TEMPLATES DON'T
PREPARE YOU TO DEFEND YOUR PLAN
When you meet with a banker or investor they are going to ask you specific questions to see if you have the knowledge and skills needed to manage your business, solve problems, and make money in diverse situations. Templates don't prepare you for that, they just help you create a document.
TEMPLATES MAKE
IT HARD FOR YOUR BUSINESS
TO STAND OUT
Templates guide users toward a standard story about their business, which invites questions about if these are really your thoughts or just the template that bankers have seen over & over. It's hard to tell your story when it sounds & feels like all the others.
TEMPLATES SET
YOU UP SO YOUR NUMBERS CONFLICT WITH YOUR WORDS
Every business plan tells two stories. One with words, another with numbers. If they don't match you aren't getting the loan. Templates aren't designed to help you make these stories match,
they just help create documents. Telling your story in numbers is more involved, but it is the key to getting loans and managing your business effectively.
TEMPLATES ARE NOT DESIGNED TO BUILD SKILLS OR PREPARE YOU FOR SUCCESS
People who start a business plan template with doubts about their readiness or gaps in their understanding finish with the same problems because templates just create documents. If you want to be better prepared use a planning resource that teaches skills and is focused on learning.
TEMPLATES DO NOT CREATE BUSINESS PLANS FASTER
Because you still have to re-write multiple parts of plan if you change your mind part-way through. How many times have you already changed your plan in your head? Using a template won't fix that, and you will still need to re-read the whole plan each time you rewrite it to make sure it all flows together.
PEBBLE PLAN IS NOT A BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE
It is an entrepreneur education & self-evaluation platform.
We don't tell you what to write because your plan should reflect your vision. We don't tell you what financials are 'right' for your business because no-one except you knows how much money you need or how much you are willing to work for it. Most of the time someone tells you what numbers are 'right' for you is only going to make you blend in with the crowd because they think you have a better chance of getting a loan if you are average.
This is too important to try to make you look like everyone else. If you want a big business, we will help you plan for one. If you want a side-hustle to help save for the future or make extra money to make ends meet, we will help you plan that. If you don't know what you want we will give you a place where you can explore different options until you do.
We will help you understand how the the different parts of your business fit together and ask you specific questions to help you figure out areas where you may need to increase your knowledge or understanding. Then we help you figure out those things, or make it easy to get outside help. When you are done we compile your work into an easy-to-read format to make it faster for your banker to analyze your plan. Most of the time, plans that are easier for your banker to read get read first.
