Gift from Podza: Free Business Plan Template To Include for 2025

Kateryna Tytarenko, SEO Specialist in Multi-Programming Solutions  •  12 min read

Whether you are looking for reliable investors to start a new POD store, want to collaborate with a promising partner, or just need to get data-based insights on how to scale your company, a business plan is what you should develop to succeed. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel because other entrepreneurs have already done and tested working templates. 

In this guide, we’ll learn what a business plan is and how it can simplify a brand’s growth and development. You’ll find free examples of written documents to help you create your startup roadmap.

Table of Contents

Why you should use a business plan

Six steps to an effective business plan

Business plan example

Common mistakes when writing a business plan

Conclusion

Why you should use a business plan

A business plan is a document that outlines the strategic steps a company should take to achieve its goals. It also includes corporate structure, project schedules, and financial and market analysis. A business plan highlights the roadmap of potential brand development, optimization, and growth.

If you search for investors or financial institutions to fund your startup, a business plan is the first thing they may like to see to evaluate your feasibility. This document often helps startupers identify unknown areas in the company’s development process. Entrepreneurs can discover hidden gaps and weaknesses before launching the brand, which helps save costs and upgrade required skills before market entry.

Other reasons to create a print on demand business plan template include:

• Clarifying the strategy for the company’s growth. Writing down all the steps and calculating spending or resources required for launching a POD store may help entrepreneurs in several ways. You’ll understand the scope of work better, predict the amount of money and time needed to enter the niche, and run operations with a maximum outcome. Maybe you’ll figure that the company lacks employees to handle all the tasks or should search for state or private grants to cover initial costs.
• Choosing the best idea. You may have several thoughts, like opening a dropshipping printing business or launching an independent POD service. Creating a plan for each option will help you highlight the most profitable direction. You’ll learn which model better suits your goals, budget, and resources, minimizing failure risks after launching the brand. 
• Making research. How to write an effective business plan? Entrepreneurs should thoroughly analyze the market and its potential clients to get things done. Data will help you create efficient strategic decisions to beat the competitors and gain recognition from a wider audience. Once collected, this information can be used later to develop appealing marketing campaigns and improve customer satisfaction.
• Simplifying recruiting. Attracting a good team of professionals to a newly created company may be challenging without a history of success and no achievements in the field. Still, offering to read your POD business plan for 2025 can help build confidence in your venture as you showcase that everything is under strict control.
• Rewarding contests. Various institutions worldwide host competitions for the most promising development strategy offered by small companies. Winners receive grants, mentorships, or capital to run their startups. For instance, Kean University traditionally holds such programs, allowing entrepreneurs to showcase their creativity and turn a dream into reality.
• Building partnerships. If you want to collaborate with other firms to access new markets or increase your brand’s influence, the best business plan outline will make creating lasting relationships easier. Defining whether your brand suits their vision becomes simpler once they learn more about your philosophy, audience, and values.

Creating an online shop business plan template is a perfect starting point if you are looking for the best ways to structure your thoughts and goals. Moreover, a documented strategy allows sharing your ideas with other individuals and corporations, which can positively impact your company’s growth. 

Six steps to an effective business plan

Every entrepreneur inspired to launch a new company is looking at how to create a business plan step by step. Later in the article, we provide a template that helps develop a document for each individual case. We know how difficult it may be to start from a blank sheet, so we prepared some tips to simplify your brainstorming. The following steps will support you in effective planning:

1. Establish a brand’s mission. Explain briefly (usually up to a single sentence or a paragraph) why you decided to create your POD company. This part may describe your goals, culture, values, relationships with partners and customers, eco-friendliness, etc. Mission statements motivate employees, captivate customers’ attention, and reassure investors of the firm’s profitability.
2. Analyze your SWOT. Describe your company’s weak and strong sides in detail, draw opportunities for business scaling, and consider any threats that may impact processes. SWOT answers questions, including what your firm is best at, where it requires upgrading or optimization, and which factors can bring success or failure. Typically conducted in a grid, this report helps entrepreneurs look at their brands objectively and determine competitive advantages within the occupied industry.
3. Create a plan. Exercise in developing strategies to improve your performance. For instance, you can take several strong sides and write how they can help to get better outcomes. Choose three weaknesses and determine how to eliminate them without compromising productivity or turn them into benefits. In the case of a POD company, you can take several products with the highest demand and set aside other offerings that absorb resources and give the minimum profit.
4. Calculate a budget. Analyze how much money you need to strengthen your brand, choose market opportunities that benefit you, and eliminate possible risks. You should consider many factors, including operational costs, income projections, and the necessity to opt for a loan. 
5. Put it on paper. Ensure you write down enough data to draw up a business plan. It should include a SWOT analysis, mission statements, the company’s objectives, budget, and the people responsible for executing corporate processes. Your employees and stakeholders should familiarize themselves with the documentation to clearly understand the company’s development path.
6. Keep your small business plan up to date. It’s not a static document. You can’t just create it once and follow it for years. The market changes regularly, so you should revise the strategy to stay competitive. Review SWOT, product lines, finances, and long-term goals annually. Analyse achieved milestones, customers’ feedback, and promotional results every quarter. Revise users’ satisfaction, cash flow, inventory, and KPIs monthly. 

And now, we’re moving to the central part of our article. Keep reading to discover free templates.

Business plan example

Let’s dive deeper into the details of creating an efficient plan for your printing business. Here, we provide seven key components entrepreneurs traditionally describe when planning their startups. Look through each element to elevate the full scope of work required to run a POD store and identify areas you may not have considered before.

Executive summary

Although we mention it first, this one-page text is typically compiled when all the rest of the points are already described. This section includes business concepts, values and goals, product line, target market description, current financial and potentially reachable states, marketing strategy key approaches, and the management team involved in the process. If you prepare a business plan for yourself, you may skip this part. However, if you share the document with investors or partners, try your best to make a short but informative overview, as it gives a high-level understanding of your brand and a reason to read about it further.

As an owner of a POD shop, you can include such information for your executive summary page:

• Mention the name of the brand and its location.
• Describe offered services and facilities.
• Share the current market size and its potential growth forecasts.
• Provide information about key competitors and trends.
• Add photos of the management team and write about their responsibilities.
• Describe your ideal consumer (e.g., fans of custom, reusable t-shirts that prioritize family values).
• Upload the diagram describing your financial plan (annual revenue and its growth over the next 5 years).

About the company

This section should clearly answer the questions “Who are you?” and “What do you plan to do?” Readers should understand from the description why you decided to start the business and why customers should choose you over other firms in the industry. Mention what factors differentiate you from rivals so that investors can see the potential of dealing with you. 

Here are several components you can add to the “About Us” part:

• Business structure (incorporated company, limited partnership, sole ownership, etc.).
• Occupied industry, your vision, culture, and values.
• The history of creation (a story from the founder with a personal photo).
• Short and long-term goals (e.g., achieving a certain profit point, going internationally, reducing wastage, etc.).
• Business model (print on demand, dropshipping, etc.).
• Key personnel with their salaries (optional).

The list of products or services

One of the essential steps in creating a business plan is describing your offerings. If you sell many items, include general information, unique features, or additional services you offer. If your brand line consists of only mugs, you can write in more detail about how they differ from each other, which topic translate, and why buyers should choose them over others.

Additionally, describe information on how the stuff is produced, which printing technology you use, or who supplies the store. If you accept personalized orders like printing customers’ photos, mention it in this section as well.

When you have a new offering in mind, announce its release date and mention intellectual property if you own any.

Market analysis

How do you draw up a business plan without understanding your market? We can hardly imagine. This is a key section on which every strategy should be based. It includes research on demand and supply, target audience behavior and demographics, competitive environment, and e-commerce trends. 

You might need to write a SWOT for a company. Here’s an example you may use to develop a strategic business plan for a dropshipping POD shop.

Moreover, you should analyze your target market size. It may be challenging to provide sales if you choose an inappropriate area or enter it at the wrong time. To avoid struggling, conduct detailed research. Learn statistical data about the number of potential consumers, their place of living, the most popular channels used for online purchases, and their shopping behavior.

You’ll also need to analyze your rivals. Determine how they keep customers buying, what product benefits impact their revenue, and which flaws you can fix by offering your assortment. Broader research may also include pricing, shipping policies, and funding.

Marketing plan

When starting a small business from scratch, it’s a good idea to think of how to promote it. Underestimating the necessity of developing a marketing strategy is one of the common mistakes in writing a business plan. And here’s why. Your efforts in getting the word about your brand directly influence the success of the entire venture. Otherwise, how do you consider generating more leads, achieving your goals, and growing revenue?

Most companies focus on four Ps while creating a marketing campaign:

• Price. Calculate your products’ costs and describe what your decision is based on.
• Product. Differentiate your offerings to show customers their unique and rare value.
• Promotion. Define ways to represent your stuff to potential customers.
• Place. Choose selling channels.

While you can briefly describe three other factors, promotion is the main one you should develop in more detail.

Here’s a free example of a business plan covering marketing attempts for a print on demand store.

“Positioning statement

Company X offers high-quality, custom-designed hoodies that combine comfort, sustainability, and style. We use non-toxic inks and waste-reducing technologies to minimize our environmental footprint. Our products can keep customers warm, happy, and confident while supporting an eco-conscious fashion.  

How Company X acquires new clients:

1. Paid ads. We use Google and Facebook ads to attract users interested in printed eco-friendly hoodies. Our advertisements reach people searching for print on demand cloths, sustainable production, and custom gifts.
2. Discounts and promotions. We provide limited offerings like buy-two-get-three, holiday discounts, free shipping via our website, social media profiles (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook) and e-mail notifications”.

Logistics and operations

It’s impossible to imagine examples of written business plans that don’t describe the operations required to get a product done and delivered to the final destination. This section gives readers a clear understanding of your supply chain and possible measures you provide to cover potential uncertainties. 

Typically, logistics and operations plans include such information:

• Suppliers. Describe who sources your shop with ready-made blank items or sends you raw materials.
• Production. Highlight whether you make POD products at home, wholesale, or dropship them. How long does it take to manufacture your stuff, print it, and send it to you or a buyer? Mention how you can handle busy seasons as well.
• Facilities. Write if you have a workshop to create items for sale or a brick-and-mortar store.
• Equipment. Describe all the machines and devices you use to make a printed cloth if you own a printing service. Dropshippers may include software descriptions as well.
• Packing and delivery. Will you do this task independently or delegate the responsibility to a third-party company?
• Inventory. Mention if you have a warehouse and how you will control stock. Otherwise, write about the partners responsible for this part of the work.

Financial plan

You should write about all your assets, expenses, profit, and other projections here. If you need a loan to run your business, the amount of money you request is worth mentioning. You must typically provide a balance sheet, income, and cash flow statement. Shopify offers free sample business plan templates you may use to practice writing about your company’s finances. Here’s what you should put in each table:

• Balance sheet. You should describe your assets: what you own and owe. It’s crucial information for investors to measure your equity.
• Income statements. This section should provide data on your revenue sources and spending. Financial reports help analyze when the company profits or loses over a certain period.
• Cash flow. Compared to the previous table, it also provides information on when exactly your firm receives revenue or spends money. Depending on the difference between the two amounts, it can show when the business has a surplus or requires additional funding to stay solvent.

Common mistakes when writing a business plan

There’s always a little chance that your strategy may fail. Follow our advice to avoid unpleasant situations that reduce all your efforts to zero. Here’s a list of the most widespread mistakes you risk making while preparing an effective business plan:

• An idea without a promising potential. It may be hard to attract investors if your strategy looks too risky or there are no clear steps to achieving the goal. Funding may be rejected if you require a lot of money for your startup and there’s no proof your product or service will meet the target audience’s needs. Instead, prioritize low-cost ideas like an online clothing business where demand remains high throughout the year, and its development depends on a good marketing campaign and strong brand popularization.
• No financial projections. Business plan examples for entrepreneurs should include profit and loss statements, income predictions (backed by calculations), balance sheets, and break-even analysis. You should tell precisely how much you should sell to get a profit (minus expenses) and when you return initial investments. Such documents are the subject of high interest for investors and your first confirmation of the company’s success. 
• Missing exit strategy. Every effective business plan template should include possible steps required for closing the company, selling it to another owner, or somehow reducing the stake and gaining substantial revenue. This scheme may be applied for several reasons, including market uncertainties, performance gaps, death, divorce, disability, etc. A wisely defined exit strategy will prepare your company for various situations when you can no longer run the campaign and need to quit.
• Unbalanced corporate team. High-quality products and a successful promotion can help your brand enter the market quickly and spectacularly. However, its further development and scaling success lies in a well-thought-out corporate structure, where all the roles are predetermined and endowed with responsibilities. Unfortunately, some entrepreneurs underestimate this fact, focusing on generating profit without understanding how it should be organized operationally.
• Poor-quality documents. Here, we mean grammatical and stylistic errors admitted while compiling business plan template examples. It may seem minor at first sight, but if someone spots typos when reading your official documents, your company risks losing trust and getting a bad reputation. Well-structured, transparent, and checked documents help to make good impressions on your audience.

Conclusion

Planning helps companies of any size and model to make the first steps toward successful business launching and development. With a well-structured framework already in place, entrepreneurs can clarify company goals, learn their audience and competitive landscape to set the best strategy for scaling and generating stable profit. 

You can create a business plan for your needs to get a better vision of the next step and evaluate gaps before they become hardly solved issues. When deciding to partner with another company, it can be a prominent tool to introduce your brand and prove your reliability. 

Business plans are the first thing investors may want to examine when choosing whom to fund between several companies. With free samples, you now understand how to make a business plan step by step for a startup, considering personal needs and goals.