A one-page business plan is a single sheet that states what you sell, who buys it, how you make money, and what you will do in the next ninety days. Its value is not the page — it is that one page forces decisions a forty-page document lets you postpone.
What goes on the page?
Seven blocks cover everything that matters. Keep each to a few lines; if a block will not fit, you have not decided it yet.
- The business in one sentence. What you do, for whom, and where. If you cannot say it plainly, no marketing will fix that.
- Your customer. Who specifically buys — not 'everyone in the county.' Age, industry, job, budget, or whatever actually defines them.
- The problem and your offer. What they were doing before you, and the products or services you sell to replace it.
- How you make money. Your revenue model, roughly what you charge, and your rough margin per sale or per job. This is the block owners skip and regret.
- Why you and not them. Your two or three real advantages — location, speed, specialty, relationships, licensing. Honest beats flattering.
- The numbers. A revenue target for the year, your fixed monthly costs, and the sales volume where you break even.
- The next ninety days. Three to five specific actions, each with an owner and a date.
How do you write it in about an hour?
Write the ninety-day block last and the numbers block second-to-last, because both depend on the decisions above them. Start with the one-sentence description and rewrite it until someone outside your industry understands it on the first read. Then draft the customer and offer blocks fast — do not polish, you will revise them after the numbers force a reality check.
When you reach the numbers, use real figures from your own records rather than an industry average: your actual fixed costs, your actual average sale. Add up rent, payroll, insurance, software, and debt service, then divide by your margin per sale to find how many sales a month keep the lights on. Owners are frequently surprised here, and that surprise is the entire point of the exercise. Finish with three to five concrete next actions, and put dates on them — 'hire a part-time tech by March 15' is a plan, 'grow the team' is a wish.
Will a one-page plan get you funding?
Be clear about what it is for: the one-pager is a decision tool for you, not an underwriting document. Most revenue-based funding decisions turn on your recent bank statements, monthly revenue, time in business, and credit profile — our guide to the documents needed for business funding lists what actually gets requested. A written plan rarely changes that answer on its own.
The exceptions are the traditional end of the market. Bank term loans and SBA loans generally do expect a fuller plan with financial projections, especially for a startup or an acquisition, and the one-pager is a good skeleton to expand from. We cover the distinction in more depth in do you need a business plan to get a loan. Either way, knowing your break-even number before you borrow is what keeps a payment from becoming a problem.
How often should you revisit it?
Once a quarter, for twenty minutes. Reread the page, mark which of the ninety-day actions actually happened, and write the next three. If revenue missed the target, the useful question is which block was wrong — the customer, the offer, the pricing, or the volume assumption — not simply whether to try harder.
The page is also how you decide whether an expense is a real move or a distraction: if it does not advance one of the three actions on the sheet, it can wait. When a next step genuinely needs capital — equipment, a hire, inventory ahead of a busy season — that is when to look at outside funding. As a small-business funding broker (we match owners with lenders, we do not lend), The Broker Shop turns one application into offers from the lenders whose guidelines you meet, so you can compare terms before committing. It is free to apply, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
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One 2-minute application is matched to the funders whose guidelines you meet. It's free, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
See What I Qualify For →The bottom line: Fill in seven blocks on a single sheet, use your own real numbers for the margin and break-even lines, put dates on the next three actions, and revisit the page every quarter.