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How to write a business plan

Writing a business plan will help nail down your idea and give you a blueprint for executing it.

What is a business plan?

A business plan describes your product or service, identifies who the customer is, explains why they need your product or service, and shows how you’ll make money from that opportunity.

Why write a business plan

How you write a business plan will depend on what you need it to do. There are a couple of key jobs a business plan can have. It can:

• explain a business idea
• convince lenders or investors to put money behind that business idea

It doesn’t take a book to do the first job. You can write a business plan that’s short, to the point, and easy to update. That may be all you ever need. But if you’re going for funding, your business plan will need to be a good deal longer and more comprehensive.

Why every business should start with a one-pager

Even if you will eventually write a long business plan, a one-pager is a great place to start. It could take as little as an hour to do your first draft and will make your idea stronger. Writing about customers, competitors, income and expenses will help develop your thinking.

How to write a one-page business plan

You’ll see in the example below that there are nine sections, or things to write about. So give yourself just a small space to write about each. Keeping it short will help you focus on what’s important.

Download a one-page business plan template.

When you need a longer business plan

The greater the risk you’re taking, the more comprehensive your plan should be. For instance, you’ll need to write a long-form business plan if you’re going to fund it with other people’s money. Banks and investors will expect it.

How to write a longer business plan

Long-form business plans touch on all the same things as a one-pager, but they go into more detail and contain fewer assumptions.

Back-of-the-napkin numbers are replaced by forecasts and budgets. And guesstimates for things like costs, market size, customer preferences, and competitor weaknesses need to be backed up with proof. It’s a good idea to involve an accountant or bookkeeper in developing the budgeting and finance sections.

Contents of a business plan:

• Executive summary: A short summary of the main points of your business plan. Write it last.
• Company overview: Identify your industry, what you’re selling, and how you’ll charge.
• Products or services: Include a description of the problem you’re solving for customers.
• Market analysis: Describe your target market, and examine the competition.
• Risk assessment: Flag potential hurdles (including assumptions that could be proved wrong).
• Marketing and sales plan: How will you find customers and make sales? How many sales will there be?
• Milestones: What needs to happen and when?
• Progress reporting: When and how will you report against the milestones?
• Team: Who will be involved in the business? Note their skills and responsibilities.
• Budget: Estimate your costs and income (and any debt that you plan to take on).
• Finance: Show how you’ll fund the business.

You can also add an appendix with any supporting or background documents.

Make a start by downloading our free business plan template.

How not to write a business plan

Avoid these common business planning mistakes:

• Underestimating how much money it will take to get started
• Failing to budget for the first few months of operation (before revenues start flowing)
• Expecting sales to ramp up too fast
• Relying too heavily on one or two customers (or suppliers)
• Not including contingencies for unexpected delays or costs

For more information, visit the MBIE page on writing a business plan , which comes complete with templates to help get you started.

Xero does not provide accounting, tax, business or legal advice. This guide has been provided for information purposes only. You should consult your own professional advisors for advice directly relating to your business or before taking action in relation to any of the content provided.

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How to write a business plan.

A good business plan is essential when thinking about starting a new venture. It will help you apply for business finance and keep your vision on track once things are up and running. Here are four steps to help you create and implement an effective business plan.

1. Set out your strategic vision

Ask yourself what your company stands for. Think of everything you'd want a potential investor, partner, employee or customer to know about it. This includes:

• Vision statement: Should be brief and aspirational, yet achievable. Take the time to get it right. Try to sum up in one sentence what your business is all about, where you want it to go and how you'll get there
• Unique selling proposition (USP): Sets out why you believe customers will come to you rather than a competitor. What makes your business unique?
• Target market identification: While you don't want to limit your customer base, the clearer picture you have of your target market, the easier it will be to communicate with them. You may initially have to assume who you think your customers are, but once your business is live you should be able to update this using real sales data
• Explanation of products and services: Should be designed in line with your USP and meet the needs of your target market
• Key goals: Must be measurable, achievable and consistent with the financial plan
• Capital requirements: How much will you need to start and run the business and where will you get the funding? Amounts should be supported by calculations in the financial plan

2. Set out the details

Now it's time to see how your vision will work. Who will help you bring it to life? What business structure are you considering? Here are some other things to include:

History and structure

Outline your business' background and introduce key people like employees, managers, partners and investors.

Goals and milestones

Set out major business goals for the period covered by the plan, plus various milestones you want to reach along the way. Make these goals specific and measurable, so you can see your progress further down the track.

Competitors

Do a detailed analysis of the competitive landscape, including:

• Information on the industry
• Size and characteristics of the target market
• Your competitors' strengths and weaknesses

SWOT analysis

Put your business model to the test by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your idea and potential opportunities and threats in the market you will be operating in.

Strengths What does, or will, your business do well? What makes you better than the competition?

Weaknesses What doesn't your business do well at the moment and how will you improve this?

Opportunities Where are the areas for growth, both within and outside of the business?

Threats What are the external factors that could change or threaten your business?

Business assets

Identify what you have already and what you need, including:

• Plant and equipment
• Information systems
• Intellectual property

Business strategy considerations

Sales & Marketing

• What's the best way to reach your customers?
• What is your budget for sales and marketing? How will you get repeat business?
• How can you collect useful data on your customers? For example, loyalty programmes, customer relationship management systems, online sales channels.
• How will you use this data to create targeted and relevant messages?
• Where will you be located?
• Can you work from home initially? This may help to keep your costs down early on.
• Do you need resource consent for your premises or operations?
• What IT infrastructure will you need?
• How will you get your product to market?
• What about insurance?
• Have you thought about your supply network?
• What is your business continuity plan? If disaster strikes, it's important to have contingency plans in place to ensure your business can trade afterwards.
• List your start-up costs and capital requirements as well as your projected cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet forecasts and a break-even analysis.
• Budgets showing costs, income and cash flow are particularly important for seasonal businesses.
• As a rule of thumb, when it comes to finances and forecasting, be conservative; double your expenditure and halve your sales forecasts.
• Do you have enough money to get up and running as well as cover costs in the short term?
• When will your business turn over enough money to be profitable?

3. Make necessary changes

Writing your business plan may bring up questions about your business, and once you reach the end you may not be happy with certain parts of your plan or your prospective day-to-day operations. Before finishing, ask yourself:

• How can I counter the strengths of my competitors?
• How can I overcome the weak points in my business plan?
• Do the assumptions I’ve made based on various financial projections make sense?

Also, you might consider sharing your plan with others to sense check it.

4. Put the plan to work

Once it's ready, treat your business plan as a guide to running your business. Remember that it's a working document, so if your goals and circumstances change, update the plan. The business.govt.nz website has some great tools and templates to help get your business started.

Keep reading

Five things you need to do before starting a business, how to write a financial plan, naming your business, what's next, small business banking.

Every business is different and has unique banking needs, discover your options.

Find out more

This page is intended to provide general information of an educational nature only. It does not have regard to the financial situation or needs of any reader and should not be relied on. This information has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. We recommend you seek independent professional advice and contact Inland Revenue before acting on this information.

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Business Plan: What It Is and How to Write One in 9 Steps

Business plans aren’t just for entrepreneurs who need to secure funding—they can help you plan and evaluate new ideas or growth plans, too. Find out how to write a business plan and get the most out of the process in this comprehensive guide.

A great business plan can help you clarify your strategy, identify potential roadblocks, determine necessary resources, and evaluate the viability of your idea and growth plan before you start a business .

Not every successful business launches with a formal business plan, but many founders find value in the process. When you make a business plan, you get to take time to step back, research your idea and the market you’re looking to enter, and understand the scope and the strategy behind your tactics.

Learn how to write a business plan with this step-by-step guide, including tips for getting the most of your plan and real business plan examples to inspire you.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a strategic document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies for achieving them, and the time frame for their achievement. It covers aspects like market analysis , financial projections, and organizational structure. Ultimately, a business plan serves as a roadmap for business growth and a tool to secure funding.

Often, financial institutions and investors need to see a business plan before funding any project. Even if you don’t plan to seek outside funding, a well-crafted plan becomes the guidance for your business as it scales.

The key components of a business plan

Putting together a business plan will highlight the parts of your company’s strategy and goals. It involves several key business plan components that work together to show the roadmap to your success.

Your business plan’s key components should include: 

• Executive summary: A brief overview of your entire plan.
• Company description: An explanation of what your business does and why it’s unique. 
• Market analysis: Research on your industry, target market, and competitors.
• Organization and management: Details about your business structure and the people running it.
• Products or services: A description of what you’re selling and how it benefits customers. 
• Customer segmentation: A breakdown of your target market into different groups.
• Marketing and sales plan: The strategy for promoting and selling your products and services.
• Logistics and operations: An overview of how your business will run its daily activities and manage resources.
• Financials: A complete look at projected income, expenses, and funding needs. 

How to write a business plan in 9 steps

• Draft an executive summary
• Write a company description
• Perform a market analysis
• Outline the management and organization
• List your products and services
• Perform customer segmentation
• Define a marketing plan
• Provide a logistics and operations plan
• Make a financial plan

Few things are more intimidating than a blank page. Starting your business plan with a structured outline and key elements for what you’ll include in each section is the best first step you can take.

Since an outline is such an important step in the process of writing a business plan, we’ve put together a high-level overview to get you started (and help you avoid the terror of facing a blank page).

Once you have your business plan template in place, it’s time to fill it in. We’ve broken it down by section to help you build your plan step by step.

1. Draft an executive summary

A good executive summary is one of the most crucial sections of your business plan—it’s also the last section you should write.

The executive summary distills everything that follows and gives time-crunched reviewers (e.g., potential investors and lenders) a high-level overview of your business that persuades them to read further.

Again, it’s a summary, so highlight the key points you’ve uncovered while writing your plan. If you’re writing for your own planning purposes, you can skip the summary altogether—although you might want to give it a try anyway, just for practice.

An executive summary shouldn’t exceed one page. Admittedly, that space constraint can make squeezing in all of the salient information a bit stressful—but it’s not impossible. 

Your business plan’s executive summary should include:

• Business concept. What does your business do?
• Business goals and vision. What does your business want to accomplish?
• Product description and differentiation. What do you sell, and why is it different?
• Target market. Who do you sell to?
• Marketing strategy. How do you plan on reaching your customers?
• Current financial state. What do you currently earn in revenue?
• Projected financial state. What do you foresee earning in revenue?
• The ask. How much money are you asking for?
• The team. Who’s involved in the business?

2. Write a company description

This section of your business plan should answer two fundamental questions: 

• Who are you?
• What do you plan to do? 

Answering these questions with a company description provides an introduction to why you’re in business, why you’re different, what you have going for you, and why you’re a good investment. 

For example, clean makeup brand Saie shares a letter from its founder on the company’s mission and why it exists.

Clarifying these details is still a useful exercise, even if you’re the only person who’s going to see them. It’s an opportunity to put to paper some of the more intangible facets of your business, like your principles, ideals, and cultural philosophies.

Here are some of the components you should include in your company description:

• Your business structure (Are you a sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, or incorporated company?)
• Your business model
• Your industry
• Your business’s vision, mission, and value proposition
• Background information on your business or its history
• Business objectives, both short and long term
• Your team, including key personnel and their salaries

Brand values and goals

To define your brand values , think about all the people your company is accountable to, including owners, employees, suppliers, customers, and investors. Now consider how you’d like to conduct business with each of them. As you make a list, your core values should start to emerge.

Your company description should also include both short- and long-term goals. Short-term goals, generally, should be achievable within the next year, while one to five years is a good window for long-term goals. Make sure your goal setting includes SMART goals : specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

Vision and mission statements

Once you know your values, you can write a mission statement . Your statement should explain, in a convincing manner, why your business exists, and should be no longer than a single sentence.

Next, craft your vision statement : What impact do you envision your business having on the world once you’ve achieved your vision? Phrase this impact as an assertion—begin the statement with “We will” and you’ll be off to a great start. Your vision statement, unlike your mission statement, can be longer than a single sentence, but try to keep it to three at most. The best vision statements are concise.

3. Perform a market analysis

Market analysis is a key section of your business plan, whether or not you ever intend for anyone else to read it.

No matter what type of business you start, whether a home-based business or service-based, it’s no exaggeration to say your market can make or break it. Choose the right market for your products—one with plenty of customers who understand and need your product—and you’ll have a head start on success. 

If you choose the wrong market, or the right market at the wrong time, you may find yourself struggling for each sale. Your market analysis should include an overview of how big you estimate the market is for your products, an analysis of your business’s position in the market, and an overview of the competitive landscape. Thorough research supporting your conclusions is important both to persuade investors and to validate your own assumptions as you work through your plan.

How big is your potential market?

The potential market is an estimate of how many people need your product. While it’s exciting to imagine sky-high sales figures, you’ll want to use as much relevant independent data as possible to validate your estimated potential market.

Since this can be a daunting process, here are some general tips to help you begin your research:

• Understand your ideal customer profile. Look for government data about the size of your target market , learn where they live, what social channels they use, and their shopping habits.
• Research relevant industry trends and trajectory. Explore consumer trends and product trends in your industry by looking at Google Trends, trade publications, and influencers in the space.
• Make informed guesses. You’ll never have perfect, complete information about your total addressable market. Your goal is to base your estimates on as many verifiable data points as necessary.

Some sources to consult for market data include government statistics offices, industry associations, academic research, and respected news outlets covering your industry.

Read more: What is a Marketing Analysis? 3 Steps Every Business Should Follow

SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis looks at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

That involves asking questions like: 

• What are the best things about your company? 
• What are you not so good at? 
• What market or industry shifts can you take advantage of and turn into opportunities? 
• Are there external factors threatening your ability to succeed?

SWOT is often depicted in a grid or otherwise visual way. With this visual presentation, your reader can quickly see the factors that may impact your business and determine your competitive advantage in the market.

Competitive analysis

There are three overarching factors you can use to differentiate your business in the face of competition:

• Cost leadership. You have the capacity to maximize profits by offering lower prices than the majority of your competitors. Examples include companies like Mejuri and Endy .
• Differentiation. Your product or service offers something distinct from the current cost leaders in your industry and banks on standing out based on your uniqueness. Think of companies like Knix and QALO .
• Segmentation. You focus on a very specific, or niche, target market, and aim to build traction with a smaller audience before moving on to a broader market. Companies like TomboyX and Heyday Footwear are great examples of this strategy.

To understand which is the best fit, you’ll need to understand your business as well as the competitive landscape.

You’ll always have competition in the market, even with an innovative product, so it’s important to include a competitive overview in your business plan. If you’re entering an established market, include a list of a few companies you consider direct competitors and explain how you plan to differentiate your products and business from theirs.

For example, if you’re selling jewelry , your competitive differentiation could be that, unlike many high-end competitors, you donate a percentage of your profits to a notable charity or pass savings on to your customers.

If you’re entering a market where you can’t easily identify direct competitors, consider your indirect competitors—companies offering products that are substitutes for yours. For example, if you’re selling an innovative new piece of kitchen equipment, it’s too easy to say that because your product is new, you have no competition. Consider what your potential customers are doing to solve the same problems.

4. Outline the management and organization

The management and organization section of your business plan should tell readers about who’s running your company. Detail the legal structure of your business. Communicate whether you’ll incorporate your business as an S corporation or create a limited partnership or sole proprietorship.

If you have a management team, use an organizational chart to show your company’s internal structure, including the roles, responsibilities, and relationships between people in your chart. Communicate how each person will contribute to the success of your startup.

5. List your products and services

Your products or services will feature prominently in most areas of your business plan, but it’s important to provide a section that outlines key details about them for interested readers.

If you sell many items, you can include more general information on each of your product lines. If you only sell a few, provide additional information on each. 

For example, bag shop BAGGU sells a large selection of different types of bags, in addition to home goods and other accessories. Its business plan would list out those categories and key details about the products within each category.

Describe new products you’ll launch in the near future and any intellectual property you own. Express how they’ll improve profitability. It’s also important to note where products are coming from—handmade crafts are sourced differently than trending products for a dropshipping business, for instance.

6. Perform customer segmentation

Your ideal customer, also known as your target market, is the foundation of your marketing plan , if not your business plan as a whole. 

You’ll want to keep this buyer persona in mind as you make strategic decisions, which is why an overview of who they are is important to understand and include in your business plan.

To give a holistic overview of your ideal customer, describe a number of general and specific demographic characteristics. Customer segmentation often includes:

• Where they live
• Their age range
• Their level of education
• Some common behavior patterns
• How they spend their free time
• Where they work
• What technology they use
• How much they earn
• Where they’re commonly employed
• Their values, beliefs, or opinions

This information will vary based on what you’re selling, but you should be specific enough that it’s unquestionably clear who you’re trying to reach—and more importantly, why you’ve made the choices you have based on who your customers are and what they value.

For example, a college student has different interests, shopping habits, and pricing sensitivity than a 50-year-old executive at a Fortune 500 company. Your business plan and decisions would look very different based on which one was your ideal customer.

Put your customer data to work with Shopify’s customer segmentation

Shopify’s built-in segmentation tools help you discover insights about your customers, build segments as targeted as your marketing plans with filters based on your customers’ demographic and behavioral data, and drive sales with timely and personalized emails.

7. Define a marketing plan

Your marketing efforts are directly informed by your ideal customer. That’s why, as you outline your current decisions and future strategy, your marketing plan should keep a sharp focus on how your business idea is a fit for that ideal customer.

If you’re planning to invest heavily in Instagram marketing or TikTok ads , for example, it makes sense to include whether Instagram and TikTok are leading platforms for your audience. If the answer is no, that might be a sign to rethink your marketing plan.

Market your business with Shopify’s customer marketing tools

Shopify has everything you need to capture more leads, send email campaigns, automate key marketing moments, segment your customers, and analyze your results. Plus, it’s all free for your first 10,000 emails sent per month.

Most marketing plans include information on four key subjects. How much detail you present on each will depend on both your business and your plan’s audience.

• Price: How much do your products cost, and why have you made that decision?
• Product: What are you selling and how do you differentiate it in the market?
• Promotion: How will you get your products in front of your ideal customer?
• Place: Where will you sell your products? On what channels and in which markets?

Promotion may be the bulk of your plan, since you can more readily dive into tactical details, but the other three areas should be covered at least briefly—each is an important strategic lever in your marketing mix.

8. Provide a logistics and operations plan

Logistics and operations are the workflows you’ll implement to make your business idea a reality. If you’re writing a business plan for your own planning purposes, this is still an important section to consider, even though you might not need to include the same level of detail as if you were seeking investment.

Cover all parts of your planned operations, including:

• Suppliers. Where do you get the raw materials you need for production, or where are your products produced?
• Production. Will you make, manufacture, wholesale , or dropship your products? How long does it take to produce your products and get them shipped to you? How will you handle a busy season or an unexpected spike in demand?
• Facilities. Where will you and any team members work? Do you plan to have a physical retail space? If yes, where?
• Equipment. What tools and technology do you require to be up and running? This includes everything from software to lightbulbs and everything in between.
• Shipping and fulfillment. Will you be handling all the fulfillment tasks in-house, or will you use a third-party fulfillment partner?
• Inventory. How much will you keep on hand, and where will it be stored? How will you ship it to partners if required, and how will you approach inventory management ?

This section should signal to your reader that you’ve got a solid understanding of your supply chain, with strong contingency plans in place to cover potential uncertainty. If your reader is you, it should give you a basis to make other important decisions, like how to price your products to cover your estimated costs, and at what point you anticipate breaking even on your initial spending.

9. Make a financial plan

No matter how great your idea is—and regardless of the effort, time, and money you invest—a business lives or dies based on its financial health. At the end of the day, people want to work with a business they expect to be viable for the foreseeable future.

The level of detail required in your financial plan will depend on your audience and goals, but typically you’ll want to include three major views of your financials: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement. It also may be appropriate to include financial data and projections.

Here’s a spreadsheet template that includes everything you’ll need to create an income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement, including some sample numbers. You can edit it to reflect projections if needed.

Let’s review the types of financial statements you’ll need.

Income statements

Your income statement is designed to give readers a look at your revenue sources and expenses over a given time period. With those two pieces of information, they can see the all-important bottom line or the profit or loss your business experienced during that time. If you haven’t launched your business yet, you can project future milestones of the same information.

Balance sheets

Your balance sheet offers a look at how much equity you have in your business. On one side, you list all your business assets (what you own), and on the other side, all your liabilities (what you owe). 

This provides a snapshot of your business’s shareholder equity, which is calculated as:

Assets - Liabilities = Equity

Cash flow statements

Your cash flow statement is similar to your income statement, with one important difference: it takes into account when revenues are collected and when expenses are paid.

When the cash you have coming in is greater than the cash you have going out, your cash flow is positive. When the opposite scenario is true, your cash flow is negative. Ideally, your cash flow statement will help you see when cash is low, when you might have a surplus, and where you might need to have a contingency plan to access funding to keep your business solvent .

It can be especially helpful to forecast your cash-flow statement to identify gaps or negative cash flow and adjust operations as required.

📚 Read more: Cash Flow Management: What It Is & How To Do It (+ Examples)

Why write a business plan?

Investors rely on business plans to evaluate the feasibility of a business before funding it, which is why business plans are commonly associated with getting a business loan. 

Business plans also help owners identify areas of weakness before launching, potentially avoiding costly mistakes down the road. “Laying out a business plan helped us identify the ’unknowns’ and made it easier to spot the gaps where we’d need help or, at the very least, to skill up ourselves,” says Jordan Barnett, owner of Kapow Meggings .

There are several other compelling reasons to consider writing a business plan, including:

• Strategic planning. Writing out your plan is an invaluable exercise for clarifying your ideas and can help you understand the scope of your business, as well as the amount of time, money, and resources you’ll need to get started.
• Evaluating ideas. If you’ve got multiple ideas in mind, a rough business plan for each can help you focus your time and energy on the ones with the highest chance of success.
• Research. To write a business plan, you’ll need to research your ideal customer and your competitors—information that will help you make more strategic decisions.
• Recruiting. Your business plan is one of the easiest ways to communicate your vision to potential new hires and can help build their confidence in the venture, especially if you’re in the early stages of growth.
• Partnerships. If you plan to collaborate with other brands , having a clear overview of your vision, your audience, and your business strategy will make it much easier for them to identify if your business is a good fit for theirs.
• Competitions. There are many business plan competitions offering prizes such as mentorships, grants, or investment capital. 

If you’re looking for a structured way to lay out your thoughts and ideas, and to share those ideas with people who can have a big impact on your success, making a business plan is an excellent starting point.

Business plan types

Business plan types can span from one page to multiple pages, with detailed graphs and reports. There’s no one right way to create a business plan. The goal is to convey the most important information about your company for readers.

Common business plans we see include, but are not limited to, the following types:

Traditional business plans

These are the most common business plans. Traditional business plans take longer to write and can be dozens of pages long. Venture capitalist firms and lenders ask for this plan. Traditional business plans may not be necessary if you don’t plan to seek outside funding. That’s where a lean business plan comes in.

Lean business plans

A lean business plan is a shorter version of a traditional business plan. It follows the same format, but only includes the most important information. Businesses use lean business plans to onboard new hires or modify existing plans for a specific target market. If you want to write a business plan purely for your own planning purposes when starting a new small business, a lean business plan is typically the way to go. 

Nonprofit business plans

A nonprofit business plan is for any entity that operates for public or social benefit. It covers everything you’ll find in a traditional business plan, plus a section describing the impact the company plans to make. For example, a speaker and headphone brand would communicate that they aim to help people with hearing disabilities. Donors often request this type of business plan.

📚 Read more: 7 Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own (2024)

7 tips for creating a small business plan

There are a few best practices when it comes to writing a business plan. While your plan will be unique to your business and goals, keep these tips in mind as you write.

1. Know your audience

When you know who will be reading your plan—even if you’re just writing it for yourself to clarify your ideas—you can tailor the language and level of detail to them. This can also help you make sure you’re including the most relevant information and figure out when to omit sections that aren’t as impactful.

2. Have a clear goal

When creating a business plan, you’ll need to put in more work and deliver a more thorough plan if your goal is to secure funding for your business, versus working through a plan for yourself or your team.

3. Invest time in research

Sections of your business plan will primarily be informed by your ideas and vision, but some of the most crucial information you’ll need requires research from independent sources. This is where you can invest time in understanding who you’re selling to, whether there’s demand for your products, and who else is selling similar products or services.

4. Keep it short and to the point

No matter who you’re writing for, your business plan should be short and readable—generally no longer than 15 to 20 pages. If you do have additional documents you think may be valuable to your audience and your goals, consider adding them as appendices.

5. Keep the tone, style, and voice consistent

This is best managed by having a single person write the plan or by allowing time for the plan to be properly edited before distributing it.

6. Use a business plan template

You can also use a free business plan template to provide a skeleton for writing a plan. These templates often guide you through each section—from financial projects to market research to mission statement—ensuring you don’t miss a step.

7. Try business plan software

Writing a business plan isn’t the easiest task for business owners. But it’s important for anyone starting or expanding a business. 

Fortunately, there are tools to help with everything from planning, drafting, creating graphics, syncing financial data, and more. Business plan software also has business plan templates and tutorials to help you finish a comprehensive plan in hours, rather than days.

A few curated picks include:

• LivePlan : the most affordable option with samples and templates
• Bizplan : tailored for startups seeking investment
• Go Small Biz : budget-friendly option with industry-specific templates

📚 Read more:  6 Best Business Plan Software Platforms (2024)

Common mistakes when writing a business plan

Other articles on business plans would never tell you what we’re about to tell you: Your business plan can fail. 

The last thing you want is for time and effort to go down the drain, so avoid these common mistakes:

• Bad business idea. Sometimes your idea may be too risky for potential investors or too expensive to run, or there’s no market. Aim for small business ideas that require low startup costs.
• No exit strategy. If you don’t show an exit strategy, or a plan for investors to leave the business with maximum profits, you’ll have little luck securing capital.
• Unbalanced teams. A great product is the cost of entry to starting a business. But an incredible team will take it to the top. Unfortunately, many business owners overlook a balanced team. They focus on potential profits, without worrying about how it will be done operationally. 
• Missing financial projections. Don’t forget your balance sheet, cash flow statements, P&L statements, and income statements. Include your break-even analysis and return-on-investment calculations in your financial projections to create a successful business plan.
• Spelling and grammar errors. All the best organizations have an editor review their documents. If someone spots typos while reading your business plan, sloppy errors like those can evoke a larger sense of distrust in your capabilities to run a successful company. It may seem minor, but legibility and error-free writing helps make a good impression on your business plan’s audience. 

Updating and revising a business plan

Business plans aren’t static documents. The business world moves fast and your plan will need to keep up. You don’t want it to get stale. 

Here’s a good rule of thumb for business plan revisions:

• Monthly: Update KPIs like sales, website traffic, and customer acquisition costs. Review your cash flow. Is your money situation as expected? Make the necessary changes.
• Quarterly : Are you hitting your targets? Be sure to update your financial performance, successful marketing campaigns, and any other recent milestones achieved.
• Yearly : Think of this as a big overhaul. Compare projections to actuals and update your forecasts. 

When updating your plan, don’t just go with your gut. Use data like surveys and website analytics to inform each update. Using outdated information will only lead to confusion and missed opportunities.

Remember not to just update one part of your plan—it’s all connected. Fortunately, with business plan software you can easily give your plan attention and help your business thrive. 

How to present a business plan

Here are some tips for presenting your business plan to stakeholders.

Understand your audience

Start by doing homework on who you’ll be presenting to. Are they investors, potential partners, or a bank? Each group will have different interests and expectations. 

Consider the following about your presentation audience:

• Background: What’s their professional experience?
• Knowledge level: How familiar are they with your industry?
• Interests: What aspects of your plan will excite them most?
• Concerns: What might make them hesitant about your idea?

Depending on who you’re presenting to, you can tweak your presentation accordingly. For example, if you’re presenting to a group of investors, you’d probably want to highlight financial projections and market analysis. 

Structure your presentation

Once you know your audience, you can organize your presentation. Think of this as the story you’ll tell listeners. A well-structured presentation helps listeners follow along and remember key points. 

Your opening should grab attention and give a snapshot of what’s to come. It’s kind of like an elevator pitch that gives an overview of your business idea. 

From there, break your presentation into clear sections:

• Problem: What issue are you solving?
• Solution: How does your business address this problem?
• Market: Who are your potential customers?
• Competition: Who else is in this space, and how are you different?
• Business model: How will you make money?
• Financial projections: What are your expected costs and revenues?
• Team: Who’s involved, and what makes them qualified?

Use visual aids to support your points. Graphs, charts, and even simple illustrations can make your information more digestible. Remember to practice your timing, too. A good presentation flows smoothly, giving each section the right amount of attention for its intended audience. 

Handle objections and questions

Facing objections or questions can be nerve-wracking, but it’s actually a great opportunity. It shows your listeners are engaged and thinking critically about your idea. The key is to be prepared and stay calm. 

Try to anticipate potential questions. Put yourself in the listener’s shoes: What would you want to know if you were them? Come up with clear answers to these questions ahead of time.

When handling questions:

• Listen carefully: Make sure you fully understand the question before answering.
• Stay positive: Even if the question seems critical, respond with enthusiasm.
• Be honest: If you don’t know something, it’s OK. Offer to find out and follow up. 

Use questions as a way to highlight the strengths of your business plan. If a question needs more thought or refresh, it’s perfectly fine to say, “That’s a great question. I’d love to look further into it and get back to you with a detailed answer.”

Handling questions well shows that you’re knowledgeable, thoughtful, and open to feedback—all things that will impress listeners and make them feel confident in your business plan. 

Prepare your business plan today

A business plan can help you identify clear, deliberate next steps for your business, even if you never plan to pitch investors—and it can help you see gaps in your plan before they become issues. 

Whether you’re working on starting a new online business idea , building a retail storefront, growing your established business, or purchasing an existing business , you now understand how to write a business plan that suits your business’s goals and needs.

Feature illustration by Rachel Tunstall

Business plan FAQ

How do i write a business plan.

Learning how to write a business plan is simple if you use a business plan template or business plan software. Typically, a traditional business plan for every new business should have the following components:

• Executive summary
• Company description, including value proposition
• Market analysis and competitive analysis
• Management and organization
• Products and services
• Customer segmentation
• Marketing plan
• Logistics and operations
• Financial plan and financial projections

What is a good business plan?

A good business plan clearly communicates your company’s purpose, goals, and growth strategies. It starts with a strong executive summary, then adequately outlines idea feasibility, target market insights, and the competitive landscape. 

A business plan template can help businesses be sure to follow the typical format of traditional business plans, which also include financial projections, details about the management team, and other key elements that venture capital firms and potential investors want to see.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

The three main purposes of a business plan are: 

• To clarify your plans for growth
• To understand your financial needs
• To attract funding from investors or secure a business loan

What are the different types of business plans?

The types of business plans include startup, refocusing, internal, annual, strategic, feasibility, operations, growth, and scenario-based. Each type of business plan has a different purpose. Business plan formats include traditional, lean, and nonprofit. Find a business plan template for the type of plan you want to write.

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How to create a simple business plan for your small business

A business plan is a document created to provide a clear road map for your business. It outlines the fundamentals of your business: the services or products you will offer, the financial plans, marketing strategies, and your business structure. By laying out these elements in a written document, you gain a clear understanding of your vision.

What exactly is a business plan?

A business plan is a roadmap that you create for your business. It details the fundamental principles of your business and how you will go about generating revenue and ultimately a profit. This may cover the different strategies that you are going to use, your organisational structure and the products or services that you are going to market.

By putting everything down on paper, you are committing your thoughts to a workable plan.

Why have a business plan?

Going through the process of writing a business plan forces you to think strategically about your business. If you are presenting to potential partners or investors, they will want to know that you have detailed the opportunity, the risks, your product or service and have a good understand of your marketplace.

Gain clarity in processes

Business plans help to give you clarity about the processes that you are going to follow. A plan puts a timeframe on your goals, which can tune your dreams into actions. A business plan is not about having a day-to-day schedule of what you’re going to do; it is about developing your long-term roadmap and vision.

Define you unique selling points

If you’re starting your own business, you’re probably already thinking about what sets you apart from competitors. Coming up with your unique value proposition (UVP) or unique selling proposition (USP) creates a strong foundation for all your marketing messages and strategies for engaging and acquiring new customers.

Defining your target customers

You need to figure out who your ideal customers are. Your target market or target customers are a group of consumers or organisations that are most likely to buy your products or services. Marketing to these buyers is the most effective and efficient approach. The alternative – marketing to everyone – can be both inefficient and expensive.

Defining your focus

The day-to-day of running a business can be overwhelming. It’s easy to get sidetracked by a multitude of things that aren’t necessarily the most valuable thing you can do for your business.

By having a business plan, you can continually revert to the roadmap and understand which activities are going to drive you towards your goals

What should go into your business plan?

A business plan will usually include an executive summary, a description of the business, your goals and objectives, details about the product and or service, marketing direction and strategies, how the business will be managed and operated, and the financial plan for your business. The below bullet points may be helpful in structuring your document.

Don’t obsess over every detail to start with. That will make the plan long and hard to change and adapt as you go. Keep it short and concise initially.

Executive summary

• Target Market
• Customer Descriptions
• The Opportunity
• Competitor Analysis
• Financial Plan
• Operating Plan

Although this should be the first section in your plan, it’s often easier to write it last. It’s one of the hardest sections to write well, as it needs to be concise but capture the main points. You have to answer the question “what do you do?” in as few words as you can, while making sure it’s interesting and memorable. This summary is sometimes called an elevator pitch. Try to imagine you’re riding a few floors with a potential investor, adviser, employee, or customer.

Your elevator pitch could be something like: “I run a business called (name) that provides (product/service category) mainly for (target market). We provide (unique customer benefit/business purpose) by (how you achieve that). It’s something we believe in and do really well.”

Target market

If you try to sell your products or services to everyone, it’ll be almost impossible to outdo your various competitors. You’ll also risk wasting time and money on people who don’t need or value what you sell. That could mean disappointing a lot of people, who then have a less-than-positive story to share about you.

To define your target market, begin with the big picture then speak with some potential customers and trusted advisers to see if your assumptions are correct. Gradually refine your market definition as you continue testing your ideas. Here are some thoughts to get you started.

• Will you sell to businesses or consumers?
• Will you make isolated sales to customers or develop an ongoing relationship with regular clients?
• If you’re selling to businesses, describe the size, turnover, and sectors you have in mind.
• What business roles will benefit from your product or service, and who is likely to make the purchase decision – CEO, sales manager, HR director, marketing manager, property manager, etc.
• Their age group, gender identity, socio-economic attributes
• Where they’re located
• Particular employment, profession or interest groups you might be targeting

Customer descriptions

Once you’ve tested and defined your target market, it can help to create a few specific customer descriptions. These are sometimes called customer personas. They describe fictional individuals who represent your main customer groups, as though you know them personally. Business customer personas contain more about the individual and their work. Consumer personas focus more on their life away from work.

While often used for marketing purposes, personas can also help you, your employees, and your advisers to make better decisions based on customer needs. You can even use an image library picture of someone the persona would typically look like. Before long you’ll be referring to them by name, and whether a business decision will benefit so-and-so or which option they’d prefer.

Here’s an example for a Christchurch-based expert gardening service designed for older people.

Mary has been a keen gardener for as long as she can remember. She knows a lot about plants and takes great pride in her garden. She likes the exercise and being out in the fresh air. Mary is straight up and direct. She enjoys a good laugh but doesn’t have much time for pretenders. Now in her 80s and still reasonably well off, she’s living alone in the family home in Fendalton but finds it increasingly difficult to keep things in order. Many of her friends have moved into retirement villages and they seem to visit less and less often. Sometimes she feels a bit lonely. Her daughter has suggested hiring a gardener, but Mary says it would have to be someone trustworthy who knows what they’re doing and can work alongside her. It would also be handy if they could get supplies for her from the local garden centre. And maybe stay for a cuppa from time to time. As with many things these days, her daughter says she’ll see what she can find and then they can talk it over.

The opportunity

In this section you can describe your assessment of the immediate market potential, but also demonstrate your understanding of how the business can grow. What is the wider potential, how will you reach that market and scale up to meet the demand? Can you sell your products or services online? Will you have to hire more people? Are physical premises required in new locations? How will you ensure you retain your point of difference and service standards? What new opportunities will expansion bring?

Competitor analysis

Ignoring the competition will only lead to problems and it’s a sure sign you’re not very business-savvy at all. Although it may be hard to focus on what could undermine your business, it’s an essential part of planning for success. Here are some ideas for this section.

• List all direct competitors – the ones that are primarily focused on selling the same service or products as you, particularly if it’s to the same market segments.
• List your indirect competitors – the ones that cross over with your business, but their focus isn’t the same as yours.
• Write down the challenges or barriers that will help to prevent more competitors appearing in the market.
• Describe what sets you apart from competitors, your unique selling proposition (USP) and why it’s likely to remain unique to your business. For example, if you sell products, you might have a way to differentiate your business based on quality, service, price, or range. This needs to be believable, so stick to facts not wishful thinking.

Financial plan

Include high-level financial information about your set-up costs, ongoing expenditure and projected income. An accountant or some types of business software can help you create a draft cash flow forecast that shows how your business will survive. A summary is all you need to include here.

Marketing plan

Most marketing plans address what are known as the five Ps. Just remember to keep things brief and stick to the facts.

• Product: What are you selling? What need or issue does it address? What are its unique benefits? How will it be packaged/delivered? Is there a warranty? And so on.
• Price: What will you charge? How does this cover your expenses? How do you know your customers are willing to pay this amount? Does it fit with your brand? How does it compare to your competitors’ charges? What is your expected profit per item?
• Place: Where will you sell your product/service? How does this make it easy to reach your target customers or meet their expectations? How will this change as you expand? Will you have temporary variations for things like events or seasonal changes?
• Promotion: How will you promote your product or service? How does this align with your target customer groups? How have you worked out which methods will provide the best return on investment?
• People: How will you attract the best employees? Collaborate with others? Build strong connections with customers? Make it easy for people to become your social promoters or ‘brand evangelists’?

Operating plan

Focusing on the present or immediate future, describe the day-to-day tasks required to make your business successful. Like a project plan, this section needs to include what needs to be done, who does each task and when does it have to be done by. It should cover all aspects of the business at a high level. It basically shows in a simplified form that you’ve thought all your processes through, including the points at which they depend on inputs and outputs from each other.

What skills and experience does your business need to succeed and where will they come from? What people will you need to employ? What skills and experience can you tap into as required, through the likes of contractors, advisers, and business professionals? How will you identify, attract, and retain the best you can afford and those you can trust?

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Highlight your unique offerings and market strategy, including what you'll sell (and how you'll sell it). It’s time to show the world how you’re better than anyone else at what you do.

Attract investors

Show potential partners why they should invest in your business. A comprehensive financial forecast is key when looking to secure funding.

Why you need a business plan

Whether you’re an established company or just starting out, a business plan is vital for success. A well thought out plan helps you consider the essential elements of your business and define a winning strategy.

And through the process of writing a business plan, you’ll uncover new opportunities and unlock your business’s true potential.

We’re here to help you grow your business

Access everything you need to start planning your vision and how you’ll achieve it.

A guided experience

Our business plan templates are intuitive and easily accessible, for every business. Each section has helpful tips, prompts and instructions to guide you through all the components of your business plan.

Designed for your needs

We know that writing a business plan is not a one-size-fits all activity. That’s why we’ve put together both a streamlined single-pager and a comprehensive multi-pager. Now you can map out your needs at a high level, or outline your strategy in precise detail.

Helpful resources

Looking for more help on how to write a business plan? We’ve got you covered. Check out our resources on  how to start a business , or our  12-step guide on how to write a plan for your business .

All your questions answered about the MYOB business plan template

What’s included in the business plan template.

Both our single and multi-page templates cover all the essential elements of a business plan, including an business details, vision statement and goal setting, market strategy and customer demographics, funding and investment information. Our multi-pager adds further detail and contains helpful guidance for each section.

Is the business plan template customisable?

Yes! Our templates are completely editable, customisable and available in multiple formats, allowing you the flexibility to choose the structure that best suits your needs.

Do I need a business plan to start a business?

Technically no, however as the saying goes, if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. For instance, how can you measure how things are going, if you don’t know where you're at?

Why create a business plan?

A strong business plan can help you plan for the future, enabling you to foresee potential roadblocks and author the roadmap that will drive you toward success. Through the process of planning, you’ll analyse all the important aspects of your business, provide certainty to future investors, reduce risk and plot an actionable pathway to achieving your ultimate vision.

How often should I update my business plan?

It’s a good idea to update your plan to align with the current state of business, market and strategy. Set aside some time on a regular, periodic basis to review your plan and see what’s working and what needs adjusting.

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Free tools and mentoring

• Find out more about Westpac's series of workshops on Managing Your Money 1 . They have experienced business managers who can help identify ways to improve your business's cash flow
• Download Westpac's checklists, templates and worksheets 2 on set-up costs, cash flow, and profit and loss forecasts to help with money management
• Business.govt.nz is an excellent source of information on starting, managing, and growing your business, and compliance issues. It offers free tools, resources, relevant news and articles, information on workshops, events and more, all in one place
• Business Mentors New Zealand offer free mentoring .

Government support

• New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has offices in New Zealand and abroad. They help with exporting , and offer a variety of programmes and services to businesses at all stages to support them in growing and succeeding internationally
• Te Puni Kokiri offers information and help for mentoring to new and existing Maori businesses. They have offices throughout New Zealand
• The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) offers free tax workshops all over New Zealand. They also have a range of videos to help get you up to speed on issues like GST, employer obligations and business structures.
• If your business is looking to innovate, find out more about grants from Callaghan Innovation , a government agency for research and development
• NZTE offer Capability Development Vouchers to businesses, to help partially pay for training costs. Find out if your business is eligible, what sort of training the vouchers can be used for, and how to apply .
• There are a number of industry training organisations (ITOs) in New Zealand covering groups of industries. For example, the Building and Construction ITO covers joinery, glazing, interior systems and more. Find out which industries the ITOs cover and contact the one relevant to your business to find out about training options
• Workshops and seminars are a great way to get training and ideas, and network. Your local Chamber of Commerce is a good place to find out about these
• Find out more about numerous sources of training at Business.govt.nz .

Industry support

• To find out if there is an association for your industry, check out the Affiliated Industries Group .

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The material on this webpage is provided for information purposes only and is not a recommendation or opinion.

The material on this webpage is does not take your particular financial situation or goal into account. We recommend you seek independent legal, financial and/or tax advice.

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Planning your business

Why you need a business plan

Writing a business plan may be less exciting than dreaming about your business – but it could be the key to making your business dreams come true. Here’s why you need one.

In this article

Keeps you on track.

A good business plan helps you plan where you want to go; your future end destination illuminated by the milestones along the way. At any time, a quick glance at your business plan lets you determine if you’re on track to achieve your goals, or whether you might have to steer the boat back on course. 

Decision-making tool

Your business may feel like it’s getting somewhere – but is it where you’d choose, or is there a better way? A business plan helps you steer towards a clear destination by giving you a blueprint for future growth. 

A business plan also identifies areas of your business you might have previously overlooked that need attention, or areas that present an opportunity to implement something new or different. 

A smart investment

Completing a business plan will help you think through each aspect of your proposed business and transform your ideas into practical steps that you can follow. The process will sharpen your ideas which will give clarity to your purpose and concept.

Sharing your vision

A business plan provides a focus and motivation for you and your staff. It’ll help you share your vision for the business, turn that vision into action, and measure your progress along the way.

Your business plan demonstrates confidence by showing you’ve thought through your ideas and translated them into achievable steps. 

People who will use your business plan

You, along with your management team and staff, will be the main users of your business plan and financial forecasts. But the information will also be useful to professionals who provide you with business services. 

For example, a business plan will give your bank the information they need when:

• Setting up your cash management
• Setting up funding and investment services
• Considering applications for finance. 

Your accountant will often help you prepare your business plan (particularly the financial statements), but they’ll also use the information you provide in the plan to offer further advice.

Your lawyer can provide advice on the way you structure your business and enter agreements (such as leases) with other parties. Business plans and financial forecasts give the background information your lawyer needs. 

A business plan is also vital for showing investors what your business is about and how you plan to make them money.

Before you begin 

Before you launch into writing your plan, consider some of these useful tips. 

Gather all the necessary information

If you’ve already made some sales, you should have financial statements that include profit figures, sales figures, and business costs.

Be realistic

It’s easy to be overly optimistic about new ideas – but beware of rose-tinted glasses. Think about the targets you’ve set and whether they’re appropriate at this stage in your business’ life cycle.

Plan for balanced growth

Growth that is too rapid or too slow could cause difficulties.

Change is constant

Your business plan should recognise that things like markets, consumer needs, trends, technology, products, and services are constantly evolving. Can you show how your business will keep up?

Think long-term

Your business plan will naturally focus on the year ahead. But you should also consider issues that will affect your business as far ahead as five years’ time. That way, you can put a plan in place that will set your business up for future success.

How to create an effective business plan

Create a simple, yet effective business plan: from setting SMART objectives to conducting a SWOT analysis, understanding your customers to marketing strategies.

How to get started

Your business plan can take any shape, but it can be helpful to work to a template. The key is to keep your plan short, simple, and practical, so it’s easy to implement. Otherwise, it’ll end up gathering dust on a shelf. 

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Patient dies in ed waiting room at rotorua hospital.

The patient collapsed on 22 August in the middle of the packed waiting room of Rotorua Hospital's emergency department and could not be revived. File photo. Photo: Felix Desmarais/LDR

A patient who died in the waiting room of Rotorua Hospital's emergency department (ED) last month had been waiting three hours to be seen.

Distressed staff say she should have been seen within an hour, but the department was critically short-staffed.

Just two weeks earlier, ED staff had written to management, flagging their worries over excessive wait times.

The woman collapsed on 22 August in the middle of the packed waiting room and could not be revived.

Her cause of death has yet to be confirmed, but RNZ understands she had suffered a suspected cardiac arrest.

A doctor - whom RNZ has agreed not to name - said staff were devastated.

"That patient had waited three hours but should have been seen within half an hour to an hour.

"We were short-staffed. Everyone is just reeling. This is what we've been saying would happen, and now it's happened.

"It's devastating."

RNZ has previously reported on the shortage of senior doctors at Rotorua Hospital's ED, which threatened its hard-won accreditation to train more specialists.

Rotorua doctors had also been covering gaps at short-staffed Taupō Hospital, but were resisting attempts by management to formalise this arrangement, saying they were already stretched.

The Rotorua doctor said the pressures on ED were "predictable and preventable", and accused management of failing to act on clinicians' concerns.

"In this case, being seen sooner may not have prevented her death, but she would have received care and treatment."

New Zealand chair of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Kate Allan said emergency departments nationwide were under significant pressure from prolonged wait times and overcrowding.

"I would firstly extend my deepest condolences to any whānau or loved ones of anyone affected by this death, but also the healthcare workers and the other staff at the hospital.

"Obviously very tragic, especially if it's a preventable death.

"What it does show is that extended delays to care lead to poorer clinical outcomes which can include death."

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists head Sarah Dalton said the death was a tragedy.

"But I worry that events likes this could become more common where people who are very sick, who need to be seen, who need to be admitted to hospital, arrive and are not able to get the care they need in a timely fashion.

"In this case someone has died in the waiting room. That must be incredibly traumatic for all concerned."

Dalton said senior Rotorua doctors wrote to the district manager earlier last month (two weeks before the death) warning that long wait times in ED were putting patients at risk.

"Not only was it triage 1 and 2 patients [those with immediately life-threatening conditions] but also triage 3 patients, many of whom weren't being seen and could potentially be very sick.

"They got a response from the district manager saying 'I agree this is an absolute risk and agreeing to send those concerns up the chain."

She said the district manager agreed it was an absolute risk and promised to send those concerns up the chain to national level.

Dalton said it was not just EDs that were under pressure, but the entire hospital system.

"If there are no beds in the wards, you can't get people out of ED, and when ED stuffed full of patients - that makes them in turn slower to see patients waiting to get into ED.

"I really hope that we are not going to see more incidents like this but it's entirely possible that we will, based on the information we're getting back from our members."

RNZ has asked Health NZ about staffing in ED at the time of the death but it has yet to respond.

In a written statement, Lakes District group director operations Alan Wilson said Te Whatu Ora offered its sincere condolences to this patient's loved ones.

"We treat any adverse event involving a patient in our care extremely seriously, and we will conduct an internal review.

"As the case has been referred to the coroner, we cannot comment further at this time. "

Copyright © 2024 , Radio New Zealand

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Eighty suspected suicides in NZ construction sector last year ‘highest on record’: new report

WARNING: This story deals with suicide. Please see below for help and crisis information.

Eighty people working in New Zealand’s construction sector are suspected or confirmed to have died by suicide last year – the highest number on record from data which dates back 17 years, according to an organisation trying to prevent such deaths.

The numbers were released by MATES in Construction, which aims to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide.

“In 2023, 80 construction workers lost their lives to suspected suicide and 1628 required time off due to self-harming incidents,” said research presented yesterday to industry leaders, academics, government officials and mental health organisations at ASB North Wharf.

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.

Lauren Donnan, MATES research and evaluation manager, said the organisation discovered the tragic number via an Official Information Act request made to the Ministry of Justice for information from Coronial Services.

The data dated back to 2007 and Donnan said never had so many lives been lost to suspected suicides in the sector as in 2023.

Cases can take up to five years to be confirmed so, at this stage, many of the 80 deaths remained suspected and yet to be confirmed, Donnan stressed.

“But it changes very little between suspected and confirmed,” she said.

Donnan said the chief coroner’s data showed 38 cases of death from suspected or confirmed suicide or intentional self-harm in the construction sector in 2019.

That rose to 61 deaths in 2020, 79 deaths in 2021, 77 deaths in 2022 and 80 deaths in 2023.

MATES and partners ASB and BRANZ presented the findings of the survey yesterday at ASB North Wharf.

Donnan said that provided factors and critical insights into the mental health challenges faced by workers and the impact of suicide on the industry.

“Our aim is to spark meaningful conversations and drive change on this pivotal day,” she said.

Around 2100 construction workers were surveyed, chosen for being diverse in age, ethnicity, suffering disabilities or illnesses and occupations.

Despite uncovering the highest number of suspected suicides in the sector in the data dating back to 2007, the report emphasised a positive upward trend in mental health during the past three years.

“Tripled response rate compared to previous years’ survey, highlighting a growing awareness and engagement. Key stressors include lack of sleep, minimal self-care time, high job demands, long hours worked, tight timeframes on builds. Specific mental health vulnerabilities noted among 15- to 24-year-olds and Māori workers,” the report said.

Common stressors across all groups including migrant workers, apprentices, blue-collar and white-collar were financial instability, poor communication, site culture of old-school masculinity, low pay, job insecurity, and insufficient mental health support.

Central Queensland University did an evaluation to quantify the cost of suicidal behaviour to our construction industry, and the impact of MATES suicide prevention programme in reducing that cost.

MATES is headed by John Chapman, who presented at yesterday’s event and says the entity has reached more than 85,000 workers.

It has a volunteer network of more than 5000 construction workers trained in suicide prevention.

In 2022, the Herald reported on deaths and injuries from all causes in the construction sector.

By around September that year, 1431 workplace injuries, accidents and serious harm had been reported.

Data from Mahi Haumaru Aotearoa WorkSafe NZ showed the industry with the highest number of fatalities remains transport, postal and warehousing

WorkSafe said from January to June last year, there were 37 fatalities: six were in the construction sector.

Work-related fatalities are deaths that occur as a result of injury from work. The data includes workers who die from injuries while working as well as members of the public who die as a result of someone else’s work activity.

It excludes deaths from natural causes and self-harm, WorkSafe said.

SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION

Where to get help:

• MATES in Construction Helpline 0800 111 315
• Lifeline : Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline : Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline : Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What’s Up : Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline : Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111

Anne Gibson has been the Herald ’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.

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