how to make 5 year business plan

Stay ahead of the AI revolution.

How to Write a 5-Year Business Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide

Creating a comprehensive 5-year business plan is a crucial step in ensuring the success of your business. It allows you to establish a clear vision, identify your target audience, set long-term goals, and develop a solid strategy for growth and expansion. In this guide, we will take you through the step-by-step process of writing a 5-year business plan, covering everything from understanding its importance, to crafting a detailed outline.

Understanding the Importance of a 5-Year Business Plan

Before diving into the specifics of crafting your business plan, it's important to understand why it's so crucial to have one in the first place. A 5-year business plan acts as a blueprint for the future of your business. It provides a roadmap for growth, outlines your objectives, and helps you align your resources and strategies to achieve your goals.

Creating a business plan is not just a formality, but a vital exercise that can help you identify potential challenges and opportunities for growth. It is a living document that should be reviewed and updated regularly as your business evolves.

Setting Long-Term Goals and Objectives

The first step in creating a 5-year business plan is to clearly define your objectives. Establishing long-term goals is essential, as it gives you direction and focus. When setting your objectives, consider your company's mission and vision, as well as your industry and the competitive landscape.

For example, if you run a tech startup, your long-term goal might be to become a leading provider of innovative software solutions in your industry. To achieve this goal, you may need to invest in research and development, hire top talent, and forge strategic partnerships with other companies in your field.

Planning for Growth and Expansion

Another important aspect of a 5-year business plan is to strategize for growth and expansion. Identify opportunities to develop new products or services, expand your reach, and enter new markets. Analyze your competition and learn from their successes and failures. By understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your competitors, you can develop a plan that positions your business for long-term success.

For instance, if you own a retail business, you may want to explore the possibility of opening new stores in different locations or expanding your online presence to reach a wider audience. You may also want to consider diversifying your product offerings or partnering with other businesses to offer complementary services.

Attracting Investors and Partners

If you plan to seek funding from investors or partners, a comprehensive 5-year business plan is a must. It provides potential investors with insight into your company's potential and a clear outline of your strategy for growth. It also allows you to showcase your expertise in your industry and your ability to succeed.

When creating your business plan, make sure to include detailed financial projections, market research, and a thorough analysis of your competition. This will help investors and partners understand the potential risks and rewards of investing in your business.

In conclusion, a 5-year business plan is a powerful tool that can help you achieve your long-term goals and position your business for success. By taking the time to create a comprehensive plan, you can identify potential challenges and opportunities, develop a clear strategy for growth, and attract investors and partners who share your vision for the future.

Preparing to Write Your 5-Year Business Plan

Before you start writing, it's important to do your homework. In-depth research is essential in creating a realistic and effective 5-year business plan. Here are some steps you can take to prepare:

Conducting Market Research

Researching your target market is vital to the success of your business. Analyze market trends, understand consumer behaviors, and identify the needs and pain points of your target audience. This information will help you develop a product or service that meets the needs of your customers.

Analyzing Your Competition

Studying your competition is also crucial. Understand their strengths and weaknesses, identify their unique selling points, and learn from their successes and failures. This information will help you differentiate your business and develop a competitive edge.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Clearly defining your target audience is essential to developing an effective marketing strategy. Understand their demographics, behaviors, and interests. This information will help you tailor your messaging and tactics to your audience.

Crafting Your Business Plan Outline

Now that you've done your research, it's time to start crafting your business plan. A comprehensive 5-year business plan should cover the following sections:

Executive Summary

The executive summary should provide a concise overview of your business plan. It should include the mission and vision of your company, a brief description of your products or services, and your objectives for the next five years.

Company Description

Here, you'll provide a more detailed description of your company, its history, and its current status. You should also outline your organizational structure and discuss the experience and expertise of your team.

Products and Services

Describe your products or services in detail. Include information on how they meet the needs of your target audience, as well as any unique features or advantages they have over competitors.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Outline your marketing and sales strategy for the next five years. Include tactics for reaching your target audience, as well as steps you'll take to differentiate your business from competitors.

Operational Plan

Describe your operational plan - the day-to-day processes that will ensure the smooth running of your business. This should include your production process, distribution channels, and any required technology or equipment.

Management and Organizational Structure

Provide a detailed description of your management structure, including roles and responsibilities. This section should also discuss your team's experience and how it aligns with your overall objectives.

Financial Projections and Funding Requirements

Finally, include a detailed financial plan. This should include revenue projections, as well as information on expenses, cash flow, and funding requirements. This section should make it clear how you plan to use any investment or financing you receive.

By following this step-by-step guide, you can create a comprehensive 5-year business plan that positions your business for long-term success. Remember, your plan should be realistic and informed by thorough research, and it should provide a clear roadmap for growth and expansion. With a solid plan in place, you'll be ready to take on the future and achieve your business goals.

ChatGPT Prompt for Writing a 5 Year Business Plan

Chatgpt prompt.

Please create a detailed and comprehensive plan outlining the goals, strategies, and actions that your business will undertake over the next five years. This plan should include a thorough analysis of the market, competition, and target audience, as well as financial projections and a timeline for achieving key milestones. Your plan should demonstrate a clear understanding of your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and should outline specific steps that will be taken to capitalize on strengths and overcome challenges. Additionally, your plan should be flexible enough to adapt to changing market conditions and evolving business needs.

[ADD ADDITIONAL CONTEXT. CAN USE BULLET POINTS.]

Recommended Articles

How to write a winning painting proposal, how to write a 30-60-90 day plan: a step-by-step guide, feeling behind on ai, get the latest ai.

The 6 Steps I Use to Create Five-Year Plans I Can Actually Stick To [+ Expert Tips]

Updated: August 02, 2024

Published: May 06, 2022

As people, we all have big goals — both personal and professional. I’ve been asked in countless interviews about my five-year plan for my career.

I’ve also had lengthy internal monologues about whether I want to buy a house, the countries I want to travel to, and the mountains (literal and figurative) I want to climb.

However, a desire without a plan is just a dream. I want to make sure I make my long-term goals a reality. That’s why I love five-year plans. That’s enough time to take the steps to prepare for lofty accomplishments.

So, in this post, I’ll share my tips for creating five-year plans that you can actually stick to. I’ll also share examples of what these steps look like in practice. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is a Five-year plan?

Benefits of a five-year plan, what to cover in a five-year plan, five-year plan tips, five-year plan template, how to make a five-year plan, five-year plan common mistakes, five-year plan example.

Free 5-Year Plan Template

Access a free 5-year plan template, alongside...

• SMART Goal Template
• MBO Template
• Skill Development Template

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

A five-year plan is an outline of professional and/or personal goals you want to reach within the next five years. It usually includes broad goals relating to career, relationships, health, and finances that are broken down into action items and milestones.

1. It can give you a fresh start.

Whether professional or personal, a five-year plan can serve as a reset for your life. Who doesn’t like a fresh start?

After all, that’s why New Year’s resolutions are so popular. They give us something to look forward to. There’s also something to be said about writing out a detailed plan. It can be a great motivator to put something in motion.

Personally, I’ve said countless times that I want to be fluent in Spanish. However, it's not until I write a detailed plan for how that will happen that it feels real.

2. It gives you clarity.

Sometimes, a path seems scarier than it actually is because we don’t know what it looks like.

Creating a plan is like pointing a flashlight on a dark road. A more accurate description is that it turns that dark, twisty road into a clear path forward. This doesn’t mean there won’t be any bumps in the road, but at least you’ll know exactly where you’ll land and how to get there.

For example, working for HubSpot was a longtime goal of mine. I took the time to assess why I wanted to work for the company — the great culture and renowned blog pulled me in. Then, I made a plan on how to get here. I started by taking Academy classes and networking.

I never knew if my plan would work out precisely, but I did have time for introspection, giving me clarity on why I liked a company.

3. It serves as a reminder of what’s at stake.

In your daily life, it can be easy to forget that every day, we’re shaping our future. The decisions we make today affect what our lives will look like years from now. Having a visual reminder of this can keep you focused on your goals.

For example, I spoke to my colleague, Kaitlin Milliken about five-year goals she has had. She mentioned that she wanted to see the Philippines and explore the country her family immigrated from.

“When I first made the decision, I was still in college and didn’t have the money or time to make that trip,” Milliken says. “That goal was a great motivator for a lot of smaller choices, like saving, being smart with my vacation time, and making the space to plan the trip.”

4. It helps with professional development.

Having a five-year plan encourages you to think about and plan for the necessary skills and knowledge you will need in the future. This can guide your professional development journey and activities, such as training, education, or gaining specific experiences.

If you need a plan designed to help you with this, grab HubSpot’s free professional development plan to help you understand where you’re at, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there.

5. It helps with risk management and mitigation

If you’re a business owner, having a five-year business plan can help you manage and mitigate risks as much as possible.

By forecasting potential challenges and market changes over a five-year period, you can develop and implement contingency plans, diversify your income streams, adjust your business model in response to market demands, and maintain financial stability.

A five-year business plan makes it easier for you to navigate through potential pitfalls more effectively and sustain growth even in fluctuating economic conditions.

Before you get started with your plan, there are a few things you’ll need to figure out ahead of time.

1. Areas of Focus

Your five-year plan can cover various areas from education, career development, finance, hobbies, or even health. It’s up to you. Don’t feel stuck having to stick to one category and choose the ones that best interest you and fit your needs.

For example, one of my goals is to learn a second language, specifically Spanish. This is a personal goal for me that’s right at the intersection of education and my hobbies.

Putting down your values in writing will help you discover your “why” (more on that later). This step will also help you narrow down what’s most important to you and shape the goals you set for yourself.

Why do I want to learn Spanish? Well, it’s a super helpful language to know if you live in the U.S. Beyond that, I really want to travel throughout Spain. Being fluent in the language would help me better connect with people throughout my journey.

3. Goal Path

Your five-year plan is only as successful as the effort put into creating it. To create a viable plan, it has to be actionable. Once you’ve got an idea of the goals you’d like to include, start researching the path to attaining them.

For example, if you’d like to set a career goal to become a marketing director, start looking at the steps and credentials required. Do you need to skill up? Is there a pathway at your current job? Doing some initial research will set you up for success.

Learning a language involves lots of steps. I decided to buy a few language textbooks and download Duolingo on my phone. Beyond that, I’m researching if there are local classes in my area that I can sign up for. A structured classroom setting can often be helpful for adults learning a second language.

4. HARD Goals

Tackling heartfelt, animated, required, and difficult (HARD) goals can be a rewarding but challenging part of a five-year plan. These types of goals will push you out of your comfort zone and help you achieve things you didn’t think were possible before. Think of these goals as highly ambitious but achievable with a five-year timeline.

Think of HARD goals this way:

• Heartfelt — what reasons are behind achieving this goal?
• Animated — what gets you excited about achieving this goal? Get specific.
• Required — what is it going to take to achieve this goal? What will you need to accomplish in six months to a year to stay on track?
• Difficult — what skills will you need to accomplish this goal, and how will you obtain them?

Let’s apply this to my desire to learn Spanish:

• Heartfelt — I want to learn Spanish so I can communicate with folks who may not be fluent in English and so I can travel to Spanish-speaking countries.
• Animated — the idea of visiting Spain and speaking with the locals gets me excited to learn.
• Required — I know that finding a local Spanish class will help me stay on track and develop a basic understanding of the language. Beyond that, I want to practice every day.
• Difficult — I need to know a substantial number of vocabulary words to become fluent. I will spend time drilling flashcards every day to help me learn more helpful verbs and nouns.

Now that we’ve covered the groundwork, we’ve got more tips to help you create a five-year plan that keeps you motivated and inspired.

If creating a plan from scratch makes your eyes glaze over, check out these tips to help you start getting some ideas on paper. I also asked Kaitlin Milliken, a senior program manager at HubSpot, to share how these tips help her shape her five-year plans.

1. Give yourself space to brainstorm.

To help you focus better when creating your plan, do a bit of pre-work.

Give yourself time to really think about what you’d like to accomplish and the things that are most important to you. For example, you could write out a list of potential goals or ideas and rank them in order of importance, including notes about why they are important.

Milliken often works through this exercise. This helps her decide what she wants to work on, which goals can be accomplished quickly, and which are most complicated and need to be a part of her five-year plan.

“I always start broad. I sit down with a note book and write out what I want to accomplish — totally blue sky. I can organize and narrow this list down later,” she says.

2. Consider separating long-term and short-term goals.

Once you’ve jotted down some goals, decide which are better suited for short or long-term ones.

Completely paying off debt might be a long-term goal, but deciding which debt to tackle first could be a short-term goal. It may also help to divide them up into a 30-60-90 day plan to help best set a timeline.

I asked Milliken how she decides which goals fall into each category. For example, Milliken says she wants to run a half marathon. However, that’s a goal she can work toward in a year.

In contrast, “I want to learn Tagalog — a language I don’t have a background in — and to build the program I run at work to support different departments at HubSpot. These are loftier goals that fit better in a five-year timespan,” she says.

3. Break down annual goals into monthly ones.

Tackling lofty goals can be overwhelming. This is why it’s important to break them down into smaller tasks that are manageable so you don’t get discouraged along the way. Let’s say you want to save $10,000 in a year. You can break that amount down into a recurring monthly payment of $833 or even split it into smaller weekly payments.

Milliken told me that she starts off each year with a lofty set of goals — like writing a few short stories, saving a certain amount of money, and getting a promotion at work.

From there, she decides which goal posts she needs throughout the year to check her progress. For example, she’ll set a savings goal every month.

“I also check in on my long-term goals every six months. Am I spending enough time on professional development to build my leadership skills? Am I on track to manage a team within the next five years?” Milliken explains.

4. Find an accountability partner.

Sometimes, life gets in the way and throws us curve balls — greatly impacting our ability to stay motivated and consistent. Having an accountability partner can help you stay on track.

This could be someone you check in with monthly, a close friend, a family member, or a mentor. Whoever you choose, just make sure it’s someone who will keep you honest. Perhaps they’ll even have their own five-year plan, and you can take this journey together.

“No matter the goal, I tell my best friend Meg. She encourages me to put in the time, celebrates my wins, and is the perfect accountability partner,” Milliken says. “If you’re looking to find your own accountability partner, you’ll want someone who can both keep you on track and be happy for you when you reach your goals.”

5. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments.

Remember that your five-year plan is yours. You can make adjustments as you see fit once you start tracking your progress. If your priorities change, update your plan.

Milliken says her first job out of school was in journalism, so her initial five-year plan for her career focused on being a great reporter. However, “as I worked in the field, I discovered that I loved editing and working with other people,” she says. “I adapted my goals to reflect those new discoveries.”

Milliken notes that her five-year plan changed from working for a top newspaper to finding a role that allows her to work with writers, giving them feedback for improving their work.

If you‘re ready to create your own five-year plan, we’ve got you covered.

HubSpot created the following five-year plan template for you to download.

In it, you'll find a short and long version, both designed to help you break down your plan into actionable goals for each year.

Goals vs Objectives: The Simple Breakdown

5 Dos and Don'ts When Making a SMART Goal [+ Examples]

How to Set (Crushable) Marketing Goals, According to HubSpot Pros

How I Write SMART Goals and Make Them a Reality [+ Free SMART Goal Templates]

Why Every Company Needs to Know Its Core Competencies

Revenue Marketing: What It is and Why It Matters

The 9 Goals to Consider When Creating a Marketing Strategy

Best Goal Setting Worksheet to Help You Plan & Achieve

Charles Duhigg on the Power of Setting Smart Goals [Master Class Recap]

How to Tackle Your Most Ambitious Goals: A 5-Step Process From NBA Legend Bill Walton

Kick off your five-year plan with this free template.

The weekly email to help take your career to the next level. No fluff, only first-hand expert advice & useful marketing trends.

Must enter a valid email

We're committed to your privacy. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, check out our privacy policy .

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

You've been subscribed