How to Write a Locksmith Business Plan

If you’re an experienced locksmith who wants to start his/her own locksmithing business, you have probably heard that having a good business plan is one of the most important steps in this process.

Venturing on your own can be a very rewarding experience but the first step in this process is to make sure that the business is a sustainable one.

To make sure that your business can sustain itself you have to think about all the important aspects before getting started.

For this reason, you need a business plan.

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It may sound like a tenuous task, but drafting a good business plan is not as hard as it may seem, especially if you have help.

We are here to guide you through this process.

So grab a piece of paper (or a laptop), and let’s get started.

More About Business Plans

A business plan doesn’t have to be a long and complicated document, and writing it is not rocket science.

A business plan’s main purpose is to take you through each step of building a new business.

It helps you clarify and write down what your business will do, how it will be organized, and other important aspects.

Now that we know what a business plan is, let’s see how it can be written.

Step 1: Writing an Executive Summary

Every good business plan needs a good introduction and conclusion section.

The executive summary is the first part of your plan and it is also a summary of everything included in your document.

This part should basically include the answer to the following questions:

• Are you qualified to run a locksmith business?
• What is your locksmith business address and what types of services will you perform there?
• What costs and profits do you expect?
• What are your business goals?

Although this is the introductory section, you don’t have to write it right now, you can come back to it after writing the next sections.

Step 2: Analyze the Market

By analyzing the market where you will conduct business you can find out what your strengths and weaknesses are and determine if your business will be successful or not.

Take this opportunity to analyze industry trends and determine what results you can expect.

This 2.5 billion industry (according to a report published by IBIS World at the end of 2019) is tied to the housing market.

Businesses and homeowners rely on locksmiths to keep their properties safe by installing locks and advanced security systems.

So, especially if you live in an area where new constructions are being built, your job prospects are looking good.

At this stage, you need to define the needs of your region and explain how you will help customers satisfy those needs.

Step 3: Thinking about Organization and Management

In this section, you should enlist all the employees and the owners of your business and describe shortly their role within the organization.

You should also write a few lines about each of your staff’s background and education.

If you’ll be working by yourself then this section is basically a short resume that includes information about your education, experience, and the skills that are relevant in this profession.

Step 4: A Detailed Description of Your Services

In this part, you have to get into more detail about the services you provide.

If you use some new techniques or you have any novel ideas, this is the section where you should describe them in detail.

Step 5: How Will You Advertise your Services?

Now that you’ve clarified what type of services you will provide it’s time to answer the following questions:

• How much money will your services and products cost you?
• How will you reach your customers?

In the first section, you should take into account the actual quantity of sales that you need in order to make a profit.

You should correlate your price with the quality of work done and even if a lower price can help you find customers quickly, it may not be the wisest choice.

In the marketing section, you can include local newspaper ads, social media campaigns, a website, or ads at a local radio station.

Step 6: Look for Funding

At this step, you have to think about how you will fund your business.

Do you need a loan?

If you need a loan then you should also have to think about how you will pay for that funding.

You can pay for the loan with interest rates or by offering equity in your company.

Step 7: The Road to Making a Profit

This section is very important because here is where you will describe how you will make a profit.

Even if you may not have all the answers at this moment you have to think about how you’re going to reach your monthly projections.

The numbers included in this section will be basically some projections that you make based on your marketing analysis and the information that you’ve included in the Marketing and Sales section.

You can make 1-year projections or go as far as 20 years but everything that you include here should be backed up with data.

Step 8: Include Business Documents

Although this step is not necessary, it will help you keep all the relevant business documents in one place.

Images, business licenses, training accreditation, and all the other relevant information can go here.

Conclusion: It Takes a Lot Of Work But Doesn’t Feel Intimidated

It may sound like a lot of work but you don’t have to complete it all in one day.

Start with some pieces of paper and write down a few thoughts for each of the sections described above.

If you’re out of ideas for one section, then simply move to the next and get back to it when you have more information.

Now that you’ve read our article, you’re ready to start drafting your business plan.