responsibilities, and overallocation are often the culprits behind the stress. 

An effective project plan helps teams stay within budget, scope, and schedule, while delivering quality work. In short, it gets you to the finish line without the stress.  

What is a project plan?

A project plan, also known as a work plan, is a blueprint of your project lifecycle. It’s like a roadmap — it clearly outlines how to get from where you are now (the beginning of the project) to where you want to go (the successful completion of the project). 

“A project plan is an action plan outlining how…[to] accomplish project goals,” says Jami Yazdani , certified Project Management Professional (PMP), project coach, project management consultant, and founder of Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation . 

A comprehensive project plan includes the project schedule, project scope, due dates, and deliverables. Writing a good project plan is key for any new, complex project in the pipeline.

Why Are Project Plans Important?

Project plans allow you to visualize your entire project, from beginning to end—and develop a clear strategy to get from point A to point B. Project plans steer stakeholders in the right direction and keep team members accountable with a common baseline.  

Project plans help you stay agile

Projects are bound by what is traditionally called the “iron triangle” of project management . It means that project managers have to work within the three constraints of scope, resources (project budget and teams), and schedule. You cannot make changes to one without impacting the other two.    

Modern-day project management has shifted to a more agile approach, with a focus on quality. This means that resources and schedules remain unchanged but a fixed number of iterations (flexible scope) helps teams deliver better quality and more value. 

A project plan puts this “agile triangle” in place by mapping out resources, schedules, and the number of iterations — sprints if you’re using a Scrum framework and work in progress (WIP) limits if you’re using the Kanban methodology . 

As Yazdani points out, “Project plans help us strategize a path to project success, allowing us to consider the factors that will impact our project, from stakeholders to budget to schedule delays, and plan how to maximize or mitigate these factors.” 

Project plans provide complete visibility

A project plan, when created with a comprehensive project management software , gives you 360-degree visibility throughout the project lifecycle. 

As a project manager, you need a single source of truth on team members and their project tasks, project scope, project objectives, and project timelines. A detailed project plan gives you this visibility and helps teams stay on track.

screenshot of a Jira Work Management project board

Project plans also help to get everyone involved on the same page, setting clear expectations around what needs to be accomplished, when, and by who. 

“Project plans create a framework for measuring project progress and success,” says Yazdani. “Project plans set clear expectations for…stakeholders by outlining exactly what…will [be accomplished] and when it will be delivered.”

Project plans boost engagement and productivity

A well-written project plan clarifies how each individual team member’s contributions play into the larger scope of the project and align with company goals. When employees see how their work directly impacts organizational growth, it generates buy-in and drives engagement , which is critical to a project’s success. 

“Project plans provide…teams with purpose and direction,” says Yazdani. “Transparent project plans show team members how their individual tasks and responsibilities contribute to the overall success of the project, encouraging engagement and collaboration.”

How To Write A Project Plan in 6 Steps

Writing a project plan requires, well, planning. Ideally, the seeds for a project plan need to be sowed before internal project sign-off begins. Before that sign-off, conduct capacity planning to estimate the resources you will need and if they’re available for the duration of the project. After all, you want to set your teams up for success with realistic end dates, buffer time to recharge or catch up in case of unexpected delays, and deliver quality work without experiencing burnout .

Based on organizational capacity, you can lay down project timelines and map out scope as well as success metrics, outline tasks, and build a feedback loop into your project plan. Follow these project planning steps to create a winning plan:      

1. Establish Project Scope And Metrics

Defining your project scope is essential to protecting your iron, or agile, triangle from crumbling. Too often, projects are hit with scope creep , causing delays, budget overruns, and anxiety.

“Clearly define your project’s scope or overall purpose,” says Yazdani. “Confirm any project parameters or constraints, like budget, resource availability, and timeline,” says Yazdani.

A project purpose statement is a high-level brief that defines the what, who, and why of the project along with how and when the goal will be accomplished. But just as important as defining your project scope and purpose is defining what metrics you’re going to use to track progress.

“Establish how you will measure success,” says Yazdani. “Are there metrics, performance criteria, or quality standards you need to meet?”

Clearly defining what your project is, the project’s overall purpose, and how you’re going to measure success lays the foundation for the rest of your project plan—so make sure you take the time to define each of these elements from the get-go.

2. Identify Key Project Stakeholders 

Get clarity on the team members you need to bring the project to life. In other words, identify the key stakeholders of the project. 

“List individuals or groups who will be impacted by the project,” says Yazdani. 

In addition to identifying who needs to be involved in the project, think about how they’ll need to be involved—and at what level. Use a tool like Confluence to run a virtual session to clarify roles and responsibilities, and find gaps that need to be filled. 

Let’s say you’re managing a cross-functional project to launch a new marketing campaign that includes team members from your marketing, design, and sales departments. 

When identifying your key stakeholders, you might create different lists based on the responsibility or level of involvement with the project:

  • Decision-makers (who will need to provide input at each step of the project)
  • Managers (who will be overseeing employees within their department) 
  • Creative talent (who will be actually creating the project deliverables for the campaign) from each department. 

Give your project plan an edge by using a Confluence template like the one below to outline roles and responsibilities.

confluence template preview for roles and responsibility document

Define roles, discuss responsibilities, and clarify which tasks fall under each teammate’s purview using this Confluence template. 

Getting clarity on who needs to be involved in the project—and how they’re going to be involved—will help guide the rest of the project plan writing process (particularly when it comes to creating and assigning tasks).

3. Outline Deliverables

Now is the time to get granular.

Each project milestone comprises a series of smaller, tangible tasks that your teams need to produce. While a big-picture view keeps teams aligned, you need signposts along the way to guide them on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Create a list of deliverables that will help you achieve the greater vision of the project. 

“What will you create, build, design, produce, accomplish or deliver?” says Yazdani. “Clearly outline your project’s concrete and tangible deliverables or outcomes.” Centralize these deliverables in a Trello board with designated cards for each one, like in the example below, so you keep work moving forward.

trello board that shows tasks organized into status columns

Each card on a board represents tasks and ideas and you can move cards across lists to show progress.

Defining the concrete items you need your project to deliver will help you reverse-engineer the things that need to happen to bring those items to life—which is a must before moving on to the next step.

4. Develop Actionable Tasks

Task management is an important component of any project plan because they help employees see what exactly they need to accomplish. Drill down those deliverables into actionable tasks to assign to your team. 

You can use either Confluence or Jira for different task management needs. If you want to track tasks alongside your work, like action items from a meeting or small team projects, it’s best to use Confluence. But if a project has multiple teams and you need insight into workflows, task history, and reporting, Jira makes it easy.      

“Let your deliverables guide the work of the project,” says Yazdani. “Break down each deliverable into smaller and smaller components until you get to an actionable task.” If a major deliverable is a set of content pieces, the smaller actionable tasks would be to create topic ideas, conduct research, and create outlines for each topic.  

Once you’ve broken down all of your deliverables into manageable, assignable subtasks, analyze how each of those tasks interacts with each other. That way, you can plan, prioritize, assign, and add deadlines accordingly.  

“Highlight any dependencies between tasks, such as tasks that can’t be started until another task is complete,” says Yazdani. “List any resources you will need to accomplish these tasks.”

When a task has multiple assignees, you need to streamline the workflow in your project plan. Say the content pieces you outlined need to be edited or peer-reviewed. A couple of articles may need an interview with a subject matter expert. Lay down a stage-by-stage process of each piece of content and pinpoint when each team member comes into play so you prevent bottlenecks and adjust timeframes.     

5. Assign Tasks And Deadlines

Assign tasks to your team and collaborate with employees to set deadlines for each task. When you involve employees in setting workloads and deadlines , you increase ownership and boost the chances of delivering quality work on time.  

After all, you want to move projects forward at a steady pace, but you also want to make sure your teams stay motivated and engaged. So, when writing your project plan, make sure to “set realistic and achievable deadlines for completing tasks and deliverables,” says Yazdani. “Highlight dates that are inflexible and factor in task dependencies. Add in milestones or checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate successes .”

project plan and business plan

Use Jira and Confluence to create tasks that live alongside your project plan or meeting agendas.

Once you map out all of your tasks and deadlines, you should have a clear picture of how and when your project is going to come together—and the initial writing process is just about finished.

But that doesn’t mean your project plan is complete! There’s one more key step to the process.

6. Share, Gather Feedback, And Adjust The Project Plan As Necessary

While steps 1 through 5 may make up your initial writing process, if you want your project plan to be as strong and complete as it can be, it’s important to share it with your team—and get their input on how they think it can be improved.

“Share the plan with your project team and key stakeholders, gathering feedback to make adjustments and improvements,” says Yazdani. 

A tool like Confluence helps knowledge flow freely within teams and departments, leading to better teamwork, higher collaboration, and a shared understanding of priorities. Coworkers can use comments, mentions, notifications, and co-editing capabilities to provide and discuss feedback. 

After you gather your team’s feedback —and make any necessary adjustments based on that feedback—you can consider your project plan complete. Hooray! 

But as your project progresses, things may change or evolve—so it’s important to stay flexible and make changes and adjustments as needed.

“Expect to update your plan as you gather more information, encounter changing requirements and delays, and learn from feedback and mistakes,” says Yazdani. “By using your project plan to guide your activities and measure progress, you’ll be able to refine and improve your plan as you move through the project, tweaking tasks and deadlines as deliverables are developed.”

Download a  template to create your project plan and customize it based on your needs.

Example of a simple project plan 

A project plan doesn’t have to be a complicated spreadsheet with multiple tabs and drop-down menus. It’s best to use a project planning tool like Confluence — or at least a project plan template — to make sure you cover every aspect of the project. A simple project plan includes these elements:

  • Project name, brief summary, and objective.
  • Project players or team members who will drive the project, along with their roles and responsibilities.
  • Key outcomes and due dates.
  • Project elements, ideally divided into must-have, nice-to-have and not-in-scope categories.
  • Milestones, milestone owners, and a project end date.
  • Reference material relevant to the project.

Project plan Confluence template

Best Practices For Writing Effective Project Plans

A project planning process can quickly turn into a mishmash of goals and tasks that end up in chaos but these best practices can give you a framework to create a project plan that leads to success.

Use Other Project Plans For Inspiration

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new project! Instead, look to other successful project plans for inspiration—and use them as a guide when writing the plan for your project.

“Review templates and plans for similar projects, or for other projects within your organization or industry, to get ideas for structuring and drafting your own plan,” says Yazdani.

To get started, use a Trello project management template and customize it for your project plan by creating unique lists and adding cards under each list.

Trello-Project-Management-template

Build your team’s ideal workflow and mark each stage of the project plan as a list, with cards for each task. 

Get Your Team Involved In The Process

You may be in charge of spearheading the project. But that doesn’t mean that you have to—or even that you should—write the project plan alone. 

“Collaborate with your project team and key stakeholders on crafting a project plan,” says Yazdani. “Input into the project plan supports buy-in to project goals and encourages continued engagement throughout the project.”

With Confluence , you can organize project details in a centralized space and build a project plan collaboratively.

Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good

You may be tempted to write (and rewrite) your project plan until you’ve got every detail mapped out perfectly. But spending too much time trying to get everything “perfect” can actually hold up the project. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good—and instead of getting caught up in getting everything perfect from the get-go, stay willing and flexible to adjust your project plan as you move forward.

“Focus on outcomes, not plan perfection,” says Yazdani. “While it would be awesome for the first draft of our plan to require no changes while also inspiring our team and ensuring project success, our goal shouldn’t be a perfect plan. Our goal is a plan that allows us to successfully deliver on project goals. Responsiveness to changing needs and a shifting environment is more important than plan perfection.”

Use the right tools to succeed with your project plan

Writing a project plan, especially if you’re new to the process, can feel overwhelming. But now that you know the exact steps to write one, make sure you have the tools you need to create a strong, cohesive plan from the ground up—and watch your project thrive as a result. 

Atlassian Together can help with project planning and management with a powerful combination of tools that make work flow across teams.

Guide your team to project success with Atlassian Together’s suite of products.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:

  • Product goals and deadlines for each month
  • Monthly financials for the first two years
  • Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
  • Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.

While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.

For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .

Business Plan Steps

The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:

  • Executive summary
  • Description of business
  • Market analysis
  • Competitive analysis
  • Description of organizational management
  • Description of product or services
  • Marketing plan
  • Sales strategy
  • Funding details (or request for funding)
  • Financial projections

If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.

Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.

Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.

In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

  • What is the vision and mission of the company?
  • What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:

  • What business are we in?
  • What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:

  • Who is our customer? 
  • What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:

  • Who is the competition? 
  • What do they do best? 
  • What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.

Questions to answer in this section are as follows:

  • What is the product or service?
  • How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:

  • Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
  • What channels will you use to reach your target market?
  • What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
  • If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
  • How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts. 

Start by answering the following questions:

  • What is the sales strategy?
  • What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
  • What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
  • What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
  • What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:

  • How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
  • How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
  • What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years. 

While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:

  • How and when will the company first generate a profit?
  • How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

Business Plan Template

Download Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.

For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy. 

If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.

Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .

  • Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. 
  • Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision. 
  • Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
  • Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
  • Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
  • Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
  • Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
  • Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
  • Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
  • Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel |  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.

Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.

While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:

  • Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
  • List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
  • Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
  • Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
  • Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
  • Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
  • Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
  • Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Lean Business Plan Templates for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.

See our wide variety of  startup business plan templates for more options.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.

In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.

Download free financial templates to support your business plan.

Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.

  • Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
  • Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
  • Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
  • Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
  • Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.

Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.

“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”

Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.

Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships. 

Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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How to Write a Project Plan: Template and Examples

Create a blueprint for your project and keep the stakeholders aligned.

Starting a new project is exciting – it may be tempting to jump straight into it and figure things out as you go along.

But going in without a plan is bound to result in chaos. At best, your team members will charge ahead without fully understanding how their work fits in. At worst, they won't even know where to start.

Poor planning is cited as one of the main reasons behind failed projects, but it doesn't have to be this way. Let's dive deeper into what a project plan looks like and how it should be written.

What is a project plan?

Project plan example, project plan template, how to create a project plan.

A project plan is a structured document that defines the project goals and specifies how these goals will be achieved. PRINCE2 , a structured project management method adopted in many countries worldwide, formally defines a project plan as a "statement of how and when a project's objectives are to be achieved, by showing the major products, milestones, activities, and resources required on the project".

A project plan is prepared by the project manager (often based on the previously approved project proposal ) and serves as a roadmap and a single source of truth for the team. It is a living document that evolves together with the project, capturing all changes and decisions and facilitating communication among project stakeholders.

What should be included in a project plan

When most people hear "project plan", they tend to imagine a gantt chart – but a visual timeline is only a small part of it. A thorough project plan needs to cover several important topics, including:

Objective & motivation : Why are you investing resources into this project?

Deliverables : What needs to be accomplished at the end of the project?

Scope : What is relevant to the success of the project? What is excluded?

Budget : What are the cost estimates for delivering this project?

Tasks & responsibilities: What are the specific tasks that need to be carried out? Who will be responsible for them?

Timeline & milestones : What are the main phases of the project? When does each phase start and end?

There are hundreds of project plan examples online – many of them are in the form of flashy, colorful diagrams, spreadsheets, and timelines. They may be pretty to look at, but are they practical?

A project plan should not look like a slide out of a sales deck. Its goal is not to dazzle its audience, but to be as clear and informative as possible in order to keep all stakeholders on the same page.

Here's an example of what a project plan could look like in Nuclino :

Project plan example

Nuclino is a unified workspace where you can not only plan, document, and manage your projects, but also build your internal knowledge base , collaborate on internal documentation , onboard new employees , take meeting minutes , and more. Rather than using a tool like Trello to manage your projects and a separate software like Google Docs to document them, with Nuclino you can bring it all together in one place and collaborate without the chaos of files and folders, context switching, or silos.

Manage projects in Nuclino

Using a project plan template is an easy way to save time and ensure that your project documentation stays consistent. Although project plans differ from company to company, the high-level structure is usually the same.

Project plan template

Remember – a project plan is supposed to be a living document . It's not something you write once at the beginning of the project and then set in stone.

A project plan needs to be collaboratively maintained and kept up-to-date by all stakeholders – that means that it can't be hidden away in some folder on your hard drive. Pick a project documentation tool that supports real-time collaboration and is easily accessible to your entire team.

Once you have the right tool in place, start with the broad strokes and refine the details as the project takes shape.

Define the scope and objectives

Begin by outlining the goals of your project – think of it as a business case that needs to provide answers to the following questions:

Why is this project being initiated?

What are the underlying hypotheses?

What will be the ideal outcome and the ROI?

Define the roles and responsibilities

Next, you need to identify the project stakeholders – the ones who are responsible for its success. After you get the initial buy-in from them, you can define roles and assign responsibilities. In some cases, one person can fill multiple roles, while in others, multiple people may hold identical roles.

Set milestones and create a timeline

Now, it's time to break down the work that needs to be done into manageable blocks. Consider the goals you set earlier and derive a list of activities needed to achieve them. These activities need to be mapped to specific milestones and organized chronologically in a timeline. Milestone deadlines do not have to be exact dates, but the more precise, the better.

Hold a kick-off meeting

Much of the work until this point can be done asynchronously , but at a certain point, you need to bring all stakeholders together and align on the details. Use this opportunity to review the project plan and ensure that the team shares the same vision for the project. Prepare a meeting agenda and share it with the stakeholders in advance, as soon as you schedule the meeting .

After the first iteration of your project plan is finalized, don't rush to laminate it. No matter how thorough your research has been, it's highly likely that some of your estimations of cost, time, or scope will need to be corrected. But as long as you review the project plan regularly, keep it up-to-date, and preserve a log of all decisions, it can be a highly efficient project planning tool for keeping your project on track.

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Create a central knowledge base and give your team a single source of truth.

Collaborate in real time or asynchronously and spend less time in meetings.

Manage and document your projects in one place without losing context.

Organize, sort, and filter all kinds of data with ease.

Integrate the tools you love , like Slack, Google Drive, Figma, Lucidchart, and more.

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How to create a project plan — with templates

Man learns how to create a project plan on his computer

If you have a new project on the horizon but are worrying about how it will go, your concerns are understandable. Thankfully, project managers can prepare for better outcomes by putting in the time and energy required to craft a strong, clear project plan.

To help, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide explaining exactly what a project plan is and the steps needed to create one. This post will cover:

  • What a project plan is
  • Why project plans are important

How to create a project plan in six steps

Project plan template, what is a project plan.

A project plan — also called a project management plan — is a specific document designed to outline the expectations, stages, schedules, deliverables, and metrics for a given project. These plans mitigate the risk of failure or the inability to deliver expected outcomes while making it easier to allocate resources, track progress, and create accountability across teams.

Project plans serve as guides for the entire initiative and a reference point if things should seem to be moving off course. The project manager creates the project plan by listing requirements from the outset and organizing the deliverables and goals into action items to be addressed in a specific order. The project manager uses the project plan to assign team members appropriate roles and tasks.

A project plan should include the following components.

  • Scope. This defines the goals, inclusions, tasks, and deliverables that make up the project.
  • Budget. This determines how much can be monetarily spent in the course of the project.
  • Timeline. This delineates how quickly teams must work and when the project should be completed.

Why are project plans important?

Without the guidance of a project plan, you’re likely to go off course when it comes to scope, budget, and timeline, producing an end result that fails to meet stakeholder expectations. From scope creep to unforeseen issues, any number of distractions and delays can take hold and create havoc on a project lacking a clear plan and objective.

Crafting a strong project plan removes any doubt about the goals and deliverables required to make a project successful and keeps your initiative on track.

Project plans help:

  • Create a shared vision
  • Define goals and objectives
  • Establish schedules and milestones
  • Assign team accountability
  • Improve worker morale
  • Reduce overhead costs
  • Facilitate communication

Teams that invest in project planning meet their goals 77% of the time

While project management plans are driven by the project requirements, stakeholder expectations, and available resources, most plans follow a similar structure to provide clarity and vision to everyone involved. Follow these six steps to create your project plan.

1. Define your project scope

Project scope is the all-encompassing outline defining what the project should include in order to be completed successfully. This entails listing all of the features, requirements, metrics, and deliverables expected by stakeholders as well as the project’s timeframe and budget.

By default, the project scope indicates what a project should exclude. Knowing what the project doesn’t involve can be essential for preventing the problem of scope creep, where the requirements of a project shift and grow over time, making it harder to define or achieve success in a given timeframe.

Defining project scope gives you the opportunity to establish clear goals and objectives. Goals are singular, broad, and long-term outcomes, whereas your objectives are smaller, more easily broken-down tasks required to achieve each goal. Project managers can use the SMART method to ensure the goals they set are:

  • Specific. Define what you need to accomplish.
  • Measurable. Create a metric to define success.
  • Attainable. Choose realistic goals given your available time and resources.
  • Relevant. Align your goals with your business priorities and stakeholders’ preferences.
  • Timebound. Indicate when the project must be completed.

Finally, define your key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep your project scope in line with the company’s bigger picture. Decide also what metrics you will use to measure your success . These can include resource capacity, budget variance, return on investment, and cycle time, to name a few.

2. Identify and meet with stakeholders

Stakeholders are anyone with a vested interest in your project. To identify your stakeholders, start with the people requesting or funding your project. Stakeholders can also include anyone who shares a part in making and delivering your product or service — company leadership, product owners, employees, and even customers.

Typical stakeholder roles for a project include:

  • Project manager
  • Project team members
  • Project sponsor
  • Project steering committee
  • Business analyst

One resource that can help project managers to identify stakeholder roles and responsibilities is a RACI chart , which stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. These adjectives can help define each stakeholder role and clarify expectations for tasks. For example, some team members might be in charge of creating content or developing a project, while the business analyst could be tasked with reviewing requirements and output.

RACI chart

To keep everyone on the same page, teams need to agree upon a communication method that promotes collaboration and transparency. Have a plan ready for retrospectives, feedback, and any necessary clarification throughout the course of the work. Make it clear from the beginning where stakeholders will or will not be permitted to provide input in order to keep processes efficient and on schedule.

3. Structure your project — deliverables, milestones, and dependencies

The next step is to create a blueprint of all the work involved to accomplish the project scope. This outline is critical for demonstrating to the entire team what will be expected moving forward.

When outlining the approach to the project, it can help to choose a project management methodology .There are two popular approaches to choose from — Agile and waterfall . While Agile supports a flexible approach to projects where teams work iteratively and simultaneously, waterfall encourages a linear system where phases and steps are required in order to continue moving forward. The best fit will depend on the scope of the project and the construction of the team in question.

Product roadmaps are also helpful when structuring and outlining a project plan. These are visual representations of how project managers foresee task management with opportunities to demonstrate long-term initiatives and how smaller tasks roll up into them. Roadmaps can promote transparent communication for teams by clearly depicting priorities and the steps to achieve them.

When making you structuring your project, be sure to do the following.

Define deliverables

  • Define deliverables . Make the expected outcomes of the project clear with all requirements based on the agreed-upon scope.

Set milestones

  • Set milestones. Establish the project schedule including dates or phases when specific tasks, iterations, or final deliverables should be completed.

Plan for dependencies

  • Plan for dependencies. Consider how tasks are related and the order they need to be approached to allocate resources and remain on schedule.

Before finalizing your roadmap, conduct a risk management assessment . While unforeseen circumstances can arise during a project, taking time to anticipate pitfalls can help mitigate the impact of these interruptions. This includes considering potential risks and creating a risk response plan to address threats. Examples of project management risks include reduced resources, operational changes, scope creep, and cost problems.

4. Set your project budget

A project is often only as strong as its available resources, and your budget defines these. All the work to be done, including human capital and tangible assets, will rely on the funds in your budget. So it’s crucial to establish your budget during the planning phase. Here are the basics of setting a project budget:

  • Break down all your goals into tasks. Review your scope of work and break down your goals into specific tasks and milestones. Start with your biggest tasks and break those into smaller subtasks until each task is easy to achieve. If you followed the previous step, you’ve already done a large part of this work.
  • Estimate each task and allocate your resources. Research what each task will cost. Then add up the estimates for all the project tasks. Review your available funds and resources and allocate them accordingly. This includes resource management and the proper allocation of tangible assets, like equipment, alongside team members and capacity.
  • Get stakeholder buy-in. Preparing a budget can also ensure stakeholder buy-in and executive approval. In some instances, the initial spending proposal may come from the project manager, requiring extensive review and approval from stakeholders before getting started. Cost management review can also help leaders understand the difference between fixed costs (i.e., one-off fees) and indirect costs (i.e., salaries) for a fuller picture of the project’s total expense.

The best budgets are as itemized as possible, demonstrating resource allocation, accurate spending expectations, and areas for leeway in the event a task does not go quite as planned.

5. Outline your schedule and timeline

Use your project’s outline to formalize a timeline and schedule. Note these are two completely different entities, and both are essential for a project to thrive.

A project timeline is a graphic, chronological representation of all tasks indicating due dates along with dependencies, assignees, and scope for each task. A schedule is the list of forecasted dates of when specific tasks and project milestones should be completed.

Here are some tips for figuring out both your timeline and schedule:

  • Start from the deadline and work your way back. You can often work backward from the final delivery date to ensure everything is completed according to the deadline.
  • Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) . This can help show the number of different tasks required to complete the project and also show you each part of your project one at a time so you’re not overwhelmed. You should place your tasks in order, paying attention to any dependencies along the way. As you place these in sequence, you can also consider the anticipated time it will take to complete each one, filling in dates as they go along.
  • Use Gantt charts and Kanban boards. It can help to visualize these timelines and schedules through the use of project management workflows. A Gantt chart uses horizontal lines to represent sequential and concurrent tasks while demonstrating the resources needed during planned periods of time. Kanban boards depict tasks as cards moved across a series of columns representing different project stages.

Use Gantt charts and Kanban boards

6. Present the project plan to stakeholders

With the project details in place, the last piece is the executive summary. While it appears first in a project plan, you’ll write it last as a high-level overview of the detailed plan you’ve created. The executive summary gives stakeholders a high-level review of all the essentials for a project plan that necessarily goes into minute detail. Stakeholder understanding and approval are critical for clear communication of expectations for what will be completed as well as when and how the work will be done.

Your executive summary should include the following sections.

  • Introduction. Give a statement of purpose for the project and your role in it.
  • Problem. Clearly state the problem you are trying to solve.
  • Solution. Broadly show how you plan to solve the problem.
  • Proof of value. Show why your solution is worthwhile.
  • Timeline and budget. Give the condensed timeline and overall budget amount.
  • Conclusion. Re-emphasize the importance of the project.

It can also be helpful to create a communications plan to keep stakeholders current throughout the project. Look for ways to make these updates easy to follow and quick to review. Regular stakeholder meetings or email summaries can help ensure essential feedback makes it back to the individual contributors working to fulfill the project requirements.

Once you present your project plan to executives and get their approval, the project can finally kick off with a higher expectation of success.

Project managers looking to get started on a project plan of their own should not feel intimidated. You can rest assured all plans are unique to the project, industry, and business they represent. However, there are project plan templates you can use to get started.

Here are the elements to include as you write your own plan. Feel free to customize the sections or elaborate as needed to make sure all of your individual needs are covered.

  • Executive summary. Provide an overarching description of the plan’s inclusions, direction, and deliverables.
  • Scope. Define everything the project should include to achieve success — features, goals, and high-level tasks — while also considering constraints.
  • Budget. Align expectations with the set spending cap or by itemizing expenses to determine a total cost. Note that this should include pass-through costs for tangible resources as well as indirect costs for human capital tied to the project.
  • Schedule and timeline. Establish the project delivery date along with the dates for milestones and individual task assignments. This can be done as a schedule of deadlines as well as a visual timeline demonstrating resource allocation and overlapping responsibilities.
  • Requirements. Dig deeper by defining the requirements needed to achieve the project objective. Make sure these align with stakeholder expectations for the project output.
  • Quality criteria. Set the standards by which successful iterations or project work will be completed. Include steps for review, revision, and cross-checking quality by team members and stakeholders.
  • Project resources. Determine the resources needed to complete the project to meet expectations. People representing the desired skillsets should be included along with the tools or assets they will need to perform their work to the highest standard and efficiency.
  • List of stakeholders. State all of the responsible and accountable parties including roles for review, administration, approvals, and project work. Remember stakeholders can encompass everyone from project managers to executives and individual team contributors.
  • Communication plan. Outline exactly how, and how frequently, stakeholders will be updated regarding project progress. Choose an interval and format to encourage feedback and make it easy for everyone to share input while feeling heard and appreciated.
  • Procurement strategy. Plan ahead for any assets or tools that will need to be acquired in order for teams to work effectively. Research different vendors to ensure the best price available also fits the budget.
  • Risk management. Identify any threats that could disrupt project progress and create a contingency plan to mitigate the impact. This can include accommodations for employee leave, timetable delays, or setbacks due to quality testing.

You’re now ready to get going with your project plan. You can also keep yourself on the right track with online templates designed to simplify the process. Learn how to create templates in Adobe Workfront .

Creating your first project plan with the right tool

Project plans are designed to improve productivity and ensure efforts remain on task to deliver expected outcomes. Ultimately, project plans create a greater opportunity for success across the businesses and teams using them.

When you’re ready to begin a new project plan, jotting down your goals and projected outcomes can be a great starting point. Consider what is being asked of you and what you will need in terms of resources in order to accomplish the goal. From there, you can start to outline your requirements, define a budget, create timelines, and prepare a comprehensive project plan that will keep everyone, and everything, on track.

There are also tools you can use to make this process easier to manage, audit, and share. Adobe Workfront is designed to drive collaboration and help leaders tie metrics to outcomes, so you can be sure your project is delivering on all points. Manage the entire project lifecycle from a single system that users can access from anywhere, empowering teamwork and centralizing projects to create greater efficiencies.

Learn how Workfront can help you create effective project plans and get more details by taking a free product tour or by watching the overview video .

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/what-is-project-management

https://business.adobe.com/blog/how-to/7-tips-for-better-project-management

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/methodologies

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The Business Planning Process: 6 Steps To Creating a New Plan

The Business Planning Process 6 Steps to Create a New Plan

In this article, we will define and explain the basic business planning process to help your business move in the right direction.

What is Business Planning?

Business planning is the process whereby an organization’s leaders figure out the best roadmap for growth and document their plan for success.

The business planning process includes diagnosing the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, improving its efficiency, working out how it will compete against rival firms in the future, and setting milestones for progress so they can be measured.

The process includes writing a new business plan. What is a business plan? It is a written document that provides an outline and resources needed to achieve success. Whether you are writing your plan from scratch, from a simple business plan template , or working with an experienced business plan consultant or writer, business planning for startups, small businesses, and existing companies is the same.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

The best business planning process is to use our business plan template to streamline the creation of your plan: Download Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template and finish your business plan & financial model in hours.

The Better Business Planning Process

The business plan process includes 6 steps as follows:

  • Do Your Research
  • Calculate Your Financial Forecast
  • Draft Your Plan
  • Revise & Proofread
  • Nail the Business Plan Presentation

We’ve provided more detail for each of these key business plan steps below.

1. Do Your Research

Conduct detailed research into the industry, target market, existing customer base,  competitors, and costs of the business begins the process. Consider each new step a new project that requires project planning and execution. You may ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are your business goals?
  • What is the current state of your business?
  • What are the current industry trends?
  • What is your competition doing?

There are a variety of resources needed, ranging from databases and articles to direct interviews with other entrepreneurs, potential customers, or industry experts. The information gathered during this process should be documented and organized carefully, including the source as there is a need to cite sources within your business plan.

You may also want to complete a SWOT Analysis for your own business to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential risks as this will help you develop your strategies to highlight your competitive advantage.

2. Strategize

Now, you will use the research to determine the best strategy for your business. You may choose to develop new strategies or refine existing strategies that have demonstrated success in the industry. Pulling the best practices of the industry provides a foundation, but then you should expand on the different activities that focus on your competitive advantage.

This step of the planning process may include formulating a vision for the company’s future, which can be done by conducting intensive customer interviews and understanding their motivations for purchasing goods and services of interest. Dig deeper into decisions on an appropriate marketing plan, operational processes to execute your plan, and human resources required for the first five years of the company’s life.

3. Calculate Your Financial Forecast

All of the activities you choose for your strategy come at some cost and, hopefully, lead to some revenues. Sketch out the financial situation by looking at whether you can expect revenues to cover all costs and leave room for profit in the long run.

Begin to insert your financial assumptions and startup costs into a financial model which can produce a first-year cash flow statement for you, giving you the best sense of the cash you will need on hand to fund your early operations.

A full set of financial statements provides the details about the company’s operations and performance, including its expenses and profits by accounting period (quarterly or year-to-date). Financial statements also provide a snapshot of the company’s current financial position, including its assets and liabilities.

This is one of the most valued aspects of any business plan as it provides a straightforward summary of what a company does with its money, or how it grows from initial investment to become profitable.

4. Draft Your Plan

With financials more or less settled and a strategy decided, it is time to draft through the narrative of each component of your business plan . With the background work you have completed, the drafting itself should be a relatively painless process.

If you have trouble writing convincing prose, this is a time to seek the help of an experienced business plan writer who can put together the plan from this point.

5. Revise & Proofread

Revisit the entire plan to look for any ideas or wording that may be confusing, redundant, or irrelevant to the points you are making within the plan. You may want to work with other management team members in your business who are familiar with the company’s operations or marketing plan in order to fine-tune the plan.

Finally, proofread thoroughly for spelling, grammar, and formatting, enlisting the help of others to act as additional sets of eyes. You may begin to experience burnout from working on the plan for so long and have a need to set it aside for a bit to look at it again with fresh eyes.

6. Nail the Business Plan Presentation

The presentation of the business plan should succinctly highlight the key points outlined above and include additional material that would be helpful to potential investors such as financial information, resumes of key employees, or samples of marketing materials. It can also be beneficial to provide a report on past sales or financial performance and what the business has done to bring it back into positive territory.

Business Planning Process Conclusion

Every entrepreneur dreams of the day their business becomes wildly successful.

But what does that really mean? How do you know whether your idea is worth pursuing?

And how do you stay motivated when things are not going as planned? The answers to these questions can be found in your business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs make better decisions and avoid common pitfalls along the way. ​

Business plans are dynamic documents that can be revised and presented to different audiences throughout the course of a company’s life. For example, a business may have one plan for its initial investment proposal, another which focuses more on milestones and objectives for the first several years in existence, and yet one more which is used specifically when raising funds.

Business plans are a critical first step for any company looking to attract investors or receive grant money, as they allow a new organization to better convey its potential and business goals to those able to provide financial resources.

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Click here to finish your business plan today.

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how Growthink business plan consultants can create your business plan for you.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Use This Simple Business Plan Template

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Blog Graphic Design

30+ Project Plan Examples to Visualize Your Strategy (2024)

By Bronwyn Kienapple , Jan 24, 2024

Before you embark on any project, it’s a good idea to start with a plan. Specifically, a project plan. It’s even more important if you’re trying to better communicate with managers, clients, employees and more.

Why not just make a roadmap in Excel or Word and call it a day? Well, you could, but the end result will be pretty lackluster.

Not sure where to start? This guide will offer you tips for designing an engaging project plan and a bunch of creative project plan templates to help you along the way.

Project plan examples (click to jump ahead):

What is a project plan, what are the key elements of a project plan.

  • Project plan templates for PDF and PowerPoint
  • Project timeline templates
  • Simple project plan templates
  • Project schedule templates
  • Project checklist templates
  • Project status report templates
  • Work plan templates
  • Process map templates
  • Marketing project plan templates
  • Nonprofit strategic plan templates
  • Process mapping in healthcare
  • Marketing plan templates for financial services

Project plan design best practices

  • Project plan examples from the business world

Project plan FAQs

A project plan is an essential document for keeping a project on track. In your project plan, you identify the scope, goals, deliverables and deadlines of your project.

Here’s one example of a project plan in a timeline format:

project plan and business plan

A project plan should answer these questions:

  • What is the purpose of this project (what problem is it going to solve)?
  • What are the main deliverables?
  • What will the timeline be, including deadlines?
  • Who will be on the team for this project and what role will they play?
  • What resources are required to complete this project?

The problem is, people dive into writing a project plan without understanding its purpose or the importance of its various sections.

Your project plan needs to be organized, focused, readable and engaging enough to hold the attention of your team.

This is especially important if you’re including your project plan in a company newsletter, Slack channel or presentation (whether internal or to external stakeholders)–anywhere people need to understand a project at a glance.

1. Project plan templates for PDF and PowerPoint

Need a simple project plan template you can export as a PDF? Look no more. Here’s an example of a project plan mind map template you can export as a PDF document:

project plan and business plan

Just so you know, some of our templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee. Sign up is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

Venngage’s project planning templates are easy to customize using the drag-and-drop editor, and once you’ve finished your design — just download the project plan as a PDF or Interactive PDF (for clickable links).

Note that download capability is available in paid plans only. As a free user, you can share your project plan designs using a public link!

If you want to present your project plan in PowerPoint or Google Slides — you can do that with a Venngage template too! Customize a project plan presentation template like this one:

project plan and business plan

Or this one:

commercial development project plan presentation

And once you’re done, just click on the Download icon and choose Powerpoint as your export option:

Venngage powerpoint download

And voilà! Now you have project plan presentation slides that you can use on PowerPoint, Google Slides or any other platforms that accept PPTX files.

2. Use a project timeline template to visualize your deadlines

When you’re first outlining your project timeline, it can be pretty overwhelming. A visual timeline helps stakeholders get a better sense of what needs to be done, and by when .

A project timeline template is a versatile way to visualize milestones processes, and goals. In fact, a clear timeline is the backbone of a solid project plan. Confusion relating to deadlines, and what is required for those deadlines, is a common problem many teams face while working on a project.

Related : How to Write a Comprehensive Project Management Plan (+ Examples)

First off, though, you want to identify your project goals. Use a simple mind map like the one below to categorize tasks according to your goals.

Project Management Plan Mind Map Template

Now you’re ready to start planning your project.

Project plan timeline infographic template

Project Plan Timeline Template

This project timeline template uses different colors to categorize tasks for each week. It’s a compact and creative way to present a project plan. In fact, horizontal timeline layouts are popular because they’re easy to slot into a presentation.

Related : 120+ Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples

That said, horizontal timelines can be harder to fit onto letter-sized pages. If you plan to do so, use less than seven points and keep your descriptions for each point brief.

Planning process project timeline template

5 Stage Planning Process Hospital Timeline Infographic Template

This snake timeline layout like the one above is great for timelines with lots of points and not much text. They’re very space efficient. Only use them when you want to focus on the visuals, perhaps when you’re presenting a high-level overview to a boss or client.

Monthly project milestones timeline

Monthly Project Milestones Timeline Infographic Template

When it comes to designing project reports and charts, color is particularly effective for categorizing information.

You can use color to categorize tasks by type, week, the team involved etc. This project timeline template uses alternate colors for the rows (black and orange) to keep the reader’s eye engaged.

It’s also important to break your projects down into smaller tasks with staggered deadlines. The project timeline template above includes specific dates for tasks to complete within each month.

Nonprofit fundraising project timeline template 

Nonprofit Project Timeline Template

This project timeline template would also work well on a presentation slide thanks to its size and the fact that’s it’s a high-level overview.

Its unique design and bright colors would be great for pitching potential investors, whether it’s for a new business idea or to raise funds for your nonprofit.

Related : How to Create a Business Plan to Win Over Investors (+Templates)

Creative design process project timeline template

project plan template

Project timeline templates can help you step back and create a big picture overview, especially when you’re in the initial stages of planning a project .

The above project timeline template provides an overview of all the steps involved in a particular project. It also uses icons to add visual interest and easily identify different stages.

You could insert this project timeline into a client pitch deck , business plan or proposal.

Related :  How to Create a Timeline Infographic: The Definitive Guide

3. Use a simple project plan template to keep things in perspective

When your team is working on a large project it’s sometimes hard to keep everything in perspective. You may have been working on a certain part for so long that you forget what came before it. Or what tasks come after that you need to be aware of.

Without all of this information, mistakes will be made and delays are guaranteed. That’s why it’s a great idea to use a simple project plan template that includes critical information like scope and timeframes.

Simple project plan example

project plan and business plan

This simple project plan template uses icons to help communicate what’s part of the scope of work, and as bullet points. Simple to edit (and clean and modern to look at), it also covers all the bases.

Setting out a timeframe with actionable short-term and long-term goals is key, as well as outlining how you plan to evaluate and monitor your progress.

Related : The 4 Project Life Cycle Phases (With Templates)

Your project plan should be the source of truth as the project progresses, so it’s important to have the scope, timeframe, budget and evaluation processes set out from the beginning.

Basic project plan example

 Basic Project Plan Template

Use a basic project plan template when all you need to do is outline key milestones and tasks. You can use it as a simple roadmap for your team to refer to to help keep them organized and on track.

This basic template would also work well as a presentation slide if you’re presenting to stakeholders.

Pro Tip : Learn how to use Venngage templates with PowerPoint in our guide How to Make Better Infographics for PowerPoint .

Simple project communication plan example

project plan and business plan

Nothing is more critical to the success of a project than  effective communication , according to a research paper for the Project Management Institute. In fact, the negative effects of bad communication on cost and timelines increase as the project progresses.

That’s why from the outset of a project you should have a project communication plan, such as the one above. The plan should include what formats are appropriate for communicating types of content (email updates vs. a formal report, for example), to who and when. Your project communication plan is key in ensuring complete transparency throughout your team projects.

Simple roadmap project plan example

Project Plan Example

A Next, Now, Later plan can also really help your team out. The simple project roadmap template above keeps each of the steps extremely simple and easy to follow.

Plus, it clearly states exactly what this team is working towards with each of their releases.

Also, since most project plans aren’t set in stone–they’re agile documents that will probably have to be adjusted along the way–sometimes a much simpler project plan template is the best way to go. It’s easier to edit and therefore more flexible.

 Simple multi-page project plan example

Green Stripes Project Plan Template

If you need a multi-page project plan, you can still keep it simple and easy to understand by organizing your information in an engaging way using illustrations, big headers and lots of white space, like in the template above.

4. Use a project schedule template to outline a roadmap towards completion

Sometimes you’re going to have to present a project plan to people outside the company. These days it might be an investor, a new client or a potential hire.

You should probably create a simple project schedule (or roadmap ) in these instances. And be sure to have it ready whenever you go into a meeting.

This type of project plan helps boil down complicated internal processes into something accessible.

Simple project schedule template

Simple Project Plan Roadmap Template

This project schedule template quickly communicates what teams are responsible for what tasks over certain periods of time. Very easy to grasp.

You can also categorize your tasks by priority. Simply pick a corresponding color for each level of priority, like in the monthly project schedule template below.

project plan template

Pro Tip:  Use Venngage’s simple Roadmap Maker tool to create roadmaps in minutes. No design know-how required.

Modern project schedule example

Modern Project Schedule Template

A vertical infographic is a creative way to present the tasks and timeline required to execute on a project. Big icons help the reader better understand each step. Plus, the milestones are broken out and easy to skim.

Timeline project schedule example

Client Project Schedule Template

Not looking for a roadmap? You can also use a timeline infographic to plan out your schedule. Not only can you add tasks but also any risks, dependencies and constraints at each stage which might throw off the expected completion date.

Pro Tip:  Once you’ve customized your project plan template, you can download it  in Venngage’s online editor as a PDF, Interactive PDF or PNG.

5. Use a project checklist template to provide a high-level overview of key deliverables

While a project checklist can be incredibly detailed, it can also provide a more generalized, bird’s eye view of a lengthy process.

Onboarding project checklist example

hr-project-plan-template

Onboarding new employees is a project that practically begs for a checklist. It’s a simple and easy-to-reference way to documenting the onboarding process. You’ll keep both trainer and trainee motivated and on track.

In the project checklist template above, a supervisor can easily glance at their company’s extensive onboarding process and keep track of their responsibilities pertaining to new hires in their first day, week, month, even year.

Simple project checklist example

Simple Project Checklist Template

Want a way to quickly add and delete items in your checklist? The above project plan checklist is a smart template, meaning you just need to press Add or Delete to add or remove rows.

HR project checklist example

project plan and business plan

This project checklist template is for onboarding, but you can customize it for any project and divide the tasks by milestones.

Send the checklist to your team so they know exactly what’s required of them.

Pro Tip : Not a designer? No problem. Use Venngage’s Checklist Maker to create free checklists online today.

6. Use a project status report template to track your progress visually

Once your team dives into working on a project, there will almost certainly be changes that need to be made to the project plan. Unforeseen obstacles come up, certain tasks take longer to complete than expected, and other snags happen.

That’s why it’s important to not only set your goals, but to also report on your progress throughout the process. Creating a project status report will help you keep track of your progress, while also communicating it effectively with other parties.

Monthly project status report template

project status report template

Your report doesn’t need to be complicated. This project status report template provides a simple one-page snapshot that stakeholders can understand at a glance. The status of each item and any issues are easy to skim.

Simple project status report example

Simple Project Status Progress Report Template

This project status report template features a cool “project completion” bar so everyone can know at a glance the current status. This template goes beyond issues to highlight any risks, variables or assumptions that might interfere with meeting the next milestone or closing out the project.

Project management status report example

project status report template

If you’re submitting a status update to your stakeholders, however, you may want to include more context. That’s where a multi-page project status report template may be necessary.

When creating a multi-page project plan, be sure to include a summary. This will help make your project plan more reader-friendly and easier to scan.

Pink project plan template

Pro Tip : With highly collaborative project plans, it’s important to make them easily accessible to all team members. Real-Time Collaboration lets teams work together to design plans, provide feedback, and make edits in real-time.  Learn about Real-Time Collaboration here.

7. Use a work plan template to create a schedule

Want a simpler solution to creating a work schedule? Try a work plan template. Simply add your text to fill out the plan for each day. Or use our calendar maker tool to browse schedule templates and customize them for free.

Sales action work plan example

Gradient Sales Work Plan Template

This sales work plan template goes beyond planning. It also helps managers assess the quality of the work and if the employees in question were able to meet their deadlines. Which is a great asset come performance review time.

Simple work plan example

Simple Work Plan Template

Project execution depends on properly mapping out all the tasks and activities first. Then, once you get going, you can monitor progress based on your roadmap. Continual monitoring is key and be prepared to revise your goals and your roadmap as the project progresses.

This simple work plan template clearly outlines which team is responsible for what, and when, so you can keep everyone aligned as work is carried out.

8. Use a process map template to communicate across teams

Communicating across teams can be a nightmare sometimes, especially as your company continues to grow. It’s common for different people to call a certain thing many names, and that can cause unneeded confusion. Like how people in call a soft drink: “soda”, “coke” or “pop”, but it means exactly the same thing.

So assigning common titles for each step of the process in your project plan can make communication a bit easier.

In the process map template below, they used eight simple keywords for each step of their project.

Project Plan Examples11

The common words and phrases in this simple project planner template will make communication a lot smoother. Now the product team will know exactly what you mean when you say you’re working on the “Sketch” step.

4 Steps To Post a Job Admin Project Process Infographic Template

This project process template simply relies on “Step 1” etc. labelling to keep things straight.

Further Reading : Our guide to creating process infographics , with templates.

9. Use marketing project plan templates to set clear goals

The success of a marketing plan relies on setting clear goals–including specific metrics and outlining the steps your team will take to get there.

Content marketing project plan example

This marketing project plan template is incredibly detailed, with sections for goals, competitor analysis , workflow and more. Click on the template image for a full preview.

Content Marketing Project Plan Template

Project management marketing plan example

That said, sometimes you need a simple project marketing plan to help pitch your agency and provide a high-level overview, like this template does.

Project Marketing Plan Template

Further Reading : Our guide to marketing plans , including formatting tips, how to visualize data creatively (and easily) and templates to get started.

10. Use nonprofit strategic plan templates to highlight strengths

Nonprofit strategy and planning are two different animals–planning is implementing a strategy, says sgENGAGE . To get started, you’ll want to do a SWOT analysis  to fully understand your nonprofit’s unique strengths.

You can also build out a full strategic plan to identify priorities, goals, key stakeholders and more. This infographic lays out best practices for this process; click the image to see the full visual.

Nonprofit Strategic Plan Infographic Template

Here we’ll look at specific aspects of the planning process in nonprofits.

Nonprofit fundraising plan example

A fundraising timeline can be critical to your campaign–from start to finish. Include it in your fundraising plan to illustrate targets.

Then, add it to your internal reports as the campaign progresses to show the amount raised to date. You can also release it to your donors to motivate them to contribute as you inch closer to your goal.

Nonprofit Fundraising Timeline Template

You can also include a fundraising timeline in your final report to your nonprofit’s donors to show what they achieved. It’s the perfect way to say thank you and it’s also a great way to engage donors and encourage repeat donations.

End of Year Fundraising Campaign Planning Timeline Infographic Template

Nonprofit communications plan example

A communications plan should prepare your organization for key events or dates, but be flexible enough to adapt to changing times, advises the Council of Nonprofits.

It’s important to nail out your goals, who your audience is ( personas ) and what channels and stories will be most effective for said audience. This template addresses all these areas.

Simple Nonprofit Communications Plan Template

Also think about including a timeline of key events and special days such as World Mental Health Day.

Further Reading : Our complete guide to nonprofit marketing  or nonprofit communications .

11. Process mapping in healthcare

Using project process maps in healthcare help stakeholders understand an entire process, without resorting to confusing documentation. Visuals help with comprehension, especially regarding the sequence a project will follow.

These visuals can take the form of timelines, flowcharts, step-by-step infographics and more. This planning process timeline is a high-level overview of building a new hospital, from service offerings to architectural plans. When considering the implementation of such plans, healthcare professionals often delve into detailed analyses, including weighing the pros and cons of EHR systems , to ensure the optimal integration of technology in enhancing patient care and operational efficiency.

Process Mapping in Healthcare Timeline Infographic Template

Process mapping in healthcare also helps with outlining an existing system and then analyzing how that system can be improved.

Learn more: Venngage for Healthcare Organizations 

project plan and business plan

This process map looks at improving how healthcare organizations put in place new medical administrative processes.

Further Reading : Our post on branding guidelines , including a template specific to the healthcare industry.

12. Marketing strategy plan templates for financial services

Financial services have typically relied on referrals for new customers . That said, millennials and Gen X prefer to do their own research online , making newer marketing strategies such as search engine optimization, content and email marketing essential.

Our  guide to marketing plans has in-depth templates to help you plan what strategies will work for you. Here we’ll focus on infographics and diagrams for high-level marketing strategy planning for financial services.

This layer infographic can be edited to visualize key parts of a marketing plan such as local SEO or video marketing.

Marketing Strategy for Financial Services Infographic Template

You can also use a mind map to plan out your entire marketing strategy, from outreach to content to inbound, like in this template.

Marketing Strategy for Financial Services Template

Further Reading : Our post on case study examples , with templates that work across industries.

1. Illustrate steps in a process with icons

Colorful Marketing Timeline Project Plan

Multiple studies have found that people tend to remember images better than words . With that in mind, look for ways to incorporate visual memory-prompters in your project plan design.

Icons are one type of visual that can be used to make information more memorable. Pair an icon with an important piece of text to help it stand out and stick in the reader’s mind.

For example, this project timeline template uses an icon to illustrate each step in the process. This helps reinforce the information, and gives readers a visual to refer back to:

project plan template

2. Use a timeline to show an overview of your project plan

While your project plan should include the details of your project, offering a visual summary will help keep your team on track .

Use a project timeline template that offers an overview of your project’s phases, as well as the expected beginning and completion dates. Your team will be able to refer back to the timeline quickly, without needing to read through a bunch of text.

For example, this project timeline template outlines that tasks and milestones for each month in a year:

project plan template

3. Incorporate the theme of your project into your design

Donut Monthly Project Plan

While your priority when designing your project plan should be function, finding ways to make your design engaging is still important.

After all, your project plan will help inspire confidence in your team–and the people who will be funding your project. Especially if you can inject some of your branding into the design .

Adding surprising design elements will help engage and excite readers. An easy way to do this is to include icons and images that reflect the theme of your project.

For example, this project planning template for a baking company incorporates a donut into the design:

project plan template

4. Use a chart to track your project’s process

Creative Agency Product Plan Template

Certain phases of your project may end up taking more or less time than anticipated. That’s why it’s valuable to track your progress, so you can adjust your goals. Tracking your progress will also help you make informed decisions when planning future projects.

You can track your project using a flexible chart that’s easy to update, like the chart templates offered by Venngage. Our process infographic templates  can also come in handy here, if you want to visualize the phases in a project. 

For example, this project planning template uses a simple bar graph to track the duration of each phase. The updates are tracked in the top right corner:

project plan template

With Venngage, you can create multiple copies of a design. If you’re updating a chart or timeline, it’s a good idea to keep a copy of past iterations.

5. Use a project schedule template to keep track of tasks or events

Event Timeline Project Plan Template

Are there specific dates that certain tasks needs to be completed on? You may want to create a calendar that specifies what should be done on what day.

For example, if your team is executing on an event like a conference, then a calendar is necessary for keeping events for specific dates organized.

In this project schedule template , for example, the events are color-coded by type, making it easier to scan:

project plan template

6. Rate your process using an icon chart

Project Status Project Plan Template

An icon chart uses (you guessed it) icons to represent units of measurement. When coming up with ways to embellish your project plan design, look for opportunities to visualize information that you want to emphasize. An icon chart is a creative and effective way to do that.

For example, this project status report template uses check mark icons to rate the success of three different aspects of the project:

project plan template

7. Illustrate how each project is connected with a flowchart infographic

Mind Map Project Plan Template

At Venngage we really love using flowchart infographics  in all facets of our planning. These graphics are a solid way to show how a project should progress and how each part is connected to each other.

And when your team is working on a complicated process, a visual representation can help you keep it all organized.

Project Plan Examples3

In the project plan example above, they used a flowchart infographic to work through their productivity plan.

This approach allowed the designers to show how each step was related, and how it affected the other steps. If they would have just listed all of that information, the relationships between all of it would be lost.

We would recommend using a flowchart to help explain how a single part works, not for an entire project plan.

With Venngage, you can make flowcharts  that are functional and look great.

Project plan examples from the business world 

If you need a little more inspiration for your project plans, be sure to check out some of the examples we found below.

Project management checklist

When it comes time to launch your project or product accurately tracking what needs to get done is essential.

For a smaller company, it’s easy to keep track of what everyone is working on. But as your brand grows this becomes almost an impossible task. Especially as employees start breaking into smaller teams to tackle a project.

Now a simple project management checklist like the example below can help you ensure everything gets done on time:

Project Plan Example

In this project plan example, they use a wide range of colors to break tasks down by teams. This approach will help the managers quickly see what needs to be done next.

Plus checking off tasks like this will help each team feel like they are working towards a common goal. You could even print this example off and hang it up in your office so everyone knows exactly what’s going on.

Project plan example using multiple visuals

As you have seen in this article, there’s not one project plan example that fits every company perfectly. Some simple projects may only need a flow chart , but others could need diverse visuals across a multipage marketing plan .

That’s why your project plan should use a mix of different visuals to efficiently explain the process. Or in some cases, many processes, like in the beautiful project plan below:

Project Plan Examples4

This project plan example is almost a work of art, but it still gets their point across very effectively.

Featuring a flowchart to illustrate their ideation process:

Project Plan Examples6

A timeline project plan to break down the release schedule:

Project Plan Examples1

And even this unique bubble chart:

Project Plan Examples9

Overall, it’s one of the most unique project plans we have ever seen.

Project plan example that focuses on deliverables

At Venngage we try to make sure that at the end of each step in our project we have a deliverable to show for it. Otherwise, we are just spinning our wheels and working on things that don’t really matter at that step.

If you weren’t aware, a deliverable is something tangible that you can show to the rest of the team. Like in this simple project planner template, they include deliverables like a report or a presentation :

Project Plan Examples12

A lot of the time, simple project plans fail because they don’t list deliverables or the ones they do are too vague.

For example, a good deliverable is very descriptive and has a due date. A bad one is open and never really has an end date in mind.

Just remember to be realistic when planning your project, and you will be set.

Project plan example that breaks down tools and processes

Sometimes telling your team to just go do something is not the best course of action. Especially when there’s is an approaching due date that needs to be met. It’s safe to say that a lot of time will be wasted as they try to figure out where to start.

However, a great planner will actually give these team members the tools they need to succeed. Just like they did in this project plan sample for a startup weekend:

Project Plan Examples2

At the bottom of this bold project plan, there are a handful of tools and processes that should be followed at each step.

Now, these people can hit the ground running and get their tasks done on time. Instead of wasting half the time searching for the solution.

Infographic project plan example

Good design work is consistent, it’s as simple as that. You want each of your graphics to feel and look the same throughout. Otherwise, people are going to focus on the random design elements, instead of your important content.

Think about how much a simple misspelling distracted you in an email or presentation. Inconsistent design choices are kinda like typos in the design world.

Additionally, this consistency can help you quickly distill info to a reader. Design elements like color, shapes, and icons can add a ton of context to any complex project plan.

Project Plan Examples13

In this project plan infographic, they use colored lines to indicate the answer to a question. Then they added simple flat icons to give each question some supporting info. And a single shape to illustrate the deliverables for each process.

This may not be the most traditional project plan example, but it does get the point across with its many visual elements.

How do you plan a project from start to finish?

Actually starting the process is one of the hardest parts of project planning. This is because there’s so much potential, you might not know what to begin with.

Your team may have so many ideas, that it becomes overwhelming and unorganized in a manner of minutes.

So if you’re not sure where to start, use one of these charts to get the creative juices flowing.

With this simple process map template, you can kick off the planning in a more structured way.

Project Plan Examples7

Each step will help you define goals , future plans and a ton of other metrics without getting distracted and lead you through planning a project from start to finish. This simple project plan chart has the same objective.

Simple Project Planning Process Infographic Template

How do I use Venngage to create a project plan?

It’s simple to modify the project planning templates in this blog post with our drag-and-drop online editor.

Here’s a sneak peek at how our editor works, including the text editing bar, icon and stock photo library (free), photo upload function and more.

project plan template

Here’s how to get started:

  • Sign up for a free Venngage account .
  • Browse our project plan templates (some are free, some are paid).
  • Click the template you like and start customizing it in our simple online editor.
  • Upgrade to a paid plan to download your project plan as a PDF, PNG or in PowerPoint format.

project plan template

With these foundational tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating an impressive — and effective! — project plan. Remember, a well-executed project begins with a solid plan.

Not a designer? No problem. Create an engaging project plan with Venngage, the simple design tool for business communication.

project plan and business plan

Compare project management solutions and costs

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IMAGES

  1. Business Project Plan

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  2. Simple Business Plan Template For Startup Founders

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  3. 11+ Business Project Plan Templates

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  4. Mastering Project Planning: 5 Steps for Success in 2023

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  5. How to develop a business plan for small business

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  6. 30+ Project Plan Templates & Examples to Align Your Team

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VIDEO

  1. Business Plan Implementation

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  3. Business Plan Presentation

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  5. Plan A Project

  6. How to can I make business planning easier?

COMMENTS

  1. How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)

    Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...

  2. How to Write a Business Plan: Guide + Examples

    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.

  3. 550+ Sample Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own

    550+ Sample Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own — Bplans 550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration.

  4. What Is a Project Plan? The Ultimate Guide to Project Planning

    Start today for free. The project plan, also called project management plan, answers the who, what, where, why, how and when of the project—it's more than a Gantt chart with tasks and due dates. The purpose of a project plan is to guide the execution and control project phases. As mentioned above, a project plan consists of the following documents:

  5. Project Management Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

    Your project management business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes. Sources of Funding for Project Management Businesses With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a project management business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors.

  6. What Is Project Planning? How Write a Project Plan [2023] • Asana

    A project plan—sometimes called a work plan—is a blueprint of the goals, objectives, and tasks your team needs to accomplish for a specific project. Your project plan should include information about your project schedule, scope, due dates, and deliverables for all phases of the project lifecycle.

  7. How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

    Steps 2. Describe your company 3. State your business goals 4. Describe your products and services 5. Do your market research 6. Outline your marketing and sales plan 7. Perform a business...

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    Executive summary. Briefly tell your reader what your company is and why it will be successful. Include your mission statement, 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 growth plans if you plan to ask for financing.

  9. What is a Project Plan? Learn How to Write a Project Plan

    PHASE 1: Project Initiation — where you identify a business need or problem and a potential solution. PHASE 2: Project Planning — where you define specific tasks, assign responsibilities, and create the project schedule.

  10. How to Write a Business Plan: Business Planning Best Practices

    Use ProjectManager's planning, scheduling and tracking tools to turn your business plan into reality. Learn more When Should You Create a Business Plan? You should always write a business plan before starting a business because it'll help you set the stage for your strategic planning and operations management.

  11. How to Create a Realistic Project Plan: Templates & Examples

    TIPS & SKILLS FOR SUCCESSFUL PROJECT MANAGEMENT WHAT DOES A PROJECT MANAGER DO? 3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES & APPROACHES 4 HOW TO ESTIMATE PROJECT COSTS AND HOURS 5 HOW TO WRITE A GOOD PROJECT PLAN 6 WHAT IS SCOPE CREEP, AND HOW CAN YOU AVOID IT? 7 MANAGING CLIENT EXPECTATIONS 8 MANAGING CLIENT PROJECTS 9 HOW TO PUT 'ME' IN TEAM 10

  12. Business Plan: What It Is, What's Included, and How to Write One

    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...

  13. How to Develop a Project Plan: Template & Example [2024]

    A project plan is a document that outlines the project scope, project objectives, and project schedule. It serves as a road map for all project stakeholders by providing clear direction and expectations. A good project plan will provide clarity on: What needs to be done. When it needs to be done by. Who is responsible for each project task.

  14. Business Plan: What It Is + How to Write One

    1. Executive summary This is a short section that introduces the business plan as a whole to the people who will be reading it, including investors, lenders, or other members of your team. Start with a sentence or two about your business, your goals for developing it, and why it will be successful.

  15. What Is Project Planning? Benefits, Tools, and More

    Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on Nov 29, 2023 Project planning is an essential part of project management. Discover more in this guide to what it is and how to create a plan. What is project planning? Project planning refers to the phase in project management in which you determine the actual steps to complete a project.

  16. How to write an effective project plan in 6 simple steps

    A simple project plan includes these elements: Project name, brief summary, and objective. Project players or team members who will drive the project, along with their roles and responsibilities. Key outcomes and due dates. Project elements, ideally divided into must-have, nice-to-have and not-in-scope categories.

  17. What Is A Project Management Plan?

    A project management plan is a set of documents that outline the how, when and what-ifs of a project's execution. It overviews the project's value proposition, execution steps, resources,...

  18. How to Write a Simple Business Plan

    A business plan is a document that communicates a company's goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

  19. Free Project Plan Template (2024)

    In this template, the project plan includes the activity/tasks, assigned party, start and end dates, duration and status. This template is a good option if your project doesn't have cross ...

  20. How To Create The Perfect Project Plan: A Definitive Guide

    A project plan needs to come right at the beginning of a project to streamline the execution of work. You can create a project plan from scratch, or you can use an existing business project plan template. Either way, it's important to consider all the elements that should come together to make your project a success, before it's even kicked ...

  21. How to Write a Project Plan: Template and Examples

    A project plan is a structured document that defines the project goals and specifies how these goals will be achieved. PRINCE2 , a structured project management method adopted in many countries worldwide, formally defines a project plan as a "statement of how and when a project's objectives are to be achieved, by showing the major products ...

  22. Project planning: What is it and 5 steps to create a plan

    Project planning includes the following 10 steps: Define stakeholders. Stakeholders include anyone with an interest in the project. They can include the customer or end user, members of the project team, other people in the organization the project will affect and outside organizations or individuals with an interest.

  23. How to create a project plan (with templates)

    With the project details in place, the last piece is the executive summary. While it appears first in a project plan, you'll write it last as a high-level overview of the detailed plan you've created. The executive summary gives stakeholders a high-level review of all the essentials for a project plan that necessarily goes into minute detail.

  24. The Business Planning Process: Steps To Creating Your Plan

    The Better Business Planning Process. The business plan process includes 6 steps as follows: Do Your Research. Strategize. Calculate Your Financial Forecast. Draft Your Plan. Revise & Proofread. Nail the Business Plan Presentation. We've provided more detail for each of these key business plan steps below.

  25. 30+ Project Plan Templates & Examples to Align Your Team

    Continual monitoring is key and be prepared to revise your goals and your roadmap as the project progresses. This simple work plan template clearly outlines which team is responsible for what, and when, so you can keep everyone aligned as work is carried out. 8. Use a process map template to communicate across teams.

  26. How a Surgeon's Capstone Project Became a Winning Business Plan

    A Winning Business Plan "Part of the reason I was interested in this course was that it culminated in a capstone project," she explained. "It may seem like a big commitment, but the result is worth it." Her capstone project was a chance to apply new skills and develop a cogent business plan that could be directly applied to her hospital.

  27. Compare Project Management Solutions and Costs

    Project Plan 5. Originally starting from $55.00 now starting from $55.00. $55.00. $55.00. user/month. The version of Microsoft 365 is not available in your country/region. Visit Microsoft Store to find out which versions of Microsoft 365 are available in your country/region. Buy now. Try now with a partner.

  28. 2024 Business Plan

    A Draft 2024 Business Plan was issued February 09, 2024, with a 60-day public comment period that will run through April 09, 2024. The 2024 Business Plan will be considered by the Authority Board of Directors on Wednesday, April 11, 2024. ... "To put all of this in perspective, this project in California is the most ambitious rail project in ...