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Business Plan for Sole Proprietor

Published Jul.02, 2024

Updated Jul.03, 2024

By: Alex Silensky

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Table of Content

A sole proprietorship is the simplest and most common form of business ownership, where a single individual owns and operates the business. Creating a business plan as a sole proprietor is essential for setting a clear direction, attracting potential investors, and managing your business effectively. This comprehensive guide will provide a detailed roadmap for developing a robust business plan for a sole proprietor, covering key components such as market analysis, business structure, marketing strategies, financial projections, and more.

Understanding Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a business owned and run by one person, with no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. This form of ownership offers several advantages, including simplicity, full control over decisions, and straightforward tax filing. However, it also comes with personal liability for business debts and obligations. Understanding these aspects is crucial for anyone looking to start and successfully run a sole proprietorship.

Market Evaluation

Before diving into the specifics of your business plan, it is essential to conduct a thorough market evaluation. Understanding the market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive landscape will help you make informed decisions and identify opportunities for growth.

Insights into the Sole Proprietorship Industry

The sole proprietorship industry encompasses a wide range of businesses, from freelance services and small retail shops to independent consultants and tradespeople. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, sole proprietorships make up about 73% of all businesses in the United States. This prevalence underscores the importance of a well-crafted business plan to navigate the competitive landscape and achieve long-term success.

Benefits of Writing a Business Plan for Sole Proprietors

Writing a business plan offers numerous benefits for sole proprietors. It provides a clear roadmap for your business, helping you to set realistic goals, allocate resources effectively, and track progress. A well-structured business plan can also attract investors and lenders by demonstrating that you have a viable business idea and a solid strategy for achieving success. Additionally, it can help you identify potential challenges and develop contingency plans to address them.

Key Components of a Business Plan for Sole Proprietor

A comprehensive business plan for a sole proprietor should include the following key components:

Executive Summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of your business plan, highlighting the main points and objectives. It should provide a snapshot of your business, including your mission statement, product or service offerings, target market, and financial goals. Although it appears first in the business plan, it is often written last, after you have detailed all other sections.

Business Description

The business description provides an in-depth look at your business. Describe your business, including its name, location, and the products or services you offer. Explain what makes your business unique and how it addresses a specific need or gap in the market. Include details about your business structure, such as your legal name, form of ownership, and any relevant licenses or permits.

Conducting a market analysis involves researching your industry, target market, and competitors. Identify your target market’s demographics, preferences, and buying behavior. Analyze industry trends and growth projections, and assess the competitive landscape by identifying your main competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and your competitive advantage.

Organization and Management

As a sole proprietor, you may be the sole decision-maker, but it’s still important to outline your management structure. Describe your role and responsibilities, and include any plans for hiring employees or working with contractors. Detail your business’s organizational structure, including any key advisors or mentors who provide guidance and support.

Products and Services

Provide a detailed description of the products or services you offer. Explain the benefits and features of each product or service, and highlight what sets them apart from competitors. If applicable, discuss your product development process, any intellectual property protections, and your plans for future product or service expansions.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Your marketing and sales strategy outlines how you plan to attract and retain customers. Describe your pricing strategy, promotional activities, and sales tactics. Discuss your brand positioning, target audience, and marketing channels you will use to reach your customers. Include details about your sales process, customer service approach, and any plans for loyalty programs or referral incentives.

Financial Projections

Financial projections are a crucial part of your business plan, providing a forecast of your business’s financial performance. Include projected income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets for at least the next three to five years. Provide a break-even analysis to determine when your business will become profitable. Discuss any funding requirements, potential sources of financing, and your strategy for managing expenses and revenue growth.

Sample Business Plan for Sole Proprietor

To help you get started, here is a sample outline of a business plan for a sole proprietor:

• Brief overview of the business
• Mission statement
• Key products or services
• Target market
• Financial goals
• Business name and location
• Description of products or services
• Unique value proposition

Market Analysis

• Industry overview
• Target market demographics
• Competitive analysis
• Owner’s role and responsibilities
• Organizational structure
• Detailed description of products or services
• Benefits and features
• Plans for future offerings
• Pricing strategy
• Promotional activities
• Sales tactics
• Projected income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Break-even analysis
• Funding requirements

Business Plan Template for Sole Proprietor Design Business

For those in the design industry, creating a tailored business plan can help you focus on your unique strengths and market opportunities. Your plan should highlight your design philosophy, portfolio of work, and target market. Emphasize your expertise in specific design areas, such as graphic design, interior design, or web design, and outline your strategy for attracting clients through online portfolios, social media, and networking events.

How to Write a Small Business Plan for Handyman Sole Proprietor

Writing a business plan for a handyman business involves detailing the services you offer, your target market, and your pricing strategy. Highlight your skills and experience, and explain how you will market your services to homeowners, property managers, and businesses. Include information about your tools and equipment, any necessary certifications or licenses, and your plans for expanding your service offerings.

Sole Proprietorship Business Plan Example

An example business plan for a sole proprietorship might be a freelance graphic designer. The plan would include a description of the services offered, such as logo design, branding, and marketing materials. The market analysis would identify target clients, such as small businesses and startups, and analyze competitors. The marketing strategy might involve showcasing a portfolio on a professional website, leveraging social media, and networking at industry events. Financial projections would include expected revenue from client projects, expenses for software and marketing, and break-even analysis.

Creating a Business Plan Template Free

Many online resources offer free business plan templates that can be customized to fit your specific needs. Websites like HubSpot , Wrike , and Shopify provide templates and guides to help you create a comprehensive business plan. These templates typically include sections for the executive summary, business description, market analysis, organization and management, products and services, marketing and sales strategy, and financial projections.

Form of Ownership in Business Plan

When detailing the form of ownership in your business plan, clearly state that your business is a sole proprietorship. Explain why this structure is advantageous for your business, such as simplicity, full control over decisions, and ease of tax filing. Acknowledge the potential downsides, such as personal liability for business debts, and outline any measures you will take to mitigate these risks.

Business Plan LLC vs. Sole Proprietorship

While this guide focuses on sole proprietorships, it’s important to understand the differences between a sole proprietorship and a limited liability company (LLC). An LLC provides limited liability protection, meaning your personal assets are protected from business debts and lawsuits. However, LLCs require more paperwork, ongoing compliance, and fees compared to sole proprietorships. When choosing the right structure, consider your business’s specific needs, potential risks, and growth plans.

A well-crafted business plan is essential for the success of a sole proprietorship. It serves as a roadmap for your business, helping you set clear goals, attract investors, and manage your operations effectively. By conducting thorough market research, defining your business structure, and developing detailed financial projections, you can create a robust business plan that positions your sole proprietorship for long-term success.

Get Started with OGS Capital Today

Ready to take the next step in your business journey? Start developing your business plan today to set a clear path for your sole proprietorship. For professional guidance and a customized business plan, get started with OGS Capital today. Your dedication to planning and preparation will lay the foundation for your business’s success. Start now and turn your business dreams into reality!

Frequently Asked Questions 

What type of business is best for sole proprietorship?

A sole proprietorship is ideal for small businesses with low liability risks and simple operations. It suits freelance services, consulting, retail shops, and trades like handymen or graphic designers. These businesses benefit from easy setup, full control, and straightforward tax filing. However, high-risk businesses may require additional liability protection not offered by sole proprietorships.

How to write a business plan for a sole trader?

To write a business plan for a sole trader, start with an executive summary outlining your business goals and services. Include a detailed business description, market analysis, and competitor review. Define your marketing and sales strategies, organizational structure, and financial projections. Clearly state your form of ownership and address how you will manage personal liability and risks.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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A business plan for a sole proprietorship is just like any other business plan. The main difference in business plans, in general, is the purpose. If you are writing a plan to organize your existing small company, focus on how your company operates and your goals for the future. If you will use it to obtain funding, your focus should be how you will make profits by supplying a commercial need.

Research Your Market

Start your research by describing your target or best customers by gender, age, income level, buying habits and residential location. Then look at your competition. Compare your company to your competition in terms of product offerings, service, prices, marketing, brand image and profitability. This gives you information for establishing the future direction you want your company to take, goals for expansion, product lines, service improvements, marketing to increase market share and ways to increase profitability. If you are a startup business, researching your market helps you develop your business idea, initiate good practices from the start and position your launch to attract the attention of your target market. It also gives you an argument that your company can fill a niche that will result in profits, which is important if you are going after funding.

Sole Proprietorship

There are special problems faced by a sole proprietorship operated by one person. The biggest problem is that you can't do everything. While examining your market, look for outside services that are geared to helping you compete with larger companies. These might be telephone answering services and business center offices that supply office space, office machines, administrative services and conference rooms. The Internet can provide inexpensive, simple-to-use marketing services and other outsourced services to expand your business reach. These are important considerations for the operations section of your business plan.

Develop Your Idea

Use your market research to solidify your vision for your company. Write a one or two sentence mission statement that addresses what you do, for whom, when, where, why and how. Then build on that. Establish in detail how the company operates, your suppliers, sales agents, cost of goods, price points, marketing strategy and growth plans. The more detailed you express this vision, the more likely you will see holes in your plan, which is one of the benefits of writing a business plan; it enables you to solve problems before you encounter them.

Research Your Costs

Make a list of every expense you encounter including rent, employees, travel, legal services, business licensing, insurance, inventory, sales costs, marketing costs and delivery costs. Business plan software is a good source of spreadsheet programs that allow you to plug in these costs to see what kind of revenues you must generate for profitability. These programs also print out a good presentation of your financial projections for use in obtaining funding.

Write the Plan

Your business plan should be shorter than 50 pages and should include the following sections: executive summary, which is written last; description of industry, including how you fit in; business model, describing your products and services; target market, describing who will buy from you and why; marketing model, describing how you will reach your target market; revenue model, estimating revenues and discussing how you will achieve those estimates; management, listing the bios and skills your managers bring to the company as well as your outside advisory board; and your financial projections, which consist of spreadsheets including a profit and loss statement, sales projections, personnel projections, cash flow and balance sheet. Include a discussion of how you arrived at these financial projections and the assumptions you used.

• SBA.gov: How to Write a Business Plan
• Entrepreneur: An Introduction to Business Plans

Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Table of Contents

How to make a business plan

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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Start » startup, how to choose the right business entity: sole proprietorship.

A sole proprietorship is the most common U.S. legal business structure, with minimal startup costs and various tax perks.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires every business to classify itself as a specific type of legal entity. These entities come in five forms—partnership, corporation, limited liability company (LLC), S corporation, and sole proprietorship—and each has its own legal and tax considerations.

Declaring your business as a sole proprietorship is easy, and if you are working as a consultant, freelancer, or other singular business, you may already be operating as one without realizing it.

If you're interested in establishing a sole proprietorship (or if you're already running one), here's a basic overview of this legal business structure.

What is a sole proprietorship?

A sole proprietorship is the simplest and most common business structure in the United States. Sole proprietorships are run by a single individual who is responsible for all business assets, profits, and liabilities.

Because this type of entity is so easy to form, administrative startup costs are minimal. The law does not even require you to set up a formal structure before launching your business. The only legal expenses that may apply are for any licenses and permits you may need, depending on your industry.

[Read more: A Guide to Business Licenses and Permits ]

Pros and cons of sole proprietorship

Two of the many benefits of a sole proprietorship include:

• Full control over the business: Since you are the sole owner, you make all the business decisions.
• Simple tax preparation: Known as pass-through taxation, your sole proprietorship does not need to be taxed separately from your Social Security number. You simply need to report your business profits and losses to the IRS on a Schedule C form and Form 1040 and file your taxes as usual. As an added bonus, sole proprietor tax rates are the lowest among all business structures.

Of course, some of these perks can also lead to potential disadvantages, including:

• Full financial responsibility: As the sole owner and decision maker, you alone are liable for any financial losses and debts that may occur within your business.
• Difficulty with finding investors: The SBA also notes that it takes more work for sole proprietors to raise money. Banks view sole proprietors as particularly risky since the business's success and failure depend on a single person. You can also not sell stocks in a sole proprietorship, which may limit your opportunities to bring on investors .

Who should operate as a sole proprietor?

There are certain types of businesses that are well-suited for sole proprietorship status:

• Business consultants and speakers: Professionals in this space may take on a few gigs a year or operate as a full-time business.
• Freelancers: Photographers, copywriters, web developers, and more are typically a business of one contracted on a per-project basis by their clients.
• Home health care specialists : Home care assistants typically work as contractors and provide services to clients in their homes.
• Professional cleaners: Residential and commercial cleaning can easily be done as a side job or a full-time business.
• Landscapers . These businesses often begin with one person who does all the work. As demand increases, the sole proprietor may hire employees or outside contractors for assistance.

Businesses like these are ideal sole proprietorships because they are inexpensive to start and typically don’t need investors or financing to cover overhead expenses like storefronts or specialized equipment. They are also primarily built on the owner's personal reputation and skill set.

If you want to operate as a sole proprietor, there’s no action needed on your part. Assuming you’re the sole owner, you’re automatically classified as a sole proprietor.

Sole proprietorship vs. LLC

Many new business owners weigh forming an LLC against the advantages offered by a sole proprietorship. Limited liability companies (LLCs) are legal entities formed and run by one or more owners (“members"). LLCs are formed at the state level and function as a separate legal entity from its members.

In practice, that means your personal assets are protected from liability if something should go wrong in your business. LLCs protect individual business owners from risking their own assets from lawsuits that can result from selling products, maintaining a physical location, or hiring employees.

LLCs enjoy similar tax flexibility to sole proprietorships. “By default, all profits made by an LLC are only taxed once, a process known as pass-through taxation. As the owner, the tax liability belongs to you and passes through to your personal tax return,” wrote LegalZoom .

Sole proprietorships are much easier to form than LLCs. The process of how to start an LLC requires more paperwork and planning; sole proprietorships don’t require any.

[Read more: Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC: Which Should You Choose? ]

How to register as a sole proprietorship

If you want to operate as a sole proprietor, there’s no action needed on your part. Assuming you’re the sole owner, you’re automatically classified as a sole proprietor. The IRS automatically considers you a sole proprietor if you are the only owner and are operating under your legal name (not under a DBA name).

If you wish to get a Doing Business As (DBA) name , you must file some paperwork. The requirements for filing a DBA vary from state to state, city to city, and even depending on the type of business structure you use. “A DBA is often necessary when opening a bank account or credit card for your business. Your state might also require follow-up steps after registration,” wrote HubSpot . “A DBA also ensures no one else in your county is doing business under the same name.”

How are sole proprietors taxed?

Sole proprietors are taxed as “pass-through entities,” a term the IRS uses to explain that the tax responsibility passes through the business to land with the individual. You will pay taxes for your sole proprietorship as part of your personal tax return. Use Form Schedule C with your personal income tax form, Form 1040 .

Becoming a sole proprietor leads to several tax implications. First, any net income from your business will increase your personal taxable income. Your business income may qualify you into a higher tax bracket than you were previously.

Secondly, the income taxes you pay can’t be claimed as business expenses. “Some business owners post income tax payments on their profit and loss statement as expenses; however, this is incorrect if you’re a sole proprietor—these payments are actually distributions of equity and should not be posted as expenses,” explained NerdWallet .

Fortunately, you will only pay sole proprietorship taxes on the profit of your business, not on your total income. There are also special tax deductions applicable to sole proprietorships. It’s worth consulting a tax expert to learn how to lower your tax burden as a sole proprietor.

Is a sole proprietorship right for your business?

When your business is just starting out, and plans are to remain as a business of one, sole proprietorship makes sense. If you have big growth plans for your business, you may consider a different legal structure since sole proprietorships can come with financial, business, and legal risks. However, if you plan to keep your business small, you can indefinitely operate as a sole proprietorship.

[Read more: Getting Ready to Launch? How to Choose the Right Business Structure ]

This article was originally written by Sean Peek.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here .

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Types of Business Structures Explained

13 min. read

Updated January 5, 2024

The choice you make about what type of business structure is appropriate for your company will affect how much you pay in taxes, the level of risk or liability to your personal assets (your house, your savings), and even your ability to raise money from angel investors or venture capitalists.

So, the structure you choose is significant.

This guide will explain the basics of common business structures, but we can’t tell you exactly which structure you should choose—if you need that kind of advice, you should consult a lawyer or an accountant.

• Sole proprietorship

The simplest business structure is the sole proprietorship. If you don’t create a separate legal entity, your business is a sole proprietorship. 

The main advantage of the sole proprietorship is that it’s relatively simple and inexpensive. The disadvantage is that it doesn’t create a legal separation between you and your personal assets and business assets. If you’re sued or your business folds—your personal assets are fair game for creditors and in terms of legal liability.

Who is a sole proprietorship for?

A sole proprietorship is ideal for self-employed individuals like personal trainers offering individual coaching or artists selling unique items on platforms like Etsy.

Key considerations

• Cost-effective setup: The primary expense is usually the DBA (“doing business as”) registration. Some states may require public notice, like a newspaper ad. Generally, the total cost is below $100.
• Simplified taxation: Sole proprietorships are “pass-through” tax entities. Profits and losses are reported directly on the owner’s taxes, necessitating only a few additional tax forms if you’re the sole worker.
• Hiring employees is possible: Being a “sole” proprietor doesn’t restrict hiring. If you employ others, tax processes become slightly more intricate.
• Limited ways to raise funding: You can’t sell company stock, limiting fundraising avenues.
• Potential loan difficulties: Banks might hesitate to grant loans to sole proprietorships due to perceived credibility issues.
• Full personal liability: If the business faces debt or legal issues, your personal assets, including your home, car, and savings, are vulnerable.

Dig deeper:

Should you register as a sole proprietorship?

Explore the pros and cons of incorporating as a sole proprietorship.

How sole proprietorships are taxed

Understand how registering as a sole proprietor impacts your taxes.

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• Partnerships

Still a relatively simple business structure, a partnership involves two or more individuals sharing ownership of their new business. They’ll contribute to the business in some way and share in profits and losses.

Partnerships are harder to describe because they change so much. State laws govern them, but the Uniform Partnership Act has become the law in most states. That act, however, mainly sets the specific partnership agreement as the real legal core of the partnership so that the legal details can vary widely.

Usually, the income or loss from partnerships passes through to the partners without any partnership tax. The agreements can define different levels of risk, which is why you’ll read about some partnerships with general and limited partners, with different levels of risk for each. Your partnership agreement should clearly define what happens if a partner withdraws, buy and sell arrangements for partners and liquidation arrangements if necessary.

What are the types of partnerships?

• General partnership: Assumes equal involvement of all parties in profits, liabilities, and duties. Any intentional imbalance should be specified in the partnership agreement.
• Limited partnership: Suited for partners in an investor role with limited involvement in daily operations. This structure is more complex and less common.
• Joint venture: Designed for a single project or a limited duration, operating similarly to a general partnership.

Who is a partnership for?

A partnership is similar to an extended sole proprietorship and is ideal for two or more individuals wanting to start a business jointly. 

To make the partnership more effective, you and your partners should have skillsets, connections, or other unique benefits that complement each other. 

For example, a personal trainer and nutritionist building an online fitness program. One entrepreneur has experience building an exercise regiment with clients. The other understands how to create balanced meal and supplement recommendations. 

They have unique but complementary knowledge that, when combined, creates a more valuable product/service.

• Partnership agreement: While not mandatory, it’s advisable to draft a partnership agreement, ideally reviewed by legal counsel, to clarify roles and responsibilities, ownership, and what will happen if a partner wants to leave the partnership.
• Tax implications: Partnerships are “pass-through” entities, meaning profits and losses are directly passed to the partners. Refer to the IRS for partnership tax details.
• Additional costs: Since it’s a good idea to have a lawyer look over your partnership agreement, don’t forget to factor in this added expense.
• Trust in partnership: Ensure your partner is trustworthy, as partners share responsibility for business decisions and debts. A well-drafted partnership agreement can prevent future conflicts.

How to create a business partnership agreement

Even if you’re not in an official partnership, you should consider drafting a partnership agreement. Doing so will clearly define rights and responsibilities and help you amicably resolve any disputes.

How partnerships are taxed

Understand how registering as a partnership impacts your taxes.

Plan for changes with a buy-sell agreement

What will you do if you or your partner quits, sells their portion of the business, or passes away?

How to find the right business partner

A partnership is more than a legal structure. It’s a relationship between entrepreneurs who share a passion for an idea and bring unique skill sets. So, how do you find the right person to make your partnership thrive?…

Traits to look for in a business partner

What makes a good business partner? If you’re considering someone with the following traits, you likely have a good fit.

How many partners should you have?

What’s the ideal number of business partners? The right mix of people and skillsets can lead to tremendous business growth. But too many may lead to disaster.

What to do when your business partner is your life partner

Should your significant other be your business partner? Learn your legal options and how to find the right ownership fit for your business and relationship.

• Limited liability company

Should your business fall on hard times, does the idea of being held personally responsible for all losses sound intimidating?

It’s understandable—plenty of would-be entrepreneurs shudder at the thought of the bank seizing their personal assets should the business go south.

A limited liability corporation (or LLC) is, in some ways, the best of both worlds. It allows for the flexibility of a partnership or sole proprietorship but, as the name suggests, limits the liability of those involved, similar to a corporation. An LLC is usually a lot like an S corporation. It offers a combination of some limitations on legal liability and some favorable tax treatment for profits and transfer of assets.

Who is a limited liability corporation for?

An LLC is ideal for those wary of personal liability in business. If you possess significant personal assets or operate in a lawsuit-prone industry—an LLC safeguards your personal finances. 

• Complexity: While offering more protection, an LLC is harder to establish than a sole proprietorship or partnership.
• Tax benefits: LLCs maintain “pass-through” tax status, meaning you’re taxed only on your profit share, which is reported on personal taxes. 
• Single-member LLCs: Most states allow single-person LLCs, making it a potential alternative to sole proprietorships.

How to form a limited liability company

Interested in forming an LLC? Here are the steps you’ll need to take.

How to create an LLC operating agreement

Set the rules for how your LLC will operate, including the management structure, individual responsibilities, ownership percentage, and other important information.

LLC costs and fees explained

Make sure you’re aware of all the costs and fees associated with forming an LLC.

How LLCs are taxed

Understand how registering as an LLC impacts your taxes.

• Corporations

Shareholders, a more complex legal structure, and more intricate tax requirements are all characteristics of a corporation.

Corporations are either the standard C corporation, the small business S corporation, or the benefit corporation or B corp. The C corporation is the classic legal entity of the vast majority of successful companies in the United States.

Corporations can switch from C to S and back again, but not often. The IRS has strict rules for when and how those switches are made. You’ll almost always want to have your CPA, and in some cases, your attorney, guide you through the legal requirements for switching.

Who is a corporation for?

Corporations are best suited for larger, established businesses with multiple employees, plans for rapid scaling, or intentions to trade or attract significant external investments publicly. A corporation might not be the right choice if you’re a small business owner or work with a small team.

What are the types of corporations?

C corporation.

What we typically think of when we refer to corporations, where all shareholders combine funds and are then given stock in the newly formed business. 

A C corp is a separate tax entity, meaning your business can deduct taxes. It also means that earnings can be taxed twice, as they are concerning your business and your personal taxes if you take income as dividends. However, good tax planning can often minimize the impact of double taxation.

Most lawyers would agree (but verify this with your lawyer who is familiar with your unique business) that the C corporation is the structure that provides the best shielding from personal liability for owners, and provides the best non-tax benefits to owners. Many companies with ambitions of raising major investment capital and eventually going public consider the C corporation.

S corporation

An S corp is similar to a traditional C corporation, with one major difference: Profits and losses can be “passed through” to your personal tax return without being taxed separately first.

In practical terms, the owners can take their profits home without first paying the corporation’s separate tax on profits. In most states, an S corporation is owned by a limited number of private owners (25 is a common maximum), and only individuals (not corporations) can hold stock in S corporations.

To become an S corp, you must first set your business up as a corporation within your state and then request S corp status. The IRS instructions for Form 2553 (which you’ll need to file to become an S corp) can help you determine if you qualify.

B corporation

Does your company have a dedicated social mission, a good cause built into its foundation that you’d like to continue furthering as your company grows? If so, you might consider becoming a B corporation, which stands for “benefit corporation.” 

However, the name is a bit misleading; a B corp isn’t an entirely different structure than a regular C corporation. It’s a C corp vetted and approved for B corp status. Some states give tax breaks to B corps, and it’s a great way to stand behind a cause.

So, why would you choose a B corp over a nonprofit? The biggest difference is in ownership—with a nonprofit, no owners or shareholders exist. A B corp, which is still a type of corporation, still has shareholders who own the company. So, a B corp has a social mission but is still a for-profit company (as opposed to a nonprofit) with an end goal of returning profits to the shareholders.

• Liability: Corporations offer the most protection for personal assets.
• Capital raising: The ability to sell stock enhances investment potential.
• Taxation: Corporate taxes are separate (except for S corps), but the structure can lead to double taxation, especially for C corporations.
• Complexity: Establishing a corporation is more intricate than other business structures, requiring more paperwork and formalities.

How to form a corporation

Follow these ten steps to incorporate as a C, S, or B corporation.

How are corporations taxed?

Understand how registering as a corporation impacts your taxes.

S corporation basics

Should you choose an S corp as the legal structure for your business? Learn the basics and what alternatives are available.

B corporation basics

Should you choose a B corp as the legal structure for your business? Check out this detailed overview of how this business entity functions and the pros and cons you’ll contend with.

A nonprofit is a “not-for-profit” business structure, meaning the business does not exist to generate revenue for shareholders, but rather funnel business revenue into a social mission, cause, or purpose.

Who is a nonprofit for?

Nonprofits cater to those with missions centered on charitable, educational, scientific, or religious purposes. Examples include homeless shelters, conservation groups, arts centers, and educational institutions.

What’s the difference between a nonprofit and a cooperative?

Like a nonprofit, a cooperative is a business with a social mission that doesn’t divide income between shareholders but toward a cause or purpose. However, while some states view nonprofits and cooperatives as the same, a cooperative differs because the members own it, referred to as “user-owners.”

If you plan on organizing your business to be democratically owned, looking into the cooperative business structure might be a good idea to look into the cooperative business structure .

• Complex setup: Establishing a nonprofit requires steps similar to forming a corporation, including filing articles of incorporation, creating bylaws, and organizing board meetings.
• Fundraising will be your main priority: Nonprofits generally rely on fundraising and grants to keep a flow of income into their business.

What is a nonprofit corporation and how to start one

Learn the basics of setting up a nonprofit corporation.

How to earn income as a nonprofit corporation

Learn how related and unrelated business activities can generate revenue for a nonprofit corporation.

• Making your business legally compliant

Choosing a business structure is the first legal step you’ll take. Your choice will impact your taxes, fundraising, and personal liability. 

Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software (maker of Bplans) reminds small business and startup founders that choosing a business entity or structure is something to take seriously. He says:

“Make sure you know which legal steps you must take to be in business. I’m not an attorney, and I don’t give legal advice. I strongly recommend working with an attorney to review the details of your company’s legal establishment and licensing. The trade-offs involved in incorporation versus partnership versus other structures are significant. Small problems developed at the early stages of a new business can become horrendous problems later on. In this regard, the cost of simple legal advice is almost always worth it. Don’t skimp on legal costs.”

TLDR: Take time, carefully weigh your options, and consult a legal professional.

Once you’ve chosen, check off the remaining legal requirements to start a business. While you can complete most of these in any order, here are a few suggestions.

• Apply for a federal and state tax ID
• Obtain licenses and permits
• Register your business name

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

Sole Proprietorship 101: The Easy Guide to Setting One Up

Published: August 07, 2024

I remember the day I decided to take the leap into full-time self-employment. I’d been juggling a corporate job and freelance work on the side for months and, despite putting in double the hours at my corporate gig, was earning only half of what my freelance work brought in.

One particularly hectic week, as I rushed from my day job to a client meeting, I realized something had to give. I was exhausted, but more importantly, I was holding myself back from pursuing what I truly wanted — the freedom and potential of working for myself full-time.

That‘s when I decided to explore setting up a sole proprietorship. For many, like myself, working for yourself sounds like a dream. If your goal is to own and operate your own business, you’ll likely need to set up a sole proprietorship too.

Whether you're considering becoming a freelance writer like me or exploring another example of sole proprietorship, this guide explores how you can establish your own sole proprietorship, drawing from my personal experience and the lessons I learned along the way.

What is a sole proprietorship?

• What’s a sole proprietor?

How to Start a Sole Proprietorship

Advantages of sole proprietorships, disadvantages of sole proprietorships, sole proprietorship business examples, position your new sole proprietorship for success.

Sole proprietorship is a type of business that is owned and operated by an individual (no partners involved) who pays personal income tax on business income.

Sole proprietorships are not separate entities by law, so they are considered one of the easiest types of businesses to start.

Unlike corporations or LLCs, you don’t have to register with the state. However, you must acquire appropriate permits and licenses to operate legally, and you are personally liable for debts, lawsuits, or taxes your company accrues.

Most businesses in the United States are sole proprietorships. Many entrepreneurs love sole proprietorships because of the ownership they have over business decisions and revenue. These businesses are also easy and cost-effective to set up.

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So, how can you start a sole proprietorship? There’s a step-by-step guide for you below.

Before you start a business, however, it’s important to have a business plan. Here’s an easy-to-use business plan template to begin.

Now that you have the tools to create a business plan, let’s go over the definition of a sole proprietor and the types of sole proprietorships people would typically launch.

What is a sole proprietor?

A sole proprietor is a person who has complete control over the revenue and operations of a business. In addition to taking home all profits, the sole proprietor is also responsible for all debts, lawsuits, and taxes their company accrues. If their business is sued, personal assets like their home, credit score, and savings are unprotected.

Types of Sole Proprietorships

A sole proprietor may operate as an independent contractor (a freelancer), a business owner, or a franchisee.

• Independent contractor : An independent contractor is a self-employed sole proprietor who takes on projects on a contract basis with clients. They have the freedom to choose which clients they take on, but they are often subject to the processes and methods that the client requires.
• Business owner: Business owners can also be self-employed sole proprietors. Unlike contractors, there is much more autonomy in how the work is completed for clients. The operation itself may even be more complex with employees and/or intellectual property.
• Franchisee : Franchise owners may also be sole proprietors. The franchisee benefits from the guidance and business model of a larger brand. In exchange, royalties are paid to the franchisor.

If you want to launch a new business from scratch or you have a side hustle you want to convert into a full-time business, you should consider registering as a sole proprietorship. Here are some steps you can take to get started.

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Step 3. Choose a name.

Choosing a name is the fun part — researching whether or not it’s taken and trademarked is where things become difficult. Search the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to learn whether your chosen name has been trademarked.

If it hasn’t, consider filing your name with the USPTO to get a trademark on it, so no one else can operate under that name.

Step 4. Register your DBA.

As a sole proprietor, the legal name of your business is your personal name. However, if you want to operate under a different name, say, “Global Business Consulting Services,” you’d want to register a fictitious or “doing business as” name , also known as a DBA.

In many cases, you’re required to separate business and personal funds. A DBA is often necessary when opening a bank account or credit card for your business. Your state might also require follow-up steps after registration.

Most commonly, you’ll be required to publish the name you’ll be doing business under publicly — and then provide proof of publication to your local government.

A DBA also ensures no one else in your county is doing business under the same name.

Bottom line? Register your DBA, and do it soon.

Step 5. Purchase a domain.

Once you’ve picked the perfect name, it’s time to go after a domain. For an easy client experience, your domain name should be the same as your business. Here are the different types of domains you can explore and what they mean.

Income Tax

Self-Employment Tax

Estimated Tax

Social Security and Medicare Taxes

Federal Unemployment Tax

- Note: Most sole proprietors without employees don't need to file this, but those with employees may need to

Remember, because you’re self-employed, your paychecks don’t have proper withholdings taken out at the time you’re paid. Instead, you can expect to pay quarterly estimated tax payments. You’ll then cover the difference or receive a refund for any shortage or overage come tax season.

Because of this, set aside money from each paycheck to cover those quarterly and annual expenses.

In my experience, the freedom and flexibility of being a sole proprietor have been incredible. Here are some benefits I've enjoyed.

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What Is a Sole Proprietorship?

• Getting Started

Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC vs. Partnership

• Pros and Cons

The Bottom Line

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• How to Start a Business: A Comprehensive Guide and Essential Steps
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• Sole Proprietorship: What It Is, Pros & Cons, and Differences From an LLC CURRENT ARTICLE
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A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business with one owner. There is no legal separation between the company and the owner, who receives all profits but is liable for all debts and losses. A sole proprietorship is the easiest type to establish and a popular choice for small businesses , individual contractors, and consultants. Most small businesses start as sole proprietorships and either stay that way or expand and transition to a limited liability entity or corporation .

Key Takeaways

• A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business with only one owner who pays personal income tax on profits earned.
• Sole proprietorships are easy to establish and popular with small business owners and contractors.
• Most small businesses start as sole proprietorships and may transition to a limited liability entity or corporation as the company grows.

Establishing a Sole Proprietorship

The easiest way to start a one-owner business is through a sole proprietorship. The debts of the sole proprietorship are also the debts of the owner. However, all profits flow directly to the business owner. There are certain steps individuals should take to get started including:

• Some states require that individuals apply for business or occupancy licenses and permits.
• States may also require businesses to file a "Doing Business As name" or operate under an assumed name, usually the sole proprietor.
• Apply for and obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for employees or to file tax returns. Some sole proprietors can use their own Social Security Number (SSN). Owners may want to check with a tax advisor to determine which works best.
• To sell taxable products, businesses must register for a sales tax license with their state.

33.3 Million

The number of small businesses in the United States in 2023. Together, these businesses employed 61.6 million people across the country.

A sole proprietorship is very different from a corporation, a limited liability company (LLC) , or a limited liability partnership (LLP) , in that no separate legal entity is created. As a result, the business owner of a sole proprietorship is not exempt from liabilities incurred by the entity.

When a sole proprietor seeks to incorporate a business, the owner usually restructures it into an LLC . For this to work, the owner must first determine that the company name is available. If the desired name is free, articles of organization must be filed with the state office where the business will be based. The business owner must create an LLC operating agreement defining the business structure. Finally, the new company must obtain an EIN from the IRS.

	Easy to establish, no paperwork unless required by the state	Must file articles of incorporation with the state	May require contracts for each partner
	Can operate under owner's or fictitious name or formally register under Doing Business As	Established and secured	Can operate under owner's or fictitious name or formally register under Doing Business As
	No legal protection, owner is fully liable	Protection for owners	No legal protection, owner fully liable
	Filed under owner's personal taxes if there is no EIN	Filed under owner's personal taxes for one owner Treated as partnership for two or more owners	Filed under partnership Partners declare income and losses from partnership on personal returns

Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2020

Advantages and Disadvantages

A sole proprietorship requires a limited amount of paperwork to get started. The tax process is simpler because an employer identification number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is not required and owners can use their Social Security number (SSN) to pay taxes. Income generated from a pass-through business is only subject to a single layer of income tax and, in some cases, may be eligible for a 20% tax deduction until 2026.

An important downside of a sole proprietorship is that it provides no liability protection to the owner. By contrast, an LLC separates business and personal assets and the owner is protected against creditors seizing their assets, such as their home. This unlimited liability goes beyond the business entity to the owners themselves. Sole proprietorships must rely on standard funding like bank loans or lines of credit. Banks may view a new business with a small balance sheet as a high-risk borrower.

No need to obtain an EIN from the IRS

Quick and easy setup compared with other business structures

Pass-through tax advantage

Personal assets are not separated from business assets

Difficulty in raising capital

Owners assume all debt and tax liability

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 added a tax break for pass-through entities that essentially allows them to deduct up to 20% of qualified business income. That deduction can result in huge savings and runs until Jan. 1, 2026—unless extended by Congress.

The owner of a sole proprietorship pays personal income tax on profits earned from the business. Sole proprietors report their income and expenses on their tax returns and pay income and self-employment taxes on profits. Tax forms include:

Tax Forms for Sole Proprietorship
	or and
Self-employment tax
and Medicare taxes and income tax withholding	; ;
Providing information on Social Security and and income tax withholding	(to employee) and (to the Social Security Administration)

What Is an Example of a Sole Proprietorship?

Independent photographers, small landscaping companies, freelance writers, or personal trainers are examples of sole proprietorship businesses.

Is a Sole Proprietorship the Same As Being Self-Employed?

A sole proprietor owns and operates an unincorporated business independent of partners and is solely responsible for the liabilities and tax implications of the business. The sole proprietor is also considered self-employed, however, "self-employed" is a broader term that can be applied to those who work as independent contractors, writers, tradespeople, lawyers, salespeople, and insurance agents. Self-employed individuals generally file an annual income tax return and pay estimated taxes quarterly.

Should Individuals Choose Limited Liability Company or a Sole Proprietorship?

A sole proprietorship is best suited to small businesses with low risk and low profits. Generally, these businesses don’t have a wide range of customers but rather a small, dedicated group. Sole proprietorships often start as hobbies that grow into a business. The reasons to start a limited liability company (LLC) are that the business entails some liability risks , has the potential for large profits and a large customer base, and is positioned to benefit from certain tax structures.

A sole proprietorship is a straightforward way for an individual to start a business. It does not require registering with a state authority for most situations and does not require obtaining an EIN from the IRS. The benefits of simplicity are accompanied by some drawbacks, including all liabilities passed through from the business to the individual and obtaining funding.

Internal Revenue Service. “ Form SS-4 & Employer Identification Number (EIN) 1 .”

U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. “ 2023 Small Business Profile ,” Page 1

Internal Revenue Service. “ Topic No. 407 Business Income .”

Internal Revenue Service. “ Do You Need a New EIN? ”

Internal Revenue Service. “ Qualified Business Income Deduction .”

Internal Revenue Service. “ Sole Proprietorships .”

Internal Revenue Service. " Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center ."

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What is a Sole Proprietorship?

Advantages of sole proprietorships, disadvantages of sole proprietorships, additional resources, sole proprietorship.

A simple, unincorporated business entity owned by one individual

A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business that one person owns and manages. As the business and the owner are not legally separate , it is the simplest form of business structure . It is also known as individual entrepreneurship, sole trader, or simply proprietorship . 

The business owner, also known as a proprietor or a trader, conducts business using their legal name. They may also choose to do business using another name by registering a trade name with their local authority.

This type of business is the easiest and cheapest form to start. For this reason, it is common among small businesses, freelancers, and other self-employed individuals.

A sole proprietorship begins and ends when the business owner decides , or upon their death .

A sole proprietorship may transform into another, more complex business structure if the business grows substantially.

Key Highlights

• Sole proprietorships are the simplest form of business structure and are easy and cheap to start due to few government rules.
• Proprietors enjoy full control and profits from the business but incur unlimited legal liability personally.
• Sole proprietorships are limited by the amount of capital available, the ability to get outside assistance, and a potential shortfall of needed skills to be successful.

1. The easiest and cheapest way to start a business

Though the process varies depending on the jurisdiction, establishing a sole proprietorship is generally an easy and inexpensive process, unlike forming a partnership or a corporation [1] .

Compared to other business forms, there is very little paperwork a proprietor needs to file with their local authorities. As a result, proprietors do not have to wait long before they have permission to carry on a business.  

The start-up fees are also low, in line with many government policies that encourage entrepreneurs to take risks and grow the economy by minimizing the friction of starting new businesses.  

2. Few government rules and laws

There are very few government rules and regulations that are specific to proprietors. Sole proprietors must keep proper records , file , and pay taxes on the business income and other personal income sources.  

Record keeping and tax filing obligations are generally no more complicated than maintaining records for individual tax filings. Due to the time and the effort, proprietors may wish to pay for specialized software and advisors to streamline the time spent on administration.

Government rules for larger enterprises and public companies, such as financial disclosure , require far more administration and do not apply to sole proprietorships.

3. Full management control

Proprietors control all aspects of their business, including production, sales, finance, personnel, etc. This degree of freedom is attractive to many entrepreneurs, as the venture’s success also means personal success.

To be successful, proprietors must be “good enough” at the various aspects of their business they have control over.

While some proprietors have employees and delegate some of their authority, they are ultimately accountable for all the decisions and acts of their business.  

4. Flow-through of business profit

There is no legal separation between the owner and the business, so the owner gets 100% of the profits. Although all profits go to the owner, taxes are paid once, and proprietors pay taxes individually .  

Proprietors must pay individual taxes on the income periodically, for example, as part of the annual individual tax filing. Tax payments may be more frequent, for example, quarterly, depending on local tax rules.  

Making regular payments can help a proprietor keep their tax burden from becoming overwhelming and incurring tax penalties. Tax advisors can help proprietors estimate taxes so they can set aside enough of the profits to make mandatory government payments [2] .

1. Unlimited legal liability

There is no legal separation between the owner and the business. Similar to how all profits flow to the owner, all debts and obligations rest with the proprietor .  

If the business cannot satisfy its obligations, creditors may pursue the proprietor’s personal assets in order to be repaid.

This accountability is clearly outlined within legal documents signed with lenders, sometimes called a promissory note . A proprietor does not need to provide a personal guarantee to their sole proprietorship, as the two are the same legal entity in the eyes of the law.   

2. Limit to available capital

Owners put their own resources to bear when going into business for themselves. There are limits to their financial resources and the amount of credit they get when they seek out lending relationships.  

Proprietors cannot sell shares , or interest, in their business to raise money.

Putting ideas into reality is risky and can be costly. Keeping a business going can be capital intensive. Some expenses must be incurred before revenue is generated. Any sales on credit, and any cash paid towards expenses, must be financed by working capital. Equipment and other long-use resources required for the business must be rented or financed.

If business requirements exceed the resources and financing available to proprietors, they will need to closely manage their working capital and potentially curtail the acquisition of fixed assets.  

A fulsome business plan helps proprietors determine the capital necessary to start up, sustain, and grow the business.

3. Backup and succession

If the owner cannot or does not want to operate the business, it stops . An owner may have a family member or trusted employee who can briefly work in place of the owner in the case of illness or any temporary and unforeseen reason.  

Business interruption insurance may cover expenses for longer-term issues, but these policies cannot complete the work that a proprietor has already taken on.

Without a separate legal identity, sole proprietorships cannot readily pass any intangible assets from one owner to another. Aside from equipment and fixed assets, the value of the business is inherently tied to the proprietor.  

To make any sale attractive, a proprietor must find someone with comparable skills willing to purchase the goodwill the owner has built up. If they cannot find a buyer, the proprietor may pass the business on to a family member or a trusted employee if one exists.

4. Skills and experience

The proprietor must make “good enough” decisions in all business areas. If an owner does not have enough knowledge or skills, their decisions may be flawed. There is a finite amount of time to do things correctly or learn to do everything adequately.

It can be difficult for individuals to manage all aspects of their business properly. The owner can hire employees, outside help, or get professional advice on parts of the business process.  

The owner’s ability to use their own time to earn greater profits to offset the cost of hiring help is a crucial consideration.  

Employees, contractors, and other services may be too costly for such sole proprietorships. The owner’s time must be productive enough to pay for the cost of hiring others.

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Sole Proprietorship. To keep learning and developing your knowledge of financial analysis, we highly recommend the additional CFI resources below:

• Corporate Structure
• General Partnership
• Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• Real Estate Joint Venture
• See all management & strategy resources

Article Sources

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• IRS estimated taxes

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Sole Proprietorship

Written by True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

Reviewed by subject matter experts.

Updated on June 08, 2023

Get Any Financial Question Answered

Table of contents, what is sole proprietorship.

A sole proprietorship is a business that is owned and operated by an individual. The owner is responsible for all aspects of the business, including liabilities and debts.

A sole proprietor can use any name for their business as long as it is not being used by another business in the same area.

The initial stages of every business are just an idea in someone’s mind. They may choose to involve others to help turn their vision into a reality, or they may try and make a profit from the idea themselves.

The most common type of business is a sole proprietorship, where only one person owns the company.

The word “sole” is sometimes used to designate a single item, it is most often defined as “lone” and “single.” It is a kind of business that is only available to one person, just like the phrase “Sole Proprietorship” implies.

It is basically a company formed and run by one guy. Most small grocery stores, car repair businesses, carpentry firms, restaurants, and barbershops are sole proprietorships.

A sole proprietor is someone who creates and runs a business by themselves; they are the only business administrator.

What Are the Benefits of Owning a Sole Proprietorship?

It has already been established that sole proprietorship is the most frequent and oldest form of business in the United States and worldwide. It is, without a doubt, not devoid of benefits.

The following are some of the advantages of operating as a single proprietorship.

Simple to Establish

Compared to proprietorships, other business entities require a much longer and more complex legal document for incorporation. The paperwork required by the government before a sole proprietor can set up his business is easy and straightforward.

While the process of setting up a sole proprietorship is not easy, it is much simpler than that of other businesses.

Nowadays, it is common for people to have more than one job or even own small side companies that they have not registered.

The law does not prevent anyone from starting a sole proprietorship without registration, which gives those who can't pay incorporation fees the chance to start a business without any complex processes.

Controls Vested in the Owner

This is a benefit since sole proprietorships let entrepreneurs do exactly as they want in regard to realizing their ideas and company goals.

Because the decision-making process in other forms of enterprises necessitates the agreement of entrepreneurs, investors, and board members with interest in the firm and, in most cases, the founder's opinion, founders have less control over these businesses than they would if they started or founded them.

A sole proprietorship is a type of business in which the owner assumes all managerial and financial responsibilities. The owner is responsible for everything regarding the company, including its management and finance.

The firm's owner determines the pricing of his goods, exercises complete control over the production process in his company, and decides how much to invest in it and when to utilize the funds.

The owner of a sole proprietorship is responsible for determining prices.

Subject to Few Laws and Regulations

Although the government regulates sole proprietorships like any other business, their regulations are fewer and more lenient.

Many sole proprietors work from home on the internet without a separate office building, so most of the government's regulations regarding sole proprietorships concern tax remittance, legitimate product standards, and ensuring that businesses are not selling illegal goods or products embargoed by the government.

Takes All the Profit of a Sole Proprietorship

It is common and sensible for people who put their time and money into a firm to profit from it. The profit generated in other types of enterprises is shared among investors and shareholders based on their respective contributions to the company.

There is no sharing arrangement in a sole proprietorship since the sole proprietor takes all the business profits after paying for production costs.

Have a Personal Relationship With Clients and Customers

The sole proprietorship opens up many possibilities for the owner to interact with most of his clients and customers.

A client or consumer of a sole proprietorship business dissatisfied with the quality of goods or services supplied by the company may communicate directly with the proprietor.

In other types of enterprises, reports from one particular client or consumer are highly unusual, reaching the company's owners.

Customers may be required to submit reports to a customer service department staffed by individuals who have never met the company's owners or shareholders before, for example.

Even though a single proprietorship has a customer care service, the firm's owner would be immediately informed because employees report directly to the single proprietor.

Great Display of Organizational Commitment by Employees

A solo proprietorship typically has a positive and beneficial relationship between the business owner and employees (if the sole proprietor's line of business necessitates the use of additional people).

The sole proprietor personally inspires and encourages staff to be aware of company goals and objectives, fostering organizational loyalty among them.

Employees are more likely to work harder for a sole proprietorship since the owner is personally invested in the success of his business and encourages them to accomplish amazing things while employed there.

Enjoys Fewer Tax Returns

As a sole proprietor, you are responsible for reporting your business income and expenses annually to the IRS and the state. The tax obligation of a single owner is lower and more simple than that of other types of companies.

A single owner usually pays yearly taxes from his earnings working full-time in his firm. If a single owner has multiple sources of revenue, he is also charged income tax on all of them, including those earned through his sole proprietorship business.

What Are the Disadvantages of Operating as a Sole Proprietorship?

The pros and cons of a sole proprietorship are up for debate. However, it is difficult to deny that when a good and hardworking team has their eyes set on a goal, they usually reach it.

Other businesses have more than one decision-maker, which provides objectivity to the company's choices. On the other hand, sole proprietorships often lack this objectivity because the owner may act based on emotions rather than rationality.

What happens to a sole proprietorship if the owner gets sick or has an unexpected yet essential course of action to pursue?

The preceding question and others that highlight the flaws of a sole proprietorship make it vital to pinpoint and analyze the drawbacks of a sole proprietorship, as described in the following paragraphs.

Sole Proprietorship Lacks Formal Continuity

In a sole proprietorship, one person owns and controls a business. There is no legal requirement for the sole proprietor to file for who will take over the administration of the business after their death or when they can no longer manage it.

The future management and control of a sole proprietorship are usually unclear because there is usually no arrangement for that purpose.

A sole proprietor may want his child, family, or friend to take over the firm after death, but they may not be interested in the business.

If a person who has been given authority to assume control of the company refuses to do so at the death or incapacity of the sole owner, legal action cannot be launched against him since there is no relevant article or memorandum of association for a single proprietorship as there is in other forms of businesses.

A sole proprietorship usually dies with the owner and cannot continue even if the owner wants it to. This lack of continuity affects not only the business itself but its customers as well.

For example, what consequences will a person face if they paid for a product from a sole proprietor in advance but did not receive the merchandise before the owner's death?

How could this person prove that payment was made if the spouse or child of the deceased did not discontinue running Sole Proprietorship after their death?

Because the law does not need to detail a sole proprietorship's continuity plan, the continuation of a sole proprietorship is always in question.

Bears All the Risk of a Sole Proprietorship

Before investing in a business venture, the entrepreneurs must study the project's feasibility to minimize risk factors. However, this does not mean that there is zero chance of failure.

A company's success or failure cannot be anticipated before it is established. When other types of businesses fail, all the owners of the firm share in the loss, just as each member of successful business benefits from the profit.

If a sole proprietorship fails, only the owner suffers any loss, as he gains alone if the company succeeds. This implies that having the mental toughness to deal with one's own investment losses is difficult.

The most stressful outcome of this disadvantage is shouldering the blame and responsibility for a business failure that could have been avoided if the sole proprietor had teamed up with another entrepreneur from the start.

Bears All the Liability of a Sole Proprietorship

Unfortunately, business often entails conflict and misunderstanding between parties, which can result in court cases.

Conflicts can develop between the sole proprietor and clients, workers, the landlord, or even the government. When individuals with such disputes go to court, the sole proprietorship will sue or be sued since it is not a legal entity under current legislation.

Corporate entities and business owners are generally not held liable for damages done by the company in a court of law. This means that legally speaking, the shareholders and owners of such businesses differ from the businesses themselves.

In these cases, if damages are awarded against the company, it would be responsible for paying them out of its own funds, without taking any money from the shareholders or managers on a personal level.

However, if such losses are awarded against a single proprietorship that has been set up, the sole proprietor would be responsible for them and would be sued on a personal basis since the sole proprietor is not a separate legal entity from the business they own and control.

Slow Growth Due to Limited Funding

A sole proprietorship grows more slowly than other types of businesses for several reasons. The owner must provide all the capital needed to start and run the business, and they make all decisions without input from others.

With other businesses, multiple people invest in its success and ensure their investment does not go to waste. This is why those businesses expand rapidly.

A sole proprietor can only obtain bank loans with short durations, his own savings, or donations from relatives and friends.

Investors who are prepared to fund a sole proprietorship to gain participation in the business would want the owner to convert it into a corporation where they may invest in return for shares and interests in the firm.

A lack of cash might also prevent a sole proprietorship from surviving competition from other businesses with substantial funding that provide comparable products or perform similar services.

A Lack of Innovation

If the sole proprietor is set in their ways, the business would be operated using methods that may not suit contemporary realities. Other forms of businesses encourage innovation because of shareholders' different backgrounds and experiences.

What Are the Tax Implications of Sole Proprietorship?

Every person must pay their taxes on time. The money spent on taxes goes toward government projects that help improve our country.

The owner of a sole proprietorship pays personal income tax on their own earnings, just as the owner of any other business does. The owner's payment for personal income taxes is calculated from the proprietor's income.

This implies that if the sole proprietor runs the firm part-time while working at another company, as a sole proprietor, it is your responsibility to fill out your taxes accurately, including any profitable income or losses from the fiscal year .

Your personal income tax will act as the tax for your sole proprietorship firm since you are not considered a separate person from the business.

The procedure for submitting a personal income tax return form to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as an employee who receives compensation is very similar to that of a sole proprietor.

The only distinction is that sole proprietors must record their profit or loss for the year in question.

The amount of tax a sole proprietor owes is based on the profit they make from their business. This number is calculated by subtracting the expenses associated with running the business from the revenue earned.

Future expenses or long-term debt owed are not considered when determining how much tax a sole proprietor will owe. In other words, a sole proprietor would only be taxed on the money they have saved in their bank accounts.

A sole proprietor is allowed by law to write off the cost of production from their income tax. This includes employee salary, rental, advertisement, and office equipment expenses.

By doing this, the sole proprietor's income tax will not include these necessary business costs.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in 2017 and is effective from 2018-2025, allows single sole proprietors who earn over 157,500 US dollars but below 207,500 US dollars or married sole proprietors who earn over 315,000 US dollars but below 415,000 US dollars to take tax limited to a percentage of the wages paid to their workers.

The category of sole proprietors mentioned above can also enjoy deductions if they have depreciable business property.

It is crucial to note that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act only applies to sole proprietors who incorporate their companies, that is, register their single business with the government.

A single proprietor must keep track of both personal and company expenditures. The easiest method to do this is to set up a separate business account where money will be withdrawn to pay for company expenses.

As a sole proprietor, you should also get into the habit of setting aside money for income tax which would be paid to the Internal Revenue Service at the end of the year.

To avoid any pressure come tax season, contribute self-employment taxes which are 12.4% for Social security and 2.9% for Medicare . Self-employment taxes are paid by individuals who work for themselves and do not receive a salary or wages from an employer.

Sole proprietorships are one of the most common types of businesses in the United States. This is because they are relatively easy and inexpensive to set up and maintain.

Sole proprietorships offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to be their own boss and control their own business.

However, sole proprietorships also come with a number of risks, such as unlimited liability . This means that the sole proprietor is personally responsible for all debts and losses incurred by the business.

Sole proprietorships also tend to have difficulty raising capital, as there is only one owner.

Overall, sole proprietorships can be a good option for entrepreneurs who are looking for a simple business structure with relatively low start-up costs.

Sole Proprietorship FAQs

What is a sole proprietorship.

A sole proprietorship is a type of business ownership where there is only one owner. The owner has complete control over the business and is personally responsible for all debts and losses incurred by the business.

What are the advantages of a sole proprietorship?

Some of the advantages of a sole proprietorship include being your own boss, having complete control over the business, and relatively low start-up costs.

What are the disadvantages of a sole proprietorship?

Some of the disadvantages of a sole proprietorship include unlimited liability, difficulty raising capital, and lack of stability.

How do I set up a sole proprietorship?

There is no formal process for setting up a sole proprietorship. You can simply start doing business yourself. However, you may need to obtain a business license or permit from your local government.

What are the characteristics of sole proprietorship?

The characteristics of sole proprietorship are as follows: there is only one owner, the owner has complete control over the business, the owner is personally responsible for all debts and losses incurred by the business, and has relatively low start-up costs.

About the Author

True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.

True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide , a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University , where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.

To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon , Nasdaq and Forbes .

Related Topics

• Benefits of Sole Proprietorship
• Sole Proprietorship Taxes
• Sole Proprietorship vs LLC
• Taxation for Sole Proprietorship

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Sole Proprietorship

Definition of sole proprietorship, what is a sole proprietorship, sole proprietorship examples, characteristics of a sole proprietorship, how to start a sole proprietorship, write a business plan, choose a name, example of sole proprietorship naming, separate personal and business finances, self-employment taxes, pros to setting up a sole proprietorship, cons to setting up a sole proprietorship, challenge to liability of sole proprietorship, related legal terms and issues.

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What Is a Sole Proprietorship?

Definition & Examples of a Sole Proprietorship

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

How Sole Proprietorships Work

Benefits of a sole proprietorship, disadvantages of a sole proprietorship.

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A  sole proprietorship  is an unincorporated business owned by one individual, making it the simplest form of business to start and operate.

Learn more about sole proprietorships and if it's appropriate for you.

A sole proprietor is an unincorporated business owned exclusively by one person.   Millions of sole proprietorships are operating in the United States, making it one of the most popular forms of business ownership. Someone is also considered a sole proprietorship for tax purposes if they are the single member of a domestic LLC.  

The sole proprietorship's key feature is that unlike an incorporated business or a partnership, there is no legal separation between the business and the owner. The business is considered an extension of the owner, so the owner is personally responsible for any debts or liabilities incurred by the business.  

A sole proprietorship is the easiest and least expensive form of business to set up and operate. If you operate your business under your own name with no additions, you don't even need to  register your business name  to start operating as a sole proprietor. This makes the sole proprietorship ideal for business startups, self-employed  contractors , and part-time and home-based businesses. Other benefits of a sole proprietorship include:

• Full ownership
• Simpler taxes and accounting
• Deductible business losses

As a sole proprietor, you own 100% of the business and get to make all the decisions. Unlike corporations, sole proprietors are not required to hold shareholder's meetings or take votes on management issues. You can also manage your own schedule and hours of operation, depending on the customers' requirements.

Sole proprietorships are much simpler to operate from a tax and accounting perspective because you do not need to file a separate business tax return—all income generated from the business is reported on your personal tax form.   The business owner receives all profits directly. As with other forms of business, your expenses related to the cost of doing business are deductible from income tax. This includes:

• Travel expenses
• Automobile expenses
• Advertising
• A portion of your home expenses if you are operating a home-based business  

Business losses  can be deducted against other forms of income, so a sole proprietorship that loses money in the early years can deduct the losses against personal income, making it ideal for those wishing to transition from employee to self-employed over some time.  

Being self-employed in a sole proprietorship often means having no employees or partners to discuss business issues, explore new ideas, or interact with on a social basis. Other significant downsides include:

• No legal separation
• Exposure to liability
• Business income reported as personal income
• Difficulty getting contracts
• Hard to sell the company

With a sole proprietorship, there is no legal separation between you and the business, so if the business fails and incurs debts, your personal assets—including your home and any other assets registered in your name—could be seized to discharge the liabilities (which can be unlimited). Likewise, if you are sued for damages caused by accident or negligence in your business activities, your personal assets can also be seized.

If your business activities could expose you to substantial liability, a sole proprietorship is probably not suitable for business.

While tax simplicity can be an advantage for sole proprietorships, it can also be a disadvantage in terms of flexibility because all business income must be reported as regular income in the year it was earned. Incorporated companies have much more flexibility in terms of how and when the owners are paid.

Some businesses and government agencies will not deal with unincorporated businesses because they view a sole proprietorship as not having the same level of legitimacy and professionalism as an incorporated business. Many also believe a sole proprietor increases the risk of the tax authorities treating the person as an employee rather than an independent contractor.

Sole proprietorships can also be difficult to sell because the business is completely tied to the owner. Since there is no distinction between the assets of the owner and the business's assets, the proper valuation of the business can be hard to achieve. Operation wise, unless the sole proprietor has friends or family members who can carry on running the business, illness, or injury can affect business continuity. Customer loyalty resides with the original owner of the business and may not readily transfer to a new owner.

Key Takeaways

• A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business owned by one individual.
• The gains and losses of the sole proprietorship are reported on the owner's personal income tax return.
• The owner of a sole proprietorship is responsible for all debts and liabilities.

IRS. " Sole Proprietorships ." Accessed August 9, 2020.

IRS. " Publication 334 (2019), Tax Guide for Small Business ." Accessed August 9, 2020.

IRS. " Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center ." Accessed August 9, 2020.

IRS. " About Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship) ." Accessed August 9, 2020.

IRS. " Deducting Business Expenses ." Accessed August 9, 2020.

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A sole proprietorship is the simplest business structure there is, and various types of enterprises use it, including those with employees. It’s straightforward and cheap to start, but it also carries risks.

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What is a sole proprietorship?

A sole proprietorship is defined as an unincorporated business owned by one person who pays personal income taxes on profits.

In plain language, a sole proprietorship is not a separate entity from its owner. For better or worse, you are the business and the business is you.

Sole proprietorship: Pros

You might have already begun a sole proprietorship if you’re in business, haven’t formed any other type of business entity and have no partners. Here's why a sole proprietorship can be a good way to go.

In a sole proprietorship, there’s no one else to answer to, and all profits and assets of the business are yours.

Less paperwork

You still need to file some basic paperwork with your state’s secretary of state and the IRS. But setting up a sole proprietorship is simple enough in most cases that you can do it without a lawyer, though it’s a good idea to consult one anyway. And those worries and costs that otherwise-structured businesses fret over? They’re not your problem. For example, anyone setting up a C-corporation, the most complex of business structures, should have a lawyer handle the fine details, which can vacuum up thousands of dollars before the business even brings in a dime.

» MORE: Best business bank accounts for sole proprietorships

Simplified taxes

Income and expenses are simply reported on your personal return, using the form Schedule C. And sole proprietors need to pay estimated taxes quarterly.

A sole proprietorship is a pass-through entity, which means business income flows directly to the owner and is only taxed on an individual basis, no differently than the rest of your income. Say your business operates at a loss in its first few years. Claiming the hit on your personal tax return can lessen your tax burden.

“You’d generally want to put those losses on an individual return so you could offset them against other income,” says Mark Luscombe, principal analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting in Riverwoods, Illinois.

Sole proprietorship: Cons

There are also reasons a sole proprietorship might not be right for you.

Personal liability risk

If your sole proprietorship owes another party money, you owe that other party money; there’s no hiding behind the business. And because your business assets are one and the same as your personal assets, there’s no firewall protecting personal property from creditors.

That means if you default on a business loan, lenders can come after your personal assets such as real estate, cars and some investments. A separate business checking account , while good for keeping business and personal transactions separate, isn’t immune. (Some states offer homestead exemptions that protect a debtor’s primary residence from creditors, and some retirement accounts are protected in bankruptcy.)

If you’re concerned about lawsuits, you should think twice about a sole proprietorship. If for some reason you can’t meet a deadline for a customer, you could be sued and found liable for damages. If your employee causes a car crash while working and hurts someone, you may be liable for the injured party’s medical expenses. In either case, there’s no distinction between business and personal assets because they are all part of the same whole: you.

“Your only protection for your personal assets is adequate insurance against accidents for your business and other liabilities, and paying your debts in full,” business tax lawyer Barbara Weltman writes in “J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2017 .”

Tax audit risk

Like other pass-through entities, sole proprietorships tend to face tighter scrutiny at tax time. More than 2% of sole proprietor business returns with receipts totaling $25,000 or more were audited in 2015, according to the IRS . That’s compared with an audit rate of only 0.8% for all individual tax returns.

How to get started

A sole proprietorship may be right for you if you find that the independence, simplicity and low costs outweigh the risks. Here are some initial steps.

Consult a lawyer or accountant to address the pros and cons of a sole proprietorship for your business.

Get a business license. Contact your city or county clerk for more information on requirements, and the office of your secretary of state for other licensing rules.

Apply for a free employer identification number from the IRS. Many clients will require a tax number on invoices. An EIN is necessary if you plan to have employees.

File for a “doing business as” name, or DBA , with your state. When you have a DBA, clients can write checks to the name of your company instead of to you, and that makes you look more professional. You’ll have to search records to make sure your desired name isn’t being used by someone else, and you should also make sure you don’t infringe on another company’s trademark. (You can search for active trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office .)

Learn how to start your business

NerdWallet has rounded up some of our best information on starting a business, including structuring and naming your company, creating a solid plan and much more. We’ll help you do your homework and get started on the right foot.

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What Is A Sole Proprietorship?

Updated: Jul 25, 2024, 5:53pm

With the rise of side hustles and finding ways to earn passive income, many people want to know how to professionalize themselves further. Instead of starting a small business as a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation, many are opting for a sole proprietorship.

Aside from legitimizing a side hustle, sole proprietorships can help you ease into business ownership—while retaining the ability to scale if and when you’re ready.

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What is a Sole Proprietorship?

A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business with one owner. As soon as you embark on a solo side gig, freelance job, or a new business venture, you’re automatically a sole proprietor. However, if you’re starting a business with other people, you can’t be a sole proprietorship–you’ll automatically be a general partnership instead.

A sole proprietorship’s profits are taxed as the owner’s personal income, and—despite its name—sole proprietorships may hire employees so long as they have an Employee Identification Number (EIN). They’re the easiest types of businesses to set up. As such, they’re also the most common.

A sole proprietorship is not like an LLC (limited liability company) or a corporation in that it is not a separate legal entity from the owner. However, many sole proprietors end up turning their businesses into LLCs later on when they’re ready to scale up.

There are no forms to file or fees to pay when you start a sole proprietorship. However, if you don’t plan to use your own name as your business name, you will need to register a Doing Business As (DBA) name or Fictitious Business Name (FBN) depending on your state.

If the services you provide don’t require licensing, you can get started immediately.

How Does a Sole Proprietorship Work?

Sole proprietorships don’t require any upfront paperwork. The designation is automatic and kicks in as soon as you start doing business.

If you start taking on freelance contracts, for example, you are now working as a sole proprietor. And you and your business are the same. Because of the simple nature of sole proprietorships, they’re the most common form of business in the U.S.

Sole proprietors may choose to convert their small businesses to LLCs or corporations, but they also might keep their side hustle as a sole proprietorship for as long as they work on it.

If it’s just a side hustle outside of your regular employment, you may not see a need to file LLC paperwork and pay fees to keep it up. Sticking with small contracts and filing taxes as a sole proprietor may be enough for freelancers like web designers, small crafters on Etsy, or personal trainers.

As a sole proprietor, you’ll report your business income and expenses on the Schedule C form of your personal income tax return. You’ll pay federal and state income tax on your business profits, and you’ll also pay self-employment taxes .

Here’s what that means. When you’re an employee, your employer pays half of your Social Security and Medicare taxes and withholds the other half from your pay. As a sole proprietor, you’re responsible for paying the full amount of your Social Security and Medicare taxes (otherwise known as self-employment taxes ) Sole proprietors should pay estimated taxes on their self-employment income quarterly to avoid fees, penalties, and a massive tax bill in April of the next year.

Pros and Cons of a Sole Proprietorship

Since you don’t have to pay any formation fees, a sole proprietorship is an incredibly easy way to start a new business. There is no filing process—you can start immediately.

Since it’s easy and inexpensive to set up, you can quickly legitimize your side hustle. If you have a candle-making hobby, you can ask around local stores to see if they’re interested in selling items from local artisans. You can distribute marketing materials and open a bank account. It’s easy to transition your sole proprietorship into an LLC or a corporation once you start making money and proving yourself in your chosen field.

Keeping track of expenses is important in a sole proprietorship so you can list them as business expenses on your tax return. If you operate your business out of your home, there are some home costs that may be tax-deductible. Some people find it easier to avoid starting new bank accounts for their business and keep everything in one place. You are not required to open a separate account, but having a separate checking account for business expenses and income could help you keep track of everything more easily. You may be able to deduct business losses from your personal income.

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Liability is the biggest con to keep yourself aware of. As a sole proprietor, you are personally responsible for all your business debts and obligations, including loans, leases, credit accounts and lawsuits. If you have employees, you may also be liable for their actions. Liability insurance can help to some extent, but if you are concerned about the risk to your personal assets if your business fails or is sued, an LLC or corporation may be a better choice.

Self-employment taxes are another drawback, particularly if you are making a substantial profit. LLCs and corporations offer additional tax options that may help you save money on self-employment taxes.

Determine if a Sole Proprietorship Right for You

A sole proprietorship is ideal if you want to dip your toes into the waters of entrepreneurship. There are no major upfront costs, and you’re only responsible to yourself for the continued operation of the business.

On the other hand, if you already have a very strong business plan, are hiring employees, or are concerned about liability, you might be better off starting your business as an LLC or corporation.

Ultimately, a sole proprietorship is best for you when you have an idea and want to start immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What's the difference between an llc and a sole proprietership.

A limited liability company is a business structure that shields members from personal responsibility of the LLC’s debts and liabilities, whereas owners of sole proprietorships are fully responsible for the company’s debts and liabilities.

What is an example of a sole proprietorship?

An independent artist who sells their work to clients is an example of a sole proprietor . Many freelancers, artists, actors, writers and makers tend to function as sole proprietors.

Can I pay myself a salary as a sole proprietor?

In theory, yes. But it won’t make a difference in how you’re taxed. As a sole proprietor, all of your business’s income is considered your personal income. So even if you had a separate business bank account that you drew a salary from, all of the money your business made—not just the salary you’re choosing to withdraw—would be taxed as your personal income.

What taxes do sole proprietors pay?

Sole proprietors should file taxes quarterly to avoid being assessed fees and penalties by the IRS. Since no taxes are taken out of your income, quarterly tax payments also mean you won’t owe a lot of money at the end of the year. Sole proprietors need to report their business income and expenses by filing the Schedule C form along with the 1040. Business profits and losses listed in Schedule C are transferred to your personal tax return. The Schedule SE form must also be filed, which calculates how many taxes you owe in self-employment taxes. Be sure to follow the IRS guidelines when filing.

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Jane Haskins practiced law for 20 years, representing small businesses in startup, dissolution, business transactions and litigation. She has written hundreds of articles on legal, intellectual property and tax issues affecting small businesses.

Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.

Original text

Starting a business is exciting, but it comes with many important decisions. One of the most important choices you'll make is  selecting the right business structure . This decision can significantly impact your personal liability, especially when it comes to personal injury claims. When someone gets hurt because of your business activities, they might try to sue you for damages. The right business structure can help shield your personal assets from such claims. 

Think about it - you've worked hard to build your business and accumulate assets, and you don't want to risk losing them due to an unforeseen accident or lawsuit. By choosing the right business structure, you can minimize your personal injury liability and protect yourself and your assets. 

Why is Personal Injury Liability Important for Business Owners?

Personal injury liability happens when someone gets hurt because of your business, and they think it's your fault. This could be a customer slipping on a wet floor in your store. Someone is getting sick from food at your restaurant. A person getting hurt by a product you sell. If this happens, the injured person might ask you to pay for their medical bills, lost wages, and other costs, which is called a personal injury claim.

As a business owner, you want to protect yourself from personal injury claims. If you're not protected, you might have to pay a lot of money out of your own pocket. This could mean:

• Losing your personal savings
• Having to sell your house or car
• Going into debt

That's why choosing the right business structure is so important. It can help protect your personal money and belongings if someone makes a personal injury claim against your business.

How Do Business Structures Affect Personal Injury Liability?

When it comes to choosing a business structure, there are several options to consider. Each structure has its advantages and disadvantages, and some offer more protection from personal injury liability than others. If you're unsure about which business structure is right for your business,  click here to consult with personal injury lawyers from Rosengard Law Group for valuable guidance. They can guide how to protect yourself and your business from personal injury liability.    

The main business structures include:

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the simplest way to start a business. It's just you, running your business by yourself. But when it comes to personal injury liability, it's not very safe. Here's why:

• You and your business are considered the same thing legally
• If someone sues your business, they're suing you personally
• Your personal assets (like your house or car) could be at risk

Partnership

A partnership is when two or more people run a business together. There are two main types:

• General Partnership: All partners share responsibility for the business, including personal injury liability. This can be risky for your personal assets.
• Limited Partnership:  Some partners (called "limited partners") have less responsibility and more protection from liability. But there must be at least one "general partner" who doesn't have this protection.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is a popular choice for small businesses. It offers more protection than a sole proprietorship or partnership. The business is separate from you legally. Your personal assets are usually protected if the business is sued. You can still be personally liable if you personally did something wrong.

Corporation

Corporations offer the strongest personal liability protection. Whether you choose a C-corporation or an S-corporation, your personal assets are generally safe from business liabilities, including personal injury claims. However, corporations are more complex to set up and maintain, with more paperwork and regulatory requirements.

What Are The Factors to Consider When Choosing a Business Structure?

When deciding how to structure your business to minimize personal injury liability, consider these factors:

Level of Personal Liability Protection

This is how much your personal assets are protected if your business is sued:

• Sole Proprietorship:  No protection
• Partnership: Little to no protection (depends on the type)
• LLC: Good protection
• Corporation: Best protection

Cost and Complexity

Some business structures are easier and cheaper to set up than others:

• Sole Proprietorship:  Easiest and cheapest
• Partnership:  Relatively easy and inexpensive
• LLC:  More complex and costly
• Corporation:  Most complex and expensive

Tax Implications

Different business structures are taxed differently:

• Sole Proprietorship and Partnership: Income is taxed on your personal tax return
• LLC:  Can choose how it wants to be taxed
• Corporation: The business is taxed separately from the owners

Business Goals and Growth Plans

When considering your business structure, think about your long-term plans. If you want to keep your business small, a simpler structure might work well. But if you plan to grow significantly, attract investors, or build a large enterprise. A corporation's more formal framework and liability protection will likely be a better choice. To support your growth ambitions.

What Are The Strategies to Minimize Personal Injury Liability

While choosing the right business structure is important, it's not the only way to protect yourself from personal injury liability. Additional strategies to consider include insurance coverage, such as general liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and product liability insurance, which can protect your business from various personal injury claims. Proper documentation and contracts, like clear waivers and contracts, can also limit liability in many situations.

Implementing safety protocols and training can prevent accidents and injuries, reducing liability claims. However, be cautious of common mistakes, including inadequate capitalization, mixing personal and business finances, and failing to maintain corporate formalities, as these can weaken liability protection and put your personal assets at risk.

Choosing a business structure that minimizes personal injury liability is an important step in protecting yourself and your business. While structures like LLCs and corporations offer more protection, remember that no structure can protect you completely if you're careless or break the law.

The best approach is to choose a business structure that fits your needs, follow all safety regulations, get proper insurance, and run your business responsibly. By doing these things, you can focus on growing your business without worrying too much about personal injury liability.

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

Self-Employed vs Business Owner: What's the Difference?

These days, many people are taking the plunge into self-employment and becoming business owners. While the debate around self-employed vs business owner might seem like splitting hairs, running a small business , being an entrepreneur , and working for yourself all have distinct differences.

All scenarios offer independence and the chance to be your own boss, but they come with unique differences in terms of responsibilities, taxes, and legal structures. Let’s break down these roles to help you identify where you fit and what to expect.

Being a full-time employee also has its perks—check out our open jobs on The Muse to find your perfect fit »

What is the difference between a self-employed person and a business owner?

A self-employed person works for themselves and is responsible for managing their own business, setting their own hours, and determining their pay. Freelancers , independent contractors , and sole proprietors typically fall under this category. Legally, a self-employed person can operate as a sole proprietorship or an independent contractor.

A small business owner, on the other hand, owns and operates a business with a small number of employees. They can choose to structure their business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC (Limited Liability Company) , or corporation.

Is a business owner the same as an entrepreneur?

Another common misunderstanding is the difference between business owner vs entrepreneur. Let's clear this up:

Entrepreneurs are individuals who launch new businesses with the goal of expansion and innovation. Different from an entrepreneur, a small business owner may not prioritize rapid growth or expansion. Entrepreneurs often earn their income from investments or venture capital, whereas a self-employed person or a small business owner typically relies directly on revenue from their clientele.

In essence, every entrepreneur is a business owner, but not all small business owners are entrepreneurs.

What is the difference between a freelancer and a business owner?

Freelancers are a prime example of self-employed individuals. They usually offer specific services, such as writing , graphic design, or consulting, often working with multiple clients simultaneously.

Freelancers manage their projects and time independently on a contract basis. Business owners, while they can also be service providers, typically manage a broader operation. They might employ freelancers or contractors, manage product development, and focus on business growth strategies.

Self-employed vs business owner: Identify which category you fall into

Think about how formally you've established your occupation. Self-employed individuals operate informally, while small business owners establish a corporation or LLC, offering more protection and growth potential.

If you work independently, providing services directly without a team of full-time employees, you are likely self-employed. Business owners run a more structured operation. If you're actively seeking growth and profit to have full-time employees, you would fall under the entrepreneur or small business owner category.

Taxes, salary, and benefits for self-employed individuals and small business owners

Understanding each category is a good starting point, but the real differences come down to the administrative side of things. From a legal and financial perspective, the distinctions between self-employed individuals and small business owners boil down to how their activities are structured and managed.

Starting a company involves a more structured process, including registering your business at both the state and federal levels. In contrast, a self-employed person can operate using just their Social Security number.

Let's go over the main differences in taxes, salary, and benefits.

Self-employed vs business owner: Taxes differences

“Self-employed individuals report business income on their personal tax return and pay self-employment tax,” says John Pace, a tax manager at Pace & Associates CPAs with over 40 years of experience. “Small business owners file separate business tax returns and can take advantage of deductions and benefits unavailable to the self-employed, like certain retirement plans.”

The tax obligations for small business owners can vary based on their business structure. For example, LLCs and corporations might benefit from more tax deductions and could pay corporate taxes instead of self-employment taxes. Small business owners may also draw a salary, which affects how their taxes are calculated and paid.

Self-employed individuals, on the other hand, must pay self-employment tax, covering Social Security and Medicare. This tax is currently 15.3% of their net earnings, which can be a significant expense. They also need to track their income and expenses to file a Schedule C with their personal tax return.

Self-employed vs business owner: Salary differences

Self-employed individuals earn directly from their services. Their income can fluctuate based on client availability and workload. There are no fixed salaries, and earnings are typically subject to personal income tax rates.

Small business owners can draw a salary from their business, which provides more stability in income. They can also reinvest profits back into the business or distribute earnings through dividends, depending on the business structure. This can offer more financial flexibility and planning opportunities.

Self-employed vs business owner: Differences in benefits

Self-employed people might not be able to receive benefits that are typically provided to employees, including paid time off or health insurance . Small business owners have more freedom to design their own benefits plan for both themselves and their staff.

For self-employed individuals, paying self-employment tax, which includes contributions to Social Security and Medicare, allows them to earn credits towards receiving benefits from these programs in the future.

As for small business owners with employees, it's their responsibility to withhold and match their employees' contributions to Social Security and Medicare. They may also have additional obligations depending on the size and structure of their business.

Bottom line

Overall, if you’re aiming to be your own boss, it’s key to understand the legal and financial aspects of your role so you can handle taxes and benefits effectively. It might be worth talking to a legal and financial expert to figure out what’s best for your situation.

Whether you're self-employed or a small business owner, you should be aware of your tax responsibilities and potential benefits such as Social Security and Medicare contributions.

By understanding these differences and taking appropriate actions, you can better manage your career and personal finances.