Believe it or not, creating a business plan for a nonprofit organization is not that different from planning for a traditional business. 

Nonprofits sometimes shy away from using the words “business planning,” preferring to use terms like “strategic plan” or “operating plan.” But, the fact is that preparing a plan for a for-profit business and a nonprofit organization are actually pretty similar processes. Both types of organizations need to create forecasts for revenue and plan how they’re going to spend the money they bring in. They also need to manage their cash and ensure that they can stay solvent to accomplish their goals.

In this guide, I’ll explain how to create a plan for your organization that will impress your board of directors, facilitate fundraising, and ensures that you deliver on your mission.

Why does a nonprofit need a business plan?

Good business planning is about setting goals, getting everyone on the same page, tracking performance metrics, and improving over time. Even when your goal isn’t to increase profits, you still need to be able to run a fiscally healthy organization.

Business planning creates an opportunity to examine the heart of your mission, the financing you’ll need to bring that mission to fruition, and your plan to sustain your operations into the future.

Nonprofits are also responsible for meeting regularly with a board of directors and reporting on your organization’s finances is a critical part of that meeting. As part of your regular financial review with the board, you can compare your actual results to your financial forecast in your business plan. Are you meeting fundraising goals and keeping spending on track? Is the financial position of the organization where you wanted it to be?

In addition to internal use, a solid business plan can help you court major donors who will be interested in having a deeper understanding of how your organization works and your fiscal health and accountability. And you’ll definitely need a formal business plan if you intend to seek outside funding for capital expenses—it’s required by lenders.

Creating a business plan for your organization is a great way to get your management team or board to connect over your vision, goals, and trajectory. Even just going through the planning process with your colleagues will help you take a step back and get some high-level perspective.

A nonprofit business plan outline

Keep in mind that developing a business plan is an ongoing process. It isn’t about just writing a physical document that is static, but a continually evolving strategy and action plan as your organization progresses over time. It’s essential that you run regular plan review meetings to track your progress against your plan. For most nonprofits, this will coincide with regular reports and meetings with the board of directors.

A nonprofit business plan will include many of the same sections of a standard business plan outline. If you’d like to start simple, you can download our free business plan template as a Word document, and adjust it according to the nonprofit plan outline below.

Executive summary

The executive summary of a nonprofit business plan is typically the first section of the plan to be read, but the last to be written. That’s because this section is a general overview of everything else in the business plan – the overall snapshot of what your vision is for the organization.

Write it as though you might share with a prospective donor, or someone unfamiliar with your organization: avoid internal jargon or acronyms, and write it so that someone who has never heard of you would understand what you’re doing.

Your executive summary should provide a very brief overview of your organization’s mission. It should describe who you serve, how you provide the services that you offer, and how you fundraise. 

If you are putting together a plan to share with potential donors, you should include an overview of what you are asking for and how you intend to use the funds raised.

Opportunity

Start this section of your nonprofit plan by describing the problem that you are solving for your clients or your community at large. Then say how your organization solves the problem.

A great way to present your opportunity is with a positioning statement. Here’s a formula you can use to define your positioning:

For [target market description] who [target market need], [this product] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [key competition], it [most important distinguishing feature].

And here’s an example of a positioning statement using the formula:

For children, ages five to 12 (target market) who are struggling with reading (their need), Tutors Changing Lives (your organization or program name) helps them get up to grade-level reading through a once a week class (your solution).

Unlike the school district’s general after-school homework lab (your state-funded competition), our program specifically helps children learn to read within six months (how you’re different).

Your organization is special or you wouldn’t spend so much time devoted to it. Layout some of the nuts and bolts about what makes it great in this opening section of your business plan. Your nonprofit probably changes lives, changes your community, or maybe even changes the world. Explain how it does this.

This is where you really go into detail about the programs you’re offering. You’ll want to describe how many people you serve and how you serve them.

Target audience

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be used to define your target market. For nonprofit organizations, it’s basically the same thing but framed as who you’re serving with your organization. Who benefits from your services?

Not all organizations have clients that they serve directly, so you might exclude this section if that’s the case. For example, an environmental preservation organization might have a goal of acquiring land to preserve natural habitats. The organization isn’t directly serving individual groups of people and is instead trying to benefit the environment as a whole. 

Similar organizations

Everyone has competition—nonprofits, too. You’re competing with other nonprofits for donor attention and support, and you’re competing with other organizations serving your target population. Even if your program is the only one in your area providing a specific service, you still have competition.

Think about what your prospective clients were doing about their problem (the one your organization is solving) before you came on this scene. If you’re running an after-school tutoring organization, you might be competing with after school sports programs for clients. Even though your organizations have fundamentally different missions.

For many nonprofit organizations, competing for funding is an important issue. You’ll want to use this section of your plan to explain who donors would choose your organization instead of similar organizations for their donations.

Future services and programs

If you’re running a regional nonprofit, do you want to be national in five years? If you’re currently serving children ages two to four, do you want to expand to ages five to 12? Use this section to talk about your long-term goals. 

Just like a traditional business, you’ll benefit by laying out a long-term plan. Not only does it help guide your nonprofit, but it also provides a roadmap for the board as well as potential investors. 

Promotion and outreach strategies

In a for-profit business plan, this section would be about marketing and sales strategies. For nonprofits, you’re going to talk about how you’re going to reach your target client population.

You’ll probably do some combination of:

• Advertising: print and direct mail, television, radio, and so on.
• Public relations: press releases, activities to promote brand awareness, and so on.
• Digital marketing: website, email, blog, social media, and so on.

Similar to the “target audience” section above, you may remove this section if you don’t promote your organization to clients and others who use your services.

Costs and fees

Instead of including a pricing section, a nonprofit business plan should include a costs or fees section.

Talk about how your program is funded, and whether the costs your clients pay are the same for everyone, or based on income level, or something else. If your clients pay less for your service than it costs to run the program, how will you make up the difference?

If you don’t charge for your services and programs, you can state that here or remove this section.

Fundraising sources

Fundraising is critical for most nonprofit organizations. This portion of your business plan will detail who your key fundraising sources are. 

Similar to understanding who your target audience for your services is, you’ll also want to know who your target market is for fundraising. Who are your supporters? What kind of person donates to your organization? Creating a “donor persona” could be a useful exercise to help you reflect on this subject and streamline your fundraising approach. 

You’ll also want to define different tiers of prospective donors and how you plan on connecting with them. You’re probably going to include information about your annual giving program (usually lower-tier donors) and your major gifts program (folks who give larger amounts).

If you’re a private school, for example, you might think of your main target market as alumni who graduated during a certain year, at a certain income level. If you’re building a bequest program to build your endowment, your target market might be a specific population with interest in your cause who is at retirement age.

Do some research. The key here is not to report your target donors as everyone in a 3,000-mile radius with a wallet. The more specific you can be about your prospective donors—their demographics, income level, and interests, the more targeted (and less costly) your outreach can be.

Fundraising activities

How will you reach your donors with your message? Use this section of your business plan to explain how you will market your organization to potential donors and generate revenue.

You might use a combination of direct mail, advertising, and fundraising events. Detail the key activities and programs that you’ll use to reach your donors and raise money.

Strategic alliances and partnerships

Use this section to talk about how you’ll work with other organizations. Maybe you need to use a room in the local public library to run your program for the first year. Maybe your organization provides mental health counselors in local schools, so you partner with your school district.

In some instances, you might also be relying on public health programs like Medicaid to fund your program costs. Mention all those strategic partnerships here, especially if your program would have trouble existing without the partnership.

Milestones and metrics

Without milestones and metrics for your nonprofit, it will be more difficult to execute on your mission. Milestones and metrics are guideposts along the way that are indicators that your program is working and that your organization is healthy.

They might include elements of your fundraising goals—like monthly or quarterly donation goals, or it might be more about your participation metrics. Since most nonprofits working with foundations for grants do complex reporting on some of these, don’t feel like you have to re-write every single goal and metric for your organization here. Think about your bigger goals, and if you need to, include more information in your business plan’s appendix.

If you’re revisiting your plan on a monthly basis, and we recommend that you do, the items here might speak directly to the questions you know your board will ask in your monthly trustee meeting. The point is to avoid surprises by having eyes on your organization’s performance. Having these goals, and being able to change course if you’re not meeting them, will help your organization avoid falling into a budget deficit.

Key assumptions and risks

Your nonprofit exists to serve a particular population or cause. Before you designed your key programs or services, you probably did some research to validate that there’s a need for what you’re offering.

But you probably are also taking some calculated risks. In this section, talk about the unknowns for your organization. If you name them, you can address them.

For example, if you think there’s a need for a children’s literacy program, maybe you surveyed teachers or parents in your area to verify the need. But because you haven’t launched the program yet, one of your unknowns might be whether the kids will actually show up.

Management team and company

Who is going to be involved and what are their duties? What do these individuals bring to the table?

Include both the management team of the day-to-day aspects of your nonprofit as well as board members and mention those who may overlap between the two roles. Highlight their qualifications: titles, degrees, relevant past accomplishments, and designated responsibilities should be included in this section. It adds a personal touch to mention team members who are especially qualified because they’re close to the cause or have special first-hand experience with or knowledge of the population you’re serving.

There are probably some amazing, dedicated people with stellar qualifications on your team—this is the place to feature them (and don’t forget to include yourself!).

Financial plan

The financial plan is essential to any organization that’s seeking funding, but also incredibly useful internally to keep track of what you’ve done so far financially and where you’d like to see the organization go in the future.

The financial section of your business plan should include a long-term budget and cash flow statement with a three to five-year forecast. This will allow you to see that the organization has its basic financial needs covered. Any nonprofit has its standard level of funding required to stay operational, so it’s essential to make sure your organization will consistently maintain at least that much in the coffers.

From that point, it’s all about future planning: If you exceed your fundraising goals, what will be done with the surplus? What will you do if you don’t meet your fundraising goals? Are you accounting for appropriate amounts going to payroll and administrative costs over time? Thinking through a forecast of your financial plan over the next several years will help ensure that your organization is sustainable.

Money management skills are just as important in a nonprofit as they are in a for-profit business. Knowing the financial details of your organization is incredibly important in a world where the public is ranking the credibility of charities based on what percentage of donations makes it to the programs and services. As a nonprofit, people are interested in the details of how money is being dispersed within organizations, with this information often being posted online on sites like Charity Navigator, so the public can make informed decisions about donating.

Potential contributors will do their research—so make sure you do too. No matter who your donors are, they will want to know they can trust your organization with their money. A robust financial plan is a solid foundation for reference that your nonprofit is on the right track.

Business planning is ongoing

It’s important to remember that a business plan doesn’t have to be set in stone. It acts as a roadmap, something that you can come back to as a guide, then revise and edit to suit your purpose at a given time.

I recommend that you review your financial plan once a month to see if your organization is on track, and then revise your plan as necessary.

Additional Help

Our free business plan template can help you work through each section of your plan. Also, be sure to check out a complete nonprofit business plan example for reference. 

If you’re looking for a tool to help you write your business plan, you may want to check out LivePlan. It can easily be configured to create a nonprofit business plan with step-by-step guidance throughout the process. You’ll be able to easily develop forecasts and compare to your actuals through a single dashboard to actively plan, adjust, and present to investors and board members. It’s a great option to keep business planning simple so you can focus on serving those that you’re hoping to help.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2014. It was updated in 2021.

These are the tools that we know, love, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend—many of them we use ourselves. Use them to propel your startup into success and growth.

Listen to COO of Palo Alto Software, Noah Parsons, share his favorite online tools on the fourth episode of The Bcast, Bplan’s official podcast (at 13:17):

Click here to subscribe to The Bcast on iTunes »

Table of contents:

• Accounting software
• Choosing a name
• Domain names and hosting
• Elevator pitches and pitch decks
• Logos and branding
• Stock photos and libraries
• Market research
• Survey tools
• Social media tools
• Project management software
• Launching and PR
• Help desk and customer service
• Payment systems
• Invoicing software
• Website building and shopping carts
• Funding platforms and solutions
• Human resources
• Legal help
• Content resources management
• Analytics tools
• Financial forecasting and dashboard
• Design tools
• Outsourcing work
• Landing pages and A/B testing
• Email marketing platforms

Accounting software

QuickBooks

In the U.S., QuickBooks is hands-down the most popular accounting software out there. If you’re working with an accountant, chances are that they’ll ask you to use QuickBooks. We recommend the online version, but you can still buy the desktop version if that’s what you prefer.

XERO

Xero is an online-only accounting solution. While relatively popular in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., they are less popular in the U.S. They’re still worth a look though if QuickBooks isn’t right for you.

Freshbooks

If you’re a small, service-based business such as a photographer, consultant, or wedding coordinator, Freshbooks might be right for you. Freshbooks focuses on invoicing and you can easily allow your customers to pay you online. Technically, they’re not a full-fledged accounting solution, but they cover the basics if you don’t have to handle things like inventory.

Choosing a name

NameCheckr

What’s great about NameCheckr is that in addition to automatically looking up available domain names associated with your chosen business name, it checks a ton of relevant social platforms, from Facebook to Youtube to see if the name is available there. That way you can get right on to your social media strategy!

Namium

Enter a word and Naminum uses prefixes, suffixes, and replaces letters within your keyword to generate a (huge) list of name suggestions. Didn’t find a satisfactory name? Try with a new word, transform the current one or generate random names for additional inspiration.

BrandBucket

If you want real people to help you find a business name, check out BrandBucket to have your name and domain name crowdsourced.

Domain names and hosting

NameMesh

NameMesh: Part domain name suggestion tool and part domain name finder, NameMesh searches endless variants of your domain to find one that works for you. 

Domainr

Search across endless domain extensions, way beyond your standard .com. You’ll find good suggestions, but Domainr is more for finding a domain that will work for you once you’ve already settled on a company name.

BlueHost

BlueHost offers simple and affordable hosting that’s ideal for anything from WordPress to full-fledged web apps. Bluehost is an easy place to get online on a budget.

HostGator

If BlueHost isn’t right for you, check out HostGator. The services and prices are fairly similar and they do have a visual website builder if that’s something you need.

NameCheap

NameCheap offers some of the lowest domain name registration prices. Despite being cheap, the services are solid and reliable.

Elevator pitches and pitch decks

LivePlan

Full disclosure, we’re the makers of LivePlan—but that just makes us more certain that it’s an essential startup tool. In this case, it’s the pitch feature that allows you to get all of your most important points down in one place, either as a one-page format or as a pitch deck that you can export to Powerpoint if you need a slide deck for a presentation. 

Haiku Deck

If a highly visual look is right for your pitch deck, check out Haiku Deck. Their tool will help you create a beautiful pitch deck that’s sure to inspire.

Prezi

If you’re looking to put a literal spin on your presentation and get away from PowerPoint, give Prezi a look.

Logos and branding 

LogoGarden

LogoGarden is a great free option for creating your own logo. If you’re looking for something quick, DIY, and no-cost, this is for you.

99designs

99designs: While much more than just a logo company, 99designs is a great resource where designers pitch you several ideas before you pay. If you know that you need someone from outside your company to design your logo, and you want a lot of options to choose from, this is a good option. 

Fiverr

Like 99designs, Fiverr is a marketplace of designers, copywriters, programmers, and more. As their name suggests, there are plenty of people willing to do work for just five dollars. You will find more expensive options on the service, but this is a great place to start if you’re on a budget.

Stock photo libraries

Pixabay

Pixabay: Every content producer will need stock photography at some point, it’s just the nature of the game. Pixabay’s free, high-quality images are royalty-free so if you’re working on a tight budget, this is a great place to start. Be prepared to see your favorite image on other sites, though.

StockSnap.io

StockSnap.io is another useful free photo site. Images are high quality, but as with all image sites, the catalog can be a bit shallow. 

Shutterstock

If you’re ready to step up to a paid image library, we like Shutterstock. The catalog is big and grows every day. Prices are reasonable as well. 

Market research

CensusViewer

CensusViewer is a free tool that gives you access to U.S. Census data in an easy-to-use format that you can explore both visually on a map or in data reports for cities, counties, and entire states.

Consumer Expenditure Survey

If you want to know what people spend their money on, the Consumer Expenditure Survey is your source.

MyBestSegments

MyBestSegments: This tool from Nielsen helps you understand an area’s demographic and lifestyle habits. 

SizeUp

If you need help finding a business location or want to see where your competition is, check out SizeUp. You can also compare your forecasted marketing and advertising budget against the competition.

Google Trends

Google Trends: Use Google Trends to discover what people are searching for and how search volume on important topics is changing over time.

Survey tools

SurveyMonkey

Should you need to poll a group for business purposes, SurveyMonkey is free and reliable. Simply build the survey and send it out to your audience. 

Google Surveys

Google Consumer Surveys: You don’t need to have a contact list to send out a survey. With Google Surveys, you can target users from around the web and get instant feedback on your business idea.

TypeForm

Whether you need a simple form or a survey, TypeForm does it beautifully. It’s especially good on mobile.

Qualaroo

Qualaroo makes it easy to do small polls and surveys right on your website.  

Social media tools

Buffer

Buffer makes social sharing an easy one-stop-shop: you can plan your social posts ahead, and post to multiple accounts from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ and more, all at once. Plus, you can give multiple employees access so everyone doesn’t have to deal with signing in to each platform individually.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is perfect for people who are really active on social media and managing multiple accounts. It puts everything in one place with an easy to follow user interface, works with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and WordPress, and has incorporated analytics so you can stay on top of your metrics.

Project management software

Trello

Trello works well for workflows that have a clear process, so you can organize tasks into different boards, create lists on the boards, and assign cards describing each task to the appropriate colleague. It’s also suitable to an environment where you need to create and maintain lists of ideas. 

Basecamp

If you don’t need giant charts, but want a dead-simple interface that anyone can use with no training, then Basecamp is for you. Simplicity, unlimited users, and centralization of all your project assets are winners for Basecamp.

Asana

If you need more power than Basecamp and are willing to pay more, Asana is worth a look. It’s not nearly as affordable as Basecamp, but there is a free plan for small teams that might be all you need as you get your business off the ground. The folks over at Sticker Mule have a great guide on how they use Asana if you need some help getting started.  

Launching and PR

HARO

HARO: Otherwise known as “Help a Reporter Out,” HARO is a great resource to find reporters who are covering every topic you can think of. If a reporter needs a source, they’ll post here. Simply respond and you could get yourself some free press.

Pr.co

Pr.co allows you to outsource creating a press room for your web site. Write your press release, distribute them via email, and create an easy-to-update press room for your company.

Pressfarm

Pressfarm is a platform to help you find journalists to write about your startup. 

Help desk and customer service

Outpost

Outpost is a shared inbox tool that makes it easier for your team to collaborate on email, without stepping on anyone’s toes. It works with Gmail, Outlook 365 and many other email providers.  

Desk.com

If you’re a Salesforce customer, using Desk.com is a no-brainer since it’s a Salesforce company. You can try for free, but there’s no perpetually free plan as of this writing.

ZenDesk

ZenDesk: While not the cheapest, ZenDesk has a deep feature set and offers integrations into many other systems.

Payment systems

Stripe

If you’re building a web site or mobile app and plan to accept payments, Stripe is a great place to start. They’re built from the ground up to be developer-friendly and simple. Stripe is used by companies big and small, so you’ll be in good company.

Braintree

A PayPal company, Braintree was built with an extreme focus on customer service. They’ll help you every step of the way and enable your company to accept different forms of payment from all over the world.

Square

If accepting credit cards in person is what you need for your business, check out Square‘s line of mobile phone card readers and POS systems.

Invoicing software

Freshbooks

For companies that focus on offering services to their customers and need a robust invoicing solution, Freshbooks is a great choice. Not only can you issue professional invoices, but you can accept payment online, capture expenses, and track your time.

QuickBooks Payments

 QuickBooks Payments: If you’re already using QuickBooks as your accounting solution for your business, using QuickBooks payments is a helpful integration, since it keeps all your accounts receiveable in one ecosystem.

BallPark

An alternative to Freshbooks, Ballpark offers a similar set of features. One stand-out feature is their “projects” tool that allows you to track time and set budgets for, well, projects.

Website building and shopping carts

Wix

With a huge template gallery and simple online editor, Wix is a great place to start if all you need is a simple, static web site. The upper price tiers also offer shopping cart functionality for an all-in-one solution. 

Shopify

Shopify: Shopify sets itself apart from other site builders in that it’s focused on selling online. If you don’t need to sell online and just need a “brochure” site, Shopify isn’t for you.

Squarespace

Squarespace‘s focus is on beautiful design. Your subscription includes access to a huge image gallery, a logo creator, and much more. Like others, you can sell online with Squarespace as well. 

Chargify

Chargify: If you’re setting up a subscription business and don’t want the hassle of building a billing tool, check out Chargify. They’ll handle the recurring payments and allow you to offer all kinds of subscription options to your customers.

Funding platforms and solutions

Gust

Entrepreneurs can post a free business profile on Gust and share it with investors around the world. Gust is great for startups that are looking for angel investment and potentially a venture capital investment. 

AngelList

Similar to Gust, startups can post their company on AngelList and solicit investment from potential investors. AngelList also offers job boards and other tools to help startups get up and running.

Human resources

Zenefits

You really can’t go wrong with Zenefits’ free HR software platform. That’s right, it’s free. They make their money by administering your benefits and payroll, should you choose to do that—it’s not required.

Kin

If you need to simplify all of the employee paperwork and files, then check out Kin. Kin helps you onboard new hires, centralizes all of their files, and tracks time off and working hours.

TSheets

 TSheets integrates with Quickbooks. It has a GPS time tracker and easily tracks times including breaks and lunches. 

Lattice

Lattice allows personal and team goal tracking, performance reviews, employee feedback, 1 on 1s, and many features beneficial to both managers and teams.

Workable

Workable: Workable has all the tools you need to post new job openings and manage your candidates. If you need to streamline your hiring process, then check them out.

Legal help

RocketLawyer

From incorporating your business to getting contracts and other legal documents, RocketLawyer has all of the basics covered. RocketLawyer encourages you to subscribe to their service, so if you don’t have ongoing legal needs, be sure to cancel your subscription when you’re done.

LegalZoom

Unlike RocketLawyer, LegalZoom focuses on offering its services a-la-carte. Find the legal form or service you need, and get straight-forward pricing for that document. They serve all common business legal needs, so you can’t go too far wrong with LegalZoom.

Avvo

Avvo has a great Q&A forum where you can ask any legal question and get answers from attorneys for free, pages and pages of legal guides written by lawyers, a lawyer directory with ratings, consumer reviews, and profiles for 97% of the attorneys in the U.S.

Nolo

Nolo is a fantastic, trusted resource for their free and informative legal information; their website is chock full of accurate and helpful information on everything from bankruptcy to divorce to patents. In addition, they sell products such as books, kits, and forms for things like making your will, starting a nonprofit, and making the right tax deductions.

Content resource management (CRM)

Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft: In addition to all of the standard CRM features, Infusionsoft brings marketing and sales automation to small businesses, to help automate communications and standardize tasks. Infusionsoft also integrates an online shopping cart so you can manage your business from one software suite.

HubSpot CRM

You can get started with HubSpot’s CRM for free. It’s easy to use, yet has all of the powerful CRM features you expect. Its Sidekick add-on for email is excellent and you can easily track deals and an entire sales process.

Analytics tools

Google Analytics

The de-facto standard for web analytics is Google Analytics. It’s free, powerful, and more than enough for even a seasoned online marketing team.

HotJar

HotJar is a great tool for generating heatmaps on your sites so you have insight into where visitors click and how far down the page they scroll on your website. 

OptinMonster

OptinMonster is great for generating attractive pop-ups for lead generation and even adds that show on exit on your site, making the most of your site’s traffic. 

Mixpanel

If you need more than pageview data, use a tool like Mixpanel to track the actions people take on your site, or in your app.

Financial forecasting and financial dashboard

LivePlan

If you need to write a business plan, build a budget, or forecast your sales and cash flow, look no further than LivePlan. Once you’ve set your financial goals, you can connect QuickBooks and track your progress toward your goals.

Design tools

Canva

Canva is one of our favorite online image editors. You can edit photographs easily, but you can also create all kinds of visuals from posters to business cards to book covers. The basic version is free and you can upgrade to the “work” edition if you need more.

Piktochart

Piktochart: Create infographics the easy way. What we love about Piktochart is that it’s easy to use, free, and looks professional—kind of the best of all worlds in terms of creating your own infographics.

Pablo

If you need an easy way to create images for social media, check out Pablo. It’s simple and can create images that will work on all social networks.

Outsourcing work

Upwork

Formerly known as Elance and Odesk, Upwork is a marketplace of freelancers from around the world that will do nearly anything you need, from sales and marketing, to design and web development. Use their powerful filters to find a freelancer and Upwork will facilitate payment and all the other details of managing a contract freelancer.

TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is unusual but really useful when you need people to quickly do a task that isn’t really freelancing per se; more like a handyman or Jack or Jill-of-all-trades. For example, if your business is throwing an event, you can hire a group of highly-rated people on TaskRabbit to set up, serve, and clean up without having to deal with a full-scale catering company.

99designs

99designs: If you have a design task, from a book cover to product packaging, to a logo, 99designs can get designers to compete for your work. You’ll get multiple designs and then you pick the ones you like. 

Fiverr

Fiverr: Similar to 99designs, but with a focus on cost savings, Fiverr can connect you with designers, developers, and more to get your outsourced work done—cheap.

Landing pages and A/B testing

LeadPages

If you need a landing page quickly, check out LeadPages. You can quickly build landing pages and pop-ups with no coding required.

Unbounce

Part page builder and part A/B testing tool, Unbounce lets you design landing pages and then easily test one version against another to find the best combination.

Visual Website Optimizer

With no coding required, Visual Website Optimizer makes it easy to test changes to your website and figure out which version does the best. Reporting is easy and you’ll get the majority of the features you need at a reasonable price.

Convert

Convert is a great tool for AB testing changes on your website to validate ideas for tactics to increase clicks, conversion, and traffic through your pages. 

Email marketing platforms

MailChimp

MailChimp is the easy choice here. Unless you have a very sophisticated marketing automation campaign that you need to run, MailChimp does a great job helping you build and send newsletters and virtually any other kind of campaign. The automation tools are solid, too, and will be more than enough for most businesses.

Sendy

If saving money is your number one objective, check out Sendy. Sendy uses Amazon’s Simple Email Service platform to send emails on the cheap. It’s not the most full-featured tool, but it does the trick if you want to send email as inexpensively as possible.

HubSpot

For more enterprise-level functionality but with small business ease-of-use, check out HubSpot. It’s an all-in-one marketing automation and inbound marketing platform, but you can use just their email service if you want.

Aweber

As an alternative to MailChimp, check out Aweber. It offers great pricing and a deep feature set. A major difference from MailChimp is their customer support; while MailChimp only supports you via email, Aweber will pick up the phone.

Whether a new business succeeds or fails sometimes boils down to luck.

But, success and failure are usually about more than luck. 

It helps to have a competitive advantage when you start a business.

Our friends at crowdspring teamed up with Swyft Filings and Trademark Engine to bring Bplans’ readers a free, 95-page eBook filled with actionable insights and advice, based on their collective decades in business.

It’s called: How To Start a Business From Scratch: Build a Successful Business and Turn Your Ideas Into Money.

Spoiler alert: Bplans and LivePlan make an appearance in the section on writing a business plan!

Together, the authors have helped over 400,000 businesses launch and grow. They pooled their expertise in branding, design, business law, trademarks, marketing, and much more to create a detailed guide that will help set your business on the right path from day one.

This eBook will help you learn how to:

• Overcome your fear of failure
• Find, evaluate, and protect your great business idea
• Write a business plan that will get you funded
• Properly set up your business
• Create a strong brand identity
• Build and grow a service-based business, online business, or retail business
• Create a strong online presence for your new company
• Raise money and finance your new business
• Launch your business and get your first customers

Here’s a peek at Chapter 3: How to Write a Business Plan That Will Get You Funded:

If you’ve been dreaming about starting a new business or are already working to launch it, remember that success doesn’t happen by chance. 

Give yourself a competitive advantage by downloading your free copy of crowdspring’s new eBook. 

Startups and high-growth businesses can learn a lot from angel investors, regardless of whether you’re seeking funding to grow your business or not. And if you pitch and get turned down, their feedback can be really valuable in helping you think about what you need to do next to meet your funding goals.

I’ve seen this over and over in my dealings, both as an angel investor on my own and as a member of a local angel investment group. Most angel investors don’t just reject startups—we explain why. And we don’t just say yes either; we explain what else is needed.

What we did at the Willamette Angel Conference (from 2009 to 2017) was the rule, not the exception. We took a $100 fee for submissions, and what we offered in return was real feedback. To see what I mean, take a look at the blog posts and videos available at Gust and do a web search for AngelList.

Angel investors are individuals willing to invest their own money to fund new startups. Most of them have made money with startups; they’ve been through the wringer, they’ve succeeded, and they are in a position to share. They can teach you a lot. So if you’re a startup, always focus on listening first.

Lesson 1: Not all good businesses are good investments

One of the most common misunderstandings is the assumption that angel investors invest in startups that will become strong, independent businesses.

However, the angel investors don’t make money from their investment until they can sell their ownership for actual real money—that is, until an exit, such as the business being acquired by a larger business, or registering for public stock sales. So, somewhat paradoxically, investing in a startup that becomes a healthy small business, generating its own cash and profits, can be a loss for investors. If that business never gives the investors a way to sell their ownership for actual money, then there is no return. No matter how good your business is, if it doesn’t offer investors cash out at some point, it’s a bad investment.

If the investors end up with a minority share in a healthy business, one that never sells out, then they never get their money back.

I think of it like the diagram here below—many really good businesses are not good investments:

This explains one very important point for your startup: If it has the potential to start, grow, and be healthy without needing outside investment, you could be better off without investors.

Keep in mind that when you take investment, you’re giving the investor a part of your business. When they have a stake in your company’s success, they have a vested interest in influencing your day-to-day operations for profitability. Never seek investment when you don’t need it.

Read more of my articles on seeking investment:

• 10 Good Reasons Not to Seek Investors for Your Startup
• Startup Myth: Investors Want the Best Companies

Lesson 2: Don’t sweat meaningless numbers

My personal favorite in the “pure nonsense category” is the IRR, the internal rate of return, something that was interesting for about one hour as part of the MBA curriculum, but which has no relevance in the real world.

Combine a wild guess on future growth for several years, add in a wilder guess about future valuation prices and exit opportunities, and then pretend that the combination means something. It really only means that you haven’t recovered from your MBA years. Forget it. You’re out of school now.

I have to admit, I’ve seen some judges of graduate-level business plan competitions care about IRR, but never an actual angel investor during actual due diligence.

A close second is projecting stupid profitability into the future.

Please, get a clue: Real businesses usually turn out net profits in single digits, and only rarely up as high as 20 percent. Angel investors are not impressed by projections of 30, 40, 50 percent or more profits on sales. They don’t think that means you’ll be profitable, but rather that you don’t understand what you’ll need to spend. If your sales forecast is reasonable, then you are probably underestimating costs, expenses, or both, in your expense forecast, budget, or projected profit and loss.

And it gets worse—a lot of angels, in a lot of tech business markets, prefer high growth and deficit spending to profits. I was told once that my business was too profitable for VC investment. Many investors believe that startups have to choose between profits or growth, and can’t do both at the same time (more on this in lesson 5 below).

Finally, depending on context, those big market numbers can work against you. Not that bigger markets aren’t everybody’s goal—the investors’ as much as yours—but because top-down market numbers are annoying. Angel investors hate projections of sales based on some small percentage of a huge market, as in “if we get just one-quarter of a percent of this $20-billion market.”

Read more of my articles related to meaningless numbers:

• You Can Take That IRR and Shove It
• Your Profits Are Too High
• I Hate Those Huge Market Numbers

Lesson 3: You have to be able to scale up

Good investments need growth, and growth requires what investors refer to as being “scalable.”

This is a very important concept: Scalable means a business can ramp up, increase its volume enormously, without increasing its fixed costs proportionately.

Can you jump from selling 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 without a proportional jump in headcount and overhead? Product businesses usually can. Some web service businesses can. But a lot of businesses can’t. This is why investors don’t usually like service businesses. They tend to depend on the people more than the product. Key assets walk out the door every night. They can’t scale up.

Investors use the term “body shop” to refer to the many service businesses that depend on people doing specific things for each unit of sales. They will ask “do the assets walk out the door at the end of the working day?” Professional services such as attorneys, accountants, consultants, and design or product development companies are classic body shop businesses that can’t scale. Rand Fishkin’s book, “Lost and Founder,” gives some interesting perspective on a company that transitioned from an unscalable consulting business to a SaaS product. Fishkin is pretty frank about the pros and cons of scaling his business and taking on investors.

Read more of my articles on what investors want:

• 5 Things Investors Always Want
• 5 Shark Tank Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Lesson 4: You need a secret sauce

Angels want you to have some way to defend your business against competition.

They’ll ask, “what’s proprietary?” They’ll ask, “what’s to prevent a competitor with a bigger budget from jumping into your market and taking it over?”

They’ll talk about whether or not you have a so-called secret sauce that sets you apart from the competition. All that is about defensibility, also called barriers to entry.

Sometimes, this discussion is about patents. Patents can protect inventions, formulas, and algorithms. In a perfect world, having patent protection would be a good answer to concerns about defensibility. In the real world, although patents are always an advantage, patents alone aren’t enough.

Investors look for what the patents cover and ways competitors will work around them. Not all patents are enforceable and not all patents rule out ways to work around them, getting to the same market without violating the patents.

The world of startups is littered with the carcasses of businesses that were protected by patents in theory, but not in fact. Patents require active legal budgets to protect aggressively against infringement.

There are other factors that make startups defensible. Trade secrets, effective branding, differentiation, and first-mover advantage can help. What investors will teach you is that you don’t want to identify a great market without having the resources to grow fast and seize market share before others do.

Lesson 5: Rapid growth costs money

Consider this the two sides of a single coin: First, angel investors want companies that grow fast and exit. Second, companies that grow fast are going to present both the need for more investment and the growth potential to justify more investment.

Therefore, companies that can fund their own growth are less interesting than companies that need to raise more money later to finance continuing growth.

Normally, attractive growth takes investment. It doesn’t fund itself.

The scalable defensible company that has a shot at increasing sales 300 percent per year for a few years needs to invest in marketing expenses, working capital, employee ramp-up, product development, infrastructure, and other factors that support that growth.

Product companies, for example, need to spend on product development and materials and prototypes before they launch, and they have to buy inventory to build products. Then, if they sell through channels, they have to wait months to get paid by distributors or retailers. All that absorbs cash resources. Web companies, as another example, need to develop the product offering in code, and test, before they launch.

Most of which boils down to: Listen and get a clue

If you’re working a startup and dealing with angel investors, it’s not up to them to understand your story and believe in you; it’s up to you to have something they want to invest in.

If they don’t get it, first listen carefully to what they have to say. Their most powerful tool by far is the simple use of the word “no.”

And, don’t expect angels to give uniform advice.

I’ve seen many times how a startup pitching a focused targeted ramp-up strategy, using a narrow market as a beachhead, will be told by angels that it’s too narrow—so the entrepreneurs change the pitch to go all the way to the huge market instead, to get turned down as “too broad,” or “too many moving parts.” Angels don’t do that on purpose to drive you crazy; they’ll have different opinions.

Read this article on unsuccessful pitches:

• Dealing with Rejection From Investors

And one final word: If you pitch repeatedly for angels and nobody is interested, get a clue.

You might not have a good investment to offer. Revise your business plan, do something else, or maybe you have one of those good businesses that isn’t a good investment.

The only general rule? There are no general rules.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2015. It was updated in 2019.

Writing a business plan can seem intimidating. You’re committing your great idea to paper and fleshing out the details of how you’re actually going to start and grow your business. While all of this can seem like a big task, it doesn’t have to be as difficult and time-consuming as it seems.

For over 15 years, I’ve been writing business plans, reading plans for major business plan competitions, and raising money for startups. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things that can make the business planning process much easier and faster.

Here’s my list of tips, tricks, and resources.

Start with a pitch

This might seem a bit backward—don’t you usually do a pitch for investors after you’ve written your plan? Well, it turns out that this is one of the biggest hacks in business planning, and will shorten your business plan development cycle substantially.

A one-page pitch is a simple overview of your business. It’s the high-level plan of what you want to do, who your customers are, how you’re going to make money, and what your key strategies are for sales and marketing.

Creating a one-page pitch will only take you about 30 minutes and you’ll have a complete outline of your business plan ready to share with business partners and anyone else willing to give you feedback on your idea.

The great thing about a one-page pitch is that it’s easy to share, easy to read (no one’s going to read that 40-page plan you send out), and easy to update. As you refine your business model, you can quickly update your pitch without wasting a lot of time.

You can get detailed instructions for creating your one-page pitch right here and you can also download a free pitch template here.

Understand the problem you are solving

If you aren’t solving a problem for your customers, you don’t have a business. So, having a solid understanding of the problem that you are solving is necessary if you’re going to be successful.

This is probably the most important step in the business planning process and the one that’s most often missed. I’ve even seen MBA students from top schools like Harvard and Stanford forget this crucial part of their business plan.

The key is to understand and explain the problem that you are solving for your customers—and make no mistake, every successful business is solving a problem for their customers. For a restaurant, a problem might be described like this: “There’s no good Mexican food in this neighborhood.” For an apartment search website: “It’s difficult to wade through Craigslist posts to find an apartment that meets your needs.”

Explaining the problem you are solving explains what your opportunity is. It explains why your business exists and the need that it is filling in the marketplace. Although this step is relatively simple, too many startups skip it, making it harder for them to raise money and grow.

One of the best things you can do to understand your customers—and get a real handle on the problems you are solving for them—is to get out from behind the computer and go out and actually talk to them face-to-face.

If that’s not practical, or you just want to augment your face-to-face conversions, I recommend using these tools and resources:

• Typeform: Create beautiful and useful surveys. Typeform surveys are also really easy to fill out on smartphones.
• SurveyMonkey: This old stalwart is an excellent survey tool. They have a huge library of sample surveys and survey questions that you can use as the foundation for your own survey.
• User Testing: Getting feedback on a prototype or design can be challenging. User Testing can make this process easier.
• Talking to Humans: A great book to help guide you through the process of talking to your potential customers. The book is free to read in PDF format.

Know your market

When you’re talking to your potential customers, you’re really getting to know your market, and you’re doing market research.. This kind of in-person research is called “primary market research” because you’re gathering information firsthand, from the actual source.

The other kind of research that you might need to do when you’re planning your business is called “secondary market research.” This is when you gather information from other sources—typically things like the number of people that live in a city, or the number of people in a certain income bracket.

You’ll want to do some secondary market research to figure out how big your market really is. Even though you might have identified a real problem to solve, you still need to make sure that there are enough potential customers to build a real business.

Fortunately, you don’t have to pay an expensive consultant to gather this data. You can easily do it yourself.

For the U.S. market, here are my favorite resources for gathering market data:

• Data USA: A collaboration between MIT and Deloitte, this is an excellent starting point for U.S. data. It aggregates various U.S. Government datasets and makes them easy to search and use.
• Statista: This is a great source of industry and market research. It also includes data on various industries, so you can get a sense of how much people are currently spending on things like, “daily deal and group buying sites in China.”
• Consumer Expenditure Survey: If you want to know how much people are spending in different categories, this Bureau of Labor Statistics resource is a great place to start.
• FreeLunch: If you’re looking for free economic, demographic, and financial information, this is a good free resource to get you started.

Research the competition

Good business planning also means taking the time to get to know your competition. For your business to succeed and grow, your plan needs to show how you’re going to stand out from the competition. What’s going to make you different? Is it price? Is it better service? Is it better features?

When you’re talking to your potential customers, it’s always a good idea to ask how they’re solving their problem now. You can get a great list of competitors this way.

To understand your competition, a great option is to “secret shop” them, if you can. Pretend to be one of their potential customers and see how they try and sell to you. You’ll get some great insight into how your competition views its products and services, as well as gather important information on pricing and what they offer.

Another option is to mine the web for data. Of course, you can also read reviews on sites like Yelp or Angie’s List if your competitors are on those platforms. If your competitors are online companies, there’s a wealth of information that you can learn—from what keywords your competitors rank for, to what online advertisements they run and what audiences they target.

Here are my favorite resources for competitive market research:

• SEMrush: To get detailed information, you’ll have to sign up for a paid account. But, even the free information that you can get on your competitor’s online marketing is incredibly useful and interesting.
• Spyfu: This service is fairly similar to SEMrush. It’s worth checking out as an alternative solution.
• SimilarWeb: If you want to know how much traffic your competitors are getting to their site, give SimilarWeb a try. I’ve found it to be surprisingly accurate.
• SizeUp: If you’re a more traditional brick-and-mortar business, check out SizeUp. They can help you pinpoint your local competitors and give you an idea of what they spend on marketing, health care, and more.

Do the numbers

Probably one of the most intimidating parts of business planning is forecasting and budgeting. It’s certainly always more fun to think about your product, your logo, and your marketing.

But, if the numbers don’t add up, your business isn’t going to work. Also, if you’re looking for funding or a business loan, you won’t have any idea how much money you should ask for if you don’t put together a basic forecast.

This is one area where I don’t recommend trying to reinvent the wheel. Use a proven tool to build your forecast so you don’t have to worry about things like Excel errors, or how to get good looking charts and graphs into your business plan or your pitch presentation.

Here’s my recommendation for building your financial forecasts for your business plan. There are also a few links to some useful resources if you do want to give it a shot on your own:

• LivePlan: I’m biased, but LivePlan truly does make it easy to get your financials done, even if you’ve never seen a balance sheet or P&L before. If you can use TurboTax, you can use LivePlan, and you won’t have to worry about a potential investor finding an error in your business plan.
• The Key Elements of the Financial Plan: If you want to give it a shot on your own, we have a guide that tells you all about each portion of your forecast, and walks you through the process of building your own.
• Cash Is King: Don’t start a business without making sure you understand cash and profits, and how the two differ. If you learn one thing about business forecasting, this is it.
• Investopedia Dictionary: If you’re struggling to understand some of the terms in your financial forecasts, give Investopedia’s dictionary tool a try.

Get funding

If you’re like most people, you’re going to need some money in your pocket to get your business off the ground. A loan might be the right choice for you if you have some assets to use as collateral. Or, perhaps you’re going to go after funding from angel investors or venture capitalists.

Here are my favorite resources to help you search for a loan, get in front of investors, and raise money from the crowd:

• Fundera: With a single application, you can get your business in front of over 25 different lenders. Fundera works with banks as well as non-traditional lenders to find the right loan solution for you.
• Connect Lending: If you know you need a traditional bank loan, check out Connect Lending. They’ll shop your application to multiple banks and present you with the best options.
• Pitch Deck Template: If you’re going after angel investors, venture capitalists, or are looking to raise money from friends and family, a good pitch presentation is going to be critical. Your pitch deck is your calling card and often the first thing potential investors see when they’re considering investing. Download this free template to build your presentation.
• AngelList: With your pitch presentation honed, you’ll want to get in front of investors. Start by creating a profile on AngelList, one of the largest and best platforms for reaching angel investors. VCs also browse these profiles, so it’s a great place to post information about your company.
• Gust: Like AngelList, Gust will let you post a free profile for your business and help you get in front of angel investors. There’s no downside to posting on both platforms.
• GoFundMe: If you’re raising money from friends and family, a platform like GoFundMe can help formalize the process.
• Kickstarter: Perhaps the platform that started the crowdfunding movement, Kickstarter is still a great platform for product businesses and creative projects.

Business plan templates and examples

One of the best ways to jump-start the business planning process is to take a look at how others have done it. Fortunately, Bplans has a great collection of resources to help you get your planning done:

• A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan: While we always recommend that you start your planning process with a pitch, there’s a good chance you’ll need a detailed business plan as well. This guide holds your hand through the process, detailing what you should include in each section.
• Business Plan Template Download: When you’re ready to dive in, start with our business plan template. Simply download the free Word document and start filling in the blanks. This template is in an SBA-approved format so you know it will cover everything lenders look for in a plan.
• Sample Business Plans: If you want to read some complete sample business plans, or even download them so you can use them as a starting point (they’re free), check out our library of examples.

I hope these tips, tricks, and resources have helped you get your business planning process off the ground.

If you have questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to post them in the comments section below.

In the digital age, the power and ubiquity of business tools has helped level the playing field and reduce the discrepancy between small businesses and large corporations.

Continuous innovation around cloud-based software solutions and increased competition for market share have made sophisticated technological tools available and affordable to smaller businesses. This type of technology allows even small startups to perform on the global stage in a way that has never been seen or even imagined before now.

Based on a combination of observations in the sector, the rapid growth of the number of solutions in particular areas, and the findings of corporate studies, we have compiled a list of seven business technology trends for 2016 that will help to drive performance to facilitate growth for your small business.

The workforce goes virtual

A 2015 survey conducted by Virgin Media Business predicted that 60 percent of office-based workers will regularly work from home by 2022. This trend is supported by the rise of productivity applications and collaboration platforms such as Slack or BaseCamp, with companies like social media management platform Buffer leveraging this technology to maintain a fully-distributed team.

[pullquote]Sixty percent of office-based workers will regularly work from home by 2022.[/pullquote]

It may not be necessary for you to split your team up, but for some small businesses, this technology dramatically increases the size of your potential talent pool when looking to outsource tasks or fill a position.

By making use of this technology, you can overcome the limitations of geography by adopting a virtual workforce.

Marketing is automated

Marketing automation software removes the need for small businesses to exhibit comprehensive marketing experience to drive success. It also allows companies to avoid the considerable fees associated with using a dedicated marketing agency.

This type of platform allows marketers or business owners to specify a goal and have the software handle the tasks involved, such as publishing a single post to multiple social media platforms.

Solutions such as HubSpot or Eloqua handle all of the CRM, funnel management, and website optimization, delivering customized messages to prospects at the right moment during the consumer buying cycle, reducing the burden on business owners.

The cost of HubSpot’s social media analytics, integrated SEO, and A/B testing of calls-to-action starts at $200 per month for a basic plan, ranging to $2,500 for the enterprise plan. Eloqua’s marketer service starts at $2,000, but the platform’s Social Suite provides advanced features, including drag-and-drop of social content directly onto landing pages from within the Eloqua editor.

Small businesses get into the app game

With marketing tools driving traffic to your business, it is now more important than ever to capitalize on mobile’s dominance over desktop, and offer local customers a dedicated mobile application.

While this may seem more appropriate for more established businesses, platforms such as Appy Pie and the recently announced Microsoft PowerApps allow even non-technical users to easily create apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Kindle, and Windows Phone with extreme ease.

Furthermore, the advanced capabilities of the platform make it easy to embed click-to-call voice and video communications like those offered by technology company Agora.io. This means you can seamlessly integrate video chat into your app for enhanced communication with customers in a way that works for small businesses.

Another way to approach this is to have customers interact with each other. For example, startup Company HelloTalk has leveraged Agora.io’s technology to create a worldwide language learning app, which connects those who want to learn a new language with users that speak that language natively, and the two help each other. For instance, it connects an English speaker who wants to learn French with a French speaker who wants to learn English, so they can both enhance each other’s learning.

This technology can help the niche market of learning new languages, but how would it apply to your business? When integrated into your app, this technology can be your business’s customer service.

By giving the consumer the ability to show exactly what is wrong to the representative, and giving the representative the ability to visually walk the customers through the issues to resolve the problem, you are giving your business the advantage over your competitors who can’t do this. It can even give your representatives the chance to visually pitch new products and services, in a more personable way.

Creating an active and well-functioning app for your small business that lives on your customers’ phones gives your brand the prestige and credibility that was once reserved for big businesses.  

Customer relationship management goes digital

Customer communication is key to the survival of almost any business.

A comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system enhances the customer experience by offering a full range of services. It also streamlines the internal processes related to customer care by offering a single location for all customer data for efficient handling of interactions.

Salesforce is probably the best-known CRM solution, but there are also simpler and lower cost packages like One Page CRM, and free products like Insightly offer comprehensive social media integration to allow businesses to learn more about their customers through public profiles. The data collected from the CRM system, such as customer demographics and response rates, should be fed back into your automated marketing software to improve the focus of your marketing goals.

Acceptance of new payment methods

In addition to revolutionizing the way we communicate, smartphones have completely changed the way we live our daily lives. We rely on them for entertainment, information, time-keeping, and increasingly for business.

All of these now happen on-the-go, and the latest trend migrating to mobile devices is payments. The growing acceptance of Apple Pay, as well as the PayPal App’s allowance for paying for store purchases and even restaurant bills from within the app, will bring this trend to the fore in 2016.

Other options include LifeLock Wallet, which turns your credit, debit, ID and insurance card information into a barcode that can be scanned at checkout. Alternatively, Google Wallet allows users to save card details to a Google account and delivers that information to merchants via Near Field Communication (NFC), and so relies on a handset that supports this technology.

Embracing this movement will not only streamline payment processes, but it will show that your business is forward-thinking and embracing the future as it happens.

Inventory management is smart

According to a 2015 study by Wasp Barcode Technologies, 46 percent of small businesses with 11-500 employees don’t track inventory.

This means that stock can lie around unaccounted for, reducing sales potential, interrupting cash flow and even affecting warehouse management. Fortunately, solutions like Fishbowl Inventory make it quick and simple to track and manage stock levels. Fishbowl is the most-requested add-on for QuickBooks, the small and medium-sized business accounting solution, and it integrates easily with various other types of accounting and CRM software, making it adaptable to many technology implementations.

Leveraging this type of smart software will reduce instances of unaccounted stock sitting around collecting dust, improving the impact of even limited budgets.

Analytics tools improve business intelligence

The knowledge of your inventory position can be turned into a powerful tool when combined with Business Intelligence (BI) tools. This kind of software leverages multiple metrics across a range of business processes, to provide real-time access to data and analysis that drives a quicker understanding of business processes, to help owners make informed business decisions.

Tableau, for example, provides detailed access to interactive data while remaining simple to use, while QlikView integrates the building of the back-end calculations with the front-end user interface, to remove the need for separate business intelligence tools for dashboards, analysis, and reports. Large corporations realize the value of data, and your small business can leverage the power of information too by implementing this kind of software.

These technology trends are set to drive small business in 2016. The more your business gets on board with, the more ahead of the game your business will be relative to the competition.

With new technology comes new opportunities. Which tech trends are you excited to try this coming year?

Applying for a small business loan can be a time-consuming and stressful process.

Many business owners want to know their chances of getting approved (or that they even stand a chance) before investing their time into searching and applying for loans.

So, what are your chances? Lending is never black or white, so it’s very hard for a business owner to find a concrete answer; the best way to know is to apply.

But, there are definitely some benchmarks that small business owners should be aware of that will give them a better idea of what lenders are looking at, and what their chances are of securing a loan.

The 4 most important parts of the loan application:

Every lender is different, and puts emphasis on some criteria that others might not. But, there are a few factors that most lenders will consider important:

1. Your personal credit score

As the owner of the business, lenders assume you’ll be making the loan payments, so they want to know more about your history handling past debt.

2. Your annual revenue

Lenders want to know you have enough cash coming in to handle loan payments. Revenue is also very important in determining loan size. Most of the time you can only qualify for amounts around 15 percent or less of your total annual revenue.

3. Your time in business

The longer your business has been around, the better for your loan chances. Lenders feel more secure when you’ve stood the test of time. Your loan options will really start opening up after you’ve been in business for at least two years.

4. Your average bank balance

Lenders want to know how you manage your cash, and that you have some cushion on hand in case your business has an unexpected emergency. Almost every lender will ask for at least a few months of business bank statements to verify this amount, so make sure you bank account looks solid before applying.

Benchmarks to keep in mind:

As we said, there are very few things that are definitive in online lending, but many lenders do have “minimum requirements” for an application to be considered. Sometimes these minimums can be hard to find, so you can use this cheat sheet to decide which type of loan product your business should focus on.

SBA loans

SBA loans are very much like traditional bank loans, except a portion of them is guaranteed by the SBA, which makes it easier for riskier borrowers to qualify.

• Time in business should equal 2+ years
• Annual revenue of $50,000+
• Personal credit score of 640+
• Must be 3+ years out from a bankruptcy
• Cannot have a loan out with another lender

Medium-term loans

Medium-term loans are traditional term loans found online that tend to be two to five years in length.

• Time in business should equal 1+ years
• Annual revenue of $150,000+ (one lender will consider $25,000+)
• Personal credit score of 600+
• Must be 2+ years out from a bankruptcy
• If you have a loan out with another lender, you may be able to work with some medium-term lenders but not all
• Medium-term loans are a great product for refinancing debt

Short-term loans

Short-term loans are loans three to 18 months in length, that have daily or weekly payments.

• Time in business should equal 6+ months
• Annual revenue of $65,000+
• Personal credit score of 500+
• Must be 1+ years out from a bankruptcy
• If you have a loan out with another lender, you may be able to work with some short-term lenders but not all

Accounts receivable financing

Accounts receivable financing allows small business owners to use unpaid receivables as collateral for a cash advance.

• Time in business should equal 6+ months
• Annual revenue of $50,000+
• Personal credit score of 500+
• Must have outstanding B2B accounts receivables
• It’s okay if you have a loan out with another lender

Startup loans

Startup loans are for young businesses with little financial history who are looking for traditional debt financing.

• • Personal credit score of 700+
  • 3+ years out from a personal bankruptcy
  • Cannot have a loan out with another lender

These are just five of the many products that can be found online. If you don’t meet these requirements, there are other products you could potentially qualify for, like a merchant cash advance, but know that those products tend to have very, very high APRs.

To reiterate, the best way to know if you will qualify is to apply. But, it’s good practice to speak with any lender you are considering before starting an application to ensure you meet their minimum requirements.

Need help finding a loan? Check out the Bplans Loan Finder. 

New technology is making us faster, smarter, smaller, and more efficient.

While it’s not always easy to learn new systems, some are just too good to pass up. We’ve selected a few of our favorite tools to make your life easier.

But don’t just take our opinion—we’ve also researched what others are saying and doing. We referenced two recent surveys to reinforce our top picks.

One survey, published earlier this year in Inc. Magazine by SurePayroll, asked 350 small-business owners nationwide for their favorite online tools; another survey we accessed interviewed over 500 entrepreneurs to find their favorites.

We bring you the best of these lists—with our endorsement of how this technology is changing our small business life.

Communication and meetings

Google Hangouts: At Brand Genie, we use Google Hangouts every day. It’s an easy way for us to have “face to face” meetings when we can’t be there in person. Sometimes we share our screen and do training with customers on Skype. Other times we gather our remote team for internal meetings.

We use Google Calendar as well, so we send out meeting requests that automatically have a link included to the Hangout. It makes it so easy to click on the link and join in. We’ve had meetings with people around the world and it feels like they’re next door. And it’s free.

Skype: This is our backup. We have Skype accounts in case a customer prefers Skype, but don’t find it quite as easy, or full functioning (easy screen share, multiple participants) as Google Hangouts. However, we are including it on this list because in the surveys we referenced, many small businesses do use and enjoy Skype.

File storage

Box: This is a great cloud-based storage system that allows you to securely share, store, and manage all your company’s files. Your team can access your files anywhere and they are securely backed up. We use their starter package for $5/month/user.

We came to Box after a few heart-stopping moments with Dropbox where we lost files, or functionality. That might have been our user error, but it scared us enough to make the switch. Box is also on the Inc. list of favorite tools.

Google Drive: Lots of our partners use Google Drive, and we’re on here too. We don’t find it quite as easy to use as Box, but it’s also free and probably easier to set up. Google Drive is also recommended in the other two surveys we referenced.

Organization 

Trello: Trello is a visual project management system. It allows you to see how you are progressing through a series of steps. Your entire team can access it, write notes and instantly see where things stand.

We use this with our tech team to identify what needs to be accomplished each week, and to track progress. Trello was also selected as one of the best online tools in the Inc. poll.

Evernote: Evernote is a nifty way to take notes across different devices. You download the app onto any device you use—your phone, your computer, your tablet—and then it all syncs together so your notes are always up to date and accessible.

The search function in the notes also works well so you can find what you’re looking for. No more scraps of paper; it’s all organized online. We use the free version of Evernote. The surveys we referenced agree with us too; many small businesses swear by this app.

Marketing tools

Moz: If you want a quick hit to your search engine rankings, try Moz Local. They push all of your contact and location information to the major data aggregators. Then, the search engines can find you more quickly and your customers can find you.

We recommend this to our website customers, and have found that the results are fairly instant and dramatic. Access to Moz is $84/location.

Weebly: We use Weebly technology for the backend of the websites we create, and we love it. There’s really no need for custom coding for most websites anymore.

Weebly’s platform creates mobile-enabled websites that are as easy to create as a Powerpoint doc. Intro websites (you don’t get your own URL) are free.

Brand Genie: Full disclosure, yes this is our company and we created it with the sole purpose of automating branding for small businesses. Our Brand Genie software quickly identifies your colors, fonts, images, and brand personality. Then you create a logo, business cards, and a website.

Our websites are on the Weebly platform with your brand on top. What used to take months of time and cost thousands of dollars, now happens in a snap. Brand Genie is free; logos are $9; custom websites are $345.

Canva: Canva was called “the easiest to use design program in the world” by the Webbys, which gives awards for best on the internet.

They have turned me into a designer. I’m still not as good as a pro, but the Canva online platform features all sorts of pre-loaded graphics and tools that make design simple for everyone.

The tool is free to use with minimal charges if you use certain graphics.

Managing a small business is always a juggling act, and if you’re like the majority of small businesses, you’re the sole proprietor. That means you don’t have employees that specialize in whatever it is that needs to get done. You usually have to do it yourself.

These online tools are here to help. Each one should help you become more productive and free up more of your time—without impacting your budget. We hope these tools make your small business life easier.

These are all valid tips, but we wanted to generate a list of creative ways to save money, ways that even experienced business owners could benefit from. So, we talked to several entrepreneurs and came up with these money-saving tips:

1. Reach out to colleges and universities

Shaun Tuck, the owner of Professor Egghead, a company that promotes STEM education for kids, suggests reaching out to college professors, especially if you took their classes. Leverage your network for advice, or to offer internship opportunities. 

Colleges that offer business degrees often require students to do capstone or final projects in conjunction with local businesses. They may do website evaluations or a short-term marketing push. Working with students is one way to get a fresh perspective on your business.

Tuck spoke to his former professors and was put in touch with the law department at USC. The team helped Tuck’s company form an LLC, which was overseen by the head of the department and didn’t cost the company a dime.

2. Use online sites for printing

If you’re headed to big box stores to print any materials, you’re probably dealing with steep markups. Rather than pay high prices, James Robert Webb, who owns his own indie record label, uses the website GotPrint for all of his printing needs.

“My first batch of business cards at a large chain office supply store cost $300,” he says. “Now, I find cheaper alternatives online and get business cards printed for a fraction of that cost.”

3. Outsource administrative tasks

Rather than bringing on a full-time employee to answer phones or handle emails, outsource these administrative tasks to virtual businesses. For example, you can hire a virtual assistant on a part-time basis to handle managing your email. You can create an ad for a virtual assistant on a site like Elance, which is a freelance site where experienced workers can apply for your job.

You can also outsource your front desk position. Businesses like Ruby Receptionists can handle your incoming calls, set a voicemail for you, and send you email alerts as specified. There are several pricing options to choose from, but compared to hiring someone full time, you’re likely to save money.

4. Try coworking or shared workspaces

If you’re just starting out, you could check out the possibility of renting a shared workspace, suggests business coach Jennifer Martin. Coworking spaces are increasingly available since so many businesses today are powered by a remote workforce. Users typically have access to conference rooms for meeting with clients and have a place to get online, make calls, and be productive.

It’s probably cheaper than renting your own space, and it’s a good way to network with other business professionals who use the office too.

5. Use cheaper phone options

Cell phone bills can be expensive, especially if you’re paying for several lines. While many businesses can’t survive without cell phones, there are ways to keep costs down. For instance, use long-distance apps like Viber, which takes away from your data rather than your minutes. If texting costs are adding up, try WhatsApp, an app that enables you to send texts for free.

You can also use Skype, which offers video conferencing, or FreeConferenceCall.com for conference calls. 

Do you have an out-of-the-box way to save your business money? Share it with us on Twitter @Bplans. 

Editor’s note: This article originally published in 2014. It was updated in 2019.

Hiring professionals for a small business is an important process. The best attorney for your business will depend on what the legal needs are for your company. In fact, there is a good chance there is no one attorney who can handle everything, so the best attorney may actually turn out to be a law firm with several attorneys having different specialties.

Small businesses often need help setting up the right legal form of business—negotiating contracts with customers or suppliers, assisting with real estate needs (such as a lease or a building purchase), taxes, zoning and licenses, protecting intellectual property, or settling litigation.

For example, contracts need to protect all parties involved in the transaction, when often lease agreements are written to protect only the landlord. These contracts are negotiable, and your attorney should have a standard “tenant’s addendum” containing provisions that benefit you that can be added to the printed lease document. Getting legal advice before you sign any contract could save you conflicts or dollars in the future.

So, how should a small business owner find the right legal help for their business? One option is to ask friends and business associates for a referral. Accountants, bankers, and insurance professionals will have attorneys they have worked with in the past and who they feel comfortable with. Resources also exist on the web, such as the American Bar Association, which has a state by state lawyer referral directory.

Interview more than one attorney to find someone who knows not only small business law, but also your industry. Ask questions about experience with the specific legal issues you are facing. Ask for references so you can check how satisfied other small business owners are with the services they received. Make sure you feel comfortable understanding what the attorney is saying to you. Remember, you are the customer in this situation and you need to feel this is the person or firm who can serve your needs now and in the future. Confirm fees in advance for this initial conversation and clarify fees that will be charged for future legal work.

An attorney is one of the key business professionals you want to have on your small business team. The right attorney can save your business money and time in dealing with complex legal matters.

Have you hired legal help for your small business? Share your experience in the comments below.

You can reach Arlene at asoto@socc.edu with further small business questions.

[ Down to Business is a weekly small business advice column featured in The World Newspaper, originally published online by the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network, and republished here with permission. ]