You’re a personal trainer who likes working solo because you like to keep your business small. So you probably haven’t considered creating a business plan. After all, only big businesses need that, right? But you know what, a lot of businesses – even small ones – have folded up because they didn’t create a business plan.

You see, business plans aren’t just meant for businesses who need to borrow money or to attract new investors. A business plan is something like the blue print of your entire business. It will put on paper what your vision is for your business, what your business goals are and how you think you can achieve your goals. If you’re really serious about your business, then you must come up with your own business plan.

There isn’t a single format for creating business plans. However, if you want to get started, you can look up templates of business plans online. Or you could also use a software that helps you build your own business plan from scratch.

But to get you started, here are some suggestions of the things you can place in your business plan. These are just the basics so feel free to add other elements as you need them.

1. Describe your business. This is probably the most basic thing that your business plan would have to answer. Try as much as possible to describe what your business does in as few words as possible. What are you selling? Who are you selling your product to?
2. How you plan to conduct your business. Are you going to focus on running boot camps or would you rather work with individuals every day?  Write down in your business plan how you plan to earn money.
3. Who your clients are. It’s also important for any business to know who they are selling their products to. So you must define your target market. Are you going to cater to more affluent clients or to those who could only afford the basic minimum rates? Knowing who your clients are can help you decide the pricing for your services as well as focus your marketing efforts in the long run.
4. How you intend to spend your profits. What are you going to do with the money that you will earn from this business? Will you spend it on promotions in the first quarter or would you rather spend it later to buy newer equipment? This portion will outline those decisions for you.
5. You and your competition. To set yourself apart from the competition, it’s also important to know who your competitors are and what they do. What do they have that you lack? What can you do that they can’t? If you’re a solo trainer, for example, you are more mobile and flexible than fitness studios owned by a big company.

So you see, business plans can be invaluable in showing you in print what you actually want to do with your business. It helps you keep your efforts and goals focused. Aside from that, it can also show you what things could have changed in your marketplace and help you decide whether you need to employ new strategies in order for to remain competitive.

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