How to create a plan for a small knitting business

Turn your hobby into a business that you can be passionate about. This article provides some guidance on writing a business plan for your knitting venture. 

This article will outline:

• Business plan
• Description of business
• The market
• SWOT analysis
• Financial projection

A business plan is a detailed document used to describe what the business will be and an overview of how it is going to succeed. It is used to ask investors for funding or ask a bank for a business loan. It is a reference point to come back to whenever you have an essential decision to make.

There is no right or wrong way to do a business plan, but there are a few core things to cover. You want to look professional and make sure that whoever reads it will understand what you do. At a minimum, you want to include the following sections in your knitting business plan.  

This section of the business plan is your opportunity to sell your idea. Write it with the passion you had when you decided to start your venture. In this case, you can talk about your brand’s story and why you wanted to set up a knitting business. 

You know about your amazing business, but how do they know? You want to be shouting it from the rooftops. Or settle for including some nice photos showing off your products. Then a bit of a mention on why they are so great.

Next, you want to share details about your brand and story, using guidelines such as:

• The brand’s story — the purpose behind your knitting business, what problem your product solves for your customers.
• Logo guidelines — if you have a logo, then you can explain what it is and how it suits the brand (put it in the top corner of each page of the plan).
• Colour palette — layout three or four specific colours that your brand follows in all its packaging and advertising (it would also be good to use those for the plan).
• Typography — choose two or three fonts you will use for your brand (also use them for your business plan).
• The tone of voice — talk about how you want to communicate with your customers and how you want them to see you (it would likely be friendly and kind as if you are one knitter to another).
• Iconography — being a creative knitter, you may also have a visual style you want to follow for your brand (would also be great to add to the plan).

You have to prove that you understand who your customers are in your business plan. It would also be helpful to prove that there is some demand for your product. This section is where some relevant market research would be beneficial.

With your target market in mind, it may also be helpful to create a consumer profile. So imagine your ideal customer and do your best to describe who they are. Perhaps think about their physical characteristics, but most importantly, think about their lifestyle and interests. 

If you can write the personality of your target audience, it will go a long way towards showing you have some understanding of marketing, which could make a difference when an investor or bank is reading the plan. 

A business acronym to help think about your business plan is SWOT:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

It may be a surprise that you should list your business weaknesses and threats. Though, this is very important. If you don’t identify any weaknesses or threats, it could come across as though you haven’t thought about them. 

To show that this plan is realistic and professional, it should also be honest. Don’t make any of the points too negative, but think carefully about what areas you may need to pay more attention to. 

Also, think about that market you have identified and all of the opportunities you could use to reach them. It is also essential to think about all possible threats to that happening. Finally, think about competitors or possible changes that may happen. Getting ahead of them and listing them shows that you are a capable business person.

For more information see how to conduct a SWOT analysis for a small business.

It’s going to really help if you can show some numbers when you talk about, how good your business will do. That’s what a financial projection is.

Investors and banks will pay a lot of attention to your financial projection. Make sure that your numbers are correct and your calculations add up. It would help if you thought about your business costs and your product prices.

If you do this, you should produce what is known as a ‘sales forecast’. For more information on putting this together, see how to calculate a sales forecast for a new business.

In addition to a sales forecast, if you bring your business plan to an investor or bank, cost up precisely what you will do with any money you receive. Investors need to know how you will spend the money they lend you and why you need the amount you have requested.

Bookkeeping can be stressful and time-consuming when you’re self-employed. That’s why thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

Countingup is the 2-in-1 business current account and accounting app that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. 

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