Business name ________________________________________________
Your name ____________________________________ Date ______________
5(a)(1)
Describe the product or service you will offer.
What exactly is it? What does it do for the customer? Be specific enough that someone could picture it.
5(a)(2)
Identify the goals for your business.
Make them SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. "Serve 20 customers by the end of summer" beats "be successful".
5(a)(3)
Explain how you can make enough of the product, or perform the service often enough, to meet those goals.
How long does one take? How many hours a week do you really have? Multiply it out and see whether the goal fits.
5(a)(4)
Identify and describe the potential liability risks for your product or service.
What could go wrong that someone could hold you responsible for? Injury, damage to property, or a product that fails after you sold it.
5(a)(5)
Determine what type of license, if any, you might need in order to make or sell your product or service.
Check your state and your town, because the rules differ. Food, childcare, and anything involving a vehicle usually need the most.
5(b)(1)
Identify the types of people who would buy your product or service.
Not "everyone". Describe a specific group: who they are, where they are, and why they would want this.
5(b)(2)
Identify your competitors, and describe their strengths and weaknesses.
Include the obvious ones and the hidden ones, like people doing it themselves or going without. "I have no competitors" is almost never true.
5(b)(3)
Describe what makes your product or service unique.
Cheaper, faster, closer, friendlier, or something nobody else offers at all. "Better" on its own is not an answer.
5(c)(1)
Determine how much money you need to start, and identify how you will get it.
List every one-off cost before you add them up. Then say where the money comes from: your savings, a family loan, or earning it first. The spreadsheet has a sheet for this.
5(c)(2)
Determine what it costs you to offer your product or service, and the price you will charge in order to make a profit.
Work out the cost of one single sale, then set a price above it. Count your own time as a cost, or the business is paying you nothing.
5(c)(3)
Describe what will happen with the money you make from sales.
Split it up: replacing materials, putting some back into the business, paying yourself, saving, and giving.
5(d)(1)
Determine what parts of the business you will handle yourself, and describe your qualifications.
List the jobs a business actually contains, then say honestly which ones you can do and what makes you able to do them.
5(d)(2)
Determine whether you will need additional help. If you will, describe the responsibilities and the qualifications needed for each role.
If you can genuinely do it all yourself, say so and explain why that works at your size.
5(e)(1)
Describe the methods you will use to promote your business to potential customers.
How does a stranger first hear about you? Be specific about where and when, not just "word of mouth".
5(e)(2)
Explain how you will use the internet and social media to increase awareness of your product or service.
Which platform, and why that one for these customers? Never post your home address or your personal phone number.
5(e)(3)
Design a promotional flyer or poster for your product or service.
Make this separately and upload it as its own file. It needs four things: what you offer, who it is for, why they should care, and how to reach you.
Tick off all sixteen. A plan missing two or three parts is the most common reason requirement 5 comes back.
All sixteen ticked? Upload the plan and the flyer, then arrange to talk it through with your counselor.
